274 PRUNING. 



subject to be taken under consideration ; for not only must 

 there be a young shoot to produce wood, but that shoot must 

 spring from the wood of the preceding year, as those which 

 spring from the old wood are usually sterile. A pointed bud 

 indicates a sterile shoot, and on the contrary, a blunt or 

 rounded bud announces a fruitful one, and the larger it is 

 the more productive. 



Notwithstanding the pruning operation requires to be well 

 understood, still where labourers are correctly instructed, it 

 will not be a matter of great difficulty, and in France, it is 

 done every where by women and children. It appears how- 

 ever to there be an object of complaint, that it is frequently 

 neglected or badly done, and that deficient crops and bad 

 wine are often caused by two much or too little pruning. 



Improper pruning has even an influence on the crops of 

 succeeding years, and upon the duration of the vine. The 

 most important points to be considered, are : that when too 

 many sterile shoots are left on the vine, they abstract and con- 

 sume a great portion of the sap which should have nourished 

 and matured the fruit ; that when too many bearing shoot* 

 are left, they exhaust the vine, and cause not only the sub- 

 sequent crop to be poor, but even the vine itself often 

 dwindles for some time. A greater proportion of shoots and 

 leaves should be left to vines located on dry hills, and on 

 those having a southern exposure, and less in shady and moist 

 situations, because in the first instance it favours the enlarge- 

 ment of the berries, and in the latter it prevents them from be- 

 ing too watery. It sometimes happens that the wood of the 

 shoots is not sufficiently ripened before frost, and that they 

 are consequently injured thereby. In such cases it is best to 

 prune close, that is, down to but few buds, in order that vigor- 

 ous shoots may replace the injury sustained, and in no case 

 should green or immature wood be suffered to remain, as it 

 would not fail to perish afterwards, and even to affect in some 

 degree the mature wood connected with it. 



Where vines have been injured by frosts or bruised and 

 broken by hail, they should be pruned sufficiently close to take 

 off all the injured or defective wood ; this operation ought 



