not distinguishable by shape or size from wood or sterile buds. They 

 can be recognized only by their position. 



The buds on suckers (canes from below the ground) or water- 

 sprouts (canes from the trunk or older parts of the arms) are usually 

 unfruitful with most varieties. The only buds which can be depended 

 on to give fruit are those on canes which have grown on wood of the 

 previous year, or as pruners usually express it, * ' fruit spurs and fruit 

 canes consist of one-year-old wood growing out of two-year-old wood. ' ' 

 The canes of such wood are called by the grape-growers of South Af- 

 rica "bearers," and no others are used for making cuttings. 



Now, while the choice of this wood is perfectly safe, it has not been 

 demonstrated that such choice is necessary. It may be that cuttings 

 taken from heavy bearing vines will grow into other heavy bearing 

 vines whether they have originally been water-sprouts or fruit wood. 

 This seems probable, for in pruning vines it is constantly necessary to 

 use water-sprouts to form spurs for the purpose of replacing lost arms 

 or for shortening arms which have grown too long. Now, while these 

 spurs bear little or no fruit the first year, they give rise to wood the 

 following year, which satisfies the primer's definition of fruit wood, 

 viz., "one-year-old wood out of two-year-old wood," and which is ap- 

 parently as fruitful as any wood on the vine. A sucker, or water- 

 sprout from a fruitful vine, therefore, is to be preferred in making 

 cuttings to a fruit cane from a vine which bears small crops. 



All canes and all parts of the cane, however, are not equally suit- 

 able for cuttings. Very small, thin canes are apt to be ill-nourished 

 and immature, as are also the tips of better canes. Many cuttings 

 made from such material are apt to fail, or give weak vines. Very 

 large, over-grown cuttings are also to be avoided. Many growers avoid 

 using the two or three buds nearest the base of the cane on the ground 

 that such buds are not fruit buds, but the same reasoning may be ap- 

 plied to this case as to that of water-sprouts. A medium sized cutting 

 between three-eighths and five-eighths inches in diameter is most likely 

 to give good results. 



Form and Length of Cutting. It was formerly considered good 

 practice to leave a piece of old wood attached to the base of the cut- 

 ting, on the ground that such cuttings always grew. This practice is 

 now very generally abandoned, as it often gives rise to weak and dis- 

 eased vines. The piece of old wood always decays finally, and the 

 decay may spread into the trunk and roots of the vine. A good cut- 

 ting should consist exclusively of one-year-old wood ; that is, the wood 

 which has grown during the current season. 



The form and length of the cuttings will depend on the use that is 

 to be made of them. If they are to be used as scions for grafting they 

 may be cut up in any way and of any length that is found convenient 

 for handling and keeping them in good condition. If they are to be 

 used for rooting either in the nursery or the vineyard it is most con- 

 venient to cut them up into the exact lengths which are to be planted. 



The length will depend altogether on the soil and climate where 



