Round the Year in the Garden 



may be accomplished with greater or less success, of 

 which the degree depends chiefly upon the temperature 

 maintained. If the Vine is to carry good crops of well- 

 ripened Grapes it must have perfect rest in winter ; this 

 can be given only by exposing the Vines to air after 

 the leaves have fallen. The Vine is not tender ; it will 

 grow out of doors in this country, though the weather- 

 conditions are rarely sufficiently favourable to enable 

 the fruit to ripen. When grown under glass it should 

 have all the fresh air possible throughout winter, and 

 the ventilators should never be closed except during 

 severe frost. When the greenhouse contains a collection 

 of half-hardy plants a compromise must be made, and 

 one has to arrange for a temperature that will protect 

 the plants while not exciting the Vine into growth. 

 Few amateurs seem to prune their Vines properly; it 

 is not at all uncommon to see the trellis crowded with 

 long, weakly side shoots that have been scarcely 

 shortened from one year to another. Such Vines 

 quickly deteriorate; though they may continue to bear 

 fruit for years, the berries are small and rarely colour 

 properly. The bunches of Grapes are produced by the 

 fresh green growths of summer ; and these are vigorous 

 enough to bear good bunches only when the Vines are 

 severely pruned in winter. The side shoots, or laterals 

 as they are called, of the past summer's growth those 

 that bore the last crop of Grapes should be cut back to 

 within two buds of their base ; perhaps only half an inch 

 of each shoot may be left. If both buds start into growth 

 in spring one should be rubbed off as soon as it is 

 possible to distinguish which of them bears the embryo 

 bunch; this can be done when the little shoot is 1 or 

 2 inches long. If the laterals are hard pruned in this 

 way each winter, they make progress only at the rate 

 of half an inch or an inch each year, and the pruned 

 Vine appears as merely a thick stem, with protuberances 

 or spurs here and there, throughout its full length. 



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