THE FLOEAL WOELD AND aAEDEN GUIDE. 



197 



by triangular boards, and having a ] 

 notch to admit the branch. This is 

 fixed on the branch a month before | 

 the vine is in flower, and brings it a 

 week earlier than the exposed. The j 

 frame is not fitted closely to the wall, 

 but in some places may be a quarter i 

 of an inch from it. Tlie lateral 1 

 branches being shortened before it is | 

 fixed, it does not require removal 

 even for pruning, because I adopt the 

 long rod mode of training, which is 

 peculiarly adapted to my partial pro- 

 tection system. The temperature 

 within the frame is always higher 

 than without ; sometimes at mid-day 

 even from 20" to 30'. By this simple 

 protection I find grapes may be ripened 

 from three weeks to a mouth earlier 

 than when wholly exposed, and this 

 saving of time will, I believe, not only 

 secure their ripening well every year 

 in the Midland Counties, but also that 

 such advantage will be available in 

 the North of JEngland, where grapes 

 never ripen on the open walls." The 

 roots may be protected during the 

 clear, cold nights of spring and au- 

 tumn, by fern, straw, or any other 

 kind of dry litter, which should be 

 spread pretty thickly over the border 

 round the stem of the vine every 

 evening before the sun goes off, and 

 removed every morning when the sun 

 is shining on it. By this means the 

 great loss of heat from radiation is 

 in a measure prevented, and great 

 benefit accrues to the vine; if awooden 

 rake is used for the purpose, the ope- 

 ration will take but very few moments 

 morning and evening. 



Pkuning and Teaining. — Eyery 

 gardener considers his own particular 

 method of pruning and training the 

 very best that can be adopted ; but 

 really good crops of grapes do not de- 

 pend so much upon any particular 

 system of pruning as upon the gene- 

 ral management, soil, and climate. 

 Having shown how to make the best 

 of the latter, and given directions 

 with respect to the former, there re- 

 mains not much to be said on this 

 bead. There are two methods of 

 pruning now generally adopted, each 

 having its party of adhei'ents and 

 advoc ttes; they are called respectively 

 the spur system and the long rod 



system ; the old method of pruning 

 the vine, which left it in the form of 

 a peach-tree, is now everywhere dis- 

 carded. Tiie spur system is, perhaps, 

 the best of them, and is easiest to 

 carry out ; it consists in cutting back 

 the laterals close to the main shoot, 

 so as only to leave the bud at the base 

 of the lateral. A pair of pruning 

 scissors is the best instrument for the 

 operation, as persons when using the 

 knife are apt to split the small length 

 of wood left beyond the bud, which 

 sufi'ers in consequence ; but this can 

 be avoided by ordinary care. This 

 pruning should be done at the fall of 

 the leaf. If the laterals are cut back 

 every year to one eye, in the course of 

 years the spurs will become long and 

 unsightly, but this can be easily re- 

 medied, by running up one rod every 

 year, and as soon as it has got into 

 bearing condition, cutting one of the 

 old rods away. The young wood 

 should be trained close to the wall, 

 and nailed up regularly as it advances, 

 so that it may have the benefit during 

 the night of the heat absorbed by the 

 sun in the day, for unless the wood 

 gets thoroughly brown and ripe, there 

 will be very little prospect of any 

 fruit in the following season. 



Insects. — The great enemy to the 

 vine is the red spider. Prevention, 

 however, is better than cure with this, 

 as it is with all other calamities, and 

 the diligent cultivator will take care 

 to keep his vines in such a condition 

 that this little pest will stand no 

 chance of ever getting the mastery 

 over him. Cleanliness is the magic 

 spell which will always keep them 

 away, and it would be well if folks 

 would bear in mind more than they 

 do that cleanliness is downright poison 

 to every description of vermin , for they 

 willrarelylive, and never really thrive, 

 on either animal or plant which is 

 perfectly clean and healthy. If this 

 fact occupied the prominent position 

 it should do, many plants which are 

 annually lost would be preserved; 

 keep, therefore, your plants in vigo- 

 rous growth, and keep thera clean, 

 and you will be rarely troubled with 

 any pest. To keep away the red 

 spider, then, and the mealy-bug from 

 your vines, clean the wood well in the 



