98 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA EXPERIMENT STATION. 



reduced to a prostrate stump, which makes cultivation difficult, and as 

 the vine becomes old it becomes full of dead wood and difficult to 

 prune. 



A better method is to give the vine a trunk and head exactly as in 

 pruning ordinary vase-formed vines. A trunk from 15 to 18 inches 

 high and with five or six arms will make a vine much easier to cultivate 

 and prune and at least equally productive of good cuttings. In 

 pruning, very short spurs are left, consisting simply of the base bud. 

 The cane should be cut off through the first bud above the base bud. 

 This will insure the starting of the base bud and will avoid the danger 

 of injury which occurs when the cut is made too close to the bud which 

 we desire to have grow. 



With this method of pruning the arms will lengthen so slowly that 

 there will never be occasion to cut them back. During the spring and 

 early summer all unnecessary shoots should be removed in order to 

 throw all the vigor of the vine into those which remain. 



A good, strong vine in rich soil should produce from 150 to 300 feet 

 of good grafting wood between one quarter and one half of an inch 

 in diameter, and a certain amount of smaller wood good for rooting. 

 Experience only will tell how many shoots should be left to a vine. 

 It will depend on the age of the vine, the variety and the soil. If too 

 few are left there is apt to be too much thick wood unsuitable for 

 grafting, especially with certain varieties such as Rupestris St. George. 

 If too many are left there will be too many small cuttings. 



Some varieties of stocks produce good grafting wood if the canes 

 are allowed to grow over the surface of the ground without support. 

 This has a tendency with some varieties to encourage the growth of 

 laterals and to make the canes short and stocky. 



To overcome this defect high poles are sometimes placed at each 

 vine, and the canes kept in an upright position by being tied to 

 these poles. The poles are sometimes 15 or 20 feet high. This method 

 produces an abundance of excellent grafting cuttings, but is expensive 

 and troublesome. A more practical method is to put a high stake 10 

 ieet high at the end of each row and to stretch a wire at that height 

 along the row. The shoots are then trained up to this wire by means of 

 strings renewed every year. (See Fig. 2.) 



Making and Conservation of Cuttings. Cuttings for grafting, to be 

 used either as stocks or scions, may be taken from the vines at any 

 time between the fall of the leaves in the autumn and two weeks before 

 the swelling of the buds in the spring. They may be used as soon as 

 made, or kept for an indefinite time, provided they are given proper 

 care. 



