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POPULAR GARDENING. 



June, 



Summer Pruning the Vine. 



D. S. MARWIN. JEFFERSON CO., N, Y. 



There is a right and a wrong way of doing 

 the work. It is mainly a matter of con- 

 ditions, or objects to be obtained. Let us 

 look into the nature of the plant, and let 

 the vine answer the question for itself. 



A vine is in the nature of a community, 

 each bud an individual, with another em- 

 bryo vine wrapped within its water-proof 

 covering. Every bud may be severed and 

 made to grow into a new vine, or if left to 

 remain upon the present plant, may be 

 utilized by the vine to produce foliage. But 

 there is a further, and the most potent 

 energy of all, in a part of the buds : the 

 power of producing fruit containing seeds 

 with germs of new and distinct plants, 

 sometimes very unlike the parent vine. 



In pruning the vine what do we desire to 

 accomplish? In the case of a young plant 

 during the tlrst season's growth we want 

 alone a growth and development of wood. 

 No system of repression or turning the vine's 

 forces to other objects is admissible ; so we 

 stimulate and leave all the foliage intact 

 the first year. 



The second year we have in view bearing 

 wood and the development of good-sized 

 canes with large fruit buds ; so we prune in 

 the fall with reference to the double arm, 

 the Kniffin, the fan, or whatever system we 

 intend to adopt and we have no more wood 

 than is needed, so as to avoid all the sum- 

 mer pruning we can, for no matter how we 

 manage under all conditions, much sum- 

 mer pruning is to be avoided, so as not to 

 disturb the vine's vital economies too harsh- 

 ly. But certainly in the case of all strong- 

 growing plants, summer pruning is neces- 

 sary, for vre cannot otherwise turn the 

 energies of the vine into fruit bearing, 

 because it we do not summer prune to a cer- 

 tain degree, the forces of the vine are 

 wasted upon useless wood and foliage. 



The first and most important summer 

 pruning to be done, is to break out theyoung 

 canes upon all the lower parts of the vine 

 that we do not need for future u.se, or for 

 fruit bearing; this concentrates the growth 

 into the bearing canes for the development 

 of fruit, and the canes for next year's fruit- 

 ing. If the vine is weakly or only a 

 moderate grower, this is usually all the 

 summer pruning desirable, e.xcept when 

 the double buds push two canes, when but 

 one is needed, the best cane is chosen, the 

 other broken out. In case one cane or 

 several canes are appropriating more than 

 their due share of sap, the ends should be 

 pinched, usually two or three inches be- 

 yond the last cluster of Grapes, but it extra 

 clusters are desired, the cane may be clipped 

 at the third, or even the .second cluster of 

 fruit, as soon as the little clusters can be 

 seen, but this should not be generally 

 practiced ; it does not leave foliage enough 

 for a healthy growth, and under nearly all 

 circumstances the laterals or little side 

 canes growing from the current year's 

 canes, may be pinched at the first node, 

 leaving but one leaf. 



Now we have arrived at the point where 

 there is much diversity of opinion. Shall we 

 cut oft the canes of strong-growing vigorous 

 vines during the summer? I do not approve 

 of cutting and slashing, but I do practice 

 and recommend pinching off the laterals 

 at one leaf, and the canes at about the third 

 node beyond the last cluster of Grapes. I 

 can keep my vines healthy, and I get larger 

 berries, and better clusters of fruit by so 

 doing, and I find that the more thoroughly 

 this is done, the vines respond by ripening 

 the fruit a week or two in advance of vines 

 not so pruned. I always have my fruit ripe 

 and in market before my neighbors. I am 

 sure the fruit is better developed, better 

 flavored, and a good many days earlier. 



Another point gained is also very impor- 

 tant, that is the production of more pollen 

 and more potent pollen, to fertilize the 

 ovules in June. Here is the weak point in 

 most of our species of native Grapes; there 

 is not potent pollen enough produced by a 

 slack system of summer pruning to properly 

 fertilize the ovules. 



It will now be seen, that no more buds 

 should be allowed to grow upon a vine than 

 are needed, every extrabud when not needed 

 calls away the forces of the plant and pre- 

 vents fruit production. We can see also 

 that fruit as germ production is a higher 

 function, than bud production. All vines 

 in a state of nature are slowly shifting this 

 function from the old bisexual to slngle- 

 se.xed plants. The vinedresser will have to 

 take this tendency into consideration and 

 counteract it, by giving his bi-sexual plants 

 better conditions for pollen production. 



Again the skilled vinter must know and 

 take into consideration the species of the 

 vine he is cultivating, for the different 

 species grow with different habits and ten- 

 dencies, the most of our native species and 

 their hybrids are of recent origin, compara- 

 tively wild, and will not submit to the close 

 pruning and manipulation of the larger 

 cultivated European species. Of course the 

 ultimate object is fruit, and the highly de- 

 veloped cultivated fruit is the last and 

 supreme object to man. 



The vine in a wild state multiplies eyes 

 and wood to a much greater extent, and 

 when our vines are diseased, or making but 

 a .slender growth, we should not prune the 

 wood, but the fruit, and throw the forces of 

 tlic vine into bud and wood development. 



Strawberries: A Word for the Jewell. 



S. H. WARREN, Mn)DLE.SEX CO.. MASS. 



The plants prefer new ground which has 

 never before been plowed or made to pro- 

 duce our common field crops. I believe 

 such land has in it a food for Strawberries 

 which man cannot furnish by the use of 

 stable manure or fertilizei-s. If such new 

 land has white grubs in it, it should be cul- 

 tivated for two years previous to the plants 

 being set, or fenced in, for a hog yard. 



New land is also usually freer from weeds 

 than old land, and I know of no crop so dis- 

 couraging to cultivate in a weedy soil than 

 Strawberries. My Strawberry land is a 

 piece of low, deep, black soil, formerly wet 

 and soft, which I had tile-drained and 

 sanded. Part of this had produced only 

 one crop (Potatoes) before being set to 

 Strawberries, the other had been cropped 

 several years. The whole was planted with 

 .lessie and .lewell, one row of the former 

 alternating with three of the latter, and 

 the rows extending through both the old 

 and the new land. .Jessie made plants 

 enough at either end, but .Jewell had few 

 on the old ground, and a plentiful supply 

 on the new. There were really too many 

 plants for the best results m fruit, but they 

 came handy as I sell plants. 



With me (and I have 3.5 years' experience) 

 the .lewell is the most profitable. It has the 

 four great requisites, beauty, size, quality, 

 and quantity. At first I stimulated the 

 plants every way to induce them to make 

 runners, but without avail. I got about 

 three runners to every parent plant, not- 

 withstanding heavy applications of manure, 

 and phosphates. 1 believe a great mistake 

 is made in setting out large stocky plants of 

 the .Jewell variety instead of small ones. 

 The former are more inclined to bear fruit 

 than to produce plants. It is also my ex- 

 perience that .Jewell requires more moisture 

 to grow plants than other varieties. Last 

 year the .Jewells on high ground made a 

 good growth of plants because we had so 

 much rain, while the year before they made 

 very few on the same land, it being dry. 



The great reason why this variety has. 

 been discarded, is that people have not been 

 able to raise their own plants, and their mar- 

 ket value is high. But if small ones are 

 chosen and set in new, moist land, there 

 will be no trouble in raising both the plants 

 and fruit of this most profitable variety. 



Celery Culture in Maine. 



J. A. UARETT, CUMBERLAND CO., ME. 



Our method is as follows : We prepare 

 our hot-bed about the last of March or first 

 of April, putting three or four inches of 

 steaming hot manure under a little more 

 than that depth of rich fine soil covering 

 with sashes and allowing it to heat a little 

 for the next twenty-four hours. The sashes 

 are then taken off and the soil thoroughly 

 stirred. It is then smoothed and pressed 

 down firmly with a short piece of board. 

 The seed is then sown quite thickly on this 

 surface, and a very thin covering of rich 

 loam sifted over it, which in turn is pressed 

 down firmly. 



Now a covering of thin cloth is laid over 

 it thus preventing the seed washing out in 

 watering. When the plants make their 

 appearance, this cloth is taken off, and the 

 outside of the sash daubed with whitewash 

 or mud. The sashes are allowed to remain 

 a little longer, airing freely while the sun is 

 shining on them. Great care is exercised at 

 this point in their growth as they will die if 

 kept too dry, and if kept too wet they will 

 damp off. When the plants are about an 

 inch in height they are transplanted into a 

 bed that has been used in growing Lettuce 

 or Radishes. About :i50 plants are allowed 

 for the space occupied by one sash. The 

 sash are removed, and the plants kept 

 shaded from ten to three for a few days. 



All that is necessary is to keep them wet 

 from this time until the 15th to 'Jllth of .June. 

 They are then set out in ground that has 

 been heavily manured and fined, in rows 

 six feet apart and one foot apart in the row. 



Until the middle of August we cultivate 

 between the rows, and keep the plants clean 

 by hoeing occasionally. After this time we 

 bank up what is needed for the local mar- 

 ket. After the first of October we begin to 

 bank up what is to be housed for winter. 

 We begin taking it into the house the 25th 

 of the month. 



Most of the writers on Celery neglect to 

 speak about the importance of keeping out 

 of the Celery while the dew is on. If 

 handled in this condition it is liable to rust. 



Manures for Garden Crops. 



The question whether plants draw nitro- 

 gen from the air, and how much of it, is 

 often brought up for discussion; but after 

 all, it has very little practical bearing, ex- 

 cept in case of leguminous plants. 



Otherwise the gardener and fruit grower 

 will do well to make little reckoning on the 

 nitrogen needed for his crops, from that 

 source. Peas and Beans, like Clover" and 

 other members of that family, do well so 

 long as they find plenty of mineral food in 

 the soil, as they get their nitrogen supply 

 from air, and subsoil. The only safe depen- 

 dance for nitrogen with other garden crops, 

 however, is yet the manure heap in the barn- 

 yard, or the nitrogen bought in complete 

 manufactured manures, or in nitrates, or 

 ammonia salts. 



It is entirely fallacious, says Tick's Maga- 

 zine, to suppose that garden crops, whether 

 flowers, fruit, or vegetables, gain a large 

 amount of nitrogenous plant-food from 

 atmospheric sources by means of this ex- 

 tended leaf-surface. The quantity of com- 

 bined nitrogen brought to the soil and grow- 

 ing plants by rain-water and the atmos- 

 phere is so inconsiderable an amount, when 

 compared with the weight required by the 

 crop, that we may fairly say that no plants 



