THE GRAPE CULTURIST. 



buds on the others. If eight canes are produced, they will 

 require one additional stake or a trellis, so that they may 

 be spread out and give a better opportunity for growth. 

 Fig. 62 shows the vine with eight canes as it appears when 

 trained on a trellis. This vine may be again pruned in the 

 same manner, and twelve or sixteen canes allowed to grow ; 

 and this is essentially the same system practiced in some 

 of the vineyards at the present time, and it answers very 

 well if a portion of the canes are cut away each year, so 

 that they will not become too much crowded. 



The system when carried to the extent of thirty to forty 

 canes becomes quite complicated, and it is difficult to dis- 

 tribute the fruit so widely and evenly as when the vine is 

 trained with arms. But when the vines are grown in small 

 gardens, four or six canes are as many as should be allowed 

 on those trained to stakes. 



There is no difficulty in keeping the vines within a small 

 space, and with the main stem only a foot or two high. 

 All that is necessary is to keep the young growth checked 

 during the summer, and when pruning the vine, leave only 

 those buds which are required to produce fruiting canes. 



I test all the new varieties in this way, never going to 

 the expense of erecting trellises for them until they have 

 proved themselves worthy of it. The vines will remain 

 just as healthy when grown in this manner as when allowed 

 to spread over a space of fifty or one hundred feet. I am 

 well aware that theorists assert that the vine must have 

 room to expand and extend its branches as it grows old ; 

 but one fact is worth any number of theories, and there 

 are thousands of vines in Europe that are from fifty to one 

 hundred years old, the main stems of which are not two feet 

 high. These vines are pruned back to the stump every 

 year, and yet they live and bear fruit of the best quality. 

 We have no such vines in this country, nor is there any 

 necessity for ever having any, because there are better 

 plans in use ; but there is no reason why our indigenous 



