140 



GARDENING FOE PLEASURE. 



diameter, are in fall to be pruned to three or four feet 

 long, and the following spring are to be trained hori- 

 zontally, one to the right, the other to the left. If at 

 the end of the second year they are still small, it is 

 better to delay laying down the arms until another 

 year, and grow two upright shoots again, to get 

 them sufficiently strong. These will form the base from 

 which to start the upright shoots, as shown in fig. 55. 

 These upright growths will be the permanent fruiting 

 canes, and should be from 15 to 18 inches apart, and 

 pruned on what is known as the spur system as shown 



Fig. 56. VINE SPUR-PRUNED. 



by fig. 56. There is nothing arbitrary as to the hight 

 these canes should be. It is a matter of convenience or 

 taste whether they be trained to 3 feet or 15 feet. 

 Vines thus treated may be allowed to produce a few 

 bunches the third year, and by the sixth year, may be 

 fruited to the hight of 10 or 12 feet of cane if desired. 

 Not more than two bunches of fruit should be allowed to 

 each shoot. We give this manner of training as one of 

 the simplest, although the system of training has but 

 little to do with the crop. 



The distance apart at which grape-vines may be plant- 

 ed, except the Delaware and a few of the weaker grow- 

 ing sorts, is about eight feet ; the Delaware may be set 

 one-third closer. Although grape-vines are hardy in 

 nearly all sections, yet in any locality where the ther- 



