510 GARDENING FOR THE SOUTH. 



selection of the system. The health and vigor of the 

 vines are rarely affected by the method in which it is 

 trained, and although some system of training must be 

 adopted in every vineyard, still altogether too much 

 weight has been laid by most horticultural writers upon 

 the particular merits of the' various systems, while the 

 actual ruinous effects of bad pruning have not always 

 been sufficiently emphasized. A vine properly trained is 

 desirable, but a properly pruned vine is essential to the 

 highest success. 



" 1. The amount of fruit which a vine can bear and 

 mature in the highest perfection is limited; when this 

 limit is exceeded the fruit deteriorates. 



" 2. Upon the fruit the effect of overproduction is to 

 reduce the size of the berries and of the clusters, and 

 probably also to impair the quality; the vines make a 

 poor growth, the foliage is small, and the vigor of the 

 plant is generally reduced. When a vine has been allowed 

 to overbear, especially when it is young, years may some- 

 times be required before a vine returns to its normal 

 condition. 



" 3. A plant which is carrying less fruit than it is capa- 

 ble of maturing generally produces a very heavy foliage 

 and an excess of wood. 



" 4. All the fruit of the vine in any one year is borne 

 upon the shoots of that year, which grow from the canes 

 produced the preceding year; and since the number of 

 clusters borne upon a single shoot is fairly constant (vary- 

 ing generally from one to three), the number of buds left 

 upon a vine when it is pruned, determines with consider- 

 able accuracy the number of clusters which the vine will 

 possess. Usually more buds are allowed to remain than 

 w T ould be safe if each one were sure to be perfect. 



" 5. The position of the bearing wood upon a vine is 

 of secondary importance as regards the effect upon the 



