THE GRAPE VINE. 



609 



shoot b must also be cut down to two buds. 

 This attention to keep each spur supplied with 

 bearing-wood as near to the main stem as pos- 

 sible, must in every future pruning be strictly 

 pursued." 



Paxton's method of spur-pruning. — This intel- 

 ligent cultivator details in "Gardeners' Chro- 

 nicle," 1842, pp. 767 and 758, another mode of 

 spur-pruning, which we think admirably adapted 

 to out-of-door culture, and, like the Thomery 

 mode, it reduces the whole operation to some- 

 thing like system. " The sketch " (fig. 247), he 



Fig. 247. 



PAXTON'S MODE OF VINE-TRAINING. 



says, " represents a portion of the vine when 

 pruned in autumn on the spur system, with 

 short rods of five or six. eyes each left at con- 

 venient intervals on the oldest branches through- 

 out the vine. The perpendicular main shoots 

 should not be less than 2 feet apart, and when 

 pruning them no useless eyes should be left — 

 that is, no eye should be allowed to remain but 

 where a shoot is desired in the following season. 

 By attending to this the vine wiU not have to 

 develop (as is usually the case) an immense 

 quantity of superfiuous branches ; and although 

 this operation may appear a tedious one at the 

 time of pruning, an immense saving of labour 

 and time will be effected at a busier period in 

 spring, and the quantity of fruit may be easier 

 regulated in proportion to the strength of the 

 vine. If this is attended to, nothing will be 

 required in summer but securing the young 

 fruit-bearing shoots to the wall, and shortening 

 them at one eye above the bunch as soon as the 

 fruit is set, excepting the leading shoots, which 

 should not be stopped until the lower part is 

 ripened, otherwise the main eyes for the next 

 season may be induced to grow prematurely. 

 In autumn the young wood from the spur is 

 shortened back to one or at most two eyes, and 

 the terminal shoots in proportion to their 

 strength ; but, for the strongest wood, from 

 eight to twelve eyes will be found as m'any as 

 wUl break well. When commencing to train a 

 young vine in this manner, the side branches 

 should not be brought to the horizontal position 

 at first, but be lowered gradually, as the number 

 of suitable branches for upright stems is ob- 



tained ; by this means they acquire strength 

 faster than if trained horizontally at first." 



FUmintfs system of spur-pruning. — Amongst 

 the various modes of managing the vine prac- 

 tised at Trentham, is a mode of pruning of which 

 the following is the substance : " When a vine has 

 reached the top of the house, and is of sufficient 

 age and strength to maintain a crop, it is allowed 

 to throw out a lateral shoot at every 10 inches, 

 or nearly so ; every alternate lateral is allowed 

 to bear the first season ; the non-bearing shoots 

 are only permitted to ripen their wood, which 

 is stopped on the spur system. At the pruning 

 season those laterals which have produced the 

 crop are cut clean back, while those which have 

 produced no fruit are cut back to a spur having 

 about two eyes on it. These spurs are designed 

 to produce the following year's crop, whereas 

 the shoots which are thrown out from the pre- 

 ceding year's bearing-spurs are permitted to form 

 well-ripened spurs only, and which are destined 

 to produce the crop of the succeeding year ; and 

 as this plan of alternate fruitful and barren is 

 followed up, it is found to answer better than any 

 other system of pruning, either for moderately 

 early or late culture ; and, judging from the 

 remarkably abundant and beautifully-coloured 

 late crops which are produced, no doubts as to 

 the system can be entertained." — Gardeners' 

 Chronicle. 



Advantages of the spur system. — The chief 

 merits of this system are, regularity, absence of 

 excessive shade under the foliage, a greater ad- 

 mission of light and air to the fruit, and, prin- 

 cipally, that no more wood is grown than is 

 absolutely necessary for the production of the 

 present crop, and at the same time securing a 

 supply for the ensuing year. This is a very 

 popular mode of training, and practised by many 

 of our first-rate grape - cultivators. Mr Saun- 

 ders thus states its advantages over that of 

 growing a fresh supply of rods annually, that 

 is long shoots, by which, he justly says, " the 

 quality of the present crop is not only materially 

 deteriorated, but by the growth of the new rods 

 the house becomes crowded, and, consequently, 

 that free circulation of air, so essential to the 

 grape in all its stages, is considerably lessened 

 by the superabundance of foliage intercepting 

 to a great extent both light and air. Another 

 advantage also arises from the spur system : the 

 double demand made upon the vine, by bearing 

 its fruit and feeding the rods at one and the 

 same time, greatly accelerates its exhaustion and 

 decay." 



In the spur system a greater number of 

 bunches are produced than upon the long-rod 

 principle, but in the opinion of many they are 

 neither so fine nor so large. 



Senewal of vines pruned on the spur system. — 

 Vines treated in this way will continue, if in a 

 proper soil, in good condition for ten or twelve 

 years, after which the spurs will become rugged 

 and unsightly, hence a removal will be found ex- 

 pedient. This is best effected by cutting the vine 

 down to within a few inches of where it enters 

 the house. There are at such parts abundance 

 of latent buds ready to start as soon as the head 

 is removed. The young shoot produced by this 



