388 MISSOURI STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



apart for planting' varies with soil and varieties. Slow growers, or 

 vines on moderate soil require no more than 6x6 ft., but for strong 

 growers, or on rich soil, 6x8 ft., will be necessary. 



The vines should be cut back to three eyes, (or buds), and in plant- 

 ing, these are left above ground. 



CULTIVATION. 



During the lirst year the soil should be stirred frequently with cul- 

 tivator and hoe, and the ground kept free of weeds. Cultivation dur- 

 ing the succeeding years is the same, with the addition of loosening 

 the uncultivated strip of soil in the rows every spring with a spading 

 fork or pronged hoe. Cultivate shallow. 



PRUNING. 



This may be done at any time after the leaves have fallen, until the 

 latter part of March, November being the best mouth for that purpose. 

 The surplus wood should be carried out at once, and burned when dry 

 enough. The canes should be freed from the trellis so they can drop 

 to the ground, where they will be partly protected against severe cold. 



The first year's growth is cut back to within one foot of the 

 ground. 



During the second year, two or three of the strongest and upper- 

 most canes are allowed to grow ; the others are rubbed off as fast as 

 they appear. The reason for this is that it concentrates, directs, and 

 confines the forces of the vine to a few channels, instead of being al- 

 lowed to expend itself uselessly on half a dozen or more. 



The canes should now be tied to stakes, or a trellis, as they ad- 

 vance in growth, and the tips pinched off when they attain a growth of 

 five feet, in order to force the flow of sap into the laterals (or limbs). 

 These laterals should not be cut or rubbed off, as some do, but left to 

 grow at will, for it is on these that the most and best fruit is formed. 



Of the second year's growth the strongest cane is selected and 

 cut back to four or five feet, and the laterals on it are cut to two or 

 three eyes each, i. e., those only which are strong enough, say lead 

 pencil size. The other cane or canes are cut back to three eyes, and 

 are then called " spurs." On these spurs, canes for the following year's 

 crop are grown, for the canes that produced a crop one season are cut 

 oft" the following year, new wood being grown for every crop." 



During the third year three or four canes are allowed to grow from 

 the spurs, and treated like the second year's growth. In pruning the 



