Aptll 23, 1874. 1 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULXUBE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



323 



DISBUDDING VINES, AND KINDRED HINTS. 



HE important process of disbudding bas sel- 

 dom full justice done it in papers and trea- 

 tises on Vine-culture. By all experienced 

 cultivators, however, it is adopted as one of 

 the first and main points in their practice. 

 But it is just this class that I am desirous 

 of leaving out of mind altogether in pen- 

 ning this paper, a natural preference leading 

 me, as it were instinctively, to think of 

 amateurs and their many doubts and per- 

 plexities as to what to do at certain times to insure the 

 coveted Grapes in the little structures that have grown 

 on to theu- dwellings. These httle glass houses have 

 sprung and are springing up apace all over the countiy, 

 and especially in the environs of towns and cities. 

 Former attempts have been made to simplify Grape- 

 production, and especially to dispel some popular, but 

 erroneous, notions that in all cases expensive border- 

 formation is an absolute necessity to produce useful 

 Grapes. On this point I will only repeat, that in eight 

 cases out of ten it is nothing of the kind. 



I will now, for the present, leave the root of the ques- 

 tion and look upwards, and see what can be done with 

 branch and foliage by way of leading to the one great end 

 and purpose — fruit. In looking into an amateur's vinery 

 the practical gardener may occasionally see much to ad- 

 mu-e, and, further, may frequently pick up a hint which 

 lie may tack with advantage to his own practice, or store 

 in his memory to use when occasion requires. It is only 

 bare justice to make that concession ; but, on the other 

 hand, it is only simple truth to say that he also sees 

 much to avoid. There are two things unusually com- 

 mon which a thorough gardener never likes to see in the 

 management of Vines — one is a thin, spindly, contracted 

 stem at the bottom of the rod and a few feet up a huge 

 protuberance, and from this a thickening of the cane to 

 the top. Tills, to my eye, looks as much out of place 

 as a ladder reared against a wall thick end upwards, 

 only of the two I would much prefer the ladder. Vines, 

 it is true, when so grown have produced good fruit, but 

 I am not sure if the exception is not so much a matter 

 of rarity as to — rarity like — make a greater impression 

 than would a crop from Vines more natm-ally and sensibly 

 grown. And further, it is possible that those who have 

 observed good Grapes on these spindle-shanked Vines 

 may also have noticed that such Grapes were more prone 

 to shank than those regular in thickness, or with the 

 thickest portion of the stem nearest the ground. I think 

 — no, I am certain — that I have seen shanking in con- 

 nection with Vines which taper in thickness downwards 

 more frequent than when the tapering was, as it onght to 

 be, upwards. 



But passing over shanking for the moment, I will 

 state the other common error — viz., an overcrowding of 

 stems, and consequently of foUage. Here, then, are two 

 things to avoid — spindly stems and overcrowded leaves. 

 One is the result of overmuch disbudding, and the other 

 No. esa.-Voi.. XXVI., n»w ssiuKi.] 



of not sufficient. A Vine may have from 3 to 6 feet, some- 

 times considerably more, to grow before it reaches the 

 point at which fruit is required— before, in fact, it reaches 

 the roof the house. How common it is to denude this 

 portion of the stem of all its buds at one general rubbing. 

 This is disbudding with a vengeance, but it is all wrong. 

 Then when it reaches the roof, a fine short-jointed young 

 cane may have buds studded at G inches distant over its 

 whole length, and these are left untouched. That is 

 also wrong ; it is the other extreme. 



This is about the period of the year that Vines in 

 unhealed, or partly heated, houses will be faurly com- 

 mencing to enter on their season's growth. The first 

 point to attend to is that that growth should be equahsed 

 over the whole length of the Vine, having due regard to 

 the complete furnishing of the roof, and, what is not a 

 whit less important, particular care that there is no crowd- 

 ing and crushing of fohage, preventing a due and natural 

 expansion, without which the life functions of the Vine 

 cannot be properly carried out. The first means to this 

 end is disbudding. It is pretty well understood that 

 li feet 9 inches or 3 feet is the proper distance to can-y up 

 the rods. This, however, is only just half of the matter 

 as to the due distribution of foliage. At this distance 

 three or four eyes will push from a spur. It is not enough 

 to say that two-thirds of these should be removed, but on 

 hundreds of spurs on hundreds of Vines whole spurs 

 should be entirely divested of their growth — that is, when 

 they, the spurs, have been permitted to form too thickly 

 on the stems. I have seen the most signal benefit accrue 

 to Vines by nothing else than a more proper and thorough 

 disbudding than had heretofore been practised. Example, 

 and there is no scarcity of such : a roof covered with 

 Vines, the spurs set on the rods as closely as (l inches from 

 each other, foliage small, wood small, and fruit smaU. 

 "Why, it must be so, simply because it cannot be other- 

 wise. The strength of such Vines is wasted. The whole 

 vitality is pumped out of them by a thicket of spray, each 

 shoot batthng with its ncighbom- for supremacy, fighting 

 for light in order to perfect its foliage. It is a hopeless 

 fight ; such a perfecting there cannot be. The power of 

 man is there too great for the force of Nature. In his 

 vain attempts to aid it he has crippled it, and Nature in 

 attempting to get out of the crowd only makes the crowd 

 more dense. Were the gi-owth from these spurs limited 

 to half, and less than half the number of shoots, those 

 left, as a direct consequence, would be stronger, better, 

 and more perfect for the work they had to do. Spurs 

 intended for fruit-bearing should never be left nearer than 

 1 foot from each other, and 15 inches will be better — that 

 is, when the rods are about 3 feet apart. Not long ago 

 I saw a large vinery a perfect thicket of wiry wood. By 

 taking out more than half the spurs at the winter's prun- 

 ing the Vines improved marvellously. "What was done 

 by cutting then may be done by rubbing now, and the 

 superfluous spurs may be removed in winter. To amateurs 

 who are not well conversant with the subject the shoots 

 when thus thinned may look over-scantily placed, but 

 look ahead for a moment, and contemplate the size of 



No. 1SS4.— Vol. LI, Old Series. 



