POST TRAINING 489 



Fig. 294, to be tied to a post instead of stretched 

 on a trellis ; in that event, the four canes would 

 hang at will, or they might be wrapped about 

 the post, the shoots hanging out unsupported in 

 all directions. The post systems are essentially 

 Kniffin in principle, for the shoots hang free. 

 In low styles of post training, the permanent 

 head of the vine may be only three or four feet 

 high. This head will have a ring of spurs on it, 

 and at the annual pruning three to five canes 

 are left with from six to ten buds each. 



The main trunk is usually tied permanently to 

 the post. The canes left after pruning are va- 

 riously disposed. Sometimes they are bent up- 

 wards and tied to the post above the head of the 

 vine, but they are oftenest either wound loosely 

 about the post, or are allowed to hang loose. 

 Two trunks are frequently used to each post, 

 both coming from the ground from a common 

 root. These are wound about the post in oppo- 

 site directions, one outside the other, and if the 

 outside one is secured at the top by a small nail 

 driven through it, or by a cord, no other tying 

 will be necessary. Sometimes two or three posts 

 are set at distances of one foot or more apart, 

 and the vines are wrapped about them, but this 

 only augments the size and depth of the mass 

 of foliage. Now and then one sees a careful 

 post training, in which but little wood is left 

 and vigorous breaking out of shoots practiced, 



