PRUNING AND TRAINING. 127 



be, and they tell us that these vines bear fruit and are free 

 from disease. This we are ever ready to admit ; but we 

 are not cultivating the wild vine, but improved varieties, 

 many of which have parted with much of their wild char- 

 acter; and even if they had not, would these sticklers 

 against progression be willing to plant vines with a small 

 seedling parent tree by the side of each for its support, and 

 then wait from ten to thirty years for the vine and tree to 

 grow up together, at the end of that time getting no more 

 in quantity with less in quality than they now compel a 

 cultivated vine of three or four years to give them ? If 

 they are willing to follow nature in every particular, I have 

 not the least doubt that any of the improved varieties will 

 be found to grow and remain healthy without pruning or 

 training. For my own part I take nature as a guide, the 

 only difference being that I interpret her differently from 

 that class of vineyardists who follow no system, arid thereby 

 are ever ready to thwart nature, but never assisting her. 



There are certain general principles that govern the 

 growth as well as the fruit-producing powers of the vine ; 

 and while all the operations in the vineyard should be sub- 

 servient to them, the details in carrying out the necessary 

 forms may usually be varied without materially affecting 

 the final results. 



The vine is one of the most tractable of all known fruit- 

 bearing plants, and the easiest to control, although possess- 

 ing apparently such a wild and rambling nature. 



Its natural growth is upright, its tendrils furnishing am- 

 ple means to assist it in climbing ; and while it remains in 

 an upright position, the larger portion of the forces of the 

 plant are expended in producing a growth of wood and 

 leaves, while fruit is produced but sparingly. 



This fact we see illustrated in the wild vine, for it 

 is not until it reaches a position where it can spread out 

 horizontally that we find it producing abundant crops. 



We see the vine in the forest, spreading over and envel- 



