THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



81 



gi'owth, except the one at the extremity 

 of the arm ; cut back this one to about 

 three feet in length, and having untied 

 your canes bend them down and cover 

 with earth, if you have used the upright 

 trellis. If you have adopted the slant- 

 ing trellis of Mr. Fuller, of Meaford, 

 you can, he says, safely allow them to 

 remain. 



FOURTH SEASON. 



In the spring stretch out horizontally 

 the two canes at the extremities of the 

 horizontal arms for a continuation of 

 that part of the vine, and allow the 

 buds on the upper side to grow in the 

 same manner as you did in the third 

 summer. Also train the shoot from 

 the one bud that you left at the base 

 of the upright canes, just as you did 

 the canes during the previous summer, 

 which, last fall, you cut back to the 

 one eye. You will now have six or 

 eight canes on each arm of your vine, 

 all bearing fruit. In the fall of this 

 year you may cut all these canes back 

 to one eye, or if you prefer the plan 

 which many cultivatoi-s adopt, you can 

 ut back to one eye each alternate cane, 

 lud cut the other canes to about three 

 feet in length. If you choose this 

 method you will not allow any fruit to 

 remain on the canes which grow from 

 the single eye, but grow the fruit on 

 the lateral branches which will start 

 tVom the canes left three feet long, 

 i'hen when the fruit is harvested and 

 the leaves have fallen you will cut back 

 the canes that have borne fruit to one 

 i)ud from the horizontal arm, and prune 

 the canes that you trained up without 

 fruit to a length of three feet to bear 

 fruit next year, thus alternating. 



SUMMER PRUNING. 



The only pruning admissible in sum- 

 mer is that which is done with the 

 thumb and finger, which consists in 

 stopping the lateral branches by pinch- 

 ing off the end of the lateral shoot when 

 it has developed three or four leaves 



beyond the last bunch of fruit. Some- 

 times we pinch back the main cane 

 when it has reached the top of the 

 trellis in order to develop the parts 

 below more fully. Never strip off the 

 leaves to admit the sunlight upon the 

 fruit, but rather seek to preserve the 

 leaves in full vigor so that they may 

 shade and perfect the giapes. Without 

 a good supply of healthy foliage the 

 fruit will not ripen. 



OVER BEARING. 



In our great desire for an abundance 

 of fruit we are very apt to allow our 

 vines to carry too many clusters. It is 

 impossible to give definite instructions 

 on this point, as the quantity of fruit 

 that a vine will bring to maturity de- 

 pends upon the vigor of the vine. Our 

 fruit growers are not in danger of taking 

 off too many clusters. But it is a fact 

 that when the fruit is well thinned out 

 the grapes will ripen earlier, be of finer 

 size and of higher flavor. It is no un- 

 common thing to see a grape vine so 

 loaded that it can not biing any of its 

 fruit to maturity, while the grower con- 

 demns the variety as too late for his 

 climate, when the fault is purely hi^ 

 own. 



We trust these hints may prove help- 

 ful to our subscribers, and if any points 

 have not been made sufficiently plain, 

 we will esteem it as a favor, if our 

 amateur friends will direct their in- 

 quiries to the points upon which they 

 desire further information. 



COVERING GRAPE VINES. 



I cover my grape vines in the fall 

 with earth, and they turn out fresh in the 

 spring and start right off to grow. I 

 do not think that sti-aw is good to cover 

 vines in winter as it is liable to prove 

 a harbour for mice. 



James Dougal. 



Barrie, Simcoe Co., 



