408 AMERICAN GRAPE TRAINING 



gets no larger from year to year. We must, 

 therefore, cut back again to two canes. We cut 

 back each of these original canes, A and B, to 

 one new cane. That is, we leave only Al and 

 Bl, cutting off A2, A3, etc., and B2, B3, etc. 

 This brings the vine back to very nearly its con- 

 dition in the fall of 1891 ; but the new canes, Al 

 and Bl, which are now to become the main canes 

 by being bent down horizontally, were borne at 

 some distance say three or four inches from the 

 base of the original canes, A and B, so that the 

 permanent part of the vine is constantly lengthen- 

 ing itself. This annually lengthening portion is 

 called a spur. Spurs are rarely or never made in 

 this exact position, however, although this dia- 

 grammatic sketch illustrates clearly the method 

 of their formation. The common method of spur- 

 ring is that connected with the horizontal arm 

 system of training, in which the arms A and B 

 are allowed to become permanent, and the up- 

 right canes, Al, A2, Bl, B2, B3, etc., are cut back 

 to within two or three buds of these arms each 

 year. The cane Al, for instance, is cut back in 

 the fall of 1892 to two or three buds, and in 1893 

 two or three canes will grow from this stub. In 

 the fall of 1893 only one cane is left after the 

 pruning, and this one is cut back to two or three 

 buds; and so on. 



Thus the spur grows higher every year, although 

 every effort is made to keep it short, both by re- 



