178 MANUAL OF AMERICAN GRAPE-GROWING 



twelve inches from a few inches beyond the bend to the extreme 

 end. For long pruning, the arms should be farther apart, 

 twelve to twenty inches. Shoots starting from the top of the 

 cane and growing vertically upwards are to be preferred. 



As the shoots develop, the strongest should be pinched re- 

 peatedly, if necessary. This will tend to force the growth of 

 the weaker shoots and to equaUze the vigor of all. At the end 

 of the season, there should be from five to ten canes growing on 

 each cordon of full length. These canes are then pruned back 

 to two or three buds, or a little longer for long-pruned varieties. 



During the following spring and summer, the vines should 

 be carefully suckered and unnecessary water sprouts removed. 

 Any shoots coming from the lower side of the cordon should be 

 removed early to strengthen the growth in the shoots on the 

 upper side. Such vines are apt to become dry or decayed on 

 the upper side. At the end of this year, which should be the 

 fourth or fifth from planting at the latest, the cordon will be 

 fully formed and the final style of pruning can be applied. 

 A short-pruned cordon vine is shown in Fig. 27. The arms 

 and spurs are a little too numerous and too close together. 

 If this vine required the number of buds shown it would have 

 been better to have left the fruit spurs longer and to have left 

 fewer and shorter wood s])urs. 



The upper vine of Fig. 35 shows a cordon pruned half long. 

 This is an excellent system for ^Malaga, Emperor, and Corni- 

 chon when growing in very fertile soil. It gives the half-long 

 fruit canes, which these varieties need to produce good crops. 

 The fruit canes may be attached to a wire twelve or fifteen 

 inches above the cordon or bent down and tied to the cordon 

 itself, as in the lower vine of the figure. The first method is 

 the more convenient, but the second is necessary where there 

 is difficulty in obtaining satisfactory growth from the renewal 

 spurs. When the fruit canes are tied down, as indicated in 

 the lower vine, renewal spurs may not be needed, as vigorous 



