BOOK IV. X.XIV. 18-20 



anything that sprouts from mature wood is cut away 

 and trimmed close by a more vigorous apphcation 

 of the pruning-hook, so that it may form a scar 

 more quickly ; while, on the contrary, anything that 

 comes from young wood, such as the secondary shoot, 

 is cut away wdth greater caution because it usually 

 has a bud close beside it, and care must be taken 

 that this is not grazed with the knife. For if, in 

 applying the knife, you trim too closely, the bud is 

 either taken away altogether or wounded severely ; 

 and because of this the branch which it presently 

 puts forth in sprouting will be feeble and less fruitful 

 and also more liable to injury by the winds, obviously 

 because it will be weak when it comes forth from 

 the scar. Furthermore, it is difficult to set a limit to 19 

 the length of the woody branch which we allow to 

 grow ; yet most people draw it out to a length such 

 that, when bent and falling down over the frame, 

 it cannot touch the ground. We believe that the 

 following points should be investigated more closely : 

 first, the condition of the vine, for if it is strong 

 it sustains a greater number of woody branches ; 

 and next, the richness of the soil, for if this 

 quality is not present we shall quickly kill even the 

 strongest vine if it is wasted away by rods that are 

 too long. But long branches are valued, not for 20 

 their length, but for the number of their eyes. For 

 where there are rather considerable spaces between 

 the joints, it is permissible to extend the wood to the 

 point where it almost touches the ground, for never- 

 theless it will put forth but few leaves and shoots ; 

 but where the segments are short and eyes are found 

 at close intervals, the branch, though short, is green 

 with many sprouts and luxuriant with numerous off- 



423 



