136 



THE ILLINOI FAKEEE. 



Mat 



melons and cucumbers can also be grown in the 

 same manner. 



Our gardening friends will not forget the plaster 

 remedy for the striped hug, and which is applica- 

 ble to the whole melon and squash family. A bar- 

 rel will do for a whole neighborhood, or any sur. 

 plus can be applied to other crops, such as clover 

 and potatoes. The cost at Chicago is about two 

 dollars, and can be had of A. H. Hovey, 194 Lake 

 street, who is the agent for the Grand Rapids plas- 

 ter. — Ed.] 



Injurious Effects of Pruning on the 

 Quality of Fruit. 



We have repeatedly cautioned our readers, says 

 the Gardener's Monthly, against severe summer 

 pruning of the grape. On the vitality of the 

 grape it has a most baneful influence ; and as we 

 have often said, it is undoubtedly the parent of 

 many of the diseases the grape vine is subject to. 



The last time we took occasion to r«fer to the 

 matter, it was in connection with the coloring of 

 fruits. We showed how thinning out the growing 

 leaves to "let in the light air" to color fruit, de- 

 feated its object. The blackest grapes are found 

 in the shadiest places. A healthful vitality is the 

 best coloring material, and this is best gained by 

 securing healthy leaves and plenty of them. 



But it seems there is another point in which 

 the grape suffers by summer pruning, that we be- 

 lieve has not heretofore been noticed ; and this 

 one of immense importance to wine growers. In 

 our department of " iaqmiries," a correspondent 

 seeking information respecting hydrometers, inci- 

 dentally states that he found by instrumental meas- 

 ure, grapes summer pruned have less sugar than 

 grapes from vines not summer pruned. This ob- 

 servation is confirmed by the well know fact, that 

 what gardeners call " shanking" of gapes, or that 

 disease which about the time of ripening causes 

 the bunch stems to shrivel and the berries to shrink 

 can be brought about in one way, by a severe 

 stripping off of the leaves of the grape vine, and 

 that these "shanked" grapes are invariably as 

 Bour as any vinegar can be. Of course when the 

 stem shrivels the sap cannot flow through it, and 

 that this shanking illustration is little more than 

 saying, if a grape bunch is cut off before maturity 

 the fruit cannot ripen, which every one knows ; 

 but every one does not know that we cut off the 

 fruit when cutting off leaves — cutting off, if not 

 entirely iu all cases, partially at least, by the ob- 

 structing of a full supply of certain elements es 

 sential to perfection. 



It is scarcely possible to underrate this discov- 

 ery so modestly stated by our correspondent, that 



summer pruned grapes are not as sweet as grapes 

 " let alone.'' It adds one more difficulty to those 

 we pointed out in the way of a correct analysis of 

 grapes as made by the United States Agrieultural 

 Department.^ It may account for the astonishing 

 results of Dr. Wetherill, whose science isade some 

 grapes sour we all know to be sweet, and others 

 sweet, that the wiliest fox would not even make 

 an attempt to reach, from their well known char- 

 acter.. Not only climate and soil may have had to 

 do with the Doctor's grapes, but the system on 

 which they had been pruned also. 



One cannot help feeling that the whole systeia 

 of grape vine pruning, indeed of pruning in gea- 

 eral, as heretofore laid down iu books, is fast iwa- 

 bling to destruction. We are taught to pinch here, 

 stop exactly there, at that precise point we are 

 to cut, at the twist, and just beyond turu, no one 

 knows why or wherefore, but that the author 

 says so, and he " knows." So many inches of 

 wood the first year, so many score of leaves, so 

 many bunches. The second year so many, and the 

 third just so many more. Chapter on chapter, 

 treatise on treatise, have been written, and what 

 do they all amount to ? The whole story may be 

 told in a few words, and we may put it in this 

 form ; 



If grape vines are let entirely alone the greater 

 vital force of the top of the canes will soon ex- 

 haust all below, and the vines will gain a point 

 entirely beyond our reach. Hence we train that 

 we may confine the plant to the limits we wish it 

 to finally occupy ; and we prune that we may reg- 

 ulate the vital force so as to distribute it equally 

 over the vine. Some few prune to get large 

 bunches, but those in the secret look to vigorous 



• roots to achieve this desired end. 



To train properly requires art and skill ; that is 



' the operator must have a foreknowledge of how 

 what he does will end. If he wants permanent 

 arms in one place, or to have canes annually in an- 

 other, he must learn practieally, or from one who 

 has had practical experience where to cut to bring 

 them forth. This is the gardener's art, taught as 

 boys are taught to make breeches, by precept and 

 example, and for which end practical works an- 

 swer an admirable purpose. In priming, however, 

 when its real object is understood, science is supe- 

 rior to art, and we will learn more with a grape 

 vine before us, than in a whole winter night's study 

 of the most practical work. We want only to equal- 

 ize the vine's strength over the whole surface of 

 the vine, so that no square foot shall be lost, but that 

 as large grapes should be at the bottom as at tke 

 top of the vine, and a regular quantity all over]; 

 and we also want to keep the vine within the lim- 





