VINEYARDS. 85 



why, one cuts one way and one another. The usual plan is to 

 employ in substance one of two modes. One consists in cutting 

 out a portion of the long shoots or canes entirely, the' other in 

 cutting off the greater length of all tlie canes. In the first case 

 there will be a good show of fruit the following year, because a 

 part of the best fruit-buds are left, but if the same system be 

 followed out for a few years, the vine requires more and more 

 room to spread itself in every direction. The best fruit is borne 

 at a distance from the centre, and mostly at the top of the vine 

 if any portion of it grows upright, and after a few years the 

 parts of the vine nearest the root become barren, and the fruit 

 is borne only at the extremities. This system must finally run 

 out for want of room, and will not answer for vineyard 

 cultivation. 



In the second plan above mentioned, if all the shoots are cut 

 away for the most of their length, tlie best fruit buds are lost, 

 and the result is necessarily a poor crop. The vine extends 

 continually, but more slowly than in the other case and is 

 otherwise less satisfactory. 



To overcome these difficulties, that is, to get strong fruit- 

 buds, and at the same time to keep the vine always at home, I 

 have adopted the plan described. I am not aware that anything 

 connected witli it is original with me, for it has been in use 

 essentially for many years. Its practical working is tliis : As 

 the strength of a vine is expended principally at its extreme 

 ends or top, the whole vine is made to be the top by the system 

 of horizontal arms from which the upright fruit-bearing spurs 

 grow, no one having any special advantage over another. The 

 two arms being of equal length and bearing the same number 

 of spurs are equally balanced. The effect of pinching off the 

 ends of the bearing shoots early in their growtli, is to cause the 

 remaining buds in the axils of the leaves, which are to produce 

 fruit in the following year, to rapidly develop, and form fine, 

 large fruit-buds. The continual pinching of laterals prevents the 

 vine from neglecting these buds during the whole of the growing 

 season. The same causes also operate to develop the fruit which 

 is upon the same spur, and it grows very large and ripens evenly 

 and early. Another effect produced is, that the leaves that 

 are left. to grow, being few in number, grow very large and 

 healthy. A single large leaf is of more value than a number 



