THE GRAPE. 39 



its natural action, and, as a consequence, rot and decay 

 ensue, creating at the root of the vine, a fungoid disease 

 which, if the same system of summer pruning were per- 

 sisted in, would, in a few years, result in apparent out- 

 ward disease of the vine, and in rot and mildew of the 

 fruit. 



Having said this much of summer pruning, let us now 

 suppose you have a vine planted this past spring, and that 

 you have permitted it, as you should, to grow just as 

 many or just as few shoots or vines as it pleased ; but now 

 you want to put it into shape, so that next year it will in- 

 crease in strength of root and prepare itself to give you 

 fruit the year following. Take then your knife and cut 

 away all the small canes, selecting the largest and best in 

 the center, or as grown from the strongest center bud, and 

 cut that so that your vine will be as represented in Fig. i. 



FIG. i. 



This first season all vines may be acceptably pruned ir 

 this way ; but when the growth in spring comes, it be- 

 hooves the grower to know his vine and his soil. For 

 while a Concord, Hartford, or Norton, etc., will in good 



