The Home Garden 



cated are simply the opinions of many different 

 persons, all aiming at the one object, but differ- 

 ing in methods and correspondingly in results. 

 The one object of pruning is to keep the vine 

 in a thrifty, healthy condition from year to 

 year, by remo\^ng all of the superfluous growth 

 of wood. The true method, and the one I try 

 to follow, may be described as an ounce of good 

 judgment combined with all the experience one 

 may have at command. A vine, to be profit- 

 able, must be so pruned as to be able to 

 mature and ripen perfectly the greatest amount 

 of fruit possible without injury to itself from 

 overloading. And to determine the capacity 

 of the vine, we must take into consideration 

 conditions resulting from last year's growth. 

 If the wood is short, the canes spindling, and 

 they have not matured more than three feet 

 of their groT^1:h before frost, we may be 

 sure that the vine was overloaded, and next 

 season at least a third less fruit buds should 

 be left. So, also, if the vine has made an 

 abundant growth of wood, we may know that 

 a greater number of fruit buds may be left 

 on for the following season, for it is reas- 

 onable that a strong and healthy crop of 



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