244 HORTICULTURAL MANUAL. 



In the fall the strongest laterals are pruned to spurs 

 with two or three eyes and the main cane is cut back to a 

 length of about three feet. The third spring the two 

 canes are 'both trained, in the same direction, diagonally 

 on the wires. 



The after pruning is on the same plan except that the 

 main canes are longer and some of the strongest laterals 

 of some varieties can be pruned to longer spurs. 



The gain in training all canes in one direction is that it 

 favors the bending over and covering the bearing wood in 

 winter. On the grounds of the Iowa Agricultural College 

 at Ames, a vineyard of about one acre planted with such 

 varieties as Concord, Worden, Moore's Early, Cottage, 

 Telegraph, and some of the Roger hybrids was managed 

 by the writer in this way for a period of fifteen years. 

 The canes were not wholly covered in winter. The bear- 

 ing wood was bent over to the ground, some primings 

 placed over the spurs, with enough earth to hold them 

 down. Some earth was also thrown around the crown, 

 leaving the stiff part of the stems exposed to the air. 

 Bending down and covering the bearing wood, with its 

 knife wounds on the spurs, materially lessens winter 

 evaporation and increases the yield and quality of the 

 fruit, even in parts of the West where the exposed tops are 

 not liable to be injured by winter's cold. During a period 

 of eighteen years this vineyard produced heavy and regular 

 crops without renewal of the canes, except in the way of 

 starting new shoots from near the crown and cutting c;:t 

 the old canes when the new ones were old enough fcr 

 bearing. 



234. The High Renewal System. In relatively mild 

 climates where winter protection is not essential, such as 

 western New York, the river bluffs of Missouri, and in 

 sections of the South, a modified system of high renewal 



