THE YOUNG VINE 503 



This principle of increase of fruitfulness by 

 mechanical injury is very useful if properly un- 

 derstood and applied. It is a well-known fact 

 that vines attacked by phylloxera or root -rot 

 will for one year bear an exceptionally large 

 crop on account of the diminution of vigor 

 caused by the injury to their roots. A vine also 

 which has been mutilated by the removal of 

 several large arms will often produce heavily the 

 following year. In all these cases, however, the 

 transient gain is more than counter -balanced by 

 the permanent injury and loss. The proper ap- 

 plications of the principle is to injure tissues 

 only of those parts of the plant which it is in- 

 tended to remove the next year (fruit canes), and 

 thus increase fruitfulness without doing any per- 

 manent injury to the plant. 



PRUNING OF YOUNG VINES. When a rooted 

 vine is first planted, it should be cut back to 

 two eyes. If the growth is not very good the 

 first season, all the canes but one should be re- 

 moved at the first pruning, and that one left 

 with two or three eyes, according to its strength. 

 The next year, or the same year in the case of 

 strong growing vines in rich soil, the strongest 

 cane should be left about twelve inches long and 

 tied up to the stake. The next year two spurs 

 may be left, of two or three eyes each. These spurs 

 will determine the position of the head or place 

 from which the arms of the vine spring. It is 



