

GRAPE PRUNING AND TRAINING 313 



judgment of the operator. Vigorous vines, such as Con- 

 cord and Niagara, may be trained in a greater variety of 

 ways than can the weaker ones like Delaware. The 

 former seem to be best adapted to the drooping systems 

 of training and the latter to the upright styles. The terms 

 "drooping" and ''upright" refer to the positions taken by 

 the bearing shoots, not to those of the arms or canes. 

 These two general classes are widely popular, whereas 

 the horizontal styles have practically gone out of use. 

 Before discussing systems of training, however, let us 

 develop the vines through the preliminary stages to the 

 time when systematic training really begins. 



The young grapevine received from the nursery is 

 sometimes the growth of one season, but usually that of 

 two seasons. Often, perhaps generally, it may have two 

 or more canes, each bearing numerous buds. All of this 

 growth, except two or three nodes and internodes on the 

 strongest cane, should be cut off, thus leaving a single 

 stem perhaps a foot long and bearing two or three sturdy 

 buds. The plants so pruned should be set at desired dis- 

 tances apart (8 to 10 feet) between both vines and rows 

 and given good cultural care the first season. The shoots 

 may sprawl on the ground or better be fastened to bean 

 poles to prevent injury. A couple of weeks before growth 

 starts the following spring the vine must be cut back 

 again to two or three buds. From these only one, or at 

 most, two shoots, depending on the system of training 

 later to be adopted, should be allowed to grow during 

 the second season in the vineyard. These two shoots 

 will form permanent trunks. Up to the beginning of the 

 third season no trellis is usually needed. Sometimes, 

 however, extra strong vines are trained to the lowest 

 wire during the second season. The style of trellis will 

 depend upon the system of training to be followed. 



As the illustrations of grape-training systems (Figs. 269 

 to 273) have been borrowed from the Kentucky 

 Experiment Station, clearness of description will be 



