14 American Garpe Training. 



new cane, which may bear fruit as well as leaves. 

 At the close of the season, this long ripened shoot 

 or cane has produced a bud every foot or less, from 

 which new fruit-bearing shoots are to spring next 

 year. But if all these buds were allowed to re- 

 main, the vine would be overtaxed with fruit the 

 coming year and the crop would be a failure. The 

 cane is, therefore, cut off until it bears only as many 

 buds as experience has taught us the vine should 

 carry. The cane may be cut back to five or ten 

 buds, and perhaps some of these buds will be re- 

 moved, or "rubbed off," next spring if the young 

 growth seems to be too thick, or if the plant is 

 weak. Each shoot will bear, on an average/ two 

 or three clusters. Some shoots will bear no clus- 

 ters. From one to six of the old canes, each bear- 

 ing from five to ten buds, are left each spring. 

 The number of clusters which a vine can carry 

 well depends upon the variety, the age and size of 

 the vine, the style of the training, and the soil and 

 cultivation. Experience is the only guide. A 

 strong vine of Concord, which is a prolific variety, 

 trained upon any of the ordinary systems and set 

 nine or ten feet apart each way, will usually carry 

 from thirty to sixty clusters. The clusters will 

 weigh from a fourth to a half pound each. Twelve 

 or fifteen pounds of marketable grapes is a fair or 

 average crop for such a Concord vine, and twenty- 

 five pounds is a very heavy crop. 



The pruning of the grape vine, therefore, is 



