CROSS -WIRE TRAINING 477 



THE CROSS -WIRE SYSTEM. Another high Knif- 

 fin training, and which is also confined to the 

 vicinity of Marlboro', New York, is the Cross- 

 Wire, represented in Fig. 310. Small posts are 

 set eight feet apart each way? and a single wire 

 runs from the top of post to post six and one- 

 half feet from the ground in each direction, 

 forming a check -row system of overhead wires. 

 The grape-vine is set at the foot of the stake, 



309. Crittenden training in the original vineyard. 

 St. Joseph, Mich. 



to which the trunk is tied for support. Four 

 canes are taken from spurs on the head of the 

 trunk, one for each of the radiating wires. 

 These canes are cut to three and one -half or 

 four feet in length, and the bearing shoots 

 droop as they grow. Fig. 310 shows this train- 

 ing as it appears some time after the leaves 

 start in spring. Later in the season the whole 

 vineyard becomes a great arbor, and a person 

 standing at a distance sees an almost impene- 

 trable mass of herbage. This system appears to 



