490 AMERICAN GRAPE TRAINING, CONCLUDED 



which gives excellent results ; but on the whole, 

 post training cannot be recommended. The Euro- 

 pean post and stake systems, or modifications of 

 them, are yet occasionally recommended for Ameri- 

 can vines, but under general conditions, especially 

 in commercial grape growing, they rarely succeed 

 long. One of the latest recommendations of any 

 of these types is that of the single pole system of 

 the Upper Rhine Valley, by A. F. Hofer, of Iowa, 

 in a little treatise published in 1878. 



ARBORS. Arbors and bowers are usually 

 formed with little reference to pruning and train- 

 ing. The first object is to secure shade and se- 

 clusion, and these are conditions which may 

 seriously interfere with the production of fine 

 grapes. As a rule, too much wood must be al- 

 lowed to grow, and the soil about arbors is 

 rarely ever cultivated. Still, fair results in fruit 

 can be obtained if the operator makes a diligent 

 use of the pruning shears. It is usually best to 

 carry one main or permanent trunk up to the 

 top or center of the arbor. Along this trunk at 

 intervals of two feet or less, spurs may be left to 

 which the wood is renewed each year. If the 

 vines stand six feet apart about the arbor which 

 is a satisfactory distance one cane three feet 

 long may be left on each spur when the pruning 

 is done. The shoots which spring from these 

 canes will soon cover up the intermediate spaces. 

 At the close of the season, this entire cane, with 



