l68 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 



young vine to overbear ; for if it does, it may not regain 

 vigor for four or five years. The first year, if from a 

 strong layer, or the third, if from a cutting, it will prob- 

 ably show a cluster or two of blossoms. Nip them off and 

 wait, and the next year do not allow it to bear more than 

 three to six clusters, according to its strength. 

 ■ If you study your vine, you will learn that the fruit is 

 always borne on shoots of the season's growth, which 

 spring from buds on the wood of the preceding year; 

 and your rule for all subsequent pruning should be to 

 leave not more than twenty to thirty buds on the vine. 

 Cut off all weak canes close to the stem and, supposing 

 there are five or six vigorous young canes, cut them 

 all back to within four or five buds. Mr. Saunders, late 

 Superintendent of Gardens and Grounds, United States 

 Department of Agriculture, advocates doing this soon 

 after the leaves fall in autumn ; and he gives as his rea- 

 son the fact that the roots continue somewhat active and 

 distribute food materials to all the buds through the fall 

 and early spring. If this material be concentrated on 

 the few buds left after pruning, the fruit will be larger 

 and ripen earlier than if most of it were wasted in the 

 portions of the vine afterwards cut away. Since this is 

 true, wood intended for cuttings should be more vigorous 

 if taken in February or March. It should always be cut 

 before the least signs of growth appear in the spring; 

 and all pruning must be done by March in most northern 

 states ; otherwise great loss of sap will occur from bleeding 

 in the spring. 



