422 ANNUAL REPORT 



mind that it is injurious to remove full grown leaves at any time. At 

 no age of the vine should any summer pruning be allowed more than 

 the pinching out of the points of the growing canes. Cutting and 

 slashing to develop fruit buds and ripen the grapes is a humbug and 

 injurious to both vines and fruit. Clean cultivation should be given 

 this season and every season hereafter. Early in November of this 

 year the vine should again be pruned. The operation consists in cut- 

 ting one cane back to two buds or eyes above the base, and the other 

 to about four feet, and winter protection should always be given. 



The next spring, which is the beginning of the third season, we 

 should decide upon some system of training. The one arm renewal is 

 an easy and a good one and very simple, and one that at any time can 

 be changed into some other system. A trellis may be used in this 

 system or sufficient support may be furnished for the vines by using 

 two upright stakes, six or seven feet long, set two feet apart, one each 

 side of the vine. For this system the cane that was left four feet long 

 is to be tied to the stakes in the form of a bow, and the end of the 

 canes that grow from it, should be pinched out after six or seven 

 leaves have formed. One cane only should be allowed to grow from 

 the short spur, and that is perhaps better to be stopped when about 

 six feet long and the laterals treated as before recommended. The 

 vine may be allowed to carry some fruit this season, after this liberal 

 crops. In the fall after the fruit is gathered, and the leaves have fal' 

 len we do our pruning, and you can readily see why it is called a 

 renewal system. In the pruning we cut off the single cane grown 

 from the short spur at the top of the stake, and cut away all of the 

 other cane, which has fruited, and its branches to one inch above the 

 lowest branch, and that back to one or to eyes above the base. The 

 long cane is designed to bear the principle part of the fruit next 

 year, and the spur to grow a cane for fruiting the next year following. 



If the vine is strong and healthy about the fifth or sixth year we 

 double the fi^uiting capacity by pruning in such a manner as to have 

 two fruiting canes and two spurs for growing fruiting canes each year, 

 and in some instances double again. In these cases it is essential to 

 have a trellis and tie the fruiting canes to it in a spreading or fan 

 shape. If we intend to adopt the fan system from the start, we prune 

 and manage the first and second season precisely as we have recom- 

 mended at the commencement of this paper, but in the fall of the 

 second year, instead of pruning one cane back to two eyes and leav- 

 ing the other about four feet, we cut both back to two eyes and grow 

 a cane from each eye. The next fall prune each of these canes back 



