Trellising the Vine 55 



arms of from four to six inches in length. Upon 

 land where the growth of the vines is not vigorous, 

 such as upon the harder class of river flat land, 

 long arms are certainly not desirable, as the sap is 

 not sufficient to form strong fruiting rods from the 

 numerous buds on the arm, and so only numerous 

 small, weakly shoots are often the result, whereas 

 if the arm is kept short the sap, being distributed 

 through fewer buds, forces out stronger canes. On 

 very rich land again, such as on deep mallee soils, 

 where the growth is exceedingly vigorous, if vines 

 are trained with arms reduced to mere stubs of a 

 few inches in length, the resultant canes often grow 

 to the thickness of young bamboos, and as such are 

 not suitable for fruiting wood. However, arms left 

 to about one foot in length at the second winter's 

 pruning should suit sultanas grown on fertile soil, 

 but where the soil is inferior and the growth poor, 

 it is advisable to reduce the arms to six inches in 

 length. 



THE CURRANT. , . 



The Zante currant is trained either on the "cor- 

 don" or "espalier" system. 



The cordon has one arm only trained on one side 

 of the stem, while with the espalier there is at least 

 one arm on each side of the stem. 



The currant trellis is generally constructed with 

 two wires, although as a support for the foliage a 

 third wire is an advantage, but adds considerably 

 to the cost of the trellis. 



If the vines are to be trellised on the cordon 

 system, the young vine is reduced to its best cane, 

 as in the case of the sultana, and this cane is then 

 twisted or tied on to the bottom (or middle) wire 

 and trained along it. Sometimes the alternate vines 

 of a row are trained along alternate wires ; thus one 

 vine will be trained along the bottom wire and the 



