328 SIMFLE CANE TRAINING. 



the wine regions of France. The value of the pro- 

 duce is so small that the cultivator cannot afford to 

 use manure, or stakes to support the vines. The 

 poorer the soil, the more vigorous do they prune. 

 " In the rocky situations of the district of Erisso, 

 in Cephalonia, where the vine is planted in the 

 crevices of the rocks, only one or two of the last 

 year's branches are preserved, and of these the 

 greater part is removed, only two or three buds 

 being allowed to remain." This practice is proved 

 to be beneficial. It is urged that the branches of 

 the vine extend further than the roots, and unless 

 severe pruning is practised in poor soils the branches 

 will exceed in proportion, and the vine become 

 weak in consequence. 



Simple cane training. The vine produces fruit 

 upon the new wood, and con- 

 sequently a succession of it 

 must be secured. A very 

 simple method is that repre- 

 sented in the figure. The 

 first year the vine is kept to 

 a single cane. At the winter pruning, which takes 

 place after the fall of the leaf, and the ripening of 

 the wood, the cane is shortened back according to 

 the strength of the growth, and the next season the 

 terminal bud is allowed to extend, and one of the 

 lower buds to start also, to make the cane upon the 

 left. As soon as the strength of the vine will per- 



