GRAPE PRUNING AND TRAINING 335 



ous sucker from which to develop one year to form a new trunk 

 the next. The following year the old trunk must be removed en- 

 tirely. An objection to this method is that it makes very large 

 wounds in the most vital part of the vine the base of the trunk. 



The unilateral, horizontal cordon system consists of a trunk about 

 7 feet long, supported horizontally by a wire 2 feet from the 

 ground. Arms and spurs are arranged along the whole horizontal 

 part of the trunk. This system accomplishes the same objects as 

 the vertical cordon. It allows a large development of the vine and 

 numerous fruit spurs without crowding. It is superior to the vertical 

 cordon in the distribution of the fruit, which is all exposed to ap- 

 proximately the same conditions owing to the uniform distance of 

 the fruit spurs from the ground. All parts of the trunk producing 

 an annual growth of wood and fruit are equally exposed to light, and 

 the tendency of the growth to occur principally at the part of the 

 trunk farthest removed from the root is counteracted by the hori- 

 zontal position. There is not the same difficulty therefore in main- 

 taining this form of vine permanently there is with vertical cordons. 



The system should not be used for small weak vines, whether 

 the weakness is a characteristic of the variety or due to the nature 

 of the soil. It is suited to only very vigorous varieties such as 

 Emperor, Almeria and the Persian grapes when growing far apart 

 in rich, moist soil. 



246a. Periods of development. The first period of development, 

 which lasts one or two years, is devoted to developing a vigorous 

 root system; the next two or three years to building up a shapely 

 trunk and head, and a like period to forming the full complement 

 of arms. At the end of five to nine years the framework of the 

 vine is complete and should undergo no particular change of shape 

 except a gradual thickening of trunk and arms. 



There are, therefore, several periods in the life of the vine with 

 varying objects, and the methods of pruning must vary accordingly. 

 These periods do not correspond exactly to periods of time, so it 

 may be misleading to speak of pruning a two-year-old or a three- 

 year-old vine. One vine under certain conditions will reach the 

 same stage of development in two years that another will reach only 

 in three or four under other conditions. Under exceptionally fa- 

 vorable conditions the first and second periods may be included in 

 the first year and a completely formed vine may be obtained in five 

 years. 



247. At planting time. Whether cuttings, one-year-old rooted 

 'ines, or bench grafts are used, the vines need attention. The 

 isual way to prune a good, rooted vine of average size with a single 

 ane at the top and several good roots at the bottom is to shorten 

 the cane to one or two buds and the roots to 2 or 4 inches, accord- 

 ing to their size. Shortening the cane makes the vine less liable to 

 Iry out before -rooting and forces the growth from the lower buds, 

 produce more vigorous shoots. The roots are shortened 



