528 THE MONTHLY BULLETIN. 



fruit canes, also, slioiild lie as nearly as possible in the direction of the 

 trellis. It is worse than useless to use water sprouts or suckers for fruit 

 canes, and care in the selection of renewal spurs will prevent awkward, 

 ungainly vines. 



DOUBLE-HEADED VINES. 



Some growers attempt to arrange the arms of their vines one above 

 the other, forming what is knov.-n as double-headed vines. One criti- 

 cism of this method is that it can not be maintained permanently, the 

 lower head or ring, of arms, finally becoming weak and failing to 

 produce Avood. This system is easier to maintain in trellis vineyards, 

 as some advantage is gained, which is that it makes it easier to keep 

 the vine in the same plane, and prevents the arms getting into inter- 

 rows. 



VERTICAL AND BOWED CANES. 



Vines hmg pruned, in which the fruit canes are tied vertically to a 

 tall stake, is one method used commonly in many vineyards. The unit 

 of pruning consists ot a fruit cane and a renewal spur. It is used 

 with fair success with .seedless Sultanas, and with some vine grapes, 

 such as Colombar, Semillon, Cabernet, Reisling. in the hands of skillful 

 pruners. The results with Sultanina are unsatisfactory. With this 

 method, on many of the vines the fruit canes start from high up, near 

 the top or the middle of the stake, and are, therefore, too short for the 

 best results. The canes which start from low down are, in most cases, 

 suckers, and are, therefore, of little value for bearing fruit. 



The method of pruning with bowed canes is the same as for the 

 vertical sy.stem of pruning. Bowing of the canes, however, overcomes 

 some defects of the other method. This is used regularly by many 

 wine grape vineyardists of the cooler regions, but it is unsuited for very 

 vigorous vines planted in rich soil. 



VERTICAL CORDON PRUNING. 



In the .system known as vertical cordon i)runing, the vine is cut 

 back to two buds, near the level of the ground, until a cane sufficiently 

 long to .serve for the formation of the trunk is obtained. In this 

 .system of pruning the trunk is from three to four feet long, instead of 

 from one to two, as in head prnning. It may recpiire a year longer to 

 obtain this trunk— that is, at the end of the second season's growth 

 many vines will not have a single cane sufficiently developed to give 

 three and a half feet of well-ripened wood and properly developed 

 buds. It will often be necessary, therefore, at the second winter 

 pruning, to cut the vine back to two buds, as was done at the first 

 winter pruning. When the cane of the required length is obtained it 

 is then tied to the stake. At the end of the third season's growth the 

 vine is pruned so that spurs are left at intervals along the trunk. Each 

 of these spurs will be a fruit si)ur. and will also be the commencement 

 of an arm. The future treatment of these arms will be the same as 

 that of the arms in head pruning. 



