110 



CHAPTER XI. 



PRUNING. 



The objects of pruning are to increase the yield, to improve the 

 quality of the wine, to ensure a uniform product by giving the same 

 development to each vine, and also, by giving them a definite sym- 

 metrical shape, to facilitate cultivation, and the instruction of the men 

 who are to work in the vineyard. 



The fruit of the vine, unlike that of most fruit trees, does not grow 

 off the old wood, but upon the green shoots of the current year, and 

 only on those resulting from the development of buds situated on 

 a shoot of the previous year, which in turn grows off the two-year- 

 old wood of the vine. Any green shoots which do not fulfil these 

 conditions will in nearly every case bear no fruit. The wood con- 

 stituting the spurs or rods left when pruning must be chosen with 

 care ; that growing off the wood of the previous year, which in turn 

 grows off the two-year-old wood, is alone of use for this purpose. 



In Fig. 30 the shoots f, g, h, and k fulfil these conditions ; i, 

 which grows directly off the two-year-old wood, and ,/, growing 



