PYRAMIDAL OR CONICAL TRAINING. 269 



A fn Tranche Compte another mode is pursued. No stakes 

 are placed at the sides of the vines, but short props are set in 

 the ground which have forks at about two feet from the earth, 

 across which poles are laid on which short stumps have been 

 left at about a foot from each other. In some cases these 

 poles are rested in the forks of old vines. The main branches 

 are then trained along on them from which the new shoots 

 spread in every direction, and the vineyard seems covered 

 with foliage while clusters of fruit hang beneath in the shade. 

 The labourers have to creep under in order to destroy the 

 weeds, which are less numerous however on account of being 

 overhung by the vines. This manner of training is extremely 

 inappropriate in the colder latitudes, and can only be found 

 useful in very warm localities, for the sun being shut out from 

 the fruit, cannot perfect the high vinous properties which con- 

 stitute almost the sole value of the crops. 



Pyramidal or conical training. 



This mode pursued in many German vineyards has been 

 also adopted in a number of French ones, from a desire of ob- 

 taining large crops with less uncertainty, labour, and expense. 

 In planting vineyards for this object, the only difference to be 

 observed is, that the rows be eight feet apart, and the vines 

 set out at the same distance checkerwise in the rows. 



The first operation in giving form to the vines takes place 

 at the second annual pruning in autumn or spring, when two 

 shoots should be left, one with five, and the other with six eyes. 

 In the spring of the third season, strong posts nine feet high 

 and six inches in diameter, are to be placed in regular rows, 

 one to each vine, around which the two shoots are to be trained 

 spirally in the same direction, with a space of about four 

 inches between each turn. The branches are regularly tied, 

 and the main shoots when they have attained a suitable height 

 are topped. A small crop of fruit will be produced this season, 

 and at the annual pruning the two highest shoots are treated 

 as before, and the lateral branches called side runners, which 

 are intended to fill up the pyramid, are cut down to three buds 

 each. 



