488 AMERICAN GRAPE TRAINING, CONCLUDED 



next year, for all the present vine is to be en- 

 tirely cut away at the winter's pruning. So the 

 vine starts every spring with but a single cane. 



Excellent results are obtained from the slender- 

 growing varieties by this method of training, but 

 it is too expensive in trellis and in the labor of 

 tying to make it generally practicable. Delaware, 

 however, thrives remarkably well when trained in 

 this fashion. 



POST TRAINING. There are various methods of 

 training to posts, all of which possess two ad- 

 vantages the saving of the expense of trellis and 

 allowing of cultivation both ways. But they also 

 have grave disadvantages, especially in the thick- 

 ness of the head of foliage, which harbors rot 

 and mildew and prevents successful spraying, 

 and hinders the fruit from coloring and ripening 

 well. These faults are so serious that post 

 training is now little used for the American 

 grapes. The saving in cost of trellis is not 

 great, for more posts are required to the acre 

 than in the trellis systems, and they do not en- 

 dure long when standing alone with the whole 

 weight of the vines thrown upon them. 



There are various methods of pruning for the 

 stake training, but nearly all of them agree in 

 pruning to side spurs on a permanent upright 

 arm which stands the full height of the vine. 

 There may be one or two sets of these spurs. 

 We might suppose the Kniffin vine, shown in 



