VINE. 



275 



cutting away two or three feet of the old 

 wood, and replacing it by a new shoot. 



When the Vines have been under this 

 mode of training and pruning for ten or twelve 

 years, the spurs will generally be rugged 

 and longer than would be sightly or bene- 

 ficial to the Vines, a renewal of w r ood will 

 then be required. But this may in many 

 cases be retarded for several years, for it will 

 very frequently happen that upon the oldest 

 wood of the spurs several buds will break, 

 as well as the two buds reserved upon the 

 shoot of last year's wood. When shoots are 

 so produced upon the old wood, let all be 

 rubbed off to one good strong one, when they 

 are about two inches in length. The one 

 retained must be allowed to grow to fourteen 

 or sixteen inches in length when it must be 

 stopped, and afterwards kept at that length. 

 When such spurs as are furnished with a shoot 

 as described, are pruned at the following win- 

 ter, all that part of each spur above where 

 the new shoot arises, must be cut clean away, 

 and the new shoot be pruned to two buds 

 as directed for the other spurs. 



However, when it is found necessary to 

 have an entire new head, this is best effected 

 by wholly cutting down the Vine, so as only 

 to leave two or three buds inside the house. 

 There are generally plenty of such buds situ- 

 ated upon the old wood at the bottom of the 

 Vine. This practice is far preferable to that 



