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 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 
 
 BERKELEY, CAL. 
 
 E. W. HILGARD, Director. BULLETIN No. 119. 
 
 DECEMBER, 1897. 
 
 VINE PRUNING 
 
 By F. T. BIOI.ETTI. 
 
 The literature relating to the pruning and training of the vine is 
 already very voluminous, but there seems to be no one work which 
 treats the subject in a thorough and convenient way for California 
 vine-growers. Publications in English refer generally to methods 
 suited to the Eastern States or to hot-house cultivation, while for- 
 eign publications, besides being more or less inaccessible, treat the 
 subject so widely that the grower is at a loss what to choose from 
 such a mass of material. It is the purpose of this Bulletin, there- 
 fore, to present a brief summary of what in foreign methods seems 
 useful and applicable to California conditions, together with the 
 results of experiments on the University of California vine plots, and 
 of observations made in numerou s vineyards in various regions of 
 the State. 
 
 _ Almost every vine-growing district has its peculiar systems of 
 training, ranging from the non-training usual in parts of Italy, where 
 the vine spreads almost at will over trees planted for the purpose, to 
 the acme of mutilation practiced in many localities where the vine 
 is reduced to a mere stump barely rising above the surface of the 
 ground. These various systems will not be discussed here, but only 
 those which experience has shown to be most adapted to California 
 conditions. 
 
 No account, however detailed, of any system can replace the in- 
 telligence of the cultivator. For this reason the general principles of 
 plant physiology which underlie all proper pruning and training are 
 discussed in connection with the several systems described. This 
 should aid the grower in choosing that system most suited to the con- 
 ditions of his vineyard, and to modify it to suit special conditions 
 
and seasons. All the operations of pruning, tying, staking, etc., to 
 which a cultivated vine owes its form, are conveniently considered 
 together. 
 
 No cultivated plant is susceptible of such a variety of modes 
 of training as the vine, and none can withstand such an amount of 
 abuse in this matter and such radical interference with its natural 
 mode of growth. On the other hand, no other plant, perhaps, is so 
 sensitive to proper treatment, or responds so readily to a rational 
 mode of pruning and training. 
 
 OBJECTS OF PRUNING.— The objects of pruning are (a) 
 to facilitate cultivation and gathering, (b) to increase the average 
 yield, and (c) to improve the quality of fruit. The vine must not 
 be trained so high that the grapes are difficult to gather, nor al- 
 lowed to spread its arms so wide that the cultivation of the ground 
 is unduly interfered with. Vines untouched by the pruner's knife 
 bear irregularly; a year of over-bearing being followed by several of 
 under-bearing as a consequence of exhaustion caused by a too severe 
 drain on the reserve forces of the plant. The grapes on untrained or 
 improperly trained vines are exposed to different conditions of heat 
 and light, and consequently develop and ripen unevenly. 
 
 PHYSIOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES.— The main facts regard- 
 ing the physiology of the vine to be kept in mind in this connection 
 are: 
 
 i. The vine feeds by means of the green coloring matter (chloro- 
 phyll) of its leaves. It obtains the sugar, starch, etc., which it needs 
 from the carbonic acid of the air which is converted into these sub- 
 stances by the chlorophyll under the influence of light. A certain 
 amount of green leaf surface functioning for a certain time is neces- 
 sary to produce sufficient nourishment for the vital needs of the vine 
 and for the production of a crop. Those leaves most exposed to the 
 direct rays of the sun are most active in absorbing food. The 
 youngest leaves take all their nourishment from the older parts of 
 the plant: somewhat older leaves use up more nutrient material in 
 growing than they absorb from the air. A young shoot may thus be 
 looked upon as, in a sense, parasitic upon the rest of the vine. The 
 true feeders of the vine and of its crop are the mature, dark- green 
 leaves. 
 
 2. Within certain limits the fruitfulness of a vine or of a part 
 of a vine is inversely proportional to its vegetative vigor. Methods 
 which tend to increase the vegetative vigor of a vine or of a part 
 of a vine tend to diminish its bearing qualities, while, on the con- 
 trary, anything which diminishes vegetative vigor tends to increase 
 fruitfulness. Failure to reckon with this fact and to maintain a 
 proper mean between the two extremes leads, on the one hand, to 
 comparative sterility, and, on the other, to over-bearing and prema- 
 ture exhaustion. 
 
 3. The vine tends to force out terminal buds and to expend most 
 of its energy on the shoots farthest from the trunk. To keep the 
 vine within practical limits, this tendency must be controlled by the 
 removal of the terminal buds, or bv measures which check the flow 
 of sap and force the growth of buds nearer the stock. 
 
3 
 
 4. The nearer a shoot approaches the vertical the more vigorous 
 it will be. 
 
 5. The size of shoots and of fruit is, within certain limits, in- 
 versely as their amount. That is, with a given vine, or arm of a 
 vine, the fewer shoots allowed to grow the larger each will be, and 
 the same is true of bunches of fruit. 
 
 6. Other conditions being equal, an excess of foliage is accom- 
 panied by a small amount of fruit; an excess of fruit by diminished 
 foliage. 
 
 7. Shoots coming from one-year-old wood growing out of two- 
 year-old wood are alone to be depended on for fruit. Other shoots are 
 usually sterile. 
 
 8. Bending, twisting or otherwise injuring the tissues of the 
 vine or its branches tend to diminish its vegetative vigor, and there- 
 fore, unless excessive, to increase its fertility. 
 
 A description of a typical vine giving the names of the principal 
 parts, will make clear the accounts of methods to be given later. 
 Fig. i represents a vine of no particular order of pruning, showing 
 the various parts. The main body of the vine (T) is called the 
 trunk or stem; the principal divisions (B) branches; the smaller di- 
 visions (A) arms, and the ultimate ramifications (C) shoots when 
 green, and canes when mature. A shoot growing out of the vine 
 above ground on any part older than one year (WS) is called a 
 water sprout. Shoots coming from any part of the vine below 
 ground (S) are called suckers. When a cane is cut back to 1, 2, 3, 
 or 4 eyes it is called a spur (R). 
 
 When a shoot or cane of one season sends out a secondary shoot 
 the same season, the latter (L) is called a lateral. 
 
 Fig. II represents an arm of a vine as it appears in winter after 
 the leaves have fallen. The canes (Wi) are the matured shoots of 
 the previous spring. W2, W3, W4 represent 2, 3, and 4-year-old 
 wood respectively. Near the base of each cane is a basal bud or 
 eye (B°). In counting the number of eyes on a spur the basal eye 
 is not included. A cane cut at Ki for instance leaves a spur of 
 one eye, at K2 a spur of two eyes and so on. When more than four 
 eyes are left the piece is generally called a fruiting cane (Fig. I, F). 
 The canes (C,Ci) coming from two-year old wood (W2) possess 
 
fruit buds; that is, they are capable , of producing fruit - bearing- 
 shoots. Water sprouts (WS) and suckers (S) do not ordinarily 
 produce fruit-bearing shoots. Below the basal bud each cane has 
 one or more dormant buds (b Fig. Ill) which do not grow unless 
 the number of eyes left by pruning or frost is insufficient to relieve 
 
 the excess of sap pressure. These buds produce sterile shoots. 
 Each eye on a cane has, at its base, two dormant buds. One of these 
 sometimes grows out the year it is formed, making a lateral (L, 
 Figs. I, II). These laterals may send out secondary laterals (SL, 
 Fig. I). It is on the laterals and secondary laterals that the so-called 
 second and third crops are borne. 
 
 PRUNING FOR WOOD AND FOR FRUIT.— One of the 
 chief aims of pruning is to maintain a just equilibrium between vege- 
 tative vigor and fertility. We must, then, prune for both wood and 
 fruit. A vine which has become enfeebled by over-bearing should 
 be pruned for wood. By this is meant that only a small number of 
 buds should be left. As all the energies of the vine have to be ex- 
 pended on a small number of shoots, these shoots grow with more 
 than ordinary vigor. Under these conditions the vine bears little; 
 first, because the eyes near the bases of the canes, which are the only 
 ones left in very short pruning, a re naturally less fruitful than those 
 farther removed from the main body of the vine; and second, because 
 an exceptionally vigorous shoot is generally sterile. The vine is thus 
 strengthened, and, as the stores of nutriment provided by a vigorous 
 vegetation are not drawn upon by a heavy crop, the increased vigor 
 of the vine is more marked the second year. The second year, there- 
 fore, more wood may be left and the crop increased without detri- 
 ment to the vine. 
 
 On the other hand, a vine which " goes to wood " must be 
 pruned for fruit. For this purpose we increase the number of buds 
 left and choose the most fruitful wood. The largest canes are the 
 least fruitful, while the smallest have not the necessary vigor to sup- 
 
port a large crop. The best cane to leave for fruit then is one of 
 medium size, with well-formed eyes. 
 
 PROPER METHOD OF MAKING CUTS.— It is by no 
 means a matter of indifference just 
 where the cut is made in 'removing 
 a cane or arm. This will be made 
 clearer by referring to Fig. III. 
 The upper part of the spur is rep- 
 resented as split in two longitudi- 
 nally in order to show the internal 
 structure of the cane. It will be 
 noted that at each bud there isa 
 slight swelling of the cane. This 
 is called a node, and the space be- 
 tween an internode. The inter- 
 nodes are filled with soft pith, but 
 at each node there is a growth of 
 hard wood extending through the 
 cane. Now, if the cane be cut ofi 
 at C i, in the middle of an internode, 
 the pith will shrink away and leave 
 a little hollow in which the rain 
 collects. This is an excellent breed- 
 ing place for fungi and bacteria, 
 which cause rotting of the pith and 
 frequently kill the bud. If, on the contrary, the cane be cut at C2, 
 through a node, a protecting cover of hard wood is left, which is an 
 effectual barrier against decay organisms. If a spur projects too 
 far from the vine and it is desirable to make it as short as possible 
 in order not to interfere with cultivation, it should be cut at C and 
 the cut made as nearly vertical as possible. This allows the water 
 to run off, and leaves less pith to foster the growth of the fungi. At 
 the base of the cane there is a slight enlargement (E). In removing 
 a cane completely the cut should be made just above this enlarge- 
 ment. This is the most favorable place for healing, as it makes the 
 smallest possible wound and does not leave a projecting stump of 
 dead wood to prevent the healing tissues from closing over the 
 wound. In removing a piece of older wood, as at K ° and Ti, Fig. 
 II, it is advisable not to cut too close for fear of injuring the spur 
 by the drying out of the wood. The projecting pieces of dead 
 wood left in this way should be carefully removed the next year in 
 order to allow the wound to heal over. The large cuts which are 
 thus occasionally necessary are most easily performed by means of a 
 well-made and well-sharpened pair of two-hand pruning shears. These 
 shears are often to be preferred to the ordinary one-hand shears be- 
 cause they render the cutting through the nodes easier and do away 
 almost entirely with the necessity of a saw. Of course, a careless 
 workman may split and injure vines seriously by using long-han- 
 dled shears clumsily, but the bending of arms to facilitate cutting 
 with the one-hand shears often results in the same evil. The one- 
 hand shears, however, are more convenient when many long fruit- 
 
ing canes are left, as the necessary trimming off of tendrils and lat- 
 erals is more easily performed with them. 
 
 SHORT AND LONG PRUNING. — The winter-pruning of 
 the vine consists in cutting off a certain amount of the mature wood 
 of the immediately preceding season's growth (canes), and occa- 
 sionally of the older wood. The main problem of winter-pruning, 
 then, resolves itself into determining how much and what wood shall 
 be left. In all kinds of pruning most of the canes are removed en- 
 tirely. In short-pruning, the remainder are cut back to spurs of one, 
 two or three eyes. The number of spurs is regulated by the vigor 
 and age of the vine. This mode of pruning can be used only for 
 varieties in which the eyes near the base of the cane are fruitful. 
 For all other cases long or half-long pruning is necessary. 
 
 In half -long pruning certain canes are left with from four to six 
 eyes, according to the length of the internodes. These canes or fruit- 
 spurs will bear more fruit than short spurs for three reasons: I, be- 
 cause there will be more fruit-bearing shoots; 2, because the upper 
 eyes are more fruitful than the lower; and 3, because a larger num- 
 ber of eyes being supplied with sap from the same arm, each shoot 
 will be less vigorous and therefore more fruitful. Owing, however, 
 to the tendency of the vine to expend the principal part of its vigor 
 on the shoots farthest removed from the base of the canes, the lower 
 eyes on the long spurs will generally produce very feeble shoots. In 
 order, then, to obtain spurs of sufficient vigor for the next year's crop 
 it would be necessary to choose them near the ends of the long spurs 
 of the previous year, if no others were left. This would result in a 
 rapid and inconvenient elongation of the arms. In order to avoid 
 this it is necessary to leave a spur of one or two eyes below each 
 long fruiting spur, that is to say, nearer the trunk. These short wood 
 spurs having only one or two eyes, will produce vigorous canes for 
 the following year, and the spurs which have borne fruit may be re- 
 moved altogether, thus preventing an undue elongation of the arms. 
 In half-long pruning, however, it is very hard to retain the proper 
 equilibrium between vigor and fruitfulness. If a little too much wood 
 is left the shoots from the wood spurs will not develop sufficiently, and 
 the next year we have to choose between leaving small under-sized 
 spurs near the trunk and spurs of proper size too far removed from 
 the trunk. In long pruning this difficulty, as will be seen, is to a 
 great extent avoided. 
 
 In long pruning the fruit spurs of half-long pruning are re- 
 placed by long fruit canes. These are left two or three feet long, or 
 longer. The danger here that the vine will expend all its energies 
 on the terminal buds of these long canes and leave the eyes of the 
 wood spurs undeveloped is still greater than in half-long pruning. 
 This difficulty is overcome by bending or twisting the fftift canes in 
 some manner. This bending causes a certain amount of injury to the 
 tissues of the canes, which tends to check the flow of sap towards 
 their ends. The sap pressure thus increases in the lower buds and 
 forces them out into strong shoots to be used for spurs for the next 
 pruning. The bending has the further effect of diminishing the vigor 
 of the shoots on the fruit canes and thus increasing their fruitfulness. 
 
This principle of increase of fruitfulness by mechanical injury 
 is very useful if properly understood and applied. It is a well-known 
 fact that vines attacked by phylloxera or root rot will for one year 
 bear an exceptionally large crop on account of the diminution of 
 vigor caused by the injury to their roots; A vine also which has been 
 mutilated by the removal of several large arms will often produce 
 heavily the following year. In all these cases, however, the transient 
 gain is more than counter-balanced by the permanent injury and 
 loss. The proper application of the principle is to injure tissues only 
 of those parts of the plant which it is intended to remove the next 
 year (fruit canes), and thus increase fruitfulness without doing any 
 permanent injurv to the plant. 
 
 PRUNING OF YOUNG VINES.— When a footed vine 
 is first planted, it should be cut back to two eyes. If the 
 growth is not very good the first season, all the canes but 
 one should be removed at the first pruning, and that one 
 left with two or three eyes, according to its strength. The 
 next year, or the same year in the case of strong grow- 
 ing vines in rich soil, the strongest cane should be left about \2 
 inches long and tied up to the stake The next year two spurs may be 
 left, of two or three eyes each. These spurs will determine the posi- 
 tion of the head or place from which the arms of the vine spring. It 
 is important, therefore, that they should be chosen at the right height 
 from the ground. From ten to twenty inches is about the right 
 height; the lowest for dry hillsides where there is no danger of frost; 
 the highest for rich bottom lands where the vine will naturally grow 
 large. Vines grown without stakes will have to be headed lower than 
 this in order to make them support themselves. In the following few 
 years the number of spurs should be increased gradually, care being 
 taken to shape the vine properly and to maintain an equal balance of 
 the arms. 
 
 In general, young vines are more vigorous than old, and tend 
 more to send out shoots from basal and dormant buds. They should, 
 therefore, be given more and longer spurs in proportion than older 
 vines. They also tend to bud out very early in the spring, and are 
 thus liable to be frost-bitten. For this reason they are generally 
 pruned late (March) in frosty locations. This protects them in two 
 ways. In the first place, in unpruned vines the buds near the ends of 
 the canes start first and relieve the sap pressure, and though these 
 are caught by the frost the buds near the base, not having started, 
 are saved. In the second place, the pruning being done when the sap 
 is flowing there is a loss of sap from the cut ends of the spurs which 
 further relieves the sap pressure and retards the starting of the lower 
 eyes. This method of preventing the injury of spring frosts by very 
 late pruning has been tried with bearing vines, but is very injurious. 
 Older vines being less vigorous are unable to withstand the heavy 
 drain caused by the profuse bleeding which ensues; and though no 
 apparent damage may be done the first year, if the treatment is 
 continued they may be completely ruined in three or four years. 
 
 SYSTEMS OF PRUNING. 
 The systems of pruning adapted to vineyards :n California may 
 be divided into ?ix types according to the form £»\en to the mam 
 body of the vine ;.nd the length of the spurs and frniting canes. 
 
8 
 
 A. Vine pruned to a head, with short arms. 
 
 I. With spurs of two or three eyes only (short pruning). 
 
 II. With wood spurs of one or two eyes and fruit spurs of four 
 to six eyes (half-long pruning;. 
 
 III. With wood spurs of one or two eyes and long fruit canes, 
 (long-pruning). 
 
 B. Vine with a long horizontal branch or continuation of the trunk. 
 
 IV. With spurs of two or three eyes only (short pruning). 
 
 V. With wood spurs of one or two eyes and fruit spurs of four 
 to six eyes (half-long pruning). 
 
 VI. With wood spurs of one or two eyes and long fruit canes 
 (long-pruning). 
 
 These types are applicable to different varieties of vines according 
 — (i) To the natural stature of the vine^that is to say, whether it is 
 a large or small grower and tends to make a large, extended trunk or 
 a limited one. — (2) To the position of the fruit buds. In some varieties 
 all the buds of the canes are capable of producing fruitful shoots, while 
 in others the one, two or three buds nearest the base produce only 
 sterile shoots. — (3) To the size of the individual bunches. It is 
 necessary in order to obtain a full crop from a variety with small 
 bunches to leave a larger number of eyes than is necessary in the case 
 of varieties with large bunches. 
 
 What type or modification of a type shall be adopted in a par- 
 ticular instance depends both on the variety of vine and on the nature 
 of the vineyard. A vine growing on a dry hillside must not be pruned 
 the same as another vine of the same variety growing on rich bottom 
 land. In general, vines on rich soil, where they tend to grow large 
 and develop abundant vegetation, should be given plenty of room and 
 allowed to spread themselves, and should be given plenty of fruiting 
 buds in order to control their too strong inclination to ''go to wood." 
 Vines on poor soil, on the contrary, should be planted closer togeth- 
 er and pruned shorter, or with fewer fruiting buds, in order to main- 
 tain their vigor. 
 
 Type I. — This is the ordinary short pruning practiced in 90 per 
 cent of the vineyards of California, and is the simplest and least ex- 
 pensive manner of pruning the vine. It is, however, suited only to 
 vines of small growth, which produce fruitful shoots from the lowest 
 buds, and of which the bunches are large enough to admit of a full 
 crop from the small number of buds which are left by this method. 
 The chief objection to this method for heavily bearing vines is that 
 the bunches are massed together in a way that favors rotting of the 
 grapes and exposes the different bunches unequally to light and heat. 
 
 Fig. IV. represents the simplest form of this style of pruning. 
 The vine should be given, as nearly as possible, the form of a goblet, 
 slightly flattened in the direction of the rows. It is important that the 
 vine be kept regular and with equally balanced arms. This is the chief 
 difficulty of the method and calls for the exercise of some judgment. 
 From the first, the required form of the vine should be kept in view. 
 On varieties with a trailing habit of growth vertical spurs must be 
 
chosen, and with some upright growers it will be found necessary to 
 choose spurs nearer the horizontal. 
 
 The arms must be kept short for convenience of cultivation and 
 
 to give them the requisite strength to support their crop without 
 bending or breaking. For this reason the lowest of the two or three 
 canes coming from last year's spur should be left. For instance, on 
 Fig. II the cane should be cut at K2 or K3, according as two or 
 three eyes are needed, and the rest of the arm removed at K c . As 
 even with the greatest care some arms will become too long or pro- 
 ject in wrong directions, it is necessary to renew them by means of 
 canes from the old wood or water sprouts. For instance, if the other 
 arm represented on Fig. II were too long, it should be removed and 
 replaced by another developed from the cane (WS). As the cane 
 comes from three-year-old wood it cannot be depended on to pro- 
 duce grapes. For this reason it is best the first year to prune the 
 arm at T, leaving a spur for fruit, and cut the water sprout at T ° leav- 
 ing a wood spur of one eye. The next year the cane coming from 
 the first eye of WS can be left for a fruit spur, and the arm removed 
 at Ti. The cutting back of an elongated arm should not be deferred 
 too long, as the removal of old arms leaves large wounds which weak- 
 en the vine and render it liable to attacks of fungi. 
 
 In order to maintain the equilibrium of the arms it is often nec- 
 essary to prune back the more vigorous arms severely in order to 
 throw the strength of the vine into the weaker arms. If the vine ap- 
 pears too vigorous, that is if it appears to be "going to wood" at the 
 expense of the crop, two spurs may be left on some or all of the arms. 
 In this case the upper spur should be cut above the third eye (K4 
 Fig. 11), and the lower above the first or second (Ki or K2). This 
 will cause the bulk of the fruit to be borne on the upper spur, and the 
 most vigorous shoots to be developed on the lower, which provides the 
 wood for the following year. This is an approach to the next (half- 
 long) method of pruning. 
 
 Type II. — Vines which require 
 more wood than can well be given 
 by ordinary short pruning, or of 
 which the lower eyes are not suffi- 
 ciently productive, may in some 
 cases be pruned in the manner il- 
 lustrated by Fig. V. For some va- 
 rieties it is necessary to leave spurs 
 of only three eyes, as at S; for 
 others, short canes of four or five 
 
 € 
 
IO 
 
 eyes must be left, as at CC These shorter spurs can be left without 
 support, but the longer ones require some arrangement to prevent 
 their bending over with the weight of fruit and destroying the shape 
 of the vine. In some cases simply tying the ends of the canes to- 
 gether will support them fairly well, but it is better to attach them to 
 a stake and bend them at the base a little when possible in order to 
 retard the flow of sap to the ends. It is very necessary to leave strong 
 spurs of one eye (not counting the basal eye) in order to provide 
 wood for the following year. At the pruning following the one 
 represented in the cut the fruiting part of the arms will be removed 
 at KK and a new fruiting spur or cane. made of the cane which comes 
 from the eye on the wood spurs W. The basal bud on W will in all 
 probability have produced a cane which can be cut back to one eye to 
 furnish a new wood spur. If this, is not the case it shows that too 
 much wood was left the first year, and therefore no fruit cane should 
 be left on this arm, but only a single spur of two or three eyes. This 
 will be a return to short pruning, and must be resorted to whenever 
 the small size of the canes or the failure to produce replacing wood 
 near the head of the vine shows that the vigor is diminishing. If, on 
 the contrary, the arm shows an abundance of vigorous canes, proving 
 that the vine has not overborne, a fruit cane may be left from one of 
 the shoots coming from the lower buds of the fruit cane C, and a new 
 wood spur of two eyes left on the shoot coming from the wood 
 spur of the previous year (W). In this case, the removal of the arm 
 at K is deferred one year, and the extra vigor of the vine is made use 
 of to produce an extra crop. 
 
 Type III. — This style is an ex- 
 tension of the principles used in 
 type II, as will be understood by 
 referring to Fig. VI. The fruiting 
 canes are left still longer, and in 
 some cases almost the full length of 
 the cane. As each cane will thus 
 produce a large amount of fruit, 
 fewer arms are necessary than in 
 the preceding method. It is es- 
 pecially necessary to leave good, 
 strong spurs of one or two eyes to 
 produce wood for the following 
 year. There are various methods 
 of disposing of the long fruiting canes, the worst of which is to tie 
 them straight up to the stake, as was recommended for the half-long 
 canes. In the latter case, owing to their shortness, a certain amount 
 of bending of the canes is possible with this method of tying. With 
 long canes, on the contrary, it usually allows of no bending, and as 
 a result there ensues a vigorous growth of shoots at the ends of the 
 fruiting canes, and little or no growth in the parts where it is necessary 
 to look for wood for the following year. Often, indeed, each long 
 cane will produce only three shoots and these from the three terminal 
 eyes, all the other eyes of the cane remaining dormant. The object 
 of long pruning is thus doubly defeated, ist because no more shoots 
 
 * 
 
II 
 
 are produced than by short pruning, and 2nd, because the shoots 
 which should produce fruit are rendered especially vigorous by their 
 terminal and vertical position, and therefore less fruitful. Each year 
 all this vigorous growth of wood at the ends of the canes must be cut 
 away in order to keep the vine within practical bounds, and the fruit 
 canes renewed from the less vigorous cane below. These canes are 
 less vigorous because the main strength of the vine has been ex- 
 pended on the upper canes which are most favorably placed for vege- 
 tative vigor. Vines treated in this way may be gradually exhausted 
 though producing only a moderate or small crop of fruit, by being 
 forced to produce an abundant crop of wood. 
 
 One of the simplest ways of 
 tying the fruiting canes is illus- 
 trated by Fig. VII. The canes are 
 bent into a circle, the ends tied to 
 the stake near the head of the vine, 
 and the middle of* the circle at- 
 tached higher up. The tying 
 should be done so that the cane 
 receives a severe bend near the 
 base — that is about the region of 
 the second and third eyes. This 
 can usually be accomplished by ty- 
 ing the end of the cane first, and 
 then pressing down on the middle *$, 
 
 of the bow until the desired bend is attained. If two fruiting canes 
 are left, they should be made to cross each .other at right angles in 
 order to distribute the fruit as equally as possible. As a rule more 
 than two canes should not be tied up in this way as it makes too dense 
 a shade and masses the fruit too much. : 
 
 Fig. VIII shows another method of tying the long canes. A 
 horizontal wire is stretched along the row at about fifteen to twenty 
 inches above the ground. To this the fruiting canes should be at- 
 tached, using the same precaution of bending the canes near the bases. 
 The upper part of the canes is not bent in this case as in the last, but 
 the necessary diminution of vigor and increase of fruitfulness is 
 brought about by the horizontal position. Two canes may be attached 
 to the wire on each side. The stake is best used to support the 
 
shoots destined for the wood for the following year. This makes it 
 possible, where topping is practiced, to cut off the ends of the 
 shoots from the fruiting canes and to leave the rest their full length. 
 Another or even two other wires may be used above the first for 
 more canes, but this is seldom- profitable, and considerably increases 
 the cost both of installation and or pruning. 
 
 This style of pruning is especially favorable to varieties of small 
 growth which bear small bunches and principally on the upper eyes, 
 and to varieties of larger growth in hilly or poor soils. One of its 
 main objections is that it renders some varieties more liable to sun- 
 burn. 
 
 It will be noticed that the long-pruned vines are represented in the 
 figures as having much fewer arms than the short-pruned. This is 
 necessary and important. In order to maintain a well-balanced vine 
 and keep it under control, there should be only about as many arms 
 as long canes, or at most one or two more. 
 
 Types IV, V and VI. — The three styles of pruning so far de- 
 scribed have been fairly thoroughly tested in .California, and each has 
 been found applicable to certain varieties and conditions. There are 
 some varieties, however, which do not give good results with any of 
 these systems. This is the case with many valuable table grapes, es- 
 pecially when grown in rich valley soil, where they should do best. 
 For these cases some modification of the French cordon system is to 
 be recommended. Little trial of this method has been made as yet, 
 but what has been done is very promising. The tendency of many 
 grapes to coulure is overcome, and rich soils are made to produce crops 
 in proportion to their richness. The method consists essentially in 
 allowing the vine to grow in a more or less horizontal direction for 
 several feet, thus giving a larger body and fruiting surface. 
 
 The treatment of the young vines the first year is the same as for 
 
 head pruning, as already described. As soon as the young vine pro- 
 duces a good, strong shoot it is tied up. to the wire and to the stake 
 which is placed between the vines in the rows. Each vine should 
 finally reach its neighbor, but it requires two or three years for this 
 if the vines are six or seven feet apart in the rows. It is possible by 
 cutting the vine back nearly to the ground for the first year or two 
 to obtain a cane which will stretch the whole distance between the 
 vines at the first tying up; but this is not necessary nor advisable. 
 Neither is it advisable to make a very sharp angle (almost a right 
 angle) as is usually done in regular cordon pruning, on account of 
 
13 
 
 the difficulty of preventing the vine from sending out an inconvenient 
 number of shoots at the bend. The vine might be grown with two 
 branches, one stretching in either direction, but this has been found 
 inconvenient on account of the difficulty of preserving an equal bal- 
 ance of the branches. The direction in which the vine is trained 
 should be that of the prevailing high winds, as this will minimize 
 the chances of shoots being blown off. When the cordon or body of 
 the vine is well-formed, it may be pruned with all the modifications -of 
 short, half-long and long pruning already described in head pruning, 
 and the same precautions are necessary to preserve the balance and 
 symmetry of the vine and to maintain it at the highest degree of fruit- 
 fulness without undulv exhausting it. 
 
 Figs. IX and X will sufficiently illustrate the way of shaping and 
 tying short and long-pruned vines. For some table grapes extension 
 of the method shown in Fig. IX in the direction of half-long pruning 
 is useful. On a heavy soil the short spurs do not provide sufficient 
 outlet for the vigor of the vine, while long pruning would unduly in- 
 crease the number of bunches on a single cane, and so reduce their 
 size, which would deteriorate from their value as table grapes. 
 
 Fig. XI represents a style of pruning used with success in some 
 of the richest low-lying soils of France. The body of the vine is rais- 
 ed up to a height of two and a half or three feet above the soil, a use- 
 ful means of lessening the danger from spring frosts. The fruit 
 canes are bent vertically downward thus restricting the flow of sap 
 sufficiently to force out the lower buds of the fruit canes into strong 
 shoots which can be used for fruit canes of the follow- 
 
14 
 
 ing year. This does away, to some extent, with the necessity of 
 leaving wood spurs, and much simplifies the pruning. Arms, of 
 course, are formed in time, and very gradually elongate, so that it is 
 necessary to remove one occasionally and replace it by a water sprout, 
 as already explained under short pruning. 
 
 SUMMER PRUNING. 
 
 Some form of summer or green pruning is practiced in most Cal- 
 ifornia vineyards, if in the term we include all the operations to which 
 the green shoots are subjected. There seems, however, to be little sys- 
 tem used, and very little understanding of its true nature and object. 
 In general, it may be said that green pruning of the vine is least need- 
 ed and often harmful in warm, dry locations and seasons, and of 
 most use under cool and damp conditions. 
 
 The principal kinds of green pruning are: I. pinching; 2. 
 suckering and sprouting; 3. topping; 4. removal of leaves. 
 
 Pinching consists in removing the extreme growing tip of a 
 young shoot. It is necessary to remove only about half an inch to ac- 
 complish the purpose of preventing further elongation of the shoot as 
 all growth in length takes place at the extreme tip. The immediate 
 result of pinching is to concentrate the sap in the leaves and blos- 
 soms, of the shoot, and finally to force out the dormant buds in the 
 axils of the leaves. It has been found useful in some cases to com- 
 bat coulure or dropping with heavy-growing varieties, such as the 
 Clairette Blanche. It is also, of use in preventing unsupported shoots 
 from becoming too long while still tender, and being broken off by 
 the wind. It can, of course, be used only on fruiting shoots and not 
 on shoots intended for wood for the following year. 
 
 Siickerino is the removal of shoots that have their origin below 
 or near the surface of the ground. The shoots should be removed as 
 thoroughly as possible, the enlargement at the base being cut off in or- 
 der to destroy the dormant basal buds. An abundant growth of suckers 
 indicates either careless suckering of former years, (which has allowed 
 a mass of buds below the ground, a kind of subterranean arm, to de- 
 velop, or too limited an outlet for the sap. The latter may be due to 
 frost or other injuries to the upper part of the vine, but is commonly 
 caused 'by too close pruning. 
 
 Sprouting is the removal of sterile shoots or "water-sprouts" from 
 the upper part of the vine. Under nearly all circumstances this is an 
 unnecessary and often a harmful operation, especially in warm, dry 
 locations. An exception may perhaps be made under some conditions 
 of varieties like the Muscat of Alexandria, which has a strong ten- 
 dency to produce "water-sprouts" which, growing through the 
 bunches, injure them for table and drying purposes. 
 
 Water-sprouts are produced from dormant buds in the old wood, 
 and as these buds require a higher sap pressure to cause them to 
 start than do the fruitful buds, the occurrence of many water- 
 sprouts indicates that too limited a number of fruitful buds has been 
 left upon the vine to utilize all the sap pumped up by the roots. To 
 remove these water-sprouts, therefore, while they are young is simply 
 to shut off an outlet for the superabundant sap and thus to injure the 
 vine by interfering with the water equilibrium, or to cause it to force 
 
'5 
 
 out new water-sprouts in other places. Any vigorous vine will pro- 
 duce a certain number of water-sprouts, but they should not be looked 
 upon as utterly useless and harmful because they produce no grapes. 
 On the contrary, if not too numerous, they are of positive advantage 
 to the vine, being so much increase to the feeding surface of green 
 leaves. Water-sprouts should be removed completely during the win- 
 ter pruning, and the production of too many the next year prevented 
 by a more liberal allowance of bearing wood. 
 
 Topping, or cutting off the ends of shoots, is done by means of a 
 sickle or long knife. At least two or three leaves should be left be- 
 yond the last bunch of grapes. The time at which the topping is done 
 is very important. When the object is simply to prevent the breaking 
 of the heavy, succulent canes of some varieties by the wind, or to 
 facilitate cultivation, it must of course be done early, and is well re- 
 placed by early pinching. These objects are, however, better attained 
 by appropriate methods of planting and training. Early topping is in- 
 advisable because it induces a vigorous growth of laterals which make 
 too dense a shade, and it may even force the main eyes to sprout, and 
 thus injure the wood for the next year. The legitimate function of 
 topping is to direct the flow of food material in the vine first into the 
 fruit, and second into the buds for the growth of the following year. 
 If the topping is done while the vine is in active growth, this object is 
 not attained; one growing tip is simply replaced by several. In this 
 way, in rich, moist soils vines are often, by repeated toppings, kept in a 
 continual state of production of new shoots, and as these new shoots 
 consume more food than they .produce, the crop suffers. Not only 
 does the crop of the current year suffer, but still more the crop of the 
 following year, for the vine devotes its energy to producing new 
 shoots in the autumn instead of storing up reserve food-matrial for 
 the next spring growth. If, on the other hand, the topping is done 
 after all leaf growth is over for the season, the only effect is to deprive 
 the vine of SO' much food-absorbing surface. 
 
 The topping, then, should be so timed that, while a further length- 
 ening of the main shoot js prevented, no excessive sprouting of new 
 laterals is produced. The exact time differs for locality, season and 
 variety, and must be left to the experience and judgment of the indi- 
 vidual grower. 
 
 Removal of leaves. — In order to allow the sun to penetrate to and 
 aid the ripening of late grapes it is often advisable late in the season 
 to lessen the leafy shade of the vine. This should be done by remov- 
 ing the leaves from the center of the vines and not by cutting away the 
 canes. In this way only those leaves are removed which are injurious, 
 and as much leaf surface as possible is left to perform the autumn duty 
 of laying up food-material for the spring. The removal of leaves 
 should not be excessive, and if considerable, should be gradual, other- 
 wise there is danger of sunburn. It is best, first, to remove the leaves 
 from below the fruit. This allows free circulation of the air and pene- 
 tration of the sun's rays which warm the soil and are reflected upon 
 the fruit. This is generally sufficient, and in any case only the leaves 
 in the center of the vine, and especially those which are beginning to 
 turn yellow should be removed. 
 
i6 
 
 In the list of varieties which follows, an attempt has been made to 
 indicate the mode of pruning which is likely, in the light of our pres- 
 ent knowledge, to give the best results for each variety. It should be 
 understood, however, that it is to some extent tentative and provis- 
 ional. Many of the varieties have proved successful in certain soils 
 and locations when pruned in the way indicated, but others have 
 never, so far as we know, been tested in the way proposed. As these 
 latter, however, have proved more or less unsuccessful under the com- 
 mon methods of treatment the method proposed is the one which 
 seems most suitable to their habit and general characters. It seems 
 probable that the tendency to coulure of some varieties such as the 
 Muscat, Malbeck, Merlot, Clairette, etc., can be combatted to a great 
 extent by appropriate methods of pruning and training. Unevenness 
 of ripening and liability to sunburn of Tokay, Zinfandel, etc., can 
 doubtless be controlled by the same means. 
 
 Very few varieties succeed under strictly short pruning, that is 
 cutting back to one and two eyes, so that for most of the varieties in 
 the first category the modification of short pruning which gives fruit 
 spurs of three or four eyes and wood spurs of one eye is recommended. 
 
 Type I. Charbono, Cinsaut, Mataro, Carignane, Grenache, Petit 
 and Alicante Bouschet, Aramon,*Mourastel, Verdal, Ugni-blane, 
 Folle blanche, Burger, Zinfandel, Grtiner Velteliner, Peverella, Zier- 
 fahndler (?), Rother Steinschiller (on poor soils), Slankamenka, Green 
 Hungarian (on poor soils), Blue Portuguese (on poor soils), Tinta 
 Amarella, Moscatello fino, Pedro Ximenes, Palomino, Beba (?), Pe- 
 runo, Mantuo, Mourisco branco, Malmsey, Mourisco preto, Feher 
 Szagos, Muscat of Alexandria, Sultanina, Sultana, Barbarossa. 
 
 Type II. St. Macaire, Beclan (longer or shorter according to rich- 
 ness of soil), Teinturier male, Mondeuse, Marsanne, Chasselas, Mus- 
 catel, Grosse Blaue, Sauvignon blanc, Sauvignon vert, Nebbiolo, 
 Fresa, Aleatico. 
 
 Type III. Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc (on poor 
 soils and hillsides), Verdot, Tannat, Gamai Teinturier, Gros Mansenc, 
 Pinots, Meunier, Gamais, Pinot blanc, Pinot Chardonay, Rubnder, 
 Afrenthaler, Johannisberger, Franken Riesling (on hillsides), Klein- 
 berger, Traminer, Walschriesling, Rothgipfler, Lagrain (? perhaps 
 short), Marzemino, Blue Portuguese (on rich soils), Barbera, Moret- 
 to, Refosco, Tinta de Madeira, Tinta Cao, Verdelho, Boal. 
 
 Type IV. Green Hungarian, Rother Steinschiller (on rich soils), 
 Neiretta, Mission, West's Prolific, Robin noir. 
 
 Type V. St. Macaire and Mondeuse (on McH bottom soils), Tinta 
 Valdepenas, Marsanne, Clairette blanche, Semillon, Sauvignon blanc 
 (on rich soils), Muscadelle du Bordelais, Vernaccia bianca, Furmint 
 Bakator, Tadone, Gros Colman, Black Morocco (?), Cornichon (?), 
 Emperor, Tokay (?), Almeria, Pizzutello, California black Malvoisie. 
 
 Type VI. Malbec, Petite Sirah and Serine, Cabernet Sauvignon 
 and Cabernet Franc (on rich bottom soils), Merlot, Gros Mansenc (? 
 on rich bottom soils), Chauche" noir, Bastardo, Trousseau, Ploussard, 
 Etraie de l'Adhui, Chauche" gris, Franken Riesling (on rich soils).