638 FIELD AND GARDEN PRODUCTS 



Pruning. By the process of pruning, the excess shoots from 

 the rootstock are removed and the formation of fewer but at the same 

 time stronger vines is favored. The rootstock itself also is reduced 

 to an acceptable form and suitable depth below the surface of the soil, 

 and the formation of undesirable runners is retarded or suppressed. 

 The working over of the ground incident to pruning also is an im- 

 portant part of cultivation. Within certain limits determined by 

 local conditions, the length of the growing period and the time of 

 ripening may be influenced by the earliness or lateness of pruning. 

 The general practice is to prune early in the spring, the exact time 

 being determined by the season and the locality. 



A common practice is to draw four or five furrows with a small 

 plow on each side of the row, turning the earth away from the hills. 

 The yard is then cross-plowed in a similar manner, leaving each hill 

 a small undisturbed square. The earth is then hoed and grubbed 

 away from the roots, and the superfluous roots and runners, together 

 with an inch or two at the top of the root crown, are cut off with a 

 sharp knife. After pruning, the hoe is used to pull the soil back 

 upon the hill, covering the rootstock to a depth of 2 or 3 inches. Too 

 much pruning by this method causes disease, and frequently un- 

 even pruning causes the late coming out of the overpruned vines. 



Another method which offers several advantages over the for- 

 mer is to prepare the ground by plowing as before, using a coulter 

 on the plow in drawing the last two furrows. The hill is not dug 

 into, but instead a sharp spade is used, with which each side of the 

 hill is cut down on a slant from top to bottom, leaving the hill about 

 4 inches square at the top and 12 to 14 inches square at the bottom. 

 With this method baking of the soil over the hill is avoided and the 

 new shoots come through much more easily. The pruning is more 

 even and the rootstock suffers less from wounds and bruises than by 

 the former method. 



The eyes or buds on the upper part of the rootstock begin to 

 grow earlier in the spring than those on the lower portion. But the 

 shoots from the lower eyes make a much more rapid growth ; hence, 

 it is desirable to remove the upper eyes in pruning. This fact is of 

 special importance in regions subject to late frosts in spring. Care 

 should be taken in pruning the root crown not to remove all of the 

 new wood formed in the preceding summer, since the eyes on the 

 old rootstock produce weaker shoots than those on the new wood. 

 In pruning, each plant must receive individual treatment according 

 to its condition and state of development. The number and strength 

 of the vines produced after pruning afford the best means of judging 

 the correctness of the pruning as well as the soundness and vigor of 

 the rootstock. 



The later development of the plant is much modified by prun- 

 ing. Longer, stouter, and better developed vines, longer arms, and 

 more abundant strobiles or cones result when the pruning has been 

 properly done. In wild hops which have been pruned for several 

 years it has been found that the form of the cones has been modified 

 and the lupulin content increased. There is good reason to believe 

 that if more attention was paid to the important process of pruning 



