Sununcr- Pruning of the Grape. 355 



It may be objected, and we are all tired of hearing the objection, that 

 we are contending against the natural efiforts of the plant, which was only 

 following its own instincts ; and that, therefore, our attempts thus to thwart 

 Nature were unwise and unphilosophical, and consequently wrong. But we 

 may answer all such objections by telling them that we are treating the 

 civilized vine in a civilized manner, and for the purposes of civilized man. 

 The conditions of the problem are changed. One thing, however, remains 

 the same in the wild and in the cultivated vine : in both cases, the fruit- 

 branches spring from healthy and well-matured shoots of last year's growth. 

 In the native forest, the vines clamber over shrubs, and even upon the 

 highest trees, where they can have free exposure to the air and light, and 

 where God's creatures, called the inferior animals, — for whom, in the bounty 

 of his providence, they were produced, — can enjoy the fruits of the vine so 

 lavishly furnished. Intelligent man, not wishing to rival these animals in 

 climbing, and unable to fly with the birds to gather the clusters, cultivates 

 and improves the fruit for his own use, and trains the vines so that he may 

 reach their luscious bunches. Of course, his treatment of the plants is not 

 exactly according to Nature ; and yet the important facts and principles 

 of the natural habits of the vine are ever borne in mind by the successful 

 cultivator, who will take very good care not to set himself in opposition to 

 them. 



We now come to the last subdivision of the subject, — that of summer 

 pruning and training in order to check the too great extension or the too 

 late growth of the vine, and for the sake of developing the lower buds 

 along that part of the cane which will be called upon to produce the fruit- 

 bearing branches. It may be that those who advocate this kind of short- 

 ening-in are right. Let us listen to the arguments. advanced in its favor. 



The success of the renewal system as it is generally practised, whether the 

 vine be trained upon stakes or trellises, always depends upon the suitable 

 development of the renewal-canes, or shoots that are provided for bearing the 

 next crop. To this end, these shoots are encouraged in their growth : they 

 are carefully tied up as they grow ; and they are maintained in a vertical 

 position, that they may continue to develop themselves. All laterals are 

 removed as soon as they appear ; and the tendrils are pinched off, at least 

 so far as the cane is to be retained on the vine at the winter-pruning. At 

 the same time, aspiring shoots in other parts of the vine are subordinated 



