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CHAPTER X. 



FORMING THE YOUNG VINE. 



The form of the vine, depending, as it does, upon the mode of 

 pruning adopted, ought perhaps, strictly speaking, to be treated in 

 the chapter devoted to that subject. The importance of proper 

 training from the first, however, and the fact that a good many 

 owners of young vineyards may find it useful to have a few plain 

 hints as to how to prune their vines for the first two or three years, 

 or before they have mastered the different methods of pruning adult 

 vines, has led us to devote this chapter to the purpose. Moreover, 

 as with the exception of a few methods not to be recommended in 

 Victoria, all the different forms of vines may be said to require the 

 same preliminary training in a given climate. 



If a vine be not properly formed from the first it is very difficult 

 to get it into shape afterwards, and it must be borne in mind that the 

 form exercises no inconsiderable influence upon the facility of culti- 

 vation as well as on the quality and quantity of the wine. 



Vines trained according to any of the systems mentioned in this 

 work consist of an upright stem or trunk, and an upper part or 

 crown which may be of very variable form. 



Height of vines. The height of the vine above the ground, or, in 

 other words, the length of the trunk, is not purely arbitrary, but 

 should vary according to certain fixed laws. 



Vines with low crowns are liable to spring frosts, but, receiving 

 more reflected light and heat in the summer, the fruit contains more 

 glucose and yields a stronger wine. The facility with which the 

 grapes become covered with mud or dust is, however, a disadvantage, 

 as the soil, which is always alkaline, neutralizing part of the natural 

 acid of the fruit, causes the fermentation to proceed irregularly and 

 favours the production of lactic acid, the great enemy of the wine- 

 maker in the warmer districts, where the grapes are often deficient in 

 natural acid even under favorable circumstances. It has lately been 

 suggested that the gout de terroir, or earthy taste, so common in 



