Ill 



directly off the old stock of the vine, are incapable of giving rise 

 to fruit-producing shoots for at least two years ; it is therefore 

 useless to leave them when pruning, unless one or two eyes at their 

 base be left in order to obtain wood for pruning on in a future 

 season. 



All the buds on a shoot will not give rise to equally prolific shoots ; 

 whilst some would give three bunches each, others might only give 

 one, and others again might prove absolutely sterile. It is important 

 to know what is the position of these prolific buds, as it is evidently 

 useless to leave those which will not produce fruit. 



This position of the prolific buds varies with the kind of vine. 

 With some they are at the base of the shoot, with others at a certain 

 distance from the base, and with others again all the buds of a shoot 

 capable of bearing fruit are equally prolific. 



Fig. 31 represents a vine of the second type. It will be seen that 

 the shoots a and b have no fruit, whilst c, d, and e have two bunches 

 each. 



On a vine of the first type the reverse would be the case, a and b 

 having fruit on them, whilst c, d, and e are sterile or almost so. 



FIG. 31. 



This leads us to the question of long or short pruning, these being 

 the two great classes into which all the different methods are divided. 



A vine is pruned short when the shoots of the year which are left 

 to bear fruit or wood are cut back to two or three eyes each. 



