THIRD YEAR VINE PRUNING 307 



Pinching may be replaced by topping a few weeks later, but the 

 latter is somewhat weakening to the vine. 



In all summer pruning that is, the removal of green shoots and 

 leaves of young vines, two things should be kept in mind : First that 

 all summer pruning is weakening; second that the object of summer 

 pruning of young vines is to direct the growth as much as possible into 

 those parts which are to become permanent portions of the mature 

 vine. The weakening effect is almost nil if the shoots or tips are 

 removed when they are very small, but may be very serious if large 

 shoots are removed or heavily topped. When a large shoot covered 

 with leaves is removed it is a total loss to the vine. When a small shoot 

 is removed the food materials which would have gone into that shoot 

 are diverted to the shoots that remain, and the vigor and size of the 

 latter are increased. 



THIRD YEAR 



Winter Pruning. After the leaves have fallen at the end of the 

 third summer every vine should have a well-formed, straight stem with 

 two, three, or more canes growing from the upper part, and the forma- 

 tion of the "head" or crown should commence. Any vines which have 

 not been brought to this condition must be pruned like two or one-year- 

 old vines, as the case may be. 



If the work up to this point has been well done, the formation of 

 the head is a simple matter. It consists in leaving two, three, or four 

 spurs, arranged as symmetrically as possible near the top of the vine. 

 The stronger the vine, as evidenced by the number, length, and thick- 

 ness of the canes, the larger the number of spurs and buds that should 

 be left. 



A spur consists of the basal portion of a cane, ^nd normally of two 

 full internodes. This leaves two buds besides the base bud. The num- 

 ber of buds to leave on a spur depends on the strength or thickness of 

 the cane from which the spur is made. A thin, or weak, cane should 

 be cut back to one bud or even to the base bud. A strong cane, on the 

 other hand, should be left with three buds besides the base bud. 



The pruning of each vine requires judgment, and it is impossible 

 to give an inflexible rule to follow. The ideal of a perfect vine should 

 be kept in mind and each vine pruned as nearly in accordance with this 

 ideal as circumstances permit. Fig. 3 represents nearly perfect three- 

 year-old vines consisting of two or three symmetrically placed spurs of 

 two buds each near the top of the stem. 



Sometimes it is necessary to leave a spur lower down (see Fig. 3, 

 b). This spur will be removed the following year after it has produced 

 two or three bunches of grapes. Sometimes a vine may be very vig- 

 orous but have only two canes properly placed for making spurs. In 

 this case the spurs should be left longer three buds and even in ex- 

 treme cases four buds long. 



In stump pruning there is a difference of practice as to low head- 

 ing according to locality. In the interior regions the vine is now headed 

 almost at the surface of the ground ; in the coast regions there is usu- 



