November 21, 18S8.] 



Garden and Forest. 



461 



leaves should be removed from tlie heads. Never touch 

 Celery to earth it up or to store it when it is wet or frozen. If 

 one trench is not enough to contain the supply, prepare 

 another alongside of, and about nine or ten inc:hes distant from, 

 tlie first one, and fill up in the same way. We run four of 

 these trenches on one ridge, which is some seven to fen 

 inches high in the middle, so as to throw off the water readily. 

 We protect these ridges from frost with board coverings, and 

 ni severe weather use leaves, litter or thatch as an additional 

 ]>rotection over the boards. As it would be impracticable to 

 open these trenches every day in winter for a few heads of 

 Celery, they should only be opened occasionally, and then a 

 two or four weeks' supply taken out at a time, and brought 

 into the cellar and stored upright in a prepared bed in a cor- 

 ner, or in boxes or halves of barrels. Celery is fairly hardy, 

 and should never be covered too thickly. Never mulch the 

 ridges till they first have a thin coating of frosiy earth over 

 them, and apply the mulch a little at a time rather than the 

 full amount at once. Snow is a warm covering, but when a 

 heavy coat of snow begins to thaw, shovel it otf of the ridges, 

 for snow-water is very penetrating, and the Celery must be 

 kept dry. 



LFse the White Plume and Golden Self-Blanching first, then 

 whatever kinds are now most blanched, leaving the red- 

 tinged and green Celeries for latest supplv. For all purposes 



we have nothing better than Golden Heart. 



Glen Cove, N. Y. 



11'///. Falconer. 



When and How to Prune Grape Vines. 



■\JOTWITHSTANDING all that has lieen said and written 

 •'• ' about the numerous systems of priming and training the 

 Vine, few operations of the garden are (iracticed with so little 

 intelligence. Many professional gardeners need no instruc- 

 tion in this matter and others are above receiving it. But to 

 amateurs and novices it may be well to say, that the chief 

 point to remember is, that the cane producing fruit ne.xt year 

 is grown on this vear's cane. 



February was formerly considered the best time to prune 

 Grape vines, but of late years fall pruning has rapidly grown 

 in favor, and November is now chosen for this work by 

 expert vine-dressers. The milder weather that is apt to pre- 

 vail and the absence of snow make it far more comfortable 

 for the operator, and vines that have been overtaxed and 

 failed to mature their fruit can be treated with better judg- 

 ment when their condition is fresh in the owner's mind, than 

 if the work is deferred fill February, when their condition 

 may have been forgotten. 



Another reason for fall pruning is, that the removal of sur- 

 plus wood allows the vine to devote all its energies to more 

 thoroughly ripening the remainder. The maturing and hard- 

 ening of the wood is not complete when the leaves fall, 

 neither is all wood apparently ripe sufficiently so to pass the 

 winter uninjured. This winter killing of the young and im- 

 mature wood is the strongest argument in favor of winter 

 pruning, its advocates claiming that no mistake can be made 

 then, as all wood that has safely passed the winter up to that 

 period will continue to live. This is true, but the loss of any 

 wood after pruning is generally too insignificant to be worth 

 considering. 



Unless these canes have attained a diameter of three-eighths 

 of an inch or more, they should be cut back and the process 

 repeated till they acquire that size. Vines thus treated will 

 make canes of much greater value than if they had been 

 allowed to grow and had been left to themselves. 



The lateral branches that start on these canes should be 

 shortened in to one leaf as they appear, thus forcing the ener- 

 gies of the plant into the main canes. 



The vines are generally ready for trellising and training on 

 any system that is decided upon the second season after 



planting and may l>e allowed to bear a Inmch or two of Grapes. 

 Many persons are so anxious for fruit that they allow the 

 young vine to overload itself and thus receive a check from 

 which it often takes years to recover. 



The vigor and growth of vines vary so widely in different 

 varieties that some require closer pruning than others, and it 

 is on this point that intelligence and judgment are needed. 



Fig. 2. 



Short pruning gives increased size and fine clusters in a small 

 space. Doubling the space may result in doubling the num- 

 ber of clusters, but not the weight of the crop. 



The ground where vines are planted should be naturally 

 dry or made so liy drainage, and sufficiently fertile to insure a 

 good growth. Those who have doubts on this point often 

 propose to dig in plenty of stal.ile manure, to which 1 say. No ! 

 unless it is thoroughly decomposed. Otherwise put it on the 

 surface as a mulch and the fertilizing properties will find their 

 way to the roots. Coarse or fine bone can be placed in direct 

 contact with the roots without injury, and almost any of the 

 standard commercial fertilizers may be worked into the soil at 

 planting time, but unfermented manures should be placed 

 r>n the surface. 



The best vines to plant are those one and two years old, 

 the roots of which should be shortened in to about ten inches 

 in length. When older 

 vines are wanted by 

 impatient people they 

 should have been trans- 

 planted yearly, so as to 

 lie supplied with well 

 branched fibrous roots, 

 which this shortening in 

 process secures. Sucli 

 vines, properly planted, 

 will bear a full crop 

 earlier than the younger 

 ones, but, in two or 

 three years, the latter 

 will overtake them. 

 A stake should be set 

 with every vine, and 

 one, or, at most, two 

 shoots, allowed to grow 

 the first season ; they 

 should be fied to the 

 stake at intervals. 



What is known as the 

 Kniffen system of train- 

 ing, and its improve- 

 ment, are the simplest 

 of any I have ever tried, 

 and they have, there- 

 fore, Ijecome more widely adopted perhaps than any other. 



The cut (Fig. i) illustrates the system at a glance. The 

 vine on the left shows the original idea, pure and simi>le; 

 that on the right the improvement, which consists of growing 

 two trunks, from near the ground. The sap being divided 



