MICHIGAN STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 175 



required length. Only one cane is allowed to grow from each 

 vine, and as these will not be strong enough for our purpose 

 the first season, they should be cut back to within two feet of 

 the ground for stalks, or perhaps better, to within two buds of 

 the old wood near the ground. Each vine should produce one 

 strong cane from eight to ten feet long the next season. These 

 are shortened to about six feet in the fall, laid down by the 

 side trellis, and covered with earth. In tlie spring raise up 

 the cane to an angle of about thirty degrees, and tie it to the 

 lower bar of the trellis, which should be about one foot from 

 the ground ; this with the angle will take nearly two feet of 

 the cane, leaving about four feet above; this is to be bent 

 down (not too abruptly) and fastened to the bar, so that the 

 end of the arm will be a few inches the lowest. When from 

 the nature of the ground the line of the trellis is not horizon- 

 tal, the arms should all be laid in the descending direction. 



Uniform productiveness to a great age, uniform bearing 

 canes, uniform bunches, and uniform fruit of the most deli- 

 cate flavor it is possible for the variety to produce, are char- 

 acteristic of the best vines, and that system of pruning and 

 training which effectually secures these in the most simple 

 manner, must be the best, whether with one or two arms, long 

 or short. It should always be borne in mind that the tend- 

 ency of the sap is upward, and to the end of the horizontal 

 arms ; that to check this tendency and equalize the flow of 

 sap so as to produce uniform canes, it is necessary to elevate 

 one portion of the arm and depress another; and if from any 

 local cause one shoot, or more, should get much ahead of the 

 others, it will continue the race with accelerated speed, unless 

 checked by pinching off the top after it has made five or six 

 leaves. The sap will be flowing past the weak to the support 

 of the strong. 



Through my ignorance of the above facts, the pruning and 

 training of the first two hundred vines planted in my vineyard 

 was a decided failure. The ground descended two ways, and the 



