13 



the difficulty of preventing the vine from sending out an inconvenient 

 number of shoots at the bend. The vine might be grown with two 

 branches, one stretching in either direction, but this has been found 

 inconvenient on account of the difficulty of preserving an equal bal- 

 ance of the branches. The direction in which the vine is trained 

 should be that of the prevailing high winds, as this will minimize 

 the chances of shoots being blown off. When the cordon or body of 

 the vine is well-formed, it may be pruned with all the modifications of 

 short, half-long and long pruning already described in head pruning, 

 and the same precautions are necessary to preserve the balance and 

 symmetry of the vine and to maintain it at the highest degree of fruit- 

 fulness without undulv exhausting it. 



Figs. IX and X will sufficiently illustrate the way of shaping and 

 tying short and long-pruned vines. For some table grapes extension 

 of the method shown in Fig. IX in the direction of half-long pruning 

 is useful. On a heavy soil the short spurs do not provide sufficient 

 outlet for the vigor of the vine, while long pruning would unduly in- 

 crease the number of bunches on a single cane, and so reduce their 

 size, which would deteriorate from their value as table grapes. 



Fig. XI represents a style of pruning used with success in some 

 of the richest low-lying soils of France. The body of the vine is rais- 

 ed up to a height of two and a half or three feet above the soil, a use- 

 ful means of lessening the danger from spring frosts. The fruit 

 canes are bent vertically downward thus restricting the flow of sap 

 sufficiently to force out the lower buds of the fruit canes into strong 

 shoots which can be used for fruit canes of the follow- 



