t of these methods the trellis is put up
with three wires, but occasionally only two wires are used and still
less often four. The lowest wire on the three-wire trellis is eighteen
or twenty inches from the ground with twenty-inch intervals between
wires. Gladwin, who has direct charge of vineyard experimental work
about Keuka Lake for the New York Agricultural Experiment Station,
describes current practices in pruning according to this method as
follows:

"At each pruning for the first two years the vines are cut back to two
buds. However, with strong-growing varieties like Concord, Niagara and
Isabella, and under good soil conditions, the stem may be formed the
second year. With moderate-growing varieties and under average
conditions, the formation of the stem is left until the third year.
The straightest and best-matured cane is left for the purpose. This is
carried to the lower wire and there firmly tied with willow. As soon
as the shoots have made sufficient growth they are loosely tied to the
wires that they may be kept away from the tillage tools. The fourth
year the head of the vine is formed. This should stand a few inches
below the lower wire. Two canes growing from the stem near this
position are selected, one being tied to the right and the other to
the left along the lower wire. In the Keuka Lake District, the canes
are tied with willows. In addition, at least two spurs of two buds
each are retained near the head. With Concord, the canes may carry
about ten buds each, but with Catawba, as grown on the hillsides of
the Central Lakes Region of New York, the canes should not carry above
six buds each. As the shoots develop from the horizontal canes, they
are tied with rye straw to the middle and upper wires. This summer
tying is almost continuous after the shoots are long enough to reach
the middle wire.

"The following year all the wood is cut away except two or three canes
that have developed from the basal buds of the canes put up the
previous year, or that have grown from the spurs. In the event of a
third cane being retained, it is tied along the middle wire. Spurs are
again maintained close to the head for renewal purposes. The other two
canes are tied along the lower wire as before. If the same spurs are
used for a few years they become so long that the canes arising from
them reach above the wire and cannot be well managed in the
'willowing.' It is desirable to provide new spurs annually, selecting