DooembM 10, 1874. ] 



JOTJENAIi OF HORTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



513 



VINE-PKUNING AND WINTER-DRESSING. 



b T is not to teach the learned, but the several 

 inquiring amateurs who are now essaying 

 the winter treatment of their Vines, and 

 are not too confident of the procedure best 

 adapted for their purpose, that a few grains 

 of instruction are hereby scattered. Vine- 

 pruning must be adapted to the age, con- 

 dition, and pecuhar state of the Vines. On 

 these circumstances the system of winter 

 pruning must be founded. There are two 

 cardinal forms of pruning the Vine — the short spur and 

 long rod. There are also hybrids or modifications of these ; 

 also the two plans may often be seen in combination. 



Let us start with a young Vine planted in the spring with 

 a new rod to the top of the house. " Is that rod to be cut 

 down?" "Considering the permanent welfare of the Vine, 

 undoubtedly." "But wUl not that rod bear fruit if left 

 alone?" " Certainly, if a stout perfected rod ; moreover, 

 the best bunches will not be near the bottom, but nearer 

 the top of the house." " Then why cut it down? If it 

 kills itself with work it may." That is the mode of 

 reasoning of a self-knowing man, fond of asking advice 

 and never following it. Picking up a grain here and there, 

 and going somewhat different to all, he gets a first show 

 of Grapes, and glories in the result as being a " plan 

 of my own," having particular care to emphasise the 

 " my." The Vine stands. It carries some good bunches 

 of Grapes, but many of the lower buds break stubbornly, 

 some not at all, and the side growths, although pinched, 

 are weak. Well, they ought not to have been pinched. 

 Never mind, a lot of fruit is had, but the- Vine is ruined. 

 That is killing the goose which would have laid the 

 golden eggs. Another instance : If, instead of pinching 

 all the side shoots, at the base one is selected ; the eye 

 just at the bend where the cane turns down to the rafter 

 generally breaks freely, and this allowed to grow to the 

 top of the house unchecked, will make a good rod at 

 the same time the other carries the Grapes. Now, if the 

 rod-bearing cane is cut clean out when the Grapes are 

 aU cut, the young rod will be ready to bear more. That 

 plan carried out year by year is the long-rod system pure 

 and simple. But some may say, " Oh ! everybody knows 

 that." I beg pardon, everybody does not know ; and it is 

 just these who require the information, and to whom 

 alone it is offered. To assume that everybody knows 

 everything, and that descending to simplicities is deroga- 

 tory to one's reputation, is the great error of the times. 

 If everybody knows a thing, why pen a line ? and if we 

 find one who looks with contempt on a thing plainly put, 

 depend upon it that man is a hunter after information if 

 he has need of it. But to proceed. That plan will pro- 

 duce a quantity of Grapes, especially if not followed out 

 as stated, but if the first year's growth had been boldly 

 cut down to the base of the rafter, and a year's grace 

 given to get root-power, that seeming year's loss s 

 really an eventual and permanent gain. 

 Those who want a large quantity of Grapes in a small 

 No. n5.-Voi_ XXVn., new Seeds. 



space of time, and who have no reserve — nursing canes — 

 will find this long-rod system give them ; moreover, it is 

 more than possible they will be less troubled with shank- 

 ing and other ailments than by the spur system. Mind, 

 that is for amateurs who do not understand the whole 

 rationale of Vine-culture sufficiently to work without aid, 

 and who covet a quantity of Grapes as easUy as possible, 

 regardless of the way it is produced or the appearance 

 of the Vines producing it. By that plan the bulk of the 

 fruit will always be at the top of the house. To obviate 

 this, take up two reserve rods by the side of the fruiting 

 cane. Stop one nearly halfway up, and let the other go 

 the full length. That will fill a house with fruit from 

 the bottom to the top of the rafters. The half-length rod 

 may extend to the top in the year of fruiting, and it will 

 make a fine bearer the following year. Another from the 

 bottom, stopped halfway up, will make sure for the lower 

 part of the house, and so the roof may be covered with 

 fruit year by year, every bunch from wood of the year 

 preceding, no spurs having had time to form. With a 

 good root-power to begin with, this plan is capable of 

 producing an immense quantity of Grapes. It is the 

 simplest of all forms of Vine-pruning. Anyone can do 

 it who can cut away a dead Raspberry cane after fruiting, 

 and train one young shoot halfway up the stake for 

 bottom fruit, and another the full length for top fruit for 

 the nest year's work. The bottom half of the rod reach- 

 ing to the top should, however, be divested of eyes, and 

 the eyes on the bearing portion be thinned out to about 

 15 (not less) inches apart. This can be done in the spring 

 by disbudding, and is essential in preventing an over- 

 crowding of foliage, the most common of all mistakes in 

 Vine-culture by inexperienced cultivators. 



Leaving for the moment the long-rod or Raspberry 

 system, let us look at the spur plan of treatment. The 

 young rod of the first year should, if at all weakly, be cut 

 boldly down to the bottom of the rafter, and not be allowed 

 to bear a bunch. Strength will thus be concentrated to 

 produce one fine young rod which, its other treatment 

 being right, is sure to follow, and will lay the foundation 

 for a good-constitutioned Vine for permanent work. If, 

 however, the cane is stout, strong, and well-ripened, con- 

 taining not more than a speck of pith, but is hard, round, 

 and bright, then it may be allowed 2 to 3 feet of rafter, 

 and carry two to four bunches. It will perfect these, 

 and make a fine extension cane at the same time without 

 any danger of overcropping ; indeed the fine cane is the 

 proof — the safety-valve that all is right on that side, the 

 bunches being, as it were, the steam-governors. If these 

 press heavily, if the rod does not progress freely, reUeve 

 pressure by removing a bunch or bunches as required, 

 making above aU things sure that the steam (the sap) 

 has a full and abundant flow upwards to form a fine ex- 

 tension growth of vigorous cane. After this, yearly ex- 

 tension may, at each winter's pruning, be shortened to 

 about a one-fourth length of rafter — that is, if the rafter 

 is 16 feet, leave 4 feet. In very strong canes more is 

 quite permissible, but as a rule that is a safe approxima- 

 tive guide. Now these side shoots which have borne the 



No. 1867.— TOL. LIL, Qui SSBIZB. 



