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GARDEN CULTURE. 171 



grown iii small gardens, four or six canes are as many 

 as should be allowed on those trained to stakes. 



There is no difficulty in keeping the vines within a 

 small space, and with the main stem only a foot or two 

 high. All that is necessary is to keep the young growth 

 checked during the summer, and when, pruning the vine 

 leave only those buds which are required to produce 

 fruiting canes. 



I test all the new varieties in this way, never going 

 to the expense of erecting trellises for them until they 

 have proved themselves worthy of it. The vines will 



remain just as healthy when grown in this manner as 

 when allowed to spread over a space of fifty or one hun- 

 dred feet. I am well aware that theorists assert that the 

 vine must have room to expand and extend its branches 

 as it grows old ; but one fact is worth any number of 

 theories, and there are thousands of vines in Europe 

 that are from fifty to one hundred years old, the main 

 stems of which are not two feet high. These vines are 

 pruned back to the stump every year, and yet they live 

 and bear fruit of the best quality. We have no such 



