424 THE FORCING GARDEN. <)CT. 



proper to prune the plants some time in this month, 

 as said above, that the wounds may be fully healed 

 before, and that bleeding may be prevented when 

 vegetation commences; for it is very difficult to stop 

 this bleeding of the shoots, which certainly very 

 much exhausts the plants. 



Applications of hot wax are the best remedy I 

 know of, for this bleeding of vines, after vegetation 

 commences ; in which case the end of the shoot 

 should be seared by a hot poker, or rod of iron, in 

 order to dry it so much as that the wax may take 

 good hold, and may afterwards stick on*. But this 

 is only necessary for plants that have been pruned 

 too late, and forced too soon afterwards : which is a 

 great mistake in the management of vines. It is 

 easier to prevent, than to cure diseases, provided we 

 know where the remedy lies. In this case, it lies 

 in timeous pruning; not, however, in too early 



* Since writing the above, I have perused the Transactions 

 of the London Horticultural Society, and find that Mr Knight, 

 in one of his communications to that Society, says, " The vine 

 often bleeds excessively when pruned in an improper season, or 

 when accidentally wounded, and I believe no mode of stopping 

 the flow of the sap is at present known to gardeners. I there- 

 fore mention the following, which I discovered many years ago, 

 and have always practised with success : if to four parts of 

 scraped cheese be added one part of calcined oyster-shells, or 

 other pure calcareous earth, and this composition be pressed 

 strongly into the pores of the wood, the sap will instantly cease 

 to flow ; the largest branch may of course be taken off at any 

 season with safety." 



