THE GRAPE VINE. 



615 



prune off the stems of the lateral shoots nearly- 

 close to the eye from whence they proceed. 

 As the spring advances they will begin to bud 

 forth, when care must be taken to select the 

 strongest shoots, leaving them at regular dis- 

 tances, as shown in the sketch, fig. 255. In 

 pruning, cut each shoot or spur back to two 

 eyes from the main stem, one of which only is 

 to be left to produce fruit. The object of leav- 

 ing two is to guard against accident, in case of 

 one being injured previously to their budding 

 forth : the same system is to be pursued year 

 after year. The main stem will of course 

 increase in size, but it will be many years before 

 the spurs or side branches assume an unsightly 

 appearance, or occupy much space, provided the 

 " spur system " of pruning is carefully carried 

 out. This is the most simple, and still the most 

 systematic mode of pruning that could be devised 

 for amateurs and others who cultivate the vine 

 against the walls of their houses or in their 

 gardens. 



Hayward's mode of pruning and training. — 

 This author held the opinion that the greater 

 length the sap had to travel through the body 

 of the vine, the more abundant, fine, and high- 

 flavoured will the fruit be. One of his modes 

 of training will be understood by our cut, fig. 



Fig. 256. 



havward's vine-training. 



256, and another form is exemplified by fig. 



257. These are so clear as to require no 

 further description. We may, however, remark 



Fig. 257. 



haywaed's vine-training. 



that he carried his theory so far as to recommend 

 that one vine only should be planted in a vinery, 

 and, if variety were wanted, to graft other sorts 

 on the solitary plant. Neither views are con- 

 sonant with rational experience. 



The old or fruit-tree manner of pruning the 

 v i ne . — This is the method perhaps most generally 

 practised in the case of vines on open walls, and 

 is not unfrequently followed by gardeners under 

 various impressions as to its utility. Vines so 

 trained differ little in form from fan-trained 

 peaches or Morello cherries, and of necessity 

 contain a great proportion of old wood, between 



the branches of which the young shoots are 

 laid in. 



Renewal of the vine under any mode of pruning, 

 &c. — The causes of debility in the vine may be 

 traced to injudicious pruning, too heavy crops, 

 impoverished soil, and occasionally, but not 

 frequently, in this country, attacks of frost. 

 Cutting down to within a short distance of the 

 root, as regards vines of no extraordinary 

 dimensions, and to within a short distance of 

 the main or larger branches in the case of such 

 as those at Hampton Court, Cumberland Lodge, 

 &c, carefully smoothing the wounds, and per- 

 forming the operation early in winter, that the 

 amputations may be healed before the ascent of 

 the sap, are the means of renewal. It is, how- 

 ever, probable that some defect at the roots may 

 be the principal cause of debility in the vines, 

 and this no heading down can remedy. Re- 

 course must therefore be had to a careful 

 examination of the roots and border, and if 

 these are found to be in a bad condition, lifting 

 and pruning them, as well as a partial or com- 

 plete renovation of the soil, drainage, &c, must 

 be attended to. When, however, these are in 

 a bad state, it will be the most judicious way 

 to remove the whole of the plants, soil, &c, and 

 commence de now. 



Summer -pruning the vine. — This is a very im- 

 portant operation, and in proportion to its im- 

 portance do we find that our best authorities 

 greatly differ in opinion. The superficial ob- 

 server will sum up the whole into the removal 

 of superfluous and ill-placed shoots, and shorten- 

 ing those on which the fruit is produced. Others 

 go so far as to say that not a shoot should be 

 allowed to form unless such as have fruit upon 

 them, and those actually necessary for producing 

 the fruit-buds of the succeeding season; and that 

 every fruit-bearing shoot should be pinched off 

 close to the fruit, as more than this only tends 

 to exhaust the vine. Others say, " Let the young 

 vines ramble freely, training the wood so as to 

 expose eveiy available surface of the leaf to the 

 light. The complete elaboration of a few select 

 buds is as nothing compared with the ultimate 

 advantage arising from a border well filled with 

 roots ; for rest assured the volume of roots will 

 be in direct proportion to that of the top, although 

 unseen." — Gardeners' Monthly Volume. The 

 writer of the Calendar of Operations in the 

 "Gardeners' Chronicle," 1846, p. 359, on the 

 subject of stopping vines, offers the following 

 excellent remarks: "Although much stress is 

 continually laid on the stopping of vines during 

 the growing season, yet this important process 

 has its limits, the passing of which will lead to 

 weakness in the constitution of the vine. Two 

 reasons seem to exist in favour of the process : 

 the one, concentration of the powers of the vine 

 for a period in the immediate neighbourhood of 

 the fruit, thereby increasing its size ; and the 

 other, the prevention of the secondary shoots 

 of the vine from overlapping and smothering the 

 principal leaves. After these points are duly 

 accomplished, vines, especially young ones, may 

 be allowed to ramble freely, more especially in 

 the period between the first and last swelling, 

 or during what is called the stoning process. It 



