460 PRUNING AND TRAINING THE VINE. 



He has done that which no other man has done, and he has accom- 

 plished it by the extension system of managing the vine. 



Now, upon this system of training the vine, it will be manifest that, 

 after the apportioning of the crop and the management of the bunches 

 always bearing in mind that a thoroughly matured medium crop is 

 preferable to an ill-ripened large one the main care of the summer's 

 treatment should be concentrated in attention to the branches which 

 are to produce the following year's crop. These must have their 

 leaves fully exposed to light ; each will be stopped at the length of 

 four feet, and the lateral branches will be stopped at each leaf. The 

 branches which are carrying the crop will be stopped at two or three 

 leaves beyond the bunches, and their laterals regularly at one leaf; 

 but in case of crowding and insufficient exposure to light, then all 

 but the two leading laterals upon each branch may be removed, to 

 make room for the principal leaves. This is a practice not to be 

 generally recommended, but it is of less consequence upon branches 

 that will be entirely cut away than it would be upon others from 

 which a crop would be expected the following season. These laterals 

 or secondary branchlets from the fruiting branch have their use, 

 and that is to provide food for and mature the buds at the base of 

 each. This they will do so long as the foliage is fully exposed to 

 light ; but if not, then it is better to remove the laterals than to allow 

 an amount of shade that must be detrimental to the plant and the 

 <jrop. 



Should any readers fail to understand the previous directions as to 

 pruning on the extension system, the diagram on the opposite page 

 may serve to explain it. 



The vine in the winter of the first year of planting, is cut down to 

 three buds, or if not to three buds they are reduced to that number, 

 and form the pruned plant of the second year. In the third year the 

 lower part of the central shoot has formed its side branches as shown 

 in the second illustration, and also the spurs, from which the bearing 

 branches of the following year will be taken ; those that have produced 

 a crop being cut close back. In the fourth year the central shoot is 

 shown fully developed, and all the other shoots as they attain age will 

 be treated in the same manner, each forming a base (or rather a 

 reservoir) of stored organizable matter, upon which the young shoots 

 can draw in case of need. In this manner there will be a constant 

 succession of young wood from the bottom to the top of each main 

 branch, each young shoot being, when pruned, from two to three feet 

 long. It will be perceived that at the winter pruning each bearing 

 branch is cut close out to its base, care being taken to encourage 

 another branch from the same point the following spring. The main 

 shoots are supposed to be laid in at three feet apart, and in this manner 

 a single vine may fill a whole house, or it may be confined to three or 

 more shoots, at the will of the cultivator. As branches make roots, it 

 is clear that the larger the vine the greater must be its quantity of 

 roots, the greater its store of nourishment, and consequently the greater 

 its power to resist changes arising from unnatural conditions, such as a 



