AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 



351 



right frame of posts with bars or slats, these latter running 

 lengthwise, at about a foot apart. Its general direction should, 

 if convenient, be north and south. 



Fig. 219. 



STAKES. 



The vine upon stakes as seen in spring before starting ; on 

 the alternating system. 



a, a. Two canes cut back for growth. 



6. A young bud near the main stem to form a third cane 

 for next season. 



c, c. Young canes shortened for the season's crop, to be cut 

 out in the next winter' s pruning. 



Foreign grape-vines, with short joints and comparatively 

 moderate growth, may be cultivated, where other circumstances 

 favor, upon a single stake, by either system of pruning ; but 

 the extraordinary vigor of American grape-vines renders three 

 stakes expedient, if not absolutely necessary ; these form really 

 a small trellis, and this may be adopted as a preliminary mode 

 for vines which are intended to form permanent trellises or 

 arbors, or other stakes may be added as the extending growth 

 of the canes may demand. 



ALTERNATING SYSTEM. 



This system, which is quite superior to the former, consists 

 in allowing only a limited number of young canes to grow in 

 each year, proportioning them, both in number and length, to 

 the strength and support of the vine root, and cutting out at 

 every winter pruning all canes that have previously borne 

 fruit. Thus, if the plant has two canes, each of which in the 

 winter pruning you have shortened to four feet, then you will 

 permit only two new ones to grow the current season (Fig. 219). 

 To these four canes, two bearing and two growing, the usual 

 care is to be given through the summer and fall, as hereafter 

 directed. In the winter pruning the two bearing canes are 

 cut entirely out to a single bud, and you have again two shoots 



