THE GRAPE IN KANSAS. 11 



to within two buds of the arm you can readily count your next year's grapes at 

 pruning time. No other fruit will come so near to the grower's calculation if he 

 prunes with an object. Haphazard pruning will not tend to productiveness. 



The grape is a wonderful renewer, and strange as it may sound, the more you 

 cut away, up to a certain limit, the finer and more plentiful the fruit. The aim 

 the first year is for root growth; therefore one cane as near the ground as possible 

 is all that should be left to grow. In congenial ground and favorable weather 

 this cane will grow long, strong, and vigorous. If it grows weakly, then at prun- 

 ing time cut it within three buds of the root and let only one cane grow the sec- 

 ond year. If it was vigorous the first year you may let two canes grow the second 

 year, and if you want these canes to be first class and useful, rub off all other 

 shoots as they start. At pruning time, November to March, after the second 

 year, cut the two canes anywhere from four to six feet from the main stem, and 

 tie them apart like the letter V, or wide apart on lower wire, according to style of 

 trellis used. In spring every bud will break into a thrifty shoot and several will 

 produce fruit. After this you can keep the arms and prune the new growth back 

 to two buds. You can also grow two additional arms from near the fork if you 

 wish. 



Your spurs with two buds each will produce fruiting shoots, and at pruning 

 time you cut away the upper one and cut the lower one back to two buds. This 

 is all there is to the arm-and-spur system. You can add two more arms, making 

 six or even eight, as the vine grows older, and the arms may be of such length 

 as will cover a trellis to suit ; a ways remembering to provide room for the new 

 shoot that is sure to come from each healthy bud. The renewal system grows 

 new arms each year, and at pruning time cuts away two or more of the older 

 arms. If you have s x arms, two are n r " . ^ have borne one crop, two have 

 borne twice. These latter will be cut away and two new ones grown the follow- 

 ing year. This system also uses the spurs on its older canes. 



If you would summer prune, do it on this wise : Rub off all irregular or weak 

 shoots ; then, after the fruit-buds show the cluster formation and the shoot con- 

 tinues to grow, clip off the end one or two leaves or joints beyond the last bunch. 

 Soon after, the axillary buds at the base of each leaf will start; pinch them off. 

 The Germans call these thieves, as they claim they rob the bunches of nutriment 

 and deteriorate their quality. This is all there is to summer pruning. 



PRUNING GRAPE-VINES. 



Great care should be taken in pruning grape-vines, and at a certain time of 

 the year, in order to get the best results from them. My experience has taught 

 me that the last of November or the first of December, after the leaves have fallen 

 and the sap has gone down to the roots, is the best time. 



Then cut the new wood back to two joints of the wood that grew during 

 the previous season. One joint is better than two, but it is not safe to cut so 

 close as that at this season ; the vine, being so porous in the end when it is cut, 

 will take in water then freeze and split. Sometimes it will go through the first 

 joint, so as to spoil it to start in the spring. It is in these joints where the new 

 shoots start out to grow, and if split by the frost will spoil that part of the 

 vine. For this reason it is better to leave two joints and be safe. Some may 

 say, Why not wait until spring, then cut back to one joint ? I have tried both 

 ways, and I do not get as good results in the spring as in the fall. For this 

 reason we want to be sure and do it before the sap begins to go up, so the wood 



