CHAPTER IX 

 GRAPE-PRUNING ON THE PACIFIC SLOPE 



The methods of pruning and training native grapes, dis- 

 cussed in the last two chapters, do not apply to the Vinifera 

 grapes grown in the favored valleys of the Rocky Mountains 

 and on the Pacific slope. As we have already seen, the 

 Vinifera or Old World grape differs markedly in habits of 

 growth from the American species so that it would not 

 be expected that pruning which applies to the one would 

 apply to the other types. The fundamentals, to be sure, 

 are much the same and the different species of grapes are 

 about equally subservient to the shears of the pruner, but 

 while pruning to regulate fruit-bearing finds many similari- 

 ties in Old and New World grapes, the training of the vines 

 is radically different. 



European practices in pruning and training Vinifera grapes 

 are so many and so diverse that the first growers of this 

 fruit in America were at a loss to know how to prune their 

 vines. But, out of a half century of experience, American 

 growers of Old World grapes have adapted from European 

 practices and have devised to meet new conditions, methods 

 which serve very well in the new home for this old grape. 

 Since the culture of the Old W^orld grape is centered in 

 California, almost confined to that state, California practice 

 may be taken as a pattern in pruning and training the vines 

 of this species. 



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