1SGS.] 
AMERICAN AGPJC I " LTURIST. 
225 
wire or bar is a foot or eighteen inches from the 
ground. If these arms were to be brought to a 
horizontal position, and tied there at once, the 
buds would start unevenly. Though in a hori- 
zontal position, the buds nearest the ends of the 
arms are still upper buds, and are quite apt to 
take the advantage of those nearer the stem. 
DOUBLE ARMS WITH SINGLE CANES. 
To ensure an even breaking, or starting, it is 
better to curve the ends of the arms dowuwards, 
and not tie them to tiie trellis until the shoots 
have made a growth of two or three inches, as 
in figure 11. In tying the arms, observe care 
not to break the tender shoots, and use willow 
twigs for fastening; do not lie too tightly, as 
the arms are expected to increase in diameter. 
On each arm, from four to six canes are to grow, 
according to the variety; those with large foliage 
requiring more room must have the caues 
farther apart. The shoots desired for canes 
should be from the upper side of the arm, if 
possible, but if from any accident this is not 
practicable, one from the under side may grad- 
ually be trained up. All other shoots are to be 
rubbed off. As these upright shoots grow they 
must be carefully lied to Ihe trellis; they will 
probably set three bunches of fruit each, but 
one of these, or even two, if not a very vigorous 
vine, should be removed to prevent the common 
injury of overbearing. The shoots, during the 
summer, are to have the same care in pinching 
laterals, removal of insects, etc., as we have 
already indicated, and when they have reached 
the bight of about two feet, the top, or growing 
point, is to be pinched. There is much objection 
by some, to this summer pinching. The reason 
Fig. 13. — VINE WITH DOUBLE ARMS. 
for it is the same as we gave for pinching the 
laterals — it produces greater health and vigor in 
the remaining foliage, and enables it the better 
to resist disease ; the forces of the viue which 
would be expended in prolonging the shoot, are 
diverted to other uses, among which is the 
better nutrition and development of the fruit. 
If all has gone on well, the vine at pruning 
time will have the appearance shown in figure 
12 — two horizontal arms, each bearing six or 
less upright canes. In the figure, one cane has 
the fruit left on, merely to show the place in 
which it is borne. If it be desired to keep the 
vine in this form, each upright cane is cut back 
to a single bud ; but usually two canes, instead 
of one, are grown, and from 
what has been before said, 
it will be readily seen that 
this may be effected by cut- 
ting the canes back to two 
buds. This will leave the 
vine, after it is pruned, with 
two horizontal arms, along 
which are a row of upright 
stubs, called spurs, which 
have two buds upon each. 
The next year after the 
arms are laid down, if this 
kind of pruning has been 
done upon the vine, it will 
throw up two shoots where one stood the year 
before. These will bear fruit, and during the 
summer require the same treatment as that in- 
dicated above for a single shoot. In autumn 
the vine will appear differently, and present to 
the pruner two canes instead of one; figure 13 
gives a portion of an arm of such a vine. In 
pruning at this time, the object is, to so treat 
the viue that it shall continue to produce two 
shoots and no 
more from each 
spur. The prun- 
ing for each cane 
is just that de- 
scribed last mouth 
for treating a 
young vine, to 
make it produce 
only two canes — 
cutaway one cane 
altogether, and 
shorten the other 
to two buds. The manner of doing this is shown 
in figure 14, in which the parts are given larger 
than in the preceding figure ; the cross-line 
shows where the cut is made to remove one 
caue entirely. The pruning is done in the same 
way, year after year, observing to alternate at 
each pruning the side from which the cane is 
removed. If the left hand cane is taken away 
this year, remove the right hand one the next. 
With weak-growing varieties it is advised by 
some, not to lay the arms down the full length 
a^ once, but to lay down an arm for a third of 
the length, and the next year extend it by laying 
down as much more of the canes at the extreme 
ends of the arms, and so on, these canes having 
been allowed to grow four or five feet long and 
trained in an inclined position for the purpose. 
The arms need not be taken from as near the 
ground as above described, but may be started 
at any convenient bight, on a vigorous vine, all 
buds below being, of course, rubbed off. This 
allows vines to be grown in tiers, one above the 
other. A single arm, where circumstances re- 
quire it, can be grown as well as a double one, 
by laying down a single cane instead of two. 
These are the main features of the Horizontal- 
Arm and Spur system, which is one whicli has 
its opponents as well as its advocates. Where 
well followed out, it has been, so far as we 
have seen it, successful ; neglect is fatal to it. 
Lima Beans. — The dried Lima Bean always 
brings a good price iu the market, and the sup- 
ply is often quite short of the demand. Ten 
dollars a bushel is not an unusual price for the 
beans. We do not know of any instances where 
they have been grown on a large scale, and can- 
not tell the yield per acre; but think that it is 
a crop that offers fair inducements for some to 
make a specialty of it. A rich, gravelly loam 
best suits them. Plant in hills, four feet apar^. 
each way, setting first a pole about eight feet^ 
high in each hill, and pressing the beans into 
the soil, eye down. Put ten beans to a pole, 
and cover an inch deep, and if all grow, thin 
to four. If they are rotted in cold rains, replant. 
Give good cultivation until the vines shade 
the ground. Near a market it will be more 
profitable to sell the beans green, but those 
away from large towns can allow them to ripen, 
and send them to market at their convenience. 
It is a common practice to pick the beans green, 
shell, and dry r them. They meet with a ready 
sale, except ju=t when green ones are fresh. 
They are soaked until plump, and sold in the 
condition of green beans, in our city markets. 
A Weeding Hook. 
The readers of the Agriculturist are indebted 
to Mr. J. Fink, of Baldwinsville, N. Y., for a 
number of useful contrivances, and he now 
sends us a drawing of a weeding hook, which 
he and his neighbors have 
found very efficient in the 
garden. Figure 1 shows 
the shape of the blade, 
which is 4 inches long (ex- 
clusive of the shank), 6 | e 
inch wide at the 
base, and 1 \ l inch 
wide at point. 
The blade is 
made of steel, 
about the thick- 
ness, in the cen- 
ter, of a cross- 
cut saw, willi 
the edges ham- 
mered or ground 
down to a stunt 
edge. With a 
three - cornered 
file 'make saw- 
teeth, with a 
" rank rake" of 
the teeth point- 
ing towards the 
handle. Figure 
2 gives a per- 
spective view of 
the blade after 
being bent and 
mounted in a handle. Mr. F. finds that a tool of 
this kind takes a sharp hold upon weeds and is 
very effectual in bringing them up by the roots. 
Fi<r. 
Pruning: Evergreens. — Our common ever- 
greens, Spruces, Firs, Hemlocks, and Arbor 
Vitass, may be pruned with as much freedom as 
deciduous trees, and brought into any desirable 
shape. To get a dense, green pyramid, always 
keep the lower branches longest. The new 
growth may be shortencd-in iu summer. In 
cutting, some care should be exercised, espe- 
cially with the spruces and others that push 
large, vigorous shoots. These should be sever- 
ed with a sloping cut from below, which will 
show much less than a square cut. Hemlocks 
are most patient of shearing, which may be 
done while the trees are in full growth. 
