106 



be set six feet apart. Cut back the laterals to two buds in 

 autumn, for bearing wood the next season. 



TRELLISES AND STAKES. 



Trellises may be constructed with posts and slats, or wire 

 stretched from one post to another, and made fast by staples. 

 Numbers 12 to 15 galvanized or annealed wire will be found of 

 suitable size, and the staples may be readily made of the same. 

 Cedar posts, set eight feet apart, five inches in diameter, are 

 durable, and cheapest in the end. Stretch the bottom wire 

 twenty inches from the ground, and three others about thirteen 

 inches apart, making the trellis five feet high. Such a trellis 

 will require no renewal or repairs for many years. Wooden slats 

 soon become tender, and are almost a constant source of annoy- 

 ance. Stakes are also of cedar, and may be somewhat smaller, 

 and should be, when set, at least six feet high. 



BEST TIME FOR PRUNING THE VINE. 



The annual pruning may be done at any time from the fall of 

 the leaf till early spring. Pruning vines or trees when frozen 

 is not thought to be a good practice, and hence the autumn and 

 pleasant days in winter are to be preferred. If the wood re- 

 moved is to be used for propagating, let the pruning be done 

 and the cuttings planted out in the fall, as before described. 

 Winter pruning will be very inconvenient, if not impossible, 

 where the vines are dropped on the ground, and covered with 

 evergreens or snow, as is strongly recommended where practi- 

 cable. 



I am fully aware that some successful vine-growers say, 

 "Prune at any time," and claim that bleeding, which is sure to 

 follow spring pruning, is not injurious. It is quite certain, how- 

 ever, that bleeding can do the vine no good, and equally certain 

 that wounds made when the wood is frozen do not readily heal. 

 Because the sugar-maple is not seriously injured by the escape 

 of sap from a small hole made with a bit, it does not follow that 

 the same tree would not be injured by cutting away numerous 

 large branches at the same season. This is precisely the treat- 

 ment that is given the vine when the grower cuts back to one or 

 two buds annuallv. 



