1861.J 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
17 
Pruning Grape Vines, and letting them 
Grow “Naturally.” 
A friend asks if the whole system of prun¬ 
ing the vine is not unnatural and mischievous ? 
It is unnatural, but it is equally unnatur¬ 
al to raise such fine fruit as we do by this 
means; and you will not therefore object to the 
fruit, we imagine. If you insist on natural vines 
and natural fruit, go into the woods, and climb 
the trees for the small, sour, hard clusters. And 
if you don’t come home feeling somewhat un¬ 
natural in the stomach, we will yield the point. 
To get large and handsome fruit, we enrich 
the soil; but this also induces an overgrowth 
of canes, which must be checked by pruning ; 
and to restrain this overgrowth most effectually, 
we must of necessity prune some in Summer. 
Our friend admits that there is some sense in 
Summer pruning, “for that sends all the 
strength of the vine (he says) into the clusters, 
and lets in the rays of the sun upon the fruit.” 
But are you not a little too fast here ? How does 
cutting off the foliage send the strength of the 
vine into the fruit? It is an accepted fact, 
that the clusters get their growth and flavor 
through the action of the foliage. As well take 
away a man’s stomach and lungs, that so he 
might get strength! And as to letting in the 
sun on the clusters—why does Nature take 
such pains always to cover up the clusters? 
Have you not observed that the fruit ripens in 
the shade of the foliage just as quick as when 
exposed ? If you wish to make your berries 
small, and sour, and to keep them from ripen¬ 
ing, then strip the vines of their leaves almost 
entirely. If you wish them to be large and to 
ripen early, then give the vines a moderate 
Summer pruning, consisting chiefly in rubbing 
out all superfluous shoots as soon as they ap¬ 
pear, and in pinching off the fruit-bearing branch¬ 
es three or four eyes beyond the last cluster. 
Daphne Cneorum. 
This is a beautiful little evergreen plant, grow¬ 
ing about one foot high, and forming a dense 
mass of foliage, which is covered the greater 
part of the Summer with small purple flowers, 
that give forth the most delightful fragrance. 
It is perfectly hardy, withstanding our coldest 
Winters without injury. If there is any one 
plant better deserving a 
place in the garden than 
another, it is this beauti¬ 
ful Daphne. It will grow 
in almost any good gar¬ 
den soil; but one corn- 
composed partly of leaf 
mold is the most suit¬ 
able. It is easily trans¬ 
planted while young,but 
the old plants are very 
impatient of removal. 
It is propagated by lay¬ 
ers, which should be put 
down in the early part 
of the Summer, or like 
other evergreen plants, 
at the time it is making 
the most rapid growth. 
The best mode of mak¬ 
ing the layers is shown 
on page 131 of the May 
Agriculturist for 1860. 
The plants have been 
somewhat scarce, but 
nurserymen are turning- 
attention to their propa¬ 
gation, and they will ere 
long become abundant, 
and we shall hope for 
then- wider diffusion. 
The poor mountaineers 
of Tyrol and Switzer¬ 
land bring large quantities of this plant to 
the villages, and sell it in little nosegays, under 
the German name of Stein Roeslein, (rock rose). 
No Glut in the Fruit Market. 
Some fifteen years or so ago, the prediction 
was continually made that, in ten years’ time, 
there would be a glut in the fruit market. Nur¬ 
serymen were advised to wind up their affairs 
and get out of the business in time, or they 
would soon have no customers for trees. Farm¬ 
ers were counseled to refrain from planting. or¬ 
chards, for it was predicted that even choice 
fruit would not sell at good prices. There 
was then quite a little panic, here and there. 
But how has the event proved ? Trees have 
continued to be planted from that day to this, 
and they are all wanted. Many have died from 
the neglect and carelessness of orchardists, and 
from the vicissitudes of the seasons. The mark¬ 
et for fruit has continued to enlarge. There are 
millions of mouths to be filled now, where, 
twenty years ago, there were thousands, and 
more people appreciate choice fruit. They 
have found out that it is healthy food, and that 
it is cheaper to pay the apple-man’s bill, than 
the medicine-man’s. Then, too, the foreign 
market has been brought to our very door, with¬ 
in the past fifteen years; it is now only eight or 
ten days off, with an unlimited demand. It 
rarely happens that apples, our most common 
Summer fruit, are so cheap that even every 
well-to do family can afford to use them with 
entire freedom. Abundance in one locality usu¬ 
ally counterbalances scarcity somewhere else, 
and prices are generally maintained. 
The market glutted? Send on your fruit! 
Plant orchards, and take care of them. Raise 
fruit in variety, early and late. If you are with¬ 
in easy reach of a city market, raise the smaller 
fruits, strawberries, currants, raspberries, grapes, 
cherries, peaches, etc. Before the market begins 
to be glutted, we promise to raise the alarm. 
The above cut,, though correct in outline, 
gives but a poor representation of this most gor¬ 
geous of all this most beautiful tribe. The 
expanded flowers of well grown specimens are 
from 7 to 8 inches in diameter, and of the most 
brilliant blending of scarlet, crimson, and violet 
shades. We have frequently seen plants of six 
feet in hight, and three feet across, with 30 ex¬ 
panded flowers at a time, and thus seen, it equals 
in beauty any production of the floral kingdom. 
Another interesting species of the genus is 
Cactus grandiflorus, or more correctly, Cereus gran¬ 
diflorus, having flowers considerably larger than 
the above, of a whitish yellow, which are ex¬ 
panded only at night—generally in perfection 
at midnight—emitting a most delightful fra¬ 
grance. This variety is not quite so free to bloom 
as speciocissimus, and this, coupled with its rare 
habit of expanding its bloom only at night, makes 
it, when in bloom, an object of more than com¬ 
mon interest. These species of Cactus , though 
natives of the tropics, are of easy culture. Pieces 
of the stems take root readily in the open ground 
during the summer months, in any place where 
the soil is loose and sandy, and never for any 
length of time saturated with water. When 
rooted, they may be potted in sandy loam well 
enriched with rotted manure, and removed to 
the plant room or green-house, where they should 
never be exposed to a temperature of less than 
40°, nor much above 80°. The temperature of 
what is termed a “ warm ” green-house, is best 
suited to develop then- growth and bloom. It is 
a common belief that the cactus requires little 
or no water: this is a mistake, though they will 
exist for months without water, yet in this state 
they do not grow. If it be desired to keep them 
growing, in a temperature say of 60°, they will 
require water when dry, the same as any other 
plant. In a low temperature, with a damp at¬ 
mosphere, watering must never be given, as in 
that condition they will never become dry. 
