It is very important that the canes be tied up early in spring, for the buds are easily broken after they begin to swell. These canes are tied rather firmly to the wires to hold them steady; but the growing shoots, which are tied during the summer, are fastened more loosely, to allow of the necessary increase in diameter.
The upright systems are the oldest and best known of the styles of American grape training. They consist, essentially, in carrying out two horizontal canes, or sometimes arms, upon a low wire and training the shoots from them vertically upwards. These shoots are tied to the upper wires as they grow. This type was first clearly and forcibly described in detail by A. S. Fuller, in his "Grape Culturist," in 1864, and it became known as the Fuller system, although it was practiced many years previous to this time.
_Horizontal Arm Spur System._--There are two types or styles of this upright system. The older type and the one described in the books, is known as the Horizontal Arm Spur training. In this method, the two horizontal branches are permanent, or, in other words, they are true arms. The canes are cut back each fall to upright spurs upon these arms, as explained on page 15 (fig. 4.) Two shoots are often allowed to grow from each of these spurs, as shown in fig. 7. These spurs become overgrown and weak after a few years, and they are renewed from new shoots which spring from near their base or from the arm itself. Sometimes the whole arm is renewed from the head of the vine, or even from the ground.
[Illustration: 7. HORIZONTAL ARM SPUR TRAINING.]
The number of these upright canes and their distance apart upon these permanent arms depend upon the variety, the strength of the vine and soil and the fancy of the grower. From twelve to twenty inches apart upon the arm is the common distance. If a vine is strong enough to carry five canes and the vines are eight feet apart, then the canes are distributed at intervals of about twenty inches. Some very strong vines of vigorous varieties will carry eight canes upon the two arms together, and in this case the canes stand about a foot apart. In the fall or winter, the cane is cut away and the strongest new cane which springs from its base is left for the bearing wood of the following year. This new cane is itself headed in to the height of the trellis; that is, if the uppermost and lowermost wires are 34 inches apart--as they are in the Brocton vineyards of western New York, where this system is largely used--this new cane is shortened in to 34 inches long. Upon this length of cane there will be about seven good buds in the common varieties.