EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.-HORTICULTURAL NOTES.-NO 2 . 
309 
(European Agriculture. 
Reviewer of the Agriculturist, in his article 
page 223, seems disposed to be very severe upon 
me. Every man has certainly a perfect right to his 
opinion and private judgment, and if the mode in 
which he chooses to express himself appears best 
to him, I shall certainly not quarrel with his taste. 
Two things in respect to my work, however, it 
seems but fair to consider. First, the miscellaneous 
character of my subscribers ; hence the great 
mistake I made in publishing as I went along in 
numbers, instead of waiting until the Tour was 
completed, which would have given me the oppor¬ 
tunity of executing it much more maturely, and 
perhaps better. I should have done it,[ had almost 
said, in half the time; but the necessity of sending 
it over in numbers, and in many cases before I had 
seen all I wished to see, has been an occasion of 
great delay and vexation. I think, however, my 
subscribers will not complain of the execution of 
the work so far as its appearance and typography 
are concerned ; and all I can say in respect to its 
subject matter, I have done as well as I know how, 
and Ave know all that we can have of a cat. I only 
hope it may be the foundation for somebody else 
to do much better, and no one will rejoice more 
than I shall in everything which contributes to 
advance the agricultural improvement of my own 
country, and her substantial welfare and glory. 
London , Aug. 3d, 1846. Henry Coleman. 
HORTICULTURAL NOTES.—No. 2. 
Culture of the Grape Vine. —The first thing re¬ 
quired in the preparation of the ground for grapes, 
is to ensure perfect drainage. Animal manures, a 
deep soil, and a sufficient extent of border, contain¬ 
ing from 100 to 1,000 square feet, to each vine, 
according to the mode in Avhich it is to be pruned, 
are essential to its perfection. 
During the first two seasons, the vine should be 
trained as much as possible perpendicularly, to 
promote its growth. it should receive no pruning 
until the year in-which it is designed to produce 
fruit. Pruning has no object before this period, 
and it tends to retard the growth of the roots. 
Spur-pruning is most commonly practised , the 
short pruning more commonly recommended; nei¬ 
ther is to be exclusively preferred ; each being best 
in its place. In small gardens, especially in towns, 
where space for numerous vines is wanting, 
although there is ample room for training on a 
trellis, or side of a house, a single vine may be 
made to yield on the spur-pruning system, much 
more fruit than could be obtained by shortening it 
back, and depending upon new Avood entirely. 
On the other hand, in vineyards, the shortening 
system saves much of the labor of training the 
vines in the spring, and of the summer pruning, 
and it distributes them more equally over the 
ground. But in these two systems, neither the 
uality nor the quantity of fruit is essentially 
ifferent. 
Disbudding and removing Fruit. —I am not 
aware that precise rules have been laid down as to 
the extent to which these operations should be 
carried. In the spur system, if more than one eye 
is left, and no fruit is removed, the branches will 
be imperfect. I have removed all but one eye, and 
all but one bunch of fruit. The bunches under 
this treatment were all perfect, but not larger nor 
better than where two bunches had been left, and 
the vines soon began to make a new crop of fruit. 
The best rule I have been able to form, is to have 
only one eye, except on a few very vigorous stems, 
and to have two bunches on every stem, except a 
feAV of the weakest. If a second crop appears, I 
esteem it an evidence of too much pruning—of 
course it should be taken off. I am not able to say 
whether it would not be better to leave two eyes 
and one bunch from each, instead of groAving two 
bunches on one stem. 
The summer pruning is a matter of great im¬ 
portance. The theory on Avhich I act is this. A 
certain amount of foliage is necessary to the elabo¬ 
ration of the sap by which the fruit is perfected. 
Each bunch is dependent upon the Avhole foliage 
of its vine, especially upon the leaves of its own 
branch, and most of all upon the opposite leaf; 
and the action of the sun upon the leaves is neces¬ 
sary to the perfect elaboration of the sap. I con¬ 
clude, therefore, that Avhen we remove leaves re¬ 
mote from the fruit, and thereby admit more sun to 
those on which the perfection of the fruit more im¬ 
mediately depends, we are doing good. Again, in 
the later part of the season, when the growth of 
the vine has become retarded, the removal of the 
extreme branches is not followed by the formation 
of new leaves, which do not attain their growth in 
time to benefit the fruit. The old leaves receive 
then all the sap—thus again Ave do good. On the 
other hand, if the shortening is made too soon, the 
sap goes to form new leaves, and is not elaborated 
in time to improve the fruit. Again, if the vine is 
not shortened at all, the sap is divided, part going 
to elaborate in the old lea\ r es, and part to increase 
the growth of the young leaves. The last is lost to 
the crop. The most vigorous shoots are those 
which are trained upAvards. The largest bunches 
are seen on vigorous shoots which hang down. 
The choicest bunches on my vines are on the 
largest young Avood, made to hang down after it 
had got growth. If a vine could be made to grow 
upwards till about the 1st of August, and then to 
hang down with its leading shoots, it would be 
placed, I apprehend, in the very best condition for 
perfecting its fruit. On a small number of vines, 1 
apprehend the object would be attained Avithoul 
much trouble. A large upright limb of a pear tree, 
in my grounds, was broken by the Aveight of its 
well-grown fruit. The fruit proved the best on the 
tree. When a branch hangs down, the flow of the 
sap prevents its return to the roots, and directs it 
from the leaves and wood to the fruit. The prac¬ 
tice of ringing or cutting the bark in a circle 
around the main stem of the vine, is common in 
France. I have so treated the Isabella, with ad¬ 
vantage to the growing crop, but as I thought to 
the injury of that of the next year. 
An opinion is held by some that the action of the 
sun on the fruit is useful; on the contrary, the 
finest bunches will be found in the shade. My 
ardener treated one of my Isabella vines as he 
ad been accustomed to in a former place, by 
shortening the bearing branches about the 15th of 
