Another system of pruning called the Chaintre system has been introduced, or at least spoken of during the last few years. As, however, it is not generally used, or even to my knowledge used at all, for raisin grapes, I need only here allude to it. It consists of pruning the vine to one single long stem, which is carried along the ground and, at a distance of six or eight feet from the root, fastened to a stake. This branch is pruned to shorter branches and spurs, each of the latter to one or two eyes each to furnish wood and fruit. The advantages of the Chaintre pruning are claimed to be principally two,--a greater yield of grapes and a larger outlet for the abundant sap in the spring. It is supposed that, if the vine is pruned too short, the sudden flow of sap in the spring has a great tendency to poison some of the cells and vessels of the wood, and cause the disease known as black-knot. The Chaintre system endeavors, by furnishing the vine with more cells and vessels, and thus a larger outlet for the sap, to overcome this difficulty. The Chaintre system has, however, some great inconveniences. It interferes considerably with the tillage of the soil. It increases the cost of the vineyard through the extra stakes necessary to support the vines,--inconveniences so great that I doubt whether the system will ever be seriously adopted anywhere on this coast, even if it should prove of any advantage. The time for the pruning depends upon the season. The only safe rule is that vineyards may be pruned as soon as the vines are dormant. If pruned too soon, a new growth will start, which will be killed by the first frost. In many seasons the pruning may be done in November and December; in large vineyards it must be begun early, so as to finish before the plowing commences. Early pruning will cause the vines to start early in the spring, while late pruning will considerably delay the starting of the buds. When the spring frosts are to be feared, the pruning may be deferred for some months, or until the end of January, as it delays the budding out of the vine in the spring, sometimes as much as fourteen days. But, on the other hand, the first warm spring weather is so favorable to the development of the grapevines and the setting of the fruit, that every advantage should be taken of the same. The very best crops are generally had on early pruned vines.