THE GRAPE. 279 



pruning the spurs every winter to about three eyes. Each 

 fruit branch should only be allowed to produce two 

 bunches of fruit, and when the shoot has made four to six 

 leaves beyond the last bunch of fruit the end should be 

 pinched. This will, of course, cause the full development 

 of the foliage, and in a short time the last bud will push 

 out a side shoot or lateral, which must again and again 

 be pinched as it grows. The object of this is to arrest 

 the production of useless wood and turn the sap to the 

 benefit of the fruit. Fig. 137 represents the appearance 

 of a vine trained in this way. 



By such a system as this the trellis is covered in every 

 part with bearing wood, the fruit and the foliage are all 

 exposed fully to the sun, a uniformity of vigor is main- 

 tained between the different parts, and the appearance is 

 beautiful. 



There are many other forms of training, each of which 

 has its merits and its advocates, but it should always be 

 remembered that the tendency of sap in all vegetation is 

 toward the extreme shoot, or end, and any system of 

 training that assists that will soon render weak and barren 

 the buds nearest the crown. The Thomery system, so 

 called from its being practised in a little village of that 

 name in France, is one of the neatest and most systematic, 

 as well as effective when thoroughly practised, but it re- 

 quires considerable skill and much labor. It is, in brief, 

 to form the trellis as we would for any other mode, only 

 making it higher, the placing the vines at equal distances, 

 and training the first and third with arms to the lower 

 wire ; the second and fourth have the main stem carried 

 up to the second wire, where the arms are formed. 



In fruiting, canes are grown annually from spurs along 

 these arms, and tied as they grow to the upright wires on 

 the trellis. It is estimated that to keep a vine in good 

 bearing condition, it should not cover, at any time, over 

 six to eight feet of one wire of the trellis, and, as before 



