182 THE GRAPE CULTURIST. 



growth, although Professor Munson is silent on this 

 point. We gather, however, from his illustration of the 

 system, that eventually two arms are trained on each 

 wire, as shown, and then one-half of these bearing arms 

 is cut away annually, to he replaced by new ones formed 

 by laying down strong canes of the preceding season's 

 growth, as practiced in the old German bow system, 

 explained elsewhere. But as Professor Munson says 

 nothing about thinning out canes, rubbing off surplus 

 buds, summer pinching or pruning, we presume nothing 

 of the kind is practiced, leaving the bearing and barren 

 canes to go through the season in a great tangle on the 

 two-foot-wide platform overhead. This system would 

 not be a bad one, provided the same rules of pruning, 

 thinning and pinching of the young canes are adopted, 

 as practiced in all others of like form and character. As 

 might be expected, the originator advances various rea- 

 sons why he thinks it superior to all others in use; but 

 there is only one which strikes me as peculiar, and de- 

 serving of special notice, and it is No. 3, in the list of 

 his baker's dozen, to wit: "The sap required to make 

 new wood for bearing is not carried through wood bear- 

 ing a crop, as in the spur system, but a complete alter- 

 nate renewal is effected, thus keeping the plant in per- 

 fect balance and meeting the natural requirements of 

 the vine." 



This is a most extraordinary claim, for if cutting 

 away one or two entire bearing arms on a vine, and leav- 

 ing the same number with numerous fruiting buds, will 

 insure a. "perfect balance," then, I must confess, some- 

 thing new has been discovered in the physiological prin- 

 ciples which govern the growth of the vine. Then, 

 again, any form of alternate renewal which starts above 

 the main cane is not "complete," because this main 

 stem, or stock, is just as truly bearing wood as an arm, 

 whether it be long or short ; for, at most, the arm is 



