GRAPE 



GRAPE 



1375 



1712. Moore Early. 



1713. Massasoit. 



1710. Grein Golden. A good grape cluster. 



1711. Eaton. 



An old system of renewal was by means of spurs. 

 Fig. 1715 illustrates this. The horizontal part is a per- 

 manent arm or branch. We will suppose that it grew in 

 1912. In 1913 a shoot grew upward. It bore two or 

 three clusters of fruit. In autumn it was cut back to a, 

 two buds being left to supply the shoots of the succeed- 

 ing year. This short branch is now called a spur. Only 

 one shoot was wanted for the next year, but two buds 

 were left in case one should be injured. In 1914, a 

 branch grew from one of these buds: it bore fruit: in 

 the fall it was cut back to b. In 1915 a shoot will grow 

 from one of the buds, c. Thus the spur elongates year 

 by year, becoming a forking, complicated, stubby 

 branch. After a few years it may become weak: the 

 grower sees this, and if a new shoot should start from 

 the main arm near the base of the spur, he encourages 

 it and cuts off all of the old spur: thus he renews back 

 again to the main vine. Shoots from adventitious or 

 secondary buds are likely to spring from the main arm 

 or the spur at any time. These are usually weak and 

 are removed, but now and then a strong one arises. 

 Spur-pruning is now rarely used except in grapes grown 

 on arbors or under glass, in which cases it is necessary 

 to have a long, permanent trunk. On arbors it is best 

 to carry one arm or trunk from each root to the top of 



framework. Each year the lateral canes are 

 cut back to spurs of two or three buds. The prun- 

 ing of glasshouse grapes is discussed under Grapes 

 under glass (page 1389). 



The current systems of pruning renew to a head K>r 

 to the main trunk each year. The trunk is carried 

 up to the desired height to one of the wires of the 

 trellis and one or more canes are taken out from 

 its top each year. The object is to keep the bearing 

 wood near the main trunk and to obviate the use of 

 spurs. This type of pruning is illustrated in Fig. 1716. 

 This engraving shows the head of a vine seven years 

 old, and on which two canes are allowed to remain after 

 each annual pruning. The part extending from b to f 

 and d is the base of the bearing cane of 1914. In the 

 winter of 1914-15, this cane is cut 

 off at d, and the new cane, e, is left 

 to make the bearing wood of 

 1915. Another cane arose from 

 /, but it was too weak to leave for 

 fruiting. It was, therefore, cut 

 away. The old stub, b, f, d, will 

 be cut away a year hence, in the 

 winter of 1915-16. In the mean- 

 time, a renewal cane will have 

 grown from the stub c, which is 

 left for that purpose, and the old 

 cane, b d, will be cut off just be- 

 yond it, between c and /. In this 

 way, the bearing wood is kept 

 close to the head of the vine. The 

 wound a shows where an old stub 

 was cut away this winter, 1914-15, while b shows where 

 one was cut off the previous winter. A scar on the 

 back of the head, which does not show in the illustra- 

 tion, marks the spot where a stub was cut away two 

 years ago, in the winter of 1912-13. This method of 

 pruning can be kept up almost indefinitely, and if care 

 is exercised in keeping the stubs short, the head will 

 not enlarge out of proportion to the growth of the stock 

 or trunk. 



Two common styles of training are in use in the 



1715. Pruning to a 

 spur. 



1716. Head of a vine. Showing 

 the system of taking out the 

 renewals. 



1714. Fruit-bearing of the grape. 



