GRAPE PRUNING AND TRAINING 



305 



being strengthened for subsequent production. Indi- 

 vidual parts of \ines act in the same way as the whole 

 vines ; i. e., pruning of canes and arms should be governed 

 by the same principles as go^■ern the pruning of one vine 

 as compared with another. One way to judge the vigor of 

 a cane is by weight ; heavy and firm ones are better than 

 soft, pithy and light ones. 



217. Herbaceous or summer pruning consists in the 

 cutting of green parts. It differs in its effects from winter 

 pruning (8.3) in 

 being in general a 

 weakening process. 

 The maximum of 

 weakening seems to 

 result when the cut- 

 ting is done during 

 midsummer while 

 the vine most needs 

 its elaborated food 

 and when it is most 

 active. Insects and 

 diseases may pro- 

 duce the same re- 

 sults. In the spring 

 the effects of her- 

 baceous pruning are 

 not so serious be- 

 cause the vines have 

 a chance to de\'clop 

 enough leaf surface 

 to cciualize the loss. This is well shown by vines in- 

 jured in the spring by late frosts ; the following year such 

 vines are often more vigorous than before because lack 

 of crop gives them a chance to recuperate. 



Herbaceous pruning often resembles winter pruning 

 in that it concentrates growth in the remaining parts. 

 This effect and that mentioned above are more or less 



FIG. 264— POST AND STAKE METHODS OF 

 GRAPE TRAINING 

 Left. rotundifolia (muscadine) grapevine 

 trained to a post with crossed wires at the top. 

 Right, \'ine trained to a stake. Often no wire is 

 used in stake-training methods. 



