ig6 Vineyard Culture. 



cisms of those who theoretically condemn the practice. Be- 

 fore proceeding any farther, it is well for us to consider, 

 that, in all pruning of vines, we must remember the necessity 

 of keeping the plant in due shape as to its wood, and that we 

 desire to have this properly distributed. We want the new 

 growth, which goes to form the canes for the next year's fruit- 

 age, formed low down on the stock, and not at the ends, or 

 higher parts of the vine, which would soon give us high, naked 

 stocks, and bare, empty trellises, such as may everywhere be 

 seen — striking witnesses of the ignorance of Nature's laws, as 

 illustrated in the treatment of the vine. 



" No intelligent cultivator need be told, that when a vine 

 is tied up to a stake, or trained vertically upon a trellis, the term- 

 inal, or upper buds will break the most vigorously ; and if let 

 alone, and allowed to grow upward, they will maintain their 

 ascendancy throughout the season. This is often at the ex- 

 pense of those starting from a lower point, which were ex- 

 pected and desired to be the stronger, so as to produce the 

 wood for the annual renewal of the vine. The same thing is 

 true of vines trained upon the bow system, especially if the 

 bending has been done too early in the season ; the object of 

 the bow being to distribute the nourishment equally to the 

 viifferent parts of the vine. The bending should not be done 

 till the sap has started toward the upper buds, and they have 

 received an impulse. If they are then brought down to a 

 lower position, they are subordinated ; and other buds at the 

 upper bend become the highest, and thus produce the stronger 

 shoots. In the mean time, those springing from the spur, for 

 renewal-canes, can get the desired start ; and the pinching 

 now to be described is intended to favor their growth. In 

 trellis training, for the same reason, the canes should be al- 

 lowed to hang loose, until after the starting of the sap, so that 

 advantage may be taken of the condition of the leading buds. 



