PRUNING GRAPE VINES. 133 



aggregate of the same shoot and its laterals, if it be 

 neglected during its growth. 



IV. The more the sap is impeded in its course, the 

 less vigorous will be the shoots produced, but the 

 greater the tendency to bear fruit. This is exempli- 

 fied in the pear-tree, where the branches are bent in 

 order to produce fruit buds, and also in the common 

 practice of bending the canes of the vine into bows 

 and spirals, so that the buds may burst equally and 

 produce fruit. 



Y. Whatever tends to diminish the vigor of the 

 shoots and to force the sap into the fruit, enlarges 

 the size and improves the flavor of the latter. 



Upon this law depends the practice of summer 

 pruning, which has been fully discussed in a previous 

 chapter. And as it is necessary not only to diminish 

 the vigor of the shoots, but to force the sap thereby 

 saved into the fruit, the object of destroying all fruit- 

 less shoots (in bearing vines) is obvious, as well as 

 the necessity of attending to the health of the roots. 



Such are the general principles which should regu- 

 late the proper pruning of all trees; though they 

 have been expressed chiefly with reference to the 

 vine. In pruning with a view to the production of 

 fruit, however, it is necessary to know the peculiar 

 fruit-bearing habit of the plant under consideration. 

 Thus upon the peach, fruit is always borne upon the 



