Pruning the Vine, 14 1 



four to six feet apart ; the dressing is done by the 

 plow, and the plants are not provided with any support. 

 The frame is merely a sort of flat head, of five or ten 

 inches in diameter, almost touching the ground [Figs. 

 40 and 41], and is the result of the very short and suc- 

 cessive pruning of the numerous shoots which each 

 year spring from and around this sort of stool. The 

 long and vigorous annual shoots creep over and soon 

 cover the entire space between the stocks. 



This mode of cultivating has the following objec- 

 tions : the grapes, hanging upon the ground, rot in great 

 numbers, and ripen badly, owing to being almost entire- 

 ly excluded from the sun's rays. Secondly, the sul- 

 phuration which is, unfortunately, necessary in this re- 

 gion, can be very imperfectly performed. Thirdly, the 

 steals, which -overspread the ground, soon become an 

 obstacle in the way of tillage, which is, therefore, insuf- 

 ficient. 



We would recommend the substitution of those forms 

 of stocks shown in Figure 32 or Figure 35, according 

 to the vigor of the plants. The wires for the training 

 of the vines will, undoubtedly, increase the expense, 

 but this will be much more than compensated by the 

 abundance and quality of the produce, resulting from 

 the absence of rot, the more perfect ripening of the 

 grapes, the possibility of performing efficient sulphur- 

 ation, and, lastly, the more perfect tillage of the soil. 



Mode of Pruning in order to form the Stocks. 

 — We have just compared the principal forms to which 

 the vines are generally subjected in vineyards, and we 

 have seen that most of them present certain objections 

 which we have tried to remove, either by modifying 



