608 



FRUIT GARDEN. 



allowance 13 to give as much room as will admit 

 the finger freely within the folds of the matting 

 along with the shoot. " The matting used for 

 this purpose should never be drawn tight, as, 

 by so doing, if the brittle shoot is not broken 

 by it, the circulation of the sap will be obstruct- 

 ed, which is an evil carefully to be avoided. 

 When the shoot has grown long enough to reach 

 the top of the house, it will be necessary to stop 

 its further progress by pinching it off; and, pro- 

 vided it is in as vigorous a state as it ought to 

 be at this period, it will very shortly throw out 

 a lateral branch at the bud nearest the extreme 

 end, where it has so recently been stopped, 

 which lateral branch must be allowed to grow 

 until it has attained the length of 12 or 14 

 inches, when it should be stopped, by taking a 

 joint off at the point, as recommended in the 

 case of the principal shoot." The object for 

 doing this is, that " the crop for the next season 

 entirely depends upon the buds along the rod 

 remaining in a quiescent state; and the only 

 means of keeping them so is the encourage- 

 ment given to the sap to flow freely to the part 

 to which the lateral branches or buds are pro- 

 ceeding, and thus preventing the buds from 

 being prematurely excited. There will also be 

 either a direct or lateral shoot thrown out from 

 the base of these important buds ; but they 

 must not on any account be permitted to make 

 much increase ; and in order to prevent it, stop 

 them beyond the first joint— and this must be 

 repeatedly done if their growth should render 

 it necessary ; and the same rule must be observ- 

 ed with the lateral shoots at the end of the vine 

 also." The first stage of spring pruning, com- 

 monly called disbudding, or the removal of 

 superfluous buds before they have developed 

 into shoots of any size, is a species of pruning 

 all trees that cannot be too much insisted upon, 

 as it regulates the proper number of branches 

 that should be left before they have in any way 

 drawn upon the energies of the tree. AH re- 

 movals after this stage, imless in extraordinary 

 c&ses, are much to be guarded against, for every 

 branch allowed to extend beyond the length of 

 2 or 3 inches when removed, robs the tree of 

 that amount of strength which was required for 

 the shoots' formation ; and when we come to 

 consider the great injustice done to a tree by 

 allowing it to form perhaps a hundred shoots a 

 foot or two long, and then to cut two-thirds of 

 them off at once, which with inexperienced 

 and careless people is often the case, we need 

 not wonder at scanty crops or sickly and dis- 

 eased trees. This early disbudding is of the 

 greatest importance to all trees. When, there- 

 fore, the vine is pruned upon the spur system, 

 and the young shoots have grown to the length 

 of about 2 inches, at which time also the 

 bunches will be readily distinguished, the num- 

 ber of shoots should be selected, choosing those 

 which have the most promising share of fruit, 

 if they are properly placed at as regular dis- 

 tances apart as passible, leaving not more than 

 twelve or thirteen on each vine. The others 

 should be all cut away close to the main stem. 

 In the November following, planting when the 

 wood' is fully matured and ripened, Mr Saunders 



Fig. 245. 



recommends that the vine should be pruned; 

 and in doing so, it is, he observes, "the practice 

 of m4ny persons to cut the young rods down to 

 within a bud or two of the original stem, thus 

 deferring the time of bearing for another year, 

 with a view of invigorating and establishing the 

 vines." This practice Mr S. dissents from, and 

 states that if his practice is followed they will 

 be in a fit state to carry a good crop the next 

 season — ^that is, the season after planting. Mr' 

 S.'s system of winter - pruning is as follows : 

 " Shorten the young shcfots 2 feet from the top 

 downwards ; by doing this, the vines in the 

 next season will have room to shoot forth and 

 bear their fruit without coming in contact with 

 the top or back of the house. The lateral shoots 

 should be also cut off to within half an inch of the 

 bud from the base of which they proceed." 



Harrison approves of spur-pruning, and says : 

 " When the vines are pruned, the lateral shoots 

 or spurs must be cut down to two buds, as fig. 

 245, a a a. By shortening the spurs so much, 

 the vine is kept in a vigorous state, 

 and the bunches of fruit will be 

 considerably larger than if they 

 were left longer. But it is neces- 

 sary to leave two buds upon each 

 spur, for it sometimes happens that 

 one of the buds will not show fruit 

 well, or may be damaged; but by 

 reserving two, a supply is more 

 certain." At the winter-pruning, 

 the second year after planting, 

 "the leading shoot must be pruned 

 back so as to leave 5 or 6 feet in 

 length of the last summer's wood. 

 This must be regulated, however, 

 according to the length of the 

 (V-s^'. rafters. If the vines are to be 

 hakkison's trained to the length of 14 feet, it 

 SPUR VINE- must now be pruned to S feet, and 

 the year following to 5 feet more, 

 when it will be at its desired ex- 

 tent." If the vines are to be trained to the 

 extent of 17 or 18 feet, which is the case in 

 some wide houses, the leading shoot must be 

 cut so as to leave a regular proportion of young 

 wood each year, until 

 they reach the top of 

 the house. "When the 

 spurs or buds a a a 

 have broken, and show 

 good bunches of fruit, 

 one only must be left 

 on each shoot. If the 

 uppermost bud do not 

 . show fruit, let it be 

 ^C taken entirely away ; 

 , ^ but if the uppermost 

 buds show fruit, and 

 the lowest do not, 

 both of them must be 

 retained." 



The same authority 

 at the third years' 

 pruning remarks : " Those spurs which had two 

 shoots retained during the last summer, must 

 now have only the lowest retained, and each 

 spur must be pruned off as fig. 246, a a. The 



TRAINING, 

 SKCOND YKAR. 



HARRISONS SPUR VINE- 

 TRAINING, THIRD YEAR. 



