10 



JOUBNAIi OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ January 7, 1869. 



ing tips of the shoots should then be pinched ont, and the 

 main stem exposed to the full action of the son, so as to have 

 the wood thoroughly ripened. 



Prune before Christmas. If well ripened, and about the 

 thickness of one's hnger, 3 feet of a rod may be left, and less 

 or more in proportion. Encourage the main stem as before, 

 and train the side shoots (on which may be expected a few 

 bunches) slightly upwards about 9 inches apart, stopping the 

 growing point one or two eyes beyond the bunch until that is 

 fairly set. Then allow the laterals to increase a little, stopping 

 them as every two leaves are produced, without allowing them 

 to become crowded, or one leaf to shade the other. In September 

 check all growth, and expose the wood thoroughly as before. 



Continue the same treatment from year to year. 



If one Vine is required to cover a larger space, encourage 

 some side shoots to grow in the same manner as the main 

 shoot, which should after the first pruning be laid down in a 

 horizontal position along the bottom of the wall, and upright 

 bearing stems trained up therefrom, at a distance of about 

 28 inches the one from the other. The main shoot can be 

 continued to any length, the upright rods taking the place of 

 individual Vines, being pruned and spurred in the same 

 manner, 



A very good plan with out-of-door Vines is to renew the rods, 

 cutting down each alternate rod every second or third year, 

 according to their length, A Vine also makes a very handsome 

 plant on a very high wall, or on the end of a house, if trained 

 as we do our horizontal Pear trees — that is, one main stem 

 with horizontal rods 18 inches or 3 feet apart, on which the 

 bearing shoots are produced on the upper side only. If 

 18 inches apart, the shoots may be left at inches the one 

 from the other, and pruned home every season ; if 3 feet, then 

 they should be 18 inches distant, and renewed every second or 

 third year alternately. 



In winter pruning I would say, Prune always to a good firm 

 eye, study this principally. Do not prune too closely for the 

 sake of appearance. In summer keep the shoots thin, and 

 every leaf fully exposed to the sun's influences, so as to have 

 the wood thoroughly ripened. Then, if mildew does not 

 attack them, four seasons ont of five wonderfully good Grapes 

 will be secured. 



For the prevention of mildew, in answer to " D. of H.," I 

 recommend the practice of painting the rods, after pruning, 

 with a mixture of sulphur, soft soap, &e. This, however, 

 although it may serve to cleanse the shoots operated upon 

 from any existing insects, does not in the least prevent 

 the recurrence of mildew during the growing season. The 

 only way to prevent this is by the application of sulphur. 

 Flowers of sulphur should be dusted freely all over the leaves, 

 fruit, &o., immediately on the appearance of the evil, or indeed 

 previously. This should be done during bright sunshine in 

 the early part of the day, and repeated frequently if the 

 malady continues. If the weather is too wet to allow of this 

 being done cfiectually, syringe with sulphur water, or clear 

 dissolved Gishurst compound, which must, however, be washed 

 off the berries, if they are nearly ripe, to prevent imparting 

 its nasty taste. Sulphur in itself has no taste, and will cause 

 no injury to the eater of it, although it may somewhat dis- 

 figure the appearance of the Grapes. 



To grow Vines successfully in the open air, nothing is re- 

 qaired but perseverance and attention. — ^Abchambado. 



" GAKDENING IN THE ■\^'EST.-^i*o.!'3." 



We have seen that in America, our first care is to take 

 measures to retain as much as we can of atmospheric moisture, 

 just as in England we are chiefly at pains to accumulate and 

 retain solar heat. We may next talk over some applications in 

 everyday practice of this principle of difference. 



Dryness of the air is in some respects agreeable to the human 

 constitution, at least to ours, fS " whites." It is bracing, 

 stimulating, exciting. It has much to do, no doubt, in produc- 

 ing the noticeable lankness and angularity of the " Yankee," 

 his activity and acuteness of mind as well as body, and possibly 

 with an earlier wearing ont or decline of his powers, when life's 

 fever is allowed to run on unmoderated. The inhabitants ot 

 the deserts of Arabia, and of Northern' Africa, where an arid 

 condition of the air is constant, and sometimes mortally intense, 

 are described as among the most active, and quick-nerved of all 

 mankind; long-lived, and unusually exempt from disease ; but 

 the Arab's life is spent wholly in the open free air. The 



American is under a disadvantage from the necessity of close 

 shelter from the severities of winter, concerning which, and their 

 palliations and compensations, I shall have something to say. 



Other races seem to endure, and even to enjoy and prefer, air 

 that is too heavy with vapour, or carbonic acid, or both, for the 

 Caucasian. Geologists tell us that cot very long ago, geologically 

 speaking, the entire atmosphere of the earth was as vapour- 

 loaded as that of the southern shores of the Caribbenu Sea, or of 

 the Gulf of Guinea is now. I do not know whether they deduce 

 from this a point of evidence to show that the races now fading 

 and disappearing before the advance of the new " lords of the 

 earth," may have tenanted it before its atmosphere became suit- 

 able for the introduction and existence of the progeny of Adam 

 and his ruminant companions ; but it seems not an unplausible 

 supposition, especially as so many traces of the " pre-historio 

 man " are turning up, and as reference to his existence is found 

 even in the written record (Gen. iv., 11. ; vi., 2). Negroe?, in 

 the States, seem most at home in the low, rich, malaria-breeding 

 lands of parts of the south ; or, if in the north, in warm steamy 

 kitchens, stables, or breweries ; but I have never seen any of 

 them in charge of moist hot plant stoves, nor do they show any 

 taste for the arrangements of colour and outline that the artist 

 gardener combines so delightfully. There seems to be little 

 desire or necessity, however, for the culture of tropical plants 

 in America. The hardier winter garden plants, common out 

 of doors all over England, are rarities there, more charming', 

 more manageable, and more liked. ',, 



The American gardener is peculiarly exposed to alternations' 

 of extremes. There is a wide difference between the vapour-bath, 

 of his plant houses, and the doubly-dried air of dwelliug-rooms ; 

 for, in the winter, strong fires must be kept up in furnaces 

 beneath the rooms, or in stoves within them, there being ordi- 

 narily a difference of 50°, and often of 80°, between the -\- 20" 

 to — 20° out of doors, and the necessary C5° or 70° within. 

 Habit renders people careless about taking pains to keep up 

 an evaporation from water pans over these often red-hot 

 heaters. A friend, lately from England, whose office was 

 heated by a stream of air entering it through a .furnace and 

 register, and passing out through a ventilator, and who was not 

 yet accustomed to such sirocco-like air, used to sprinkle water 

 frequently all about the floor to allay uueasy sensations in his 

 bronchial tubes, finding a single pan of water possessed of too 

 little surface to moisten the rapidly changing air. Sitting- 

 room stoves are often surmounted with a basin or vase on the 

 top, to contain water, and some keep a bit of resin floating on 

 the water, but all this is oftener neglected than used. Kitchen 

 stoves have generally boilers on them containing water, and it 

 is common to hear persons, who do not suspect t'ae cause of 

 their easier sensations, declare that they prefer sitting iu the 

 kitchen. The emigrant gai-dener- will do well to watch the 

 symptoms and effects of these new conditions upon his own 

 constitution as well as upon those of his plants. There 

 certainly seems to be less tendency to consumption than !V,' 

 England, perhaps because board floors and carpets are more 

 common under the too thin shoes worn by women, and because 

 there is less exposure to the sharp currents of air which are 

 required by the draught of the capacious flues commou iu 

 England, although the closeness of the stove-rooms is certainly 

 the other extreme. '_ ^ i • • - jj/ 



Of course, these excessively dry dwelh'iig-rooiMg arfeuhfavotir- 

 able to the growth of plants, and no ordinary sorts can live 

 through a winter in them without special protection. Yet 

 plants are wanted, not alonefor companionship and beau, y, and 

 for contrast with the universal white of the shroud that wraps 

 all out-of-doors, but for solace, memory, aud hope too ; memory 

 of the green and the glow of the summer and autumn past, and 

 hope of the buds and blades of a wonderful resurrection in the 

 spring to come. They are wanted, too, for physical health and 

 comfort's sake. It is often said very truly, that " the conk is 

 better than the doctor," and the gardener may claim some such 

 merit. It is for him to teach how to keep these floral com- 

 panions healthy aud bright according to their respective natures, 

 from which it is but a few steps to a better conception of the 

 hygienic laws that govern the health of the human occupants of 

 the rooms. — Pejiss\'lvani4.^o j. jjj 



- . .1- n-,r, I,,,,- 



WORK FOE. THE ^YEEK. 



KITCHEN QAEDEN. 



As before stated, all spare ground should now be dug and 

 ridged — indeed, trenched if time permit. Where a systematic 

 rotation of crops is carried out, and, of course, a regular system 



