August 9, 1877. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICDLTUKB AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



107 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



Day Day 



of 1 of 



Month Week. 



AUGUST 9—15, 1877. 



Average 



Temperature near 



London. 



Sun 

 Eises. 



Sun 

 Sets. 



Moon 

 Eises. 



Moon 

 Sets. 



Moon's 

 Age. 



Clock 

 before 

 Sun. 



Day 



of 



Year. 









Day. 



Night. 



ilean. 



h. m. 



b. m. 



h. m. 



h. m. 



Days. 



m. s. 





9 



Th 





74.9 



49.6 



63.2 



4 38 



7 32 



4 36 



7 47 



o 



5 14 



221 



10 

 11 



S 



Boyal Botanic Society (Anniversary) at 1 P.3I. 



75.1 

 75.8 



51.9 

 50.7 



63.5 

 63.2 



4 39 

 4 41 



7 31 

 7 29 



6 11 



7 42 



S 2 

 8 16 



1 



2 



5 5 

 4 56 



222 

 223 



12 



Sou 





75.1 



50.5 



62.8 



4 43 



7 27 



9 10 



8 29 



3 



4 46 



224 



18 



M 





74.5 



50.0 



62.3 



4 44 



7 25 



10 37 



8 43 



4 



4 36 



225 



14 



To 



Clay Cross (Chesterfield) Show. 



72.9 



50.8 



61.8 



4 46 



7 23 



0a 2 



9 



5 



4 25 



226 



15 



W 



Dover and Shrewsbury Shows. 



73.1 



50.0 



61.6 



4 47 



7 21 



1 27 



9 22 



6 



4 14 



227 



Prom observations taken near London daring forty-three years 



the average day temperature of the week is 75.0 3 ; and its night temperature 



60.0'. 











CLOSE PLANTING VINES— ALTERNATE 

 CROPPING. 



CCASIONALLY Vines are planted at half 

 the usual distances apart with a view to a 

 fuller and earlier supply of Grapes, and the 

 plan was at one time advocated as not only 

 calculated to secure greater first results, but 

 by alternate cropping of the Vines it was 

 thought to possess permanent advantages. 

 " J. W.," some time ago, requested informa- 

 tion upon this subject ; but I did not think 

 it desirable to respond until fortified with 

 at least an apprenticeship of experience. 



In the spring of 1870 I took charge of two vineries 

 with the Vines planted 27 to 30 inches distance apart. 

 They had been pruned to the bottom of the trellis, and 

 all eyes removed but tile three uppermost. The object 

 was to have fruit quickly — a means wide of the mark 

 for securing it, inasmuch as had every other Vine been a 

 fruiting one and fruited in the pot placed on the border, 

 or, better, the hot-water pipes, and well fed, a dozen 

 bunches might have been had from each Vine the first 

 season ; but under the circumstances no more could be 

 anticipated than proving of the kinds, to which wrong 

 labels had been attached to several. 



In 1870 the Vines reached the top of the house, and 

 laterals being rather freely encouraged they had in 

 autumn strong well-ripened canes. These were cut back 

 to one-third their ultimate extent, the object being to 

 have them in full bearing as speedily as possible — in full 

 crop in three years after the first. The rods were de- 

 pressed early in 1S71, and as bleeding took place the 

 ends of the canrs were dried with a red-hot iron and 

 then smeared wi k the patent knotting used by painters. 

 The break was good ; every shoot showed fruit, some two 

 and three bunches. The shoots were disbudded, reserv- 

 ing shoots IS inches apart on each side, or as near as 

 they could be had at that distance, and a bunch of fruit 

 was allowed on each. Ample laterals were allowed from 

 the leaders, and the finish was satisfactory. 



1872. The Vines fruited two-thirds the extent they 

 were to occupy, and were quite equal in finish to the 

 preceding crop. In 1873 the Vines were in full bearing, 

 allowing each Vine a full crop, twice the quantity of fruit 

 to what would have been the ease with half the number 

 of Vines ; but the finish was not so good as in the two 

 first years of fruiting, it being clear that the foliage was 

 already becoming too crowded. 



_ 1874. Smaller bunches, smaller uneven berries, and in- 

 different finish marked the produce of this season ; plenty 

 of fruit, but unsatisfactory. If failure was to be avoided 

 prompt steps must at once be taken. Half the produce of 

 the Vines would have made a serious void in the supply, 

 otherwise out at once would have come every other Vine ; 

 and I have no question as to the effect upon the remairjing 

 Vines, for with more space the foliage would not only be 

 larger but be more able to perform its important functions. 

 Things must remain as they were for at l^ast another year. 

 No. Sal -Vol. XXXIII., New Sebiss. 



In 1875 I took a shoot from the base of every other 

 Vine and trained it along the rod to the top of the house, 

 stopping tho laterals to one leaf. These Vines, not- 

 withstanding the increased foliage of the cane — greater 

 crowding of the foliage — finished their crops better than 

 the other Vines. When the fruit was cut the old rods 

 were out away and the young canes took their places. 

 A strong well-ripened cane with roots that had supported 

 it and a rod with spur shoots cairying twenty bunches of 

 Grapes in 1875 ought to produce the like quantity of 

 fruit in 1876. I had previous experience upon the matter, 

 and resolved not to try it again, inasmuch as though a 

 cane would afford twenty bunches of fruit, it became 

 so exhausted in the performance as to be of no farther 

 use — at least not without resuscitation of its energies by 

 a period of rest : therefore I left the cane one-third its 

 length, and had a good show of fruit, but considerable 

 divergence in character upon the kinds grown, which as 

 it appeared to me interesting I may note. Black Ham- 

 burgh, Mill Hill Hamburgh, and Buckland Sweetwater 

 were very loose in the bunches, indifferently furnished 

 with berries for their size, and had a large per-centage 

 of small seedless berries. Muscat Hamburgh (Black 

 Muscat) though the bunches were large contained many 

 stoneless berries, not many of which were full sized. 

 Lady Downe's were in a similar state, yet having larger 

 bunches than from spurs. Mrs. Pince, Gros Guillaume, 

 and Trebbiano afforded good bunches, but were stamped 

 with a looseness of bunch and seedless berries, yet not to 

 an extent that a good thinning did not rectify. The 

 finish of the cane fruit was not so good as that of the 

 spurred rods, which showed a decided improvement in 

 1876 over the crop of 1875, the greatest advance being in 

 Muscat of Alexandria, Gros Guillaume, and Lady Downe's ; 

 those with Mrs. Pince and Trebbiano requiring more 

 space for their foliage than Harnburghs, and Hamburghs 

 demand more foliage space than the Frontignan, Sweet- 

 water, and Muscadine Grapes. I may mention White 

 Frontignan as not showing any improvement from having 

 increased space ; but as the crop was good and had been 

 equally so from the first no complaint can be lodged 

 against it, indeed I find it one of the best kinds for early 

 forcing. This season the rod VineB have so improved that 

 the cut-down Vines between them will, so soon as the 

 crop from them is cut, be cleared out. 



It has been asked if there is any fear of the roots of 

 Vines left in the soil engendering fungus to the injury of 

 the roots of the remaining Vines ? I have no dread of 

 such an occurrence — in fact I have taken often away much 

 older Vines, and found no evil results attend the leaving 

 of some roots in the border. They will decay no doubt, 

 the decay causing a nidus for some fungus to vegetate in, 

 hastening the work of decomposition, that itself being 

 of a kind as likely to benefit the Vines as to prove 

 injurious, at least I have not experienced any injury to 

 Vine roots by fungus generated or fostered by decaying 

 roots. I have therefore not had cause to fear any evil 

 from fungus in a Vine border. 

 Nothing is gained by the close planting of Vines, unless 



No. 1506.— Vol. LVIIT., Old Seeies. 



