igo 



'V'tnevard Culture. 



sides, by diminishing the vigor of the fruit-stems, we 

 favor the growth of the shoots A, B, destined to form 

 the plant the following year. 



Clipping the Shoots. — The shoots A, B [Fig.76], 

 which have not been pinched, grow all the more vigor- 

 ously, from the fact that they derive a greater quantity 

 of sap by the shortening of the fruit-stems. They 

 might be left to grow indefinitely, at the risk of over- 

 running the ground, and interfering with the summer 

 culture to be given to it. It is, there- 

 fore, proper to clip them, when they 

 have reached a length of about five 

 feet, and to make this suppression six- 

 teen inches above the wire highest 

 from the shoot B. If we operate on 

 very vigorous plants we may allow 

 the shoot B to reach a length of five 

 feet, and then lay it horizontally on 

 the top wire. 



The nipping applied to the fruit- 

 stems, has almost always the effect of 

 developing false shoots at the angle 

 of the upper leaves [A, Fig. 77]. — • 

 These false shoots acquire great vig- 

 or, and create confusion. It will be advisable to pinch 

 them above the second leaf. 



[Fig. 77.] 



[This subject of summer pruning appears to be awakening 

 a good deal of discussion among American Grape-Growers. 

 The following Report appears in the May number of the 

 American Journal of Horticulture, an excellent periodical, in 

 which the cultivators of the vine will find much valuable in- 



