After planting the vine is allowed to grow naturally for two seasons. One should then find that two quite long rods have been produced, together with some side growths or laterals. In January the laterals are cut back to within one bud of their base, while the smaller of the two canes is cut back to within two buds of its base.

Thus the cane that is left is bent down to form a half-circle, the tip being tied to a wire stretched a foot above the soil. If the vines are planted 3 feet apart, then it may be necessary to prune back this long growth, so that it can be tied to the wire a few inches short of the next vine.

A vine can be cut hard year after year without there being hardly any increase in height, though there will be an increase in girth. In addition, vines in this country, because of the climate, are usually pruned harder than those on the Mediterranean. The fruit is borne on the new wood; that is to say, the wood made that season.

It much depends on the system of growing as to the distances apart. For instance, if one adopts the European method you could plant on the 4-foot square system. If, on the other hand, one is growing single cordons against the wall, they might be as far apart as 4 feet 6 inches. If the vine was to be trained upwards and sideways to cover a large area, the distance would be, say, 15 feet.

In all cases it is most important to spread the roots out evenly and only to plant them about 4 inches below the surface of the soil. The earth must he trodden in firmly-this is important and it does mean, therefore, that one can only plant when the soil is not too sticky. After the planting, when the soil is raked down level, the bone meal is applied.

By then some of the elaborated sap may have been passed up to the wood and so some energy may be lost, but it can’t be helped. Winter pruning on the whole should be hard, much harder, in fact, than in the case of every other fruit.