ll'i 



VITIS I.AHKUSCA. 



tops of tlie youiii? slioots should ho piiu-licd oil", in ordor tliat (ho sap may be as- 

 similated info hiids: and in 

 UctoU'r, or soon ixi'lvr liar- 

 vestine: the ijrapps, cut hack 

 tlic shoots ot" the samr year 

 and Icavo hut four oyos to 

 each : as, hy Icaviiiu; too 

 many, the vine becomes ex- 

 hausted, and yields hut little 

 fruit, and is soon destroyed 

 by premature decay. The 

 shoots should be cut olT in 

 an oblique direction, opposite 

 to, and about an inch and 

 a half above, the fourth eye 

 from the old wood, in such 

 a manner as will shed the 

 rain and allow the buds to 

 suticr no injury from the 

 wet. In the course of the 

 month of May, the vines 

 should be examined, and 

 all the shoots from the old 

 wood rubbed off; and if an eye of the last year's growth should be found to pro- 

 duce twin shoots, the weakest of the two must be removed, in order that the 

 remaining one may the better thrive. Jn the course of the season, the super- 

 liuoas leaves and twigs must often be thinned out ; and about the first of Sep- 

 tember, as in the preceding years, pinch off the tops of the shoots, in order that 

 the sap may assimilate in the buds that are to be reserved for the next year. If 

 the vines appear to be too exuberant, they may be pruned at the roots, without 

 mjury, at any season of the year. The most convenient period, however, for 

 performing this operation, where the climate is mild, is in November, when the 

 roots should be exposed to the light and air, by drawing away the earth, and 

 letting them remain till spring; but where the winters are severe, and subject to 

 continued ice and frost, early in December they should be re-covered with earth, 

 mixed with well-rotted manure, leaf-mould, husks and seeds of grapes, or the 

 clippings and leaves of vines. If they remain exposed during winter, early in 

 March the earth should be restored, and mixed with the maiuire or other sub- 

 stances, as named above. This mode was called " ablaqueatio," by the Romans, 

 and is still practised with advantage in some parts of Italy and Spain. 



Although spring and summer pruning of the vine may advantageously be 

 adopted in all countries of the globe, yet in places exposed to the sun, with mild 

 winters, pruning in autumn is thought to be the best, the most natural, at which 

 time, trees and shrubs, by a divine and eternal law, drop both their fruit and 

 leaves. " Snag pruning" is thought to be preferable by some, because, in " close 

 pruning," the wounds spread, and prevent the protrusion of buds near the 

 affected parts ; but if these parts be covered at the time of pruning, with a prep- 

 aration of fine earth or white-lead, mixed with linseed oil, they will immediately 

 heal. 



Mr. Loudon, in treating of the vine, mentions three modes of pruning it in 

 hot-houses, viz. : the fruit-tree method, in which the plant is spread out in the 

 manner of a fan, and trained like a common fruit-tree ; the long or young- wood 

 method, in which all the wood above a year old is cut out down to the stool or 

 stock ; and the spurring-in method, in which the fruit is produced from young 



