92 
PRUNING GRAPES, ETC. 
endeavor to plow in some crop on the land you 
wish to enrich. With us, it is a very common 
practice to plant corn after rye. In this case, I 
would plow iu a crop of buckwheat the fall 
previous ; sow the buckwheat as soon as the rye 
is off', and then plow it in when it is in the blow; 
or sow rye again in September, the fall before 
planting. The next spring, by the 10th of May, 
it will be sufficiently grown to make quite a 
sward. Then I would plow it under and plant 
with corn. Or, suppose a field is in clover that 
you wish to plant the succeeding season. Let 
this be mown as soon as the 1st of July, and 
then allow the clover to get a good second 
growth ; plow it under in September, and sow 
with rye and plow under the next spring, as 
before mentioned. If you have a clover field 
that you wish to plant the next year, you must 
not go on the " get-all-you-can-off " plan. If 
you do, your corn crop will be sure to suffer. 
Take, this or some similar course, and use all 
the manure you can make with plenty of clover 
seed and plaster, and you need have no great 
fear of running out your farm. W. J. P. 
Lakeville, Ct., January, 1850. 
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— i ►♦* 
PRUNING GRAPES. 
All gardeners are aware that the scarcely 
perceptible buds on the lower part of the shoot, 
and which are the only ones retained in close 
spur pruning, never produce such large bunches 
as the bolder buds situated higher up on the 
branch, which have been nurtured by large and 
well-developed leaves ; therefore, those who 
desire to have large bunches of grapes should 
either adopt the long-rod system of pruning, or 
cut their spurs at the second or third eye. The 
latter is the method I have always followed in 
spite of the objections urged by some persons 
that in the course of time the spurs get long and 
unsightly, which, to a certain extent, must be the 
case under the best management; but as these 
long spurs are conspicuously seen only when 
the vines are leafless — a period when no great 
beauty can be discovered in a vine, in whatever 
way it may be pruned — the matter seems to me 
scarcely worthy of consideration, so far as 
appearance is concerned. Growers of grapes 
for market generally practise the close system 
of pruning, not, however on account of greater 
neatness of appearance, but because by that 
method middle-sized, compact bunches are ob- 
tained, which are preferable for market pur- 
poses to large-shouldered, loose bunches. Some 
persons further object to large bunches because 
they are more frequently affected than small 
ones with what is termed " shanking ;" and this 
is no doubt correct ; but the reason appears to 
me to be not because the bunches being large 
are therefore more liable to that defect, but 
because 20 large bunches require more support 
from the vine they grow upon than the same 
number of small ones. 
Shanking. — It has always been my opinion 
that shanking is caused by want of food, or in 
other words, that the berries which shrivel and 
turn sour, or remain of a pale red, while the rest 
of the bunch acquires its natural black color, 
are just so many more than the vine is able to 
bring to maturity. I stated this opinion several 
years since in the " Gardeners' Magazine," and 
it was urged in opposition that strong-growing 
vines, not overladen with fruit, are sometimes 
subject to shanking; this, however, rarely 
occurs, and when it does happen, I conceive it 
will always be found that something is wrong 
at the roots ; either deep planting or imperfect 
draining, or soil of a cloggy nature, which holds 
water like a sponge, or some other defect which 
prevents the free imbibition of nutriment by 
the tender spongioles. The vines alluded to in 
the first part of these papers afford one strong 
proof of this, for it was found upon taking out 
the earth, for the purpose of making a new bor- 
der, that the main body of the roots were buried 
about 3 feet deep in heavy, adhesive soil, and 
yet these vines made good wood. 
Borders. — Another instance occured in a gar- 
den near this place, where, several years ago, 
some very excellent new vineries were placed 
by the owner, under the superintendence of 
Mr. Penn and Mr. Wilmot — the former being 
authorised to heat the houses by his then new 
system, and the latter to direct the formation of 
the border and the planting of the vines. It is 
scarcely necessary to state that the heating 
proved a complete failure, and the pipes have 
since been removed from the back to the front 
of the houses. The border was made in the 
common way, by digging out a pit from 3 to 4 
feet deep, laying some stones in the bottom for 
drainage, and then wheeling in the fresh soil, 
which fresh soil in this instance consisted of a 
considerable portion of what might be called 
pond mud. The vines grew vigorously in this 
rich and heavy compost, but although they had 
the advantages of good houses and good man- 
agement, they never produced good grapes ; the 
white Muscats shanked and shrivelled, and the 
black,Hamburghs never got beyond a brown. 
So very unsatisfactory was the fruit, that it was 
deemed advisable to remake the borders, which 
was done two or three years since, and the same 
vines are now getting established in the new 
