140 THE GEAPE CTJLTURIST. 



three buds now on the cane, 5, will be left. Too much 

 care can not be given to the preservation of these spurs on 

 the arms, for if one is broken off or destroyed by injudi- 

 cious pruning, there is no certainty of replacing it, although 

 buds will sometimes start from the arm near its base, and 

 from this a new spur may be formed ; but it is better to 

 preserve the original spurs than to endeavor to replace them 

 with new ones. 



Should the spurs ever become so long as to be unsightly 

 or inconvenient, new arms may be readily formed by allow- 

 ing the two center spurs to produce but one cane each, and 

 these may grow four or five feet long ; at the next pruning 

 cut away the old arms and bend down these two canes to 

 form new ones. But if the plan which I have given is 

 strictly followed, the arms need not be renewed oftener 

 than once in fifteen or twenty years. 



There are several reasons why I believe the foregoing 

 method is one of the best, if not the best system for general 

 vineyard culture. 1st. The horizontal is the best position 

 that can be given to the vine to develop its fruiting powers, 

 the main object in all the various methods of pruning 

 and training. 2d. The upright bearing canes being equally 

 distributed on the arms, no one portion of the vine has any 

 advantage given it over another, the flow of sap being 

 equal to all parts. 3d. The equal distribution of the fruit- 

 ing canes not only allows a free circulation of air among 

 the leaves, but insures an equal distribution of fruit. 4th. 

 While the vine is restricted within certain limits it is not 

 dwarfed, as some might suppose, for a vine with two 

 arms, four feet long, with ten upright canes on each, mak- 

 ing twenty canes three feet long, has sixty feet of wood to 

 be grown and pruned off each season. This quantity is 

 certainly abundant to give the most vigorous growers suf- 

 ficient expansion to insure a healthy action of root. Some 

 cultivators suppose that because a vine will grow large and 

 occupy considerable space, if allowed sufficient time and 



