JOUBNAL OF HOBTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GAEDENBB. 



QUESTIONS FOR GRAPE-GROWERS. 



ON'T bother us," you will be ready to say. 

 " What can you say that is new about 

 Grapes and Grape-growing ? " Well, with 

 your hind permission, I was only going to 

 ask a few simple questions, hoping to re- 

 ceive an answer to each that will settle the 

 matter in my mind. 



In the first place, why do most Grape- 

 growers recommend us to encourage our 

 young Vines to " run " as far up the roof as 

 possible the first season '.' and why do they recommend 

 us to prune them down again in autumn to within 4 or 

 5 feet of the ground '.' I have seen men in their enthu- 

 siasm not satisfied with the length of the rafter for a 

 leading shoot, but who have actually had the latter trained 

 along the top of the house or down the back wall the 

 second and third seasons. I have likewise seen the same 

 men, with one stroke of the pruning-knife, in autumn 

 remove as much as 8 or 10 feet of those rambling leading 

 shoots. Now. what need is there for this ? The Vine is not 

 grown to supply the wants of the wood-merchant s yard '.' 

 Why, then, allow it to produce so much more wood than 

 is really necessary '.' It is very pleasant, certainly, for any- 

 one to see his Vines growing and covering the whole roof 

 of a house in a summer, and to think of their having 

 fibrous roots as thick as goose quills ; but I am afraid that 

 in nine out of ten such cases these roots will be more 

 difficult to find in April than in November. If this is the 

 case, where is the cultivator's profit in producing such 

 roots ? and if it is not the case, why does he cut his rods 

 so far back ? Has he not roots enough to supply food for 

 double the length of the rod he leaves ? 



Now, I am but a young man, and what I have said, and 

 what I am about to say, may be all wrong ; but instead of 

 allowing Vines to grow at will the first year, stop them 

 at 3, 5, or 7 feet, according to their strength (the first 

 length for the weak and the last for the very strong), and 

 stop the laterals at the first leaf, continuing to do so during 

 the summer every time they push afresh, and what would 

 be the result ? I imagine so much good, well-ripened 

 cane, with buds like nuts at the base of each lateral. 

 This, however, is only fancy, and I may be wrong. At 

 the autumn pruning only cut them back 18 inches or 

 ■I feet: and in each succeeding summer allow the leading 

 shoot to run no more than 4 or ,"> feet, keep them under 

 the same restraint as before, and only prune a foot or so 

 oft' them in autumn. 



" What next shall we hear of ? " inquires one. Whether 

 is it preferable to have 8 feet of a "spindle-shank" rod, 

 or 4 feet of thick well-ripened wood '.' Whether is it 

 preferable to have a great quantity of succulent roots, 

 which, ten to one, will perish during the winter, or sound 

 fibrous roots in proportion to the cane, as it is left after 

 the autumn pruning ? I think it is almost universally 

 acknowledged that Vines give the greatest satisfaction 

 during the first five or six years of their existence ; 

 might not this period of success be extended to ten or 



No,. 479.— VOL.PCVIIL, New Seetes. 



twelve years by taking the filling of the rafters in shorter 



I think few will deny the propriety of summer pruning, 

 as practised on fruit trees, as a means of balancing the 

 root and branch-action : why might it not be tried on the 

 Grape Vine to a certain extent ? We have heard much of 

 " extension " and " restriction " in the old age of Vines ; 

 has anyone ever tried to restrict them in then- youth? 

 If so, I shall be much obliged by experiences, and perhaps 

 these may not be unprofitable to the readers of " our 

 Journal."— R. J., P. P. 



[There is much in what you say, if immediate fruitful - 

 ness is the object contemplated. We once grew Vines- 

 rather largely in pots, and then we adopted the practice 

 you recommend. As soon as the Vines were from S$ t;> . 

 4 feet long we nipped out the point, which encouraged the 

 free emission of laterals, and these we allowed to grow 

 even more than you speak of, on the principle that the 

 more extended the side branches the stouter would be the 

 trunk, though that trunk might be shorter, as the trunk of 

 an Oak in a park, however far- spreading its branches, 

 may have a sturdy stem, but it is seldom so straight or 

 so long as that of a tree drawn up in a thicket. Our 

 chief object in the stopping referred to was, by means of 

 the free growth of the laterals " near home," to increase 

 first the size of the main stem, and then by the gradual 

 removal of these laterals in the autumn to secure the 

 thorough ripeness of the wood and the buds. When a 

 good crop was taken the following season from such plants, 

 the best place for the Vines to go to after perfecting their 

 crop was the burning or charcoal heap. Such Vines 

 bearing heavily would not be nearly so useful afterwards 

 as voung Vines. 



The same system might be adopted with Vines intended- 

 to fill a house for a generation or so. but if the Vines ar3 

 young we should at first be inclined to let them grow more 

 freely — first because the more head growth, the more would- 

 be the root growth ; and as the first season after planting 

 the Vines make wood only, it is advisable that the roots 

 should be considerably in advance of the tops, so that in 

 future these roots shall not support wood only, but also 

 wood and fruit. Our second reason would be because 

 short stopping and encouraging laterals will not make the 

 great difference in the quality of the roots you suppose. 

 Thirdly, because it is good practice to take but little fruit 

 the second season after planting, and therefore concen- 

 trating the powers of the Vine near home is not of so 

 much importance as securing abundant root-action. In 

 our own practice, and as observed in that of many others, 

 we have seen fine well-ripened wood made the first season, 

 and from that we have taken, and seen others take, a good 

 crop the second season after planting, but we never did so 

 without regretting it, as the Vines were paralysed for years 

 afterwards. In fact, fruiting a young planted-out Vine 

 heavily has much the same eft'ect upon it as fruiting heavily 

 a young Vine in a pot. The first heavy crop from a young 

 Vine paralyses it for future effort. It is the best and the 

 most profitable in the long run to take from a Vine but 

 little the second season after planting. The more roots 

 No, IISI.-Vol. XLIIL, Old Semes. 



