SUMMER TRIMMING. 77 



very unequally in vineyards when trained on stakes. 

 It does better on trellises. The Catawba will also 

 answer when trained on trellises for table fruit. 



SUMMER TRIMMING. 



This labor is in German called Zwicken, which, 

 being literally translated, means pinching with the 

 forefinger and thumb. It is also sometimes called 

 Ausbrechen (breaking off), because the main object of 

 it is, to break off or remove all unnecessary branches, 

 so that the retained useful branches may grow more 

 thriftily, and that the grapes may thereby become more 

 perfect and ripe, by receiving freely the effects of sun 

 and air. Care must be taken that the growing grape 

 be not without its due protection from leaves, as will 

 presently be explained. 



This labor requires much practical skill, judgment, 

 and experience. Errors in winter trimming, or acci- 

 dental losses, may now be remedied by an expert sum- 

 mer trimmer, by promoting, at the proper places, those 

 shoots which the vine stands in need of. Errors in 

 summer trimming are harder to remedy, for obvious 

 reasons. Whoever, therefore, attempts trimming in 

 summer should fully understand winter trimming, for 



