THE RAISIN INDUSTRY. 125 



rest on the ground or hang a few inches above it, and experience shows 

 us that such low bunches are the best and those which produce the 

 finest raisins. Tall Muscat vines never produce as sweet and as large 

 bunches or grapes as those headed low, and their grapes are apt to 

 sunburn or be otherwise checked in their growth. During the first 

 year, the young vine should be cut back to a single stem, it being 

 enough to leave two or three eyes above the ground. The second 

 season these canes should all be cut away except three, which are to 

 form the future head of the vine. Bach one of these may be cut to 

 two eyes, thus leaving six eyes on the vine. In the majority of 

 vines, the head should by this time have been formed, as the following 

 year will be the first year in which the vines will bear. 



When Muscat vines have grown two seasons, they should be pruned 

 for fruit. The third season will always give some fruit, while, in 

 many localities where the vines have been well cared for, the yield 

 may be quite large and pay handsomely. No direction as to pruning, 

 which will apply to every locality or to every vine, is possible. In 

 different localities the climatic and other conditions are so variable 

 that the methods of pruning may be modified. Where the vines grow 

 sJrim^-ajidjasorojiSf more wood should be left. In cool and sheltered 

 places the vines should be given a greater spread to allow more sun 

 and air to enter. In warm localities, with a broiling sun, the prin- 

 cipal object in pruning should be to properly shelter the grapes. There 

 is danger, or at least there are great disadvantages in pruning eiTtie"r 

 too long or too short, and in leaving too many or too few spurs. 

 In pruning too long, or leaving too many eyes, the shape of the vine 

 is changed or even seriously injured. In leaving too many spurs, the 

 vines may bear too many and too small grapes. To find the medium 

 between these extremes is always the great object and study to which 

 the grower should devote his attention. In rich and moist soils which 

 produce strong vines, more eyes should be left, and in sandy, poor 

 soil a few eyes may suffice to cause the vine to bear much more that 

 it can properly mature and perfect. The year before the vines bear 

 their first good crop, the spurs left should not exceed three or four, 

 and each spur should not have more than two eyes, including the 

 eye nearest the old wood, which eye is often overlooked and not 

 counted in. The next year a few more spurs may be left, but at no 

 time should each spur be allowed to carry more than two eyes. If 

 more eyes are left, the lower eyes will not develop, and the only thing 

 attained by such pruning is to increase the size of the head, and to 

 place the leaves and the grapes farther away from the center of the 

 vine. 



At the age of six years, or when the vine is in full bearing, no more 

 spurs should be added, as the vine has then attained a mature age, 

 and the yield will increase independently of an increased number of 

 spurs. How many spurs should be left it is not possible to say. The 

 experience with most growers is generally that too few spurs are 

 left, and that from ten to fifteen spurs are not too many on large 

 and healthy vines. The tendency of the growers is now to leave 

 more spurs than formerly, and to always restrict the spurs to two 



