518 VIXIFERA GRAPE TRAINING 



essentially in allowing the vine to grow in a more 

 or less horizontal direction for several feet, thus 

 giving a larger body and fruiting surface. 



The treatment of the young vines the first year 

 is the same as for head -pruning, as already de- 

 scribed. As soon as the young vine produces a 

 good, strong shoot it is tied up to the wire and bo 

 the stake which is placed between the vines in the 

 rows. Each vine should finally reach its neighbor, 

 but it requires two or three years for this if the 

 vines are six or seven feet apart in the rows. It is 

 possible, by cutting the vine back nearly to the 

 ground for the first year or two, to obtain a cane 

 which will stretch the whole distance between the 

 vines at the first tying up; but this is not neces- 

 sary nor advisable. Neither is it advisable to 

 make a very sharp angle (almost a right angle), as 

 is usually done in regular cordon pruning, on 

 account of the difficulty of preventing the vine 

 from sending out an inconvenient number of shoots 

 at the bend. The vine might be grown with two 

 tranches, one stretching in either direction, but 

 this lias been found inconvenient on account of the 

 difficulty of preserving an equal balance of the 

 branches. The direction in which the vine is 

 trained should be that of the prevailing high 

 winds, as this will minimize, the chances of shoots 

 being binxvn oir. When the cordon or body of the 

 vine is well-formed, it may be pruned with all the 

 modifications of short, half-long and long-pruning 



