118 MANUAL OF AMERICAN GRAPE-GROWING 



in one or two prominent methods of training, as will be dis- 

 covered in this discussion. Figure 13 shows a vine ready for 

 pruning. 



THE WORK OF PRUNING 



The pruner may take his choice between several styles of 

 hand pruning-shears with which to do his work. The knife 

 is seldom used except in summer-pruning, and here, more 

 often, the shoots are broken out or pinched out. In winter- 

 pruning, the cane is cut an inch or thereabout beyond the 

 last bud it is desired to leave ; otherwise the bud may die from 

 the drying out of the cane. The canes are usually allowed to 

 remain tied to the wires until the pruning is done, though 

 growers who use the Kniffin method of training may cut them 

 loose before they prune. Two men working together do the 

 work of pruning best. The more skilled of the two severs 

 the wood from the bearing vine, leaving just the number of 

 buds desired for the next season's crop. The less skilled man 

 cuts tendrils and severs the cut canes from each other so that 

 the prunings may be moved from the vineyard without trouble 

 by the " stripper." 



Not the least of the tasks of pruning is " stripping" the 

 brush and getting it out of the vineyard. The prunings cling 

 to the trellis with considerable tenacity and must be pulled 

 loose with a peculiar jerk, learned by practice, and placed on 

 the ground between the rows. Stripping is done, usually by 

 cheap labor, at any time after the pruning until spring, but 

 must not be delayed until growth starts or the young buds may 

 suffer as the cut wood is torn from the trellis. The brush is 

 hauled to the end of the row by hand or by horse-power applied 

 to any one of a dozen devices used in the several grape regions. 

 One of the best is the device in common use in the Chautauqua 

 vineyards of western New York. A pole, twelve feet long, four 

 inches in diameter at the butt and two at the top, is bored with 



