44 



FOREIGN NOTICES. 



system we couW not now find room for, though the 

 unfoklinjT of them would shed a light over many 

 directions that, to the uninitiated, seem obscure 

 and contradictory. 



This pruning is best performed in the autumn, 

 when the leaves are fast losing their green color, 

 for then, though there will be little assimilation 

 of fresh matter, yet the slow vital action still con- 

 tinued will swell and distend the parts retained, 

 much more than it that action had been extend- 

 ed over the whole of the branches, and more es- 

 pecially if these branches to be cut away had been 

 gradually deprived of their buds, though the 

 leaves had been allowed to remain. The leaves 

 on the stem, or parts left, should be allowed to 

 hang until they drop or become yellow. Shortly 

 after being cut, whether upon the alternate rod 

 or the spurrinc system (the last being the best for 

 a green-house.) the shoots may with propriety be 

 unfastened Irom the roof, and trained horizontally 

 along the front inside; the advantages of which 

 will be the enabling the plants on the stage to re- 

 ceive the whole of the light from tlie roof unob- 

 structed, the preventing the necessity of getting 

 among the plants for picking up fallen vine leaves, 

 the keeping of the vines more cool if much fire is 

 needed during the winter, and the ensuring a 

 more equal breaking of the buds in the spring 

 from the whole of the stem being placed in a simi- 

 lar temperature. 



Now, says one of our friends, this is all very 

 well, though rather tantalising to some of us; 

 for there, now, are my vines that were nei- 

 ther disbudded in summer nor pruned in autumn, 

 bnt they are safe enough yet. because no more 

 tire has been used than to exclude frost. But 

 there is my kind neighbor, Mr. Meanwcll, who 

 was resolved to give me the go-bye this sea- 

 son, and astonish my family as well as his own 

 with his early geraniums, fuchsias, &c. ; but 

 he forgot that the heat he gave to his flowers 

 would accelerate his unpruned vines, and now 

 he is in a pretty quandary, for his vines are 

 all upon the move, and his favorite Sweet-water 

 has pushed nearly half an inch ; and when he tried 

 to prune them, the cutting of the smallest shooi 

 brought such a flow of sap, that — fearful it would 

 act like a small syphon when employed to empty 

 a wine barrel — he had recourse for stopjiing it to 

 plasters of pitch, resin and wax; all of which 

 evils might have been avoided if we had been re- 

 peatedly told to cut vines " in the autumn." 



In all such matters we hold two principles: the 

 first is, that apologies and beraoanings for evils 

 and derelictions of duty will not rectify the mat- 

 ter; the second is, that it is better to attempt to 

 remedy what is wrong late than never. To our 

 friend, therefore, we say, prune your vines direct- 

 ly before the sap is in motion, and keep the house 

 as cool as you can for several days afterwards. 

 To his neighbor we say, let pruning alone. Some 

 wise men would say, prune by all means, and let 



the vines bleed if they will ; the expanding shoots 

 will soon monopolise the juices that are left- we 

 think not so lightly of wasting these juices. 

 When the vine is fully in leaf it may be cut then 

 with impunity, so far as bleeding is concerned; 

 because the double processes of assimilation of 

 fresh matter and the perspiration from the leaves 

 will leave no unappropriated fluid to bleed. Thin 

 and prune these vines when they are in leaf, and 

 let them alone until then. No! here there would 

 be a waste of energy ; fertile vigor would be dis- 

 persed over many channels, to be afterwards dis- 

 carded, instead of being concentrated upon a few 

 that were destined to be retained. Besides, the 

 check given to the reciprocal action between the 

 roots and the branches would cause a considerable 

 time to elapse before the branches left would re- 

 ceive more nourishment, in consequence of the oth- 

 ers being removed. What is to be done then? 

 Simply and quietly go over the vines when the 

 buds are fiom a quarter to half an inch in length, 

 or even more, and with the thumb or fore-finger 

 quickly rub olf all the buds upon the wood which 

 you resolve ultimately to remove, and no bleeding 

 will ensue. Mind, you must not cut them off 

 close to the wood from whence they issue, or you 

 miiht as well cut otf the shoot at once. Any 

 time after the plant is in full leaf you may remove 

 the disbudded parts, which will often present dif- 

 ferent appearances; generally, if very long, most 

 of them will be dead, some will be somewhat 

 alive, though not increased in size, and in a few 

 there will be a little exudation of cambium mat- 

 ter from the liber, or inner bark, where the bud 

 was rubbed off. 



By this means, therefore, the resources, of the 

 plant are pretty well as much husbanded and di- 

 rected into defined and desired channels, as if 

 pruning had taken place in the autumn. The 

 buds left will be invigorated, though at first they 

 will not be able to monopolise all the sap that 

 supplied the others. Hence, for some time the 

 sap will rise into the disbudded part, and descend 

 again when the stimulus is removed, until the 

 greater expansion of the buds left monopolise it 

 entirely. A similar operation you may see, in 

 working rapidly the handle of a pump, where the 

 bore of the tube is larger than the delivering jet. 

 The water will rise above the jet; bnt that would 

 not be the case if the jet was larger in size. The 

 rising sap, therefore, may be made to flow up- 

 wards, downwards and horizontally, to where 

 there are vents for its reception; and where none 

 exist in the shape of buds and branches, it will 

 make them for itself, by stimulating the organis- 

 able matter stored during the previous season. 

 Its general course, however, is upward, and, 

 therefore, in the vine the largest buds are gene- 

 rally formed near the points of shoots, a matter of 

 great importance, so far as budding and pruning 

 are concerned ; but that will enter more into sum- 

 mer management than what is necessary to be at- 



