340 THE FLORIST. 



stopped at five or six joints above it by pinching out the growing point. 

 From the axil of the leaf, immediately below the point of stopping, a 

 lateral will readily push, and a bud by its side in the same axil will not 

 likely do so till next season if the lateral is allowed to grow ; the latter 

 should therefore be entirely removed as soon as it can be laid hold of. 

 The bud will then start and take the lead, making a much stronger 

 shoot than the lateral would have done. This stopping will concentrate 

 the sap in the buds below, and tend to ensure their breaking into fruitful 

 shoots in the following season. When the new leader has formed buds 

 as high as will be required for fruit shoots, it should be also stopped and 

 the lateral displaced, so as to stimulate the latent bud to take the lead 

 as before. It may be allowed to grow to the length of 7 fret, and then 

 be finally stopped. A few laterals near the top may be permitted to 

 push several joints ; those situated lower should be pinched at an early 

 stage of their growth, and entirely removed when the wood of the prin- 

 cipal shoot begins to turn brown. In the beginning or middle of July 

 the wood ought to be ripe along the whole 7 feet of rod, and any 

 laterals remaining should be cleared off; the pots must then be removed 

 to the south side of a wall, or any convenient shelter, and mulched with 

 some substance which will protect the roots from the vicissitudes of cold 

 and heat. Prune the plants in October, top-dress with a compost of 

 rich turfy loam in November, wash them with sulphur and soft soap, 

 and they will then be ready for forcing. About the middle of November, 

 earlier or later according to the urgency of the demand for early 

 Grapes, the plants should be introduced into the forcing house or pit. 

 To ensure the greatest success, the pots should be plunged in a heat of 

 65° or 70° ; the atmospheric temperature may follow that in the table 

 already given ; and the bottom heat ought always to be as high as the 

 mean top heat. Train six or eight shoots for fruiting ; but in order to 

 have the bunches fine, only one bunch should be left on each. The 

 shoot ought to be stopped at one joint beyond the bunch. Keep the 

 air rather dry when the plants are in flower ; and supply manure 

 water alternately with pure water. By these means 6 or 8 lbs. of 

 well-ripened Grapes may be obtained from each pot, in April, sixteen 

 months after striking the plant from the eye. 



" The above may be considered one of the best modes where bottom 

 heat can be afforded ; but, instead of raising plants from eyes in one 

 season and fruiting them in the next, plants may be reared with less 

 heat and fruited after two seasons' growth. In the autumn after pro- 

 pagation they may be cut down to two or three eyes. In February, 

 the best shoot from these should be trained as directed for those of 

 plants forced in the winter following the first season's growth from the 

 eye. Some place the pots on rich compost, or in other pots nearly filled 

 with such, in order that the roots of the Vines whilst being forced 

 may penetrate into it on passing through the hole in the bottom of 

 the pot. 



" It is necessary to observe, that Vines and other fruit-trees in pots 

 are frequently treated when at rest as if they were certain kinds of 

 bulbs, which, having a store of moisture in themselves, do not require 

 to be supplied with any whilst vegetation is inactive. But such is not 



