ties should be of softer material, as wire has a tendency to cut into
the wood. They should be placed so that the cane is able to expand as
it grows. With thin and especially with round stakes this means that
the tie must be loose. With large, square stakes there is usually
sufficient room for expansion, even when the twine is tied tight.

_Third summer pruning._

During the third season, average well-grown vines will produce their
first considerable crop and develop the canes from which will be
formed the first arms.

Such a vine, soon after the starting of the buds in spring, will have
one vigorous shoot about three inches long grown from the old wood and
five fruit buds started above on the cane. All the buds and shoots
below the middle of the cane should be removed.

This will leave the four or five fruit buds and will give the vine the
opportunity to produce eight or ten bunches of grapes. These buds will
produce also at least four or five shoots. If the vine is very
vigorous and the season favorable, they may produce eight, ten or
more.

When the five shoots grow, the height of the head will be determined
at the next winter pruning by which of the corresponding canes are
left as spurs. If the highest two canes are cut back to spurs and all
others removed, the vine will be headed as high as possible, as these
two spurs form the two first arms which determine the length of the
trunk. If the lowest two canes are chosen and all of the vine above
them removed, the trunk will be made as low as possible. Intermediate
heights can be obtained by using some other two adjacent canes and
removing the rest. It is often advisable to leave some extra spurs
lower than it is desired to head the vine and to remove these lower
spurs the following winter after they have borne a crop. For example,
the three or four upper canes might be left, if the vine is vigorous
enough, and the lowest one or two of these removed at the next
pruning. This, however, is not often necessary with properly handled
vines and is objectionable because it makes large wounds in the trunk.

_Third winter pruning._

At the end of the third season's growth the vine should have a
straight, well-developed trunk with a number of vigorous canes near
the top from which to form the arms.

Figure 28 represents a well-grown vine at this period. No shoots have
been allowed to grow on the lower part of the trunk and the five buds
allowed to grow above have prod