43° 



Journal of A^riciiUiire. 



[8 July, 1908. 



spurs are left on each vine ; they are cut back to one clear eye and the 

 blind eye at the base. This exceedingly short pruning, by reducing to a 

 minimum the elongation of the arms of the vine, causes the crown to assume 

 most curious shapes. Most vines have no arms at all. The object of this 

 style of pruning seems to be to keep the fruit in close proximity tu the 

 ground while ripening, and to insure its being protected from the direct rays 

 of the sun by a good covering of leaves. The vine.s are neither staked nor 

 trellised nor are they tied up in any way during the summer. Disbudding 

 is carefully attended to. With such very short pruning the tendency of 

 the vine tO' throw out many suckers and water shoots is increased and these 

 must be removed. In early summer all shoots bearing fruit are stopped 

 back at the eighth or tenth bud. This promotes .setting and causes the 

 berries to fill well. 





'-y L 



RAISIN VINE BEFORE AND AFTER PRUNING. 



Such a style of pruning and training is more calculated to promote 

 quality than quantity, but Malaga dessert raisins are a luxury rather than 

 an ordinary food product, and a slight increa.se in quality means a much 

 more than proportionate increase in price. Nevertheless good crops are 

 frequently obtained. Don Leopoldo de Salas y Amat mentions \ields of 

 ^up to nearly two tons of raisins per acre. Though the quantity of fruit 

 on each vine is limited there are more vint-s per acre than we are accus- 

 tomed to in Aastralia. With vines at 3 ft. 3 in. x 6 ft. 6 in. one has 

 2,500 vines per acre. 



The raisin industry of Malaga is a special one and very different from 

 our own. Whether the highest grade dessert raisin can be produced in 

 the dry atmosphere of our inland climate, is a question which it is hard 

 to answer. Even admitting that it can, there is not nearly the same local 

 demand for the dessert as for the dipped or pudding raisin. The suit- 

 ability of the climate and soil of Australia for the production of a high 

 grade pudding raisin has been thoroughly 'pro\'ed. 



