WHY PRUNE GRAPE-VINES? 285 



reason : By pruning in the winter, by cutting oft* the top of 

 any plant that lives through the winter, we get a j^repoucler- 

 ence of root over top, and the result is, that the next season 

 the top starts with a great deal of vigor ; it makes an in- 

 creased growth in consequence of this winter-pruning. If, 

 on the contrary, we had pruned the roots instead of the top, 

 it would have taken the whole season, under ftivorable cir- 

 cumstances, for the top to have made enough roots to supply 

 the place of those removed. To get a strong growth, we cut 

 away the top, so that the roots may have the preponderance, 

 and give us a strong growth the next year. The pruning in 

 the autumn of the first year should be this : Every vine 

 should be cut down within two buds of the earth. No mat- 

 ter how much it has grown, whether it has grown three feet, 

 or four feet, or one foot, every vine should be cut remorse- 

 lessly down to the ground, leaving only one or two buds to 

 start from the next year. Then we have simply one or two 

 buds, with a strong system of roots underneath the ground, 

 to start the second season. That season we shall get a strong 

 growth, and it should be treated very much as it was the first 

 year. Of course, there will be a great deal of top, and it 

 will be necessary to have, perhaps, a long stake and to take 

 more pains to keep it out of the way of the cultivator ; but 

 it should be allowed to grow pretty much as it did the first 

 year, because we are not yet ready to produce fruit, and if 

 we let it grow in this way and make this system of horizon- 

 tal roots, a great many of them, the second year, it is more 

 favorable for the vine than to make a few long roots. Culti- 

 vate the same as the first year, simply keeping the ground 

 mellow and free from vegetation. In the autumn of the sec- 

 ond year, we want to prune again. Here is where it comes 

 hard. We have got a good vine ; it has grown four, five, six, 

 seven or eight feet; what are we going to do with it? Cut 

 it oft" down to the ground, just as we did the year before. 

 You will say, " I have lost a year. I have grown all this 

 wood, and I am going to throw it away." That seems to be 

 a waste of time, but it is not ; it is a thing we have to learn 

 somewhat b}^ experience. A vine should be cut down the 

 same way the second year as the first, leaving only one or 

 two buds to start from the third year ; then we are ready to 



