266 AMERICAN" GRAPE GROWING 



points th^fc way. With those I would form the head 

 from twelve to eighteen inches from the ground the third 

 summer. In next winter's pruning, if they have made 

 three strong shoots, cut back each of them to three 

 buds, from which we can expect at least six strong, 

 healthy shoots. In pruning, the fourth winter, cut the 

 three strongest of these, one from each branch of the 

 vine, back to a short cane, say eighteen inches, and the 

 others to spurs of two buds each. These canes are tied 

 over to the stake with a strong band of willow, and will 

 bear more and better fruit than if cut back to short 

 spurs. At the next pruning these old arms may be left, 

 if they are healthy and sound, and the strongest of their 

 branches be cut back to spurs of two buds, while the 

 weak shoots are taken out altogether, or, if they arc 

 deficient, they may be cut out and a new cane from the 

 lower spurs tied in their place. This method of train- 

 ing allows cultivation both ways, and has been so suc- 

 cessful wherever tried, that the use of stakes becomes 

 more general everywhere. I have more than doubled 

 the product of an old piece of Chasselas and Muscatelle, 

 which had been trained to low heads without stakes, by 

 training them in this way, and also improved the quality, 

 as under the former treatment the long canes were blown 

 over by the wind, and the fruit exposed to the sun. 



In stool training the vines are cut back again to spurs 

 the next winter, cutting back to the strongest shoots, 

 and taking out the weaker ones. Of course in this, as 

 in all systems of pruning, due attention must be paid 

 to the strength of the vine, and the spurs may vary 

 from four to twelve, or even sixteen, according to its 

 vigor. 



Cultivation is essentially the same as in the first years, 

 only, as the vines become stronger and more branched, 

 especially after pruning, great care must be taken not 

 to break and tear the vines in plowing. Here, again, 



