152 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



The renewal system, with horizontal arms, for training 

 against fences and buildings and trellises. First year. Train 

 the same as in the spur system. In November, cut back to 

 eighteen inches, or to the point where you wish to take the 

 arms. Second year. Let all the buds push, and train the two 

 upper shoots to a pole, or to the trellis, pinching them occasion- 

 ally to make them stout. Pinch all the other shoots, at two 

 leaves, and keep them so. This will promote the growth of the 

 main cane, by arresting some of the sap, and thus prevent the 

 vine from getting hide-bound. At the fall pruning, cut back 

 the two canes to three or four feet each, according to the 

 strength of the vine ; leaving the same length and the same 

 number of buds to each. Then bend them down, one to the 

 right and the other to the left, and tie them to the lower bar or 

 wire of the trellis, so that the vine will be T shaped. Third 

 year. Train up three or four shoots from each arm to the top 

 of the trellis, at equal distances from each other. If some 

 grow stronger than others, pinch in the strong ones till the 

 weak overtake them. In other matters, treat the same as 

 before. In November, cut back every other cane to one bud, 

 and the intervening ones to three or four feet, for bearing the 

 next year. Fourth year. In November, cut back the canes 

 that have fruited to one bud, and the others to four feet. The 

 spur system is the best for vineyards, and the renewal for 

 houses and walls. In both systems, laterals must be pinched 

 out at two leaves, and all suckers and shoots from dormailt eyes 

 on the old wood, must be rubbed off. Trellises can be made of 

 cedar posts, set eight or ten feet apart, and telegraph-wire or 

 wooden slats run across, twelve or fifteen inches apart. 



Propagation. — Cuttings are the cheapest means of extending 

 .an established vineyard. At the November pruning, save cut- 

 tings of well-ripened wood, of the current year, twelve or 

 .fifteen inches long; bury them in dry soil, or in sand, during 

 the winter, and, in the spring, plant two of them in the place 

 where you want a vine. Set them about two inches apart. In 

 the spring of the second year, pull, or dig up tlie weakest vine, 

 and set vines, one year old, in the places where the cuttings 

 failed to grow. The upper buds of the cuttings may be cov- 

 ered, one-third of an inch deep, after they are planted in a 

 slanting position. If preferred, they can be set in nursery beds. 



