VITIS, GRAPEVINE. 277 



both of these shoots down to spurs with two buds on each one. By June these four buds 

 should have produced four shoots, which I retain & will train as necessary. If there are 

 other shoots emerging from the vinestock, I remove them. If by the following February 

 the four shoots are sufficiently vigorous to offer hope for fruit, I prune the very lowest 

 shoot on each spur from the preceding year down to a spur. The uppermost one I prune 

 down to a fruit-bearing shoot with four buds, which will yield two spurs & two fruit- 

 bearing shoots. However, if the shoots are weak, I keep on each spur only the strongest & 

 best situated one. I always prefer the lowest shoot as long as it's not the weakest, & I 

 prune it down to a spur. In June I do the necessary bud removal & then train them. The 

 following February, if the spurs have lived up to their expectations, each one will have 

 two good shoots, and I prune the lowest to a spur & the other one to a fruit-bearing shoot. 

 The fruit-bearing shoots after the final pruning should have four shoots apiece that I treat 

 based on their strength. 1°. If all of them are weak, I cut back the fruit-bearing shoot on 

 the lowest one converting it to a spur, or I remove the fruit-bearing shoot entirely. 2°. If 

 they're of moderate strength, I cut back the fruit-bearing shoots on the two lowest ones, or 

 I select the two strongest ones, pruning the lowest one to a spur & the other one to a fruit- 

 bearing shoot. 3°. Lastly, if they're very strong, I make a spur out of the lowest one & I 

 prune the others to fruit-bearing shoots, assuming that I have sufficient room to train all 

 of the shoots that will originate from this large number of fruit-bearing shoots. This is 

 because it's better to unburden the grapevine by curtailing a lot of shoots (they're almost 

 always too full of them) than it is to subject it to clutter & etiolation by leaving too many 

 branches on it. That's just about all there is to pruning grapevines, where mistakes are of 

 little consequence & are easily fixed. We'll add only the following comment: 



