342 



PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF PRUNING 



trunks and inevitably to variations in the height of the heads of 

 different vines. 



If the suckering, disbudding and thinning of shoots have been 

 neglected, there will be more than one cane on the vine. In this 

 case all but the strongest and best placed must be removed and this 

 treated like a single cane. Unfortunately the strongest is often not 

 the best placed. In fact, if tying up during the summer has been 

 neglected it is often the worst placed. The more vigorous the vine 

 the more likely is the position of the canes to be defective. This 

 is especially true of grafts on old vines, which should be treated like 

 exceptionally vigorous vines during the second growing season. In 



FIG. 286 THREE-YEAR-OLD VINES AFTER PRUNING 



a. Average vine with two spurs; b, vigorous vine with three spurs, the lowest to be 

 removed next season; c, vigorous vine with three spurs. 



these cases of neglected vines, the best canes are often lying flat 

 on the ground. It will require all the ingenuity and skill of the 

 pruner to get them into a more or less erect position. At best they 

 will result in crooked, misshapen vines. 



By removing the soil from around the base of the vine the cane 

 can often be raised more easily and the bend will then be at leas 

 partially in the underground stem, where it is less harmful. In the 

 worst cases it may be impossible to raise a cane. It is then IH-C 

 essary to cut all the canes back to the old wood and to develop a 



