Pruning The Grape In Eastern America

The inexperienced look on pruning as a difficult operation in

grape-growing. But once a few fundamentals are grasped, grape-pruning

is not difficult. There is much less perplexity in pruning the grape

than in pruning tree-fruits. Pruning follows accepted patterns in

every grape region, and when the pattern is learned the difficulties

are easily overcome. The inexperienced are confused by the array of

"principles," "typ s," "methods," "systems" and the many technical

terms that enter into discussions of grape-pruning. Some of the

technicalities come from European practices, and others originated in

the infancy of grape-growing in this country when there was great

diversity in pruning. Divested of much that is but jargon, an

inexperienced man can easily learn in a few lessons, from word of

mouth or printed page, how to prune grapes.



The simplicity of pruning has led to slighting the work in commercial

vineyards, by too often trusting it to unskilled hands. Then, too, in

this age of power-propelled tools, pride in hand labor has been left

behind, and few grape-growers now take time and trouble to become

expert in pruning. Simple as the work may seem to those long

accustomed to it, he who wants to put into his pruning painstaking

intelligence and to taste the joy of a task well done finds in this

vineyard operation an ample field for pleasure and for the development

of greater profits. The price to be paid by those who would thus

attempt perfection in pruning the vine is forward vision, the

mechanic's eye, the gardener's touch, patience, and pride in

handicraft.



Simple as pruning is, the pruner soon learns that it is an art in

which perfection is better known in mind than followed in deed. The

theory is easy but there are some stumbling blocks to make its

consummation difficult. It is an art in which rules do not suffice,

for no two vineyards can be pruned alike in amount or method, and

every grape-grower finds his vineyard a proper field for the

gratification of his taste in pruning. Happily, however, enlightened

theory and sound practice are in perfect accord in grape-pruning, so

that specific advice is well founded on governing principles.



One cannot, of course, learn to prune unless he understands the habit

of the grape-vine and is familiar with the terms applied to the

different parts of the vine. As a preliminary to this chapter,

therefore, knowledge of Chapter XVII, in which the structure of the

grape-vine is discussed, is necessary. The next step is to distinguish

between pruning and training.