498 [ THE VINE. 



from November to January, all the superfluous canes are 

 cut off neatly so that the scar may heal and close over 

 in a short time ; but the canes which are to furnish the 

 spurs are left untouched or only just trimmed at the end. 

 In the second epoch, from February to the first ten days 

 ot March, the canes which were left untouched in the 

 first operation are pruned back to two good buds, but 

 are never allowed to retain more than four buds, the 

 cane being cut across the next node or bud above 

 the upper bud of the spur, so that this upper bud may 

 not be exposed to injury by having the pit of the inter- 

 node laid open just above it. This delay in performing 

 the second part of the operation is necessary in order to 

 give full time to the lower buds which are to be retained 

 on the spur to mature properly and develop into flower 

 or fruit buds, otherwise they may remain immature and 

 in the following spring will push into vigorous shoots but 

 will produce little or no fruit. Owing to inattention to 

 this detail the two budded spurs retained on the vines in 

 our local method of mixed pruning usually develop into 

 very strong shocts, which is indeed the primary object 

 for which the spur is retained, but rarely produce any 

 fruit except with certain vines, such as Insolja tal Ghir- 

 ghenti, which matures its wood and its buds quite early 

 in the season, and is therefore not affected by this con- 

 sideration. The various methods of espalier or contre- 

 espalier, in which the vines are first trained to the 

 required height and shape, but the pruning proper on 

 the established vines is always short, the mother bearers 

 being all short spurs ot two to four buds, belong really 

 to the short-pruning type. 



B. Long pruning is the type necessarily adopted 

 for vines trained on pergolas or trellis, and for the vines 

 trained on trees (alberate) as grown in many districts of 

 Italy. Long pruning is also advisable for vines trained 

 over the stone wails of our fields and gardens, and is 



