PRUNING, GRAFTING AND BUDDING 31 







and pruned with a great number of canes of two and three buds. 

 Its young growing shoots will be shorter and more upright then, 

 its bunches smaller and looser and in consequence its berries more 

 evenly ripened and better colored. On very poor soils it should be 

 trained to a lower and closer head with fewer fruit canes. 



Verdel. This produces its best product on a gravelly clay of 

 medium quality. On such a soil its fruit keeps longer and better 

 than that of any other variety. In the Santa Cruz mountains it is 

 generally one of the best paying varieties grown, as it bears im- 

 mense and regular crops. Where the ground is too rich for a per- 

 fect product, the quality and sugar contents of this can be im- 

 proved by a similar mode of pruning as that recommended for the 

 Tokay, but not quite so many canes need be left. It should only be 

 planted in places well protected from the north winds, as its young 

 canes in the spring break off very easily and its fruit is also dam- 

 aged quite often if vines are standing in an unprotected place. 



Cornichon. This is the best table grape variety for rich 

 ground, especially a sandy loam. It is trained and pruned in all 

 kinds of manners, from a somewhat low and close head with few 

 half-long canes for poor ground to a high spreading head with nu- 

 merous short canes of three buds for very rich ground. For soils of 

 medium quality the best way of pruning is intermediate between 

 the two extremes described. It is a favorite grape for attack from 

 small birds, which bore holes into the ends of the berries and 

 sometimes cause ruin to a whole field. The shotgun remedy is the 

 best means of protection, as the birds generally are intelligent 

 enough to learn that it is best to stay away. 



Emperor. This is a very fine, although thick-skinned grape, 

 of good marketable and keeping qualities. It requires also a soil of 

 good or medium quality with warm exposure, and is pruned simi- 

 lar to the foregoing. No first-class table grapes can be grown by any 

 other system than head pruning. Excessive vigor of a vine can bt, 

 overcome with a high spreading head and more fruit spurs, as welt 

 as with pruning by the Guyot system or extension to one side. 



Muscat of Alexandria. This is coming into disfavor somewhat 

 in the coast region on account of its susceptibility to the California 

 vine disease and the easy rotting of its fruit, if caught by the early 

 fall rains. It should be planted only on such soils where it wifl 

 ripen its fruit early. Its liableness to coulure can be corrected by 

 pruning to three buds, canes extending upwards at an angle of 

 about 30 or 40 degrees, with a close head and few fruit canes, if on 

 poor ground and by careful suckering several times before the 

 bloom. The Muscat is a very sensitive vine; too much or too little 

 vigor, too much moisture in the ground or too little, as also a strong 

 north wind may cause coulure. 



CHAPTER V. 

 Pruning, Grafting and Budding. 



1. Pruning. There are numerous systems of pruning practiced 



