THE GRAPE VINE. 



607 



During this season allow the shoot to extend to 

 as great a length as possible without stopping ; 

 and should it reach farther than the top end of 

 the rafter, train it along the back wall in a hori- 

 zontal direction. As the laterals proceed from 

 the main shoot, pinch them off at the first joint, 

 and also remove all the tendrils. Some content 

 themselves with this extent of pruning, while 

 others begin to cut off the lowermost laterals 

 entirely, about the time the main shoot reaches 

 to within a fourth of the length of the roof or 

 rafter, and so continue removing them all the 

 way up as the wood hardens. The second 

 autumn, or beginning of winter, the vine should 

 be cut down to three eyes from the bottom of 

 the rafter ; and after it becomes excited, train 

 in the shoot from the top eye to the wire under 

 the rafter, and throughout the season manage it 

 exactly as the shoot of last year, only stopping 

 it at the top of the house to throw more strength 

 into the eyes below. The other two shoots — 

 that is, those from the first and second buds — 

 are to be stopped when they attain the length 

 of three or four joints. On the lowermost of 

 these a bunch may be left to prove the sort, 

 and both these should be laid in at nearly right 

 angles, and be stopped again and again as they 

 push fresh shoots, always pinching them off at 

 the first joint. The third autumn, if all has 

 gone on well, the wood will be strong and well 

 ripened ; and at this time cut back the leading 

 shoot to about one-third the length of the 

 rafter. The following excellent directions have 

 been given by Mr Appleby for proceeding after 

 this period : " Train the top shoot up the rafter 

 again, repeating the same operations of remov- 

 ing tendrils, stopping laterals, &c, stopping it 

 at the top. The side shoots or spurs stop at 

 the joint which shows fruit, and only leave one 

 bunch on each spur. This is a general rule for 

 every year afterwards. Tie each spur at right 

 angles from the centre, so that there are two 

 rows of bunches, one on each side of the rafter. 

 The fourth season bring up the spurs to two- 

 thirds of the intended length of the vine, follow- 

 ing the system as during the third season, with 

 this difference, that if any of the spurs are weak, 

 and show poor bunches of fruit, nip off the bunch 

 to strengthen the spur. The fifth season the 

 shoot extends the length of the rafter, so that in 

 four years the whole rafter will be clothed with 

 fruit-bearing spurs, after which all they require is 

 to cut through the second bud every pruning 

 season. Only leave one bud to each spur, 

 though some cultivators leave two ; but in that 

 case the spur will soon become long and un- 

 sightly, and the farther the bud is from the 

 main stem, the weaker it will be. Even with 

 one bud each year, the spur will in time require 

 renewal. To effect this, train up a young shoot 

 from the bottom, and the year after cut off the 

 old shoot with all its spurs, and manage the 

 young one exactly in the same way as a young 

 vine. Do this to every other vine, as the house 

 would be without fruit one or two years were 

 they all cut down at once." 



Seaton and Griffin — the former a horticultural 

 amateur of considerable eminence, and the latter 

 a successful cultivator— have laid down theories 



of pruning and training the vine. The former, 

 with a view to equalise the production of fruit 

 over all parts of the tree, and also to arrange 

 them so that the early and late kinds shall 

 ripen in the same house at the same time, trains 

 the early sorts nearest the bottom, the medium 

 kinds towards the middle of the house, and the 

 later sorts towards the top ; and when it is 

 desired to have some early and others late, let 

 the order of arrangement be reversed, &c. The 

 latter leads only a single shoot up under each, 

 rafter. At planting, the vine is cut down to one 

 eye, the shoot proceeding from which is about 

 Christmas following cut down to 2 or 3 feet. 

 The second year after planting, one shoot only 

 is trained from the extremity, and it is again 

 headed down in winter, so that the united 

 length of the two years' wood is from 10 to 15 

 feet. At the Christmas following, the shoot is 

 cut off at the end of the rafter. From the spurs 

 proceeding from this main shoot the fruit is pro- 

 duced. The spurs are cut back to single eyes 

 every winter, till the main stem becomes coarse 

 and unsightly, when it is entirely removed, pre- 

 caution having been taken to provide during the 

 two preceding seasons a successor to it. "As 

 soon as the plants become sufficiently strong to 

 furnish wood, from the point where they enter 

 the house, for a second and third branch, then 

 a proper number must be fixed upon as perma- 

 nent plants, and their side branches brought 

 successively forward and trained to the con- 

 ' tiguous rafters, one bearing-branch being applied 

 to each rafter, and the plants which originally 

 belonged to these rafters taken away entirely. 

 I also contrive," Mr Griffin continues, "to spread 

 the branches, when in bearing, on either side of 

 the rafters under the glass, but so as not to oc- 

 cupy the whole space under the glass with the 

 foliage ; for I consider," he says, " that a very 

 great advantage arises to the fruit from giving 

 free admission to the sun from the centre of each 

 light." — Hort. Soc. Trans. 



/Saunders' system of spur-pruning. — Mr Saun- 

 ders, in " Practical Treatise on the Vine," treats 

 his vines upon this principle. As we have 

 elsewhere noticed, he plants in autumn, using 

 plants 3 or i feet in length. "Towards the end 

 of March or beginning of April the sap will, 

 without artificial heat, begin to circulate through 

 the newly-planted vines, and the buds will then, 

 of course, be immediately put forth, all of which 

 must be removed with the exception of the two 

 leading ones ; and the safest method of doing it 

 is by pressure between the finger and thumb, as 

 the use of the knife would at this early stage 

 cause them to bleed." " When the two reserved 

 buds have broken, and grown a foot or rather 

 more in length, cut off the weakest, thus leaving 

 only one shoot to each vine. And here it may 

 be as well to remark, for the information of the 

 learner, that this shoot will in due time become 

 a part of the bearing stem ; consequently, as it 

 progresses, great attention must be paid to tie it 

 in regularly and carefully, and every precaution 

 must be taken to prevent its being bruised or 

 broken, either by handling it roughly, or tying 

 it too tightly. In the latter case, be sure to give 

 plenty of room for expansion." The usual 



