270 PYRAMIDAL OR CONICAL TRAINING, 



The ensuing year which is the fourth, the vines will begin 

 to exhibit the pyramidal form, and may be made triangular, 

 quadrangular, or hexangular at the option of the cultivator, 

 but a circular form is generally preferred as most convenient. 

 The training of the two principal branches is continued as 

 before, in a spiral direction ; and when the berries are formed 

 all the shoots from the side runners are shortened to six eyes> 

 which in addition to giving them strength, facilitates the cir- 

 culation of air : the loftiest shoots must also be tied and topped 

 as in previous years. 



This season a crop of from twenty to thirty bunches will be 

 produced by each vine, which is as much as ordinary vines 

 do when at full size ; although these will not then have acquir- 

 ed more than one fourth of the height and breadth they are 

 intended to attain. In the spring of the fifth year, as that sea- 

 son is usually selected for the operation in cold climates, the 

 two upper shoots are pruned and trained as heretofore, and 

 particular care taken to tie the different branches before vege- 

 tation commences, the last year's shoots on the side runners 

 are then cut down, the strongest to four buds, and the weaker 

 to one and two buds ; and when the fruit has again formed, 

 they are topped and shortened as before. A crop of thirty 

 to sixty bunches is generally produced from each vine this 

 season. The same course of pruning and training is pursued 

 the seventh, eighth, and ninth years, until the spiral shoots have 

 reached the top of the post, after which all that rise above it 

 are pruned off every spring, and the lateral shoots are allowed 

 rather more length. During these years from fifty to one 

 hundred clusters will be produced by each vine. 



In the after management, there need be no fear of allowing 

 too great an extent to the circumference, and if it is desired 

 to continue the shape, the pruning and clipping can always be 

 executed in accordance thereto, proportioning those operations 

 in all cases, to the strength and vigour of the branches. Two 

 eyes will suffice for the young shoots, and some of the side 

 runners and laterals should be occasionally thinned out where 

 too close and numerous, as in such case they weaken and in- 

 jure each other and lessen 'the produce. 



