Training the grape vine is practiced for the purpose of keeping the vine in convenient shape and to allow each cluster to receive its full amount of space and light. A well trained vine is easily cultivated and sprayed, and the grapes are readily harvested, and it is only upon such vines that the best and fairest fruit is uniformly produced. Some kind of training is essential, for a vine will not often bear good fruit when it lies upon the ground. In essence, there are three general types or styles of training, which may be designated as the upright, drooping and horizontal, these terms designating the direction of the bearing shoots. The upright systems carry two or more canes or arms along a low horizontal wire, or sometimes obliquely across a trellis from below upwards, and the shoots are tied up as they grow to the wires above. The horizontal systems carry up a perpendicular cane or arm, or sometimes two or more, from which the shoots are carried out horizontally and are tied to perpendicular wires or posts. The drooping systems, represented in the Kniffin and post-training, carry the canes or arms upon a high horizontal wire or trellis and allow the shoots to hang without tying. To one or another of these types all the systems of American grape-training can be referred. There is no system of training which is best for all purposes and all varieties. The strong-growing varieties more readily adapt themselves to the high drooping systems than the weaker varieties, although the Delaware is often trained on a comparatively low Kniffin with good effect. The high or drooping systems are of comparatively recent date, and their particular advantages are the saving of labor in summer tying, cheapness of the trellis, and the facility with which the ground can be cultivated without endangering the branches of the vine. The upright training distributes the bearing wood more evenly upon the vine and is thought, therefore, to insure more uniform fruit, it keeps the top near the root, which is sometimes thought to be an advantage, and it is better suited to the stature of the small-growing varieties. There is, perhaps, a greater temptation to neglect the vines in the drooping systems than in the others, because the shoots need no tying and do not, therefore, demand frequent attention; while in the upright systems the shoots soon become broken or displaced if not watched. For very large areas, or circumstances in which the best of care cannot be given the vineyard, the Kniffin or drooping systems are perhaps always to be recommended. Yet the Kniffin profits as much from diligence and skill as the other systems; but it will give better results than the others under partial neglect. The strong varieties, especially those making long and drooping canes, are well adapted to the Kniffin styles; but the smaller sorts, and those stronger sorts which, like Catawba, make an upright and stocky growth, are usually trained upon the upright systems.