SYSTEMS OF PRUNING AND TRAINING. 181 



Munson's Alternate Renewal System. Prof. 

 T. V. Munson, in giving his system of training the grape 

 to the public, through the pages of the American Agri- 

 culturist, in 1890, page 265, says: "To obtain best 

 results, American vines generally require 'alternate re- 

 newal' of bearing wood and few long bearing arms." 

 Then follows a description of the system, which begins 

 with the building of the trellis, probably because it is 

 the only new and distinctive feature, consisting mainly 

 in the setting of two posts in the same hole, and these 

 every thirty- two feet in the line of the rows of vines. 

 These two posts, instead of being placed in an upright 

 position, are set flaring outward at the top, so that they 

 will be about two feet apart when fixed in place. Now 

 along these two posts No. 11 galvanized wires are 

 stretched, and both at the same height (four feet) from 



FIG. 65. THREE-YEAR-OLD VINE. 



the ground, these two wires forming a kind of open, 

 flat platform, or trellis, on which the vines are allowed 

 to spread out over and rest when they reach a bearing 

 age, as shown in Fig. 65. The vines are planted eight 

 feet apart along the line of the trellis, and the first sea- 

 son the young canes are led up to the vines on strings 

 provided for the purpose. When this young cane has 

 reached the wire the head is pinched off, and two of the 

 terminal buds are allowed to push out and form lateral 

 canes for arms. The next season these side shoots are 

 pruned back to near the point where they first touched 

 the wire, or we may presume even lower if of weak 



