THE VINE AND ITS FRUIT. 



811 



leaves a defective piece of stem in the middle of the 

 house, which no after-management can rectify. 

 When the fii'st cane is regularly furnished with 

 spui'S from the base to the apox of the house, a 

 second rod should be started from the base ; and 

 when it also approaches the top, a third may be 

 stai'ted from the opposite side of the original cane, 

 where any particular vine or favourite variety, by its 

 vigour or superior quality, shows that it is worthy of 

 extension. But as the space allotted to each vine 



as soon as the leaves fall, and the late houses which 

 shed their leaves before the fruit is cut, should be 

 pruned as soon as the grapes are removed. The 

 vines in late houses do not often bleed when the sap 

 begins to rise ; those in early houses do ; hence the 

 importance of dressing every cut with styptic as the 

 work proceeds, as bleeding weakens the vines ; an'd 

 so powerful is the vital force, that the most stringent 

 styptic fails to arrest it, if dressing is neglected until 

 the sap is ajrain on the move. ■ 



Fig. 19.— Badly Pruned Spur of 

 the Second Year. 



Fig. 21. — Three-year-old Spur 

 Properly Pruned. 



Fig. 20.— Spur of the Second 

 Year Properly Pruned. 



will not admit of laying in these canes without over- 

 crowding, one or more of the least satisfactory vines 

 can be cut away altogether, to make room for carry- 

 ing on this modified system of extension training. 

 In this way a house may be gradually filled with a 

 few of the best vines, without at any time having 

 any part of the trellis bare of fruit or foliage. 



The time to prune must be regulated by the time 

 the houses are to be started. The house that was 

 started on the 1st of January the first year, if in- 

 tended for early work, may be started on the 1st of 

 December in the following season, and the house in- 

 vended for succession that was started in February 

 the first year, may be shut up on the 1st of January 

 in the second year. These houses should be primed 



Extension Training is a combination of the 

 long rod and spur systems, and consists of allowing 

 one vine to grow on from year to year until it occu ■ 

 pies a large portion, or perhaps the whole of a 

 house. Many good growers, who do not altogether 

 approve of the principle, admit tbat extension is 

 favourable to longevity, as many of the oldest and 

 finest vines in the country have been trained in this 

 way ; and all must admit that, as regards quantity 

 and quality of the fruit, the system has many points 

 in its favour. Some go so far as to say extension 

 training should not be practised where the natural 

 soil is unfavourable to the roots when they get out 

 of the prepared borders, and are no longer under 

 control ; but this is a mistake, as the yearly spread 



