I 860 ] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
211 
some important additions to our stock of superior 
grapes. One good native, like the Delaware, 
would be worth fifty of the green, milky, and del¬ 
icate exotics. The time is not far distant, we 
confidently believe, when it may be said of our 
northern hill-sides: 
“ The vine, too, hero her curling tendrils shoots, 
Hangs out her clusters glowing to the South, 
And scarcely wishes for a warmer sky.” 
-- - -- *-*■- 
Summer Pruning the Grape. 
The question is sometimes asked: Why prune 
vines at all! Why not let them ramble over 
fences and trees like wild vines'! Well, you 
may do so, if you want wild grapes, and if you 
like to climb into trees to get them. But if you 
wish to keep your vines within reach, and if you 
wish them to bear fruit on their.lower branches, 
you must prune them. 
As to summer-pruning a word or two : Fall or 
Winter pruning tends to excite vigorous and 
rampant growth in the canes which are left. The 
trellis soon becomes covered with lusty young 
canes and a thick mass of leaves ; the foliage is 
excessive. Every vine grower must have felt 
the absurdity of producing such an over-growth 
of wood in Summer, just for the fun of cutting it 
off in the Fall. Can’t we avoid this waste of 
wood, and this rude hacking of the vine? Sum¬ 
mer pruning, judiciously applied, will contribute 
to this result. 
The tendency of the vine, as with all fruit¬ 
bearing trees, is to send the sap with greatest 
force to the topmost buds, leaving the lower 
buds to become weaker, year after year. If we 
pinch off these upper shoots in early Summer— 
say when they have made two or three feet of 
growth—leaving only four buds, it will cheek this 
excessive growth at the extremities, and throw 
more vigor into the lower branches. These top 
shoots will push again, and will need a second and 
perhaps a third pinching. They must, however, be 
allowed to gain a leaf or two between each pinch¬ 
ing ; otherwise the check will be too severe. 
If the lower shoots are not pinched in at all, or 
but slightly, they will gain strength, and thus the 
force and fruit of the vine will become quite 
equally distributed. There will also be less 
rampant wood to be cut off in the winter pruning. 
Moreover, as every one knows, the ripening of 
the fruit and the healthy growth of the lower 
branches depend on the proper return-flow of 
elaborated sap from the extremities. If, by rea¬ 
son of undue moisture in the soil, or of untimely 
rains and long continued damp and cloudy weath¬ 
er, the production of wood is unduly prolonged, 
the fruit clusters will be robbed of their neces¬ 
sary food ; the berries will not mature and ripen 
well. Here, let the hand of art see what it can 
do. Let it chgck that excessive wood growth, 
by nipping off the ends of the watery branches. 
This will send back the sap to the clusters and 
to the fruit-buds for next year. It will cause the 
berries to mature earlier, and uniformly in all 
parts of the vine. 
Of course, all suckers springing up around the 
trunk of the vine should be pulled off as they 
appear. All superfluous shoots pushing out be¬ 
tween the fruit bearing canes, or among the 
canes designed for next year’s fruit bearers, 
should be resolutely pulled off. Only one fruit 
bearing shoot should be allowed to grow from a 
single joint. No fruit spur should be suffered to 
bear more than two clusters—some say not more 
than one. The fruit should be picked off just in 
proportion to the thinning out. of the branches. 
Yet, we must say, in conclusion, that summer- 
pruning is often done with too severe a hand. 
“What is worth doing at all,” say some begin¬ 
ners, “ is worth doing welland so they cut and 
slash away without mercy. Off go long shoots, 
hacked within a few inches of the clusters, and 
down fall the leaves in showers.—“ So as to let 
the light and air in,” say the zealous vine dres¬ 
sers. Rather than this rude treatment, we would 
say, let the vines alone. No one can have 
watched his vines lor many years, without seeing 
that his largest clusters grow on his most vigor¬ 
ous canes. The practice of stumping off the fruit 
branches within a few inches of the clusters may 
answer on foreign vines in graperies, but not on 
the robust natives. Three leaves, at least, should 
be retained beyond the clusters. Nip off the ends 
of rampant canes, but do not chop them near 
their base. Prune in Summer, but do it with 
moderation and discretion. 
For the American Agriculturist. 
Colloquy about Fruit Stealing. 
Father. —So, you say my oldest son, John, is a 
promising candidate for the State Prison? and 
that, simply because he took a few pears and 
grapes from your garden. 
Gardener. —Yes, I said so, and I’ll stand by it. 
In stealing, he showed that he had no true mor¬ 
al principle, and little regard for my rights and 
feelings as a neighbor. Such a boy isn’t safe if 
running at large, and ought to be locked up. If 
occasion offered, why wouldn’t he slip his hand 
into a merchant’s money-drawer, and plunder its 
contents! 
Father .—Be careful, Sir, what you insinuate ! 
John is as smart and as respectable as any of my 
neighbors’ sons. I don’t believe that taking a 
basket of fruit will destroy his standing in socie¬ 
ty. You’re rather puritanical in your notions. 
Gardener .—I wish Sir, that he might be re¬ 
spectable, but his conduct of late has injured him. 
His education must have been neglected. I’m 
afraid his father seldom taught him the Savior’s 
rule, “Whatsoever ye would that men should 
do unto you, do ye even so to them.” 
Father .—Look here, Sir, don’t be so wonderful¬ 
ly precise. You bear down too hard on me and 
John. He was only coming cross-lots, one day, 
and happening to see your grapes were ripe, he 
thought he might as well fill his pockets, seeing 
there were so man}'. I believe, too, he went 
over by night with some other hoys, just for the 
fun of it, and got a hat full of Seckel pears ; you 
had enough more, didn’t you? 
Gardener —Such cases happen too often. Sup¬ 
pose your son just happened to see the merchant’s 
till open, and thought he might take a handful, 
as there was a plenty, what would the merchant 
happen to do with John? 
Father .—But hooking fruit isn’t as bad as steal¬ 
ing money. 
Gardener .—“Yes Sir, the law may not punish 
it as severely, yet it is as wicked and as base. 
Nowadays, the products of a garden and orchard 
are more valuable than they were formerly. They 
are more various, rare and costly. Now, if I lay 
out from fifty to a hundred dollars to stock my 
grounds with fine fruit for my family and friends, 
have I not as much right to that property as to 
any other, and ought not my rights to be respect¬ 
ed and guarded ? And more than this, the loss 
of money, vexatious as it may be, is less difficult 
to bear, than to have fruits stolen, upon which 
one’s care has been bestowed perhaps for years. 
The disappointment is not measured by the mere 
market value of such articles. 
Parents are much to blame for the loose mo¬ 
rality which they teach their children on this 
subject. And our legislators are to blame for not 
passing more stringent laws against fruit stealing. 
Many years ago, an association was formed in 
Salem, Mass,, “(jpr the detection and punish¬ 
ment of trespassers on gardens, fields and or¬ 
chards.” 
The members pledged to each other their aid 
in ferreting out and prosecuting offenders, and 
they offered rewards for all information concern¬ 
ing thieves. They published, at their discretion, 
the names of convicted offenders. And what, 
think you, was the result? For the first year, 
only one garden belonging to the members of the 
association was molested. Next year, it was re¬ 
ported that “ the evil had almost entirely ceased ” 
in that vicinity. Soon, the towns of Dorchester. 
Roxbury and Quincy, followed the example, and 
with like good effects. 
I wish that every town in every State had 
such associations. The “ smart and respectable ” 
son John would soon be trapped, or he and his 
father would have to leave for parts unknown, 
The public morals would improve, and horticul¬ 
ture would receive a new impulse. Honestus. 
A Law to protect Fruit, etc. 
The following act was passed by the Pennsyl¬ 
vania Legislature, at their late session, and has 
been approved by the Governor. It is of im¬ 
portance to farmers and gardeners : 
Sec. 1 . That the willful taking and carrying away of 
fruit, vegetables, plants, fruit or ornamental trees, vines 
or shrubs, in the counties of Huntingdon, Washington, 
Allegheny, Berks, Lancaster, Lycoming and Delaware, 
wheiher attached to the soil or not. shall be deemed, and 
the same is hereby declared a misdemeanor, and the of¬ 
fender may be prosecuted and punished as such under the 
laws of this Commonw ealih, and on conviction thereof in 
the Courtsof Quarter Sessions of said counties, shall be 
fined, not exceeding fifty dollars, and imprisoned not ex¬ 
ceeding sixty days; such fine or penalty to be appropri¬ 
ated as provided in the second section of this act. 
Sec. 2. That any person or persons who shall willfully 
enter, or break down, through or over any orchard, gar¬ 
den or yard-fence, hot-bed, or green house, or who shall 
wrongfully club, stone, cut, break, bark, or otherwise mu¬ 
tilate or damage any nut, fruit or ornamental tree, shrub, 
bush, plant or vine, trellis, arbor, hot-bed, hot or green¬ 
house, or who shall willfully trespass upon, walk over, 
beat down, trample or in anywise injure any grain, grass, 
vines, vegetables, or other growing crop, shall, and may, 
on conviction thereof, before any Alderman or Justice of 
the Peace, or in any Court of law in said county, have 
judgment against him, her, or them, in a sum not less 
than five, nor more than one hundred dollars, w ith costs 
of suit, one-half the damage or penalty to go to the use 
of the informer, the other half of the damage or penalty 
to the occupant or owner of the premises on which the 
said trespass shall, or may be committed ; and in default 
of payment, of said fine or judgment with costs of suit, the 
party convicted may,and shall be committed to the jail of 
said county, for not less than twenty, nor more than sixlv 
days; said complaint or action to be in the name of the 
Commonwealth, and the testimony of the owner or occu¬ 
pant of the premises shall be admitted as evidence to 
prove the trespass and damage sustained : Provided, 
That when the owner of the premises shall hecome the 
informant, then one-half of the penalty shall be appropri¬ 
ated to the school fund of the district in which the tres¬ 
pass was committed. 
Remarks. —This is a partial step in the right 
direction. We do not understand why the law 
is confined to a few counties. Do these alone 
raise fruit ? or is no other section infested with 
fruit stealers? We cannot think either suppo¬ 
sition correct. Neither can such felony he more 
criminal in that than in any other portion of the 
State. Again, it seems hardly equitable to limit 
the amount to be paid to the injured party to half 
the fine imposed, unless the infliction of at least 
double damages be certain. The man who is at 
the pains and expense of introducing and main¬ 
taining such desirable improvements as are named 
in Sec. 2, should receive the most ample protec¬ 
tion. While the sheep-killing dogs are being 
looked after, will our legislators please attend 
properly to fruit-thieving boys—full grown or 
otherwise—let them also be duly “ collared ” and 
registered in some appropriate “ public institu¬ 
tion,” to gather the fruit they richly deserve. 
