502 VINIFERA GRAPE TRAINING 



will produce vigorous canes for the following 

 year, and the spurs which have borne fruit may 

 be removed altogether, thus preventing an undue 

 elongation of the arms. In half -long pruning, 

 however, it is very hard to retain the proper 

 equilibrium between vigor and fruitfulness. If a 

 little too much wood is left the shoots from the 

 wood spurs will not develop sufficiently, and the 

 next year we have to choose between leaving 

 small under -sized spurs near the trunk and spurs 

 of proper size too far removed from the trunk. 

 In long -pruning this difficulty, as will be seen, 

 is to a great extent avoided. 



In long-pruning, the fruit spurs of half-long 

 pruning are replaced by long fruit canes. These 

 are left two or three feet long, or longer. The 

 danger here that the vine will expend all its en- 

 ergies on the terminal buds of these long canes 

 and leave the eyes of the wood spurs undeveloped 

 is still greater than in half -long pruning. This 

 difficulty is overcome by bending or twisting the 

 fruit canes in some manner. This bending 

 causes a certain amount of injury to the tissues 

 of the canes, which tends to check the flow of 

 sap towards their ends. The sap pressure thus 

 increases in the lower buds and forces them out 

 into strong shoots to be used for spurs for the 

 next pruning. The bending has the further effect 

 of diminishing the vigor of the shoots on the fruit 

 canes, and thus increasing their fruitfulness. 



