_Bleeding of the Vines._--The bleeding of the vines after pruning in the spring is by many considered injurious. So far as I know, no direct experiments to prove this have been made in this country, but European experiments with wine grapevines point to no ill effects from the bleeding of the vines. The bleeding retards the budding out, and this fact has led some growers to the practice of pruning twice. In the first pruning an extra eye is left on every spur, and these eyes are again clipped off shortly before the eyes begin to swell in the spring. The bleeding of the vines thus causes the eyes to be retarded until the frost is over. I believe such practice is both unnecessary and too costly, and is not required in any of our raisin districts, and where such practice must be employed the raisin grape cannot be perfectly at home. Of late years spring frosts have become very rare in our principal raisin districts, and the practice of double pruning is no longer thought of. _Summer Pruning, or Pruning Green Wood._--Summer pruning is a much disputed vineyard operation, which, however, at least in some localities, is of great importance. This summer, or rather spring, pruning consists of cutting back the young growing shoots from one-third to one-half just after the berries have set well. The proper time of the year is in May, but the exact time must necessarily be different in different localities and seasons. In Fresno the cutting back should not be done later than May, and never except when the vines show a vigorous growth. The principal object the summer pruner has in view is to force the secondary branches of the vine as much towards the center of the vine as possible, so as to form there a perfect canopy of shade to serve as a protection to the young and tender berries. If let alone, the branches of the vine will throw out these secondary shoots near the top of the branches, thus leaving the head of the vine unprotected from the sun. The shortening in of the branches necessarily throws the new shoots to the center of the vine. A not less important object to be sought by the summer pruning is the strengthening of the young branch. In May, when the vines are covered by the young and vigorous shoots, they are yet exceedingly brittle, and only a slight pushing is required to break the branch off just at its junction with the old wood. A heavy wind at this time sometimes does an immense damage, and the vineyard will look as though every vine had been dragged over. Half of the branches may be broken and hang partially attached to one side of the vine. A single wind may ruin two-thirds of the crop. This can only be prevented by the summer pruning of the vines. By a heavy shortening in of the branches, the latter expose so much less surface for the wind to act on, that no branches are broken, and we have failed to see the heaviest wind cause any noticeable damage in vineyards which had their vines properly shortened in.