29 
system as can best be done. Sometimes '"spurs" become weak and 
sickly and should be removed entirely. When it is possible, new 
spurs of young wood are left as near the old position as can be. 
Standing before a vine, the expert primer will decide in his mind 
from the present vigor of the vine just how many buds can be profi- 
tably supported the next season. After cutting away the very w T eak 
canes, a selection is made from among the remaining canes of those 
best suited to his ideal of a properly pruned vine. These are cut 
to their proper length and all superfluous canes are cut away. It is 
not safe to use untrained hands for this work, but £»ne expert may 
supervise the work of a half-dozen unskilled workmen by directing 
them from time to time and keeping a close w r atch on the work they 
do. 
The primings or grape brush are taken to open places where they 
can be burned. It is something of a task to remove the brush from 
a large vineyard, and various ways have been thought of to do it. 
The common practice now is to take a pole 10 or 12 feet long, made 
of a sapling 4 inches in diameter at the bottom and 2^ inches at the 
top. A hole one inch in diameter through the pole at a point four 
feet from the butt end admits a strong rope 8 feet long to which a 
horse is attached. A man holding the small end of the pole guides 
the butt end of the pole along the ground under the brush and with 
the draft of the horse easily draws the brush to the end of the rows. 
From here it is hauled to brush heaps and burned. 
Summer Pruning . — When the vigorous growing varieties of grape 
are planted in rich soil, they are likely to make such a rampant 
growth that the fruit suffers from the excessive amount of foliage 
and the drain upon the food supply. In such cases it is wise to 
practice summer priming. In July or early August, the excessively 
long canes are cut off at two or three joints above the last bunch of 
grapes. This tends to throw more food into the berries and in per- 
mitting the light and air to penetrate to the fruit, the latter becomes 
better developed with finer quality. In Erie county, summer prun- 
ing was formerly practiced to a limited extent, but it was abandoned 
because it seemed unnecessary in the very gravelly soils where ex- 
cessive growth is seldom met with. In clayey loams having rich sup- 
ply of nitrogen, Concords and Niagaras w r ould make canes 10 to 20 
feet long. Such excessive grow T th should be checked by root pruning 
as well as by summer pruning of the tops. The former is accom- 
plished by digging trenches on either side of the trellis about two 
feet from the vines and deep enough to cut off the roots that are en- 
countered. 
Pruning is looked upon by the novice as a harsh and unnatural 
treatment of the vine. Tt should be remembered that the purpose 
