276 TREATISE ON FRUIT TREES. 



only if necessary, for example when the strong ones are not well situated, if they're all on 

 one side of the vinestock & the other side has only medium ones, &c. (the latter only 

 applies to grapevines on espalier & on counterespalier.) 



3°. The vigor of the vinestock & the space available to train the shoots will 

 determine the length to be pruned, or more precisely, the number of shoots to be pruned 

 short & those that have to be pruned long. The former are pruned down to two or three 

 buds (they're called Coursons or Tailles-a-bois [Translator's note: spurs] because they're 

 mainly intended to provide good branches for the coming year). Those pruned long are 

 pruned to four or five buds & are called Plates, Tallies, or Tailles-a-fruit [Translator's 

 note: fruit-bearing shoots]; the latter name indicates their purpose. When the vinestock is 

 weak, more spurs than fruit-bearing shoots are made and more fruit-bearing shoots than 

 spurs when it's very vigorous. When it's of average vigor, the numbers are equal. 

 Although this method of pruning is very well known, we'll outline the procedures after 

 pointing out 1°. when pruning one must never cut immediately above a node but rather at 

 one or two inches above it. 2°. the bottom of a slanted cut should be on the opposite side 

 of the branch from the bud so that it won't drip over the bud and damage it. 



I inspect the productivity of a newly planted vinestock in June. Of all the shoots it 

 has put out, I leave behind only the two strongest & best situated & I remove all the rest. 

 If the vinestock is intended to cover the top of an espalier, I leave only one of the shoots 

 on it to make a branch, which often takes several years to form. I count on it having 

 grown & reached a suitable height in a preceding February. The shoots that have just 

 emerged at its top are treated as though they were on a vinestock intended to extend along 

 the bottom of the espalier. The following February I prune 



