GRAPE. 243 



again, it may be best to cut the whole vine off at the surface of 

 the ground. If this is done at the proper season for pruning sever- 

 al sprouts will start from near the root, but only one, or at most 

 two, should be saved. These sprouts should be trained the 

 same as a newly planted vine, except that in one season they 

 will make a vine large enough to bear a good crop of fruit the 

 following year. By either method only one fruiting year is lo^st, 

 but as a rule the greatest success attends the latter method. 



Time of pruning. — The best time to prune the grape is late 

 In the fall or early in the spring. If the \rines are to be laid on 

 the ground in winter of course they should be pruned in au- 

 tumn, as doing it then will greatly facilitate the laying down 

 process. If for any reason the vines have not been pruned until 

 the buds have started, it is far better to do it then than not at 

 all. The so-called "bleeding" of vines does not appear to serious- 

 ly injure them, though pruning when the sap will run from the 

 cut surfaces is a bad plan and generally causes the bleeding 

 wood to die back. 



Spring pruning of the grape should consist only in pulling 

 out the extra shoots that start from each spur that have been 

 left to produce bearing wood. No matter what training method 

 is followed, the vine is liable to produce a number of weak shoots 

 that are of no help to it and should be removed if not needed to 

 carry out the plan of training. 



Removing foliage. — Under no circumstances should any con- 

 siderable foliage be taken from the vine while it is growing. The 

 notion that ripening fruit needs the sunlight is very much at 

 fault. Grapes ripen best where the fruit is in the shade and the 

 leaves in the bright sunlight. The leaves are, so to speak, both 

 lungs and siomach to the plant and anything that injures them 

 prevents the ripening of the fruit. 



The tying material commonly used in tying vines consists 

 of raffia which can be purchased from the dealers in garden and 

 florist supplies. Many vineyards are tied with green rye or even 

 with green bluegrass. 



Thinning the fruit. — Under almost any system of pruning, 

 some varieties will set more fruit than they can properly mature. 

 Where this is the case, the poorest bunches should be cut away 



