CALIFORNIAN PRACTICE 495 



the subject in a thorough and convenient way 

 for California vine -growers. Publications in 

 English refer generally to methods suited to the 

 Eastern states or to hot -house cultivation, while 

 foreign publications, besides being more or less 

 inaccessible, treat the subject so widely that the 

 grower is at a loss what to choose from such a 

 mass of material. It is the purpose of this 

 bulletin, therefore, to present a brief summary 

 of what in foreign methods seems useful and 

 applicable to California conditions, together with 

 the results of experiments on the University of 

 California vine plots, and of observations made 

 in numerous vineyards in various regions of the 

 state. 



Almost every vine -growing district has its 

 peculiar systems of training, ranging from the 

 non -training usual in parts of Italy, where the 

 vine spreads almost at will over trees planted for 

 the purpose, to the acme of mutilation practiced 

 in many localities where the vine is reduced to 

 a mere stump barely rising above the surface of 

 the ground. These various systems will not be 

 discussed here, but only those which experience 

 has shown to be most adapted to California con- 

 ditions. 



No account, however detailed, of any system 

 can replace the intelligence of the cultivator. 

 For this reason the general principles of plant 

 physiology which underlie all proper pruning 



