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THE GRAPE CULTURIST. 



pruned in the same manner. Fig. 47 shows a portion of 

 the arm, with the hase of the upright shoot, or spur, as 

 it is called. The cross line shows 

 where the upper cane is to be cut 

 away. Each year the pruning should 

 be reversed, if the position of the 

 lower bud will admit of it. That is, 

 if we cut away the left-hand cane this 

 season, as shown in the last figure, 

 then we should cut away the right- 

 hand cane the next ; in this way the 

 spur will remain nearly upright. 

 But sometimes the lower bud will be 

 on the outside of the shoot which we 

 wish to keep for the fruit spur. Fig. 

 48 shows a spur with the buds in that 

 position ; but we must prune the 

 spur just the same as though it were 

 on the opposite side, and probably 

 the next season the buds on the young 

 shoot will be reversed, and we shall 

 be able to bring our fruit spur again 

 into a perpendicular position. The 

 lower bud will seldom be produced 

 two years in succession on the out- 

 side, as shown in Fig. 48. It is desir- 

 able that the shoot from the lower 

 bud on the fruit spur should grow 

 strong, as it is from this that we take 

 the two buds for the next season's 

 fruit spur. As this first, or lower 

 bud, is seldom more than one inch 

 from the base of the shoot, and in 

 many of our best short- jointed varie- 

 ties not more than a half-inch, it is 

 obvious that we lengthen the spur 



