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THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



iu the minds of practical men on this j space, recommend me to number 1, 

 point is, however, easily explained by | trained horizontally," In another 

 the fact of the vast difference which communication, a very practical hand, 

 exists between tbe best mode of treat- \ after describing how an old vine had 

 ing the vine under glass and with j been renovated, by replacing tbe old 

 heat, and that which applies to it when branches with young shoots from be- 

 grown out of doors. In the one case I low, said, "I thinned the bunches 

 close pruning and stimulating manures freely, allowed one bunch only to 



bring about tbe same result as a com- 

 paratively poor soil, and tbe entire 

 absence of manure, and the adoption 

 of long rods do on open walls, that is, 

 the production of fruit, the ultimate 

 ripening of which is more a matter of 

 temperature than of feeding. English 

 gardeners having a general, but un- 

 justifiable contempt for out-door 

 grapes, are not ready to perceive 

 how different are the circumstances 

 under which they are produced, and 

 as close pruning is found essential in 

 the forcing-house, the same rule is 

 applied to the vine out of doors, and 

 this application is the great error so 

 strikingly evinced in the several ex- 

 pressed opinions. But what was the 

 fact as to the bunches ? Number 4 bunch 

 weighed 1 lb 1 oz. ; this was the bunch 

 on the fifty-two joint shoot ; numbers 

 1, 2, and 3, stopped at one, two, and 

 three eyes beyond the bunch, weighed 

 40 oz. between them, or say lo^ oz. 

 each. Mr. Beaton says, "I had five 

 other main shoots of last year's growth 

 in fruit under the experiment, and 

 each of them turned out exactly like 

 this one. The longest shoot of the 

 five was thirty-five eyes long, and the 

 bunch weighed 15 oz. full." 



Among the communications sent to 

 Mr. Beaton on the subject, the follow- 

 ing has a special interest, as illustra- 

 tive of the management of vines on 

 open walls : — 



" I have twenty examples, merging 

 from four to thirty buds, stopped be- 

 yond the fruit ; thirty examples, from 

 one to ten buds stopped beyond the 

 fruit, and upwards of forty examples, 

 stopped at three buds beyond the 

 bunch. The kinds are the Sweetwater 

 and the Black Esperione. According 

 to the best of my judgment, the ear- 

 liest by a few days, and the best 

 coloured, are those with thirty eyes 



shoot, stopped a few at a few eyes, 

 from the bunch, and the rest were not 

 stopped till the end of August. Those 

 shoots which were not cut back, pro- 

 duced the best berries, and the best 

 bunches decidedly." The sequence in- 

 dicates itself. In the open air but few 

 of those conditions are ensured to a 

 vine which it can enjoy in a vinery. 

 In the latter case an equable tempera- 

 ture, entirely under control, so as to 

 meet all its wants, a rich border and 

 moisture both in tbe soil and the air, 

 as may be requisite, are conditions very 

 different to the full exposure to the 

 seasons, and the absence of any special 

 root stimulus — for too rich a soil only 

 loads an out- door vine with more sap 

 than it can elaborate — under which the 

 former has to produce its fruit. In 

 fact, the out-door vine has to feed 

 largely from the air, and to take its 

 own time and season to do so. and a 

 certain amount of leaf surface is essen- 

 tial to the elaboration of the secretions 

 out of which the fruit is made. Here, 

 then, are Mr. Beaton's conclusions; let 

 every grower of out-door grapes give 

 heed to the horticultural magician. 



" When we grow on the long-rod 

 system, which is the best of all out-of- 

 doors, and is that which I practice, but 

 is not the best under glass, we are safe 

 if we stop the long shoot from the 10th 

 to the 20th of August; but on the 

 spur system out-of-doors, the spur 

 ought to be stopped just when the vine 

 is in and out of bloom, for it is at 

 that moment that rivalry begins be- 

 tween the berries and the extending 

 shoots, and all that I gained by the 

 last thirty-five joints above my largest 

 bunch, was one ounce ; but the vine is 

 much strengthened by the large sur- 

 face of working leaves. 



" To sum up in a few words, what I 

 recommend is this : — Plant vines in 



before them, and trained vertically ; j good sandy soil, such as would grow 

 but for size of bunch, or for the quan- good cabbages, not more than twenty 

 tity of fruit to be grown on a given | inches deep ; stop every shoot on the 



