lU 



Tlie Grape Culturist. 



and yon can procure saw dust or spent 

 tan for mulching, it will be of great 

 benefit to them. If you can not procure 

 these, mulch with well pulverized earth, 

 drawing it up over them, but it will not 

 do to let this bake and harden into a 

 crust. 



In vine^^ards planted this spring, leave 

 no more than one shoot to grow, rubbing 

 ofl' all others ; but on thi*? allow all the 

 laterals to grow, as that will make it 

 raoi'e stock3\ On vines in their second 



year, if they start strong and vigorously, 

 you can leave, on strong growing kinds, 

 from three to four shoots, as they should 

 have two or three bearing canes the 

 next year, and one spur as a reserve 

 near tlie ground. Look sharp after all 

 noxious insects, especiall}' the steel blue 

 beetle, the different small worms which 

 make their nests in the tips of the 3'oung 

 shoots ; but protect the lad^'-bug, the 

 Mantis and its eggs. The^^ are among 

 the best friends 3'^ou have. 



SUMMER PRUNING THE VINE— No. 2. 



I 



We come now to the second stage of 

 summer pruning, and shall try to be as 

 explicit as possible in describing our 

 mode. In answer to numerous inqui- 

 ries, we will state that this practice 

 was first followed here by Mr. William 

 Poeschel, one of our most observant and 

 best vine dressers. He perceived that 

 some shoots, of wjiich the ends had been 

 eaten off' by worms at a very early time, 

 developed their bunches much more 

 rapidly and evenly. He stated the fact 

 to us in the summer of 1852, also showed 

 us some rows he had pinched in this 

 manner, and some he had treated in the 

 old manner of summer pruning, namely, 

 waiting until after the bloom, and then 

 pinching or cutting the shoot two leaves 

 beyond the last bunch. The difference 

 was so marked and apparent in favor 

 of the new method over the old, that 

 we were at once convinced of its ad- 

 vantages, and advocated it through the 

 press. We can well remember a very 

 warm controversy we had about this in 

 the columns of the Cincimiatus, and are 

 happy to say that it ended in a convic- 



tion of our friend Warder to the "■ new 

 heresy," of which he became a warm 

 advocate from thai time on. We could 

 state many similar cases ; and the suc- 

 cess of Mr. M'Fike at Alton, so often 

 commented upon in public, is owing, to 

 a great extent, to his following this 

 method as soon as his vines commenced 

 bearing. It is one of the discoveries 

 the diligent observer of nature so often 

 makes, small it itself, but important in 

 its results, and which each of us can 

 make ever}' day if he will observe 

 the habits of his plants thinkingly, 

 and draw conclusions from his obser- 

 vations. 



After the first pinching, the dormant 

 buds in the axils of the leaves on the 

 fruit-bearing shoots will each push out a 

 lateral shoot opposite the 3'oung bunches. 

 Our second operation consists in pinch- 

 ing these laterals each back one leaf as 

 soon as we can get hold of the shoot 

 jibove the first leaf, so that we get a 

 young and vigorous leaf additional, op- 

 posite to each bunch of grapes. These 

 ; serve as elevators of the sap, and also 



