346 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF PRUNING 



259. Vertical and bowed canes. — This is a method used commonly 

 in many vineyards. The unit of pruning is the same as in the 

 method just described, consisting of a fruit cane and a renewal 

 spur. The franieworiv of the vine consists of a trunk of medium 

 height, with a vase-formed head consisting of three or four arms. 

 Tlie defects of this system have been pointed out (246). In the 

 hands of skillful pruners it is used with fair success with seedless 

 Sultanas and with some wine grapes such as Colorabar, Semillon, 

 Cabernet and Reisling. The results with Sultanina are very un- 

 satisfactory. By this method, on most of the vines, the fruit canes 

 start from high up near the middle of the stake, and are therefore 

 too short for the best results. The canes which start from low 

 down are in most cases suckers, and therefore of little value for 

 fruit bearing. 



Figure 288 b shows a vine with bowed canes. The method of 

 pruning is exactly the same as in the method just described. The 

 bowing of the canes, however, overcomes some of the defects of 

 that method. It is used regularly in many wine grape vineyards 

 of the cooler regions. It is unsuited for very vigorous vines in 

 rich soil. 



260. Vertical cordons. — In head pruning, the treatment of young 

 vines up to the second or third winter pruning is identical for all 

 systems. In cordon pruniqg the treatment for the first and second 

 is also the same. That is, the vine is cut back to two buds near the 

 level of the ground until a cane sufficiently long to serve for the 

 formation of the trunk is obtained. 



In the vertical cordon the trunk is 3 to 4 feet long instead of 

 1 to 3, as in head pruning. This makes it necessary to have a longer 

 and more vigorous cane to start with. It may require a year longer 

 to obtain this. That is to say, at the end of the second season's 

 growth many vines will not have a single cane sufficiently developed 

 to give the necessary 3J^ feet of well-ripened wood and properly 

 developed buds. At the second winter pruning, therefore, it will 

 often be necessary to cut the vine back to two buds, as at the 

 first winter pruning. 



Finally, a cane of the required length will be obtained. The vine 

 may then be formed as already described for the second winter 

 pruning of headed vines, except that the cane is left longer. This 

 cane is then tied to the stake. When such a vine is pruned spurs 

 are left at intervals along the trunk. Each of these spurs is a fruit 

 spur and is also the commencement of an arm. The future treatment 

 of these arms is the same as that of the arms in head pruning. 



261. Horizontal cordons.— During the first two or three years, 

 vines to be given the form of horizontal cordons are treated exactly 

 as for vertical cordons, that is, they are pruned back to two buds 

 each winter and the growth forced by disbudding into a single cane 

 during the summer. As soon as a well-ripened cane of the required 

 length is obtained, it is tied to a wire stretched horizontally along 

 the row at from 15 to 34 inches from the ground. 



