Jnty 5, 1888. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
1 
/ 
P ROBABLY some of the hippiest hours in many a man’s life 
have been spent in the vinery, and some also the most 
anxious—not to say painful. When all goes veil, and the work 
of thinning, dressing, and otherwise attending to Vines can be 
•done at the right time, and every day shows satisfactory progress 
■in growth, the leaves increasing in texture and deepening tints of 
green, indicative of health, and when the fruit swells steadily 
onwards to maturity, no scalding or rusting of the berries, no red 
•spider, thrips, or mealy bug attacking the foliage, and no fear of 
shanking entertained, then the hours spent in the vinery are happy 
hours to the amateur or gardener who delights in the culture of 
this princely fruit. But on the other hand, when work of various 
kinds presses to be done, and a little time can scarcely be snatched 
for tending the Vines ; when laterals are rambling wildly and 
•cannot be reduced ; when the berries are wedging against each other 
and cannot be thinned ; when insects are insidiously establishing 
themselves and cannot be subdued ; when the dreaded shanking is 
expected and there is little hope of averting it, then the vinery 
is a source of deep anxiety, and the moments spent in it are 
moments of misery. Granting, however, the existence of the 
drawbacks indicated, and they are stern facts, there yet remains 
another fact to be recognised, for it cannot be ignored, that the 
floest is not always made of the means at disposal in the 
management of Vines. Moments are lost that might be utilised, 
and errors committed that ought to be avoided, and especially as 
tfceir avoidance is as easy as their committal. 
Having had opportunities for spending a little time in vineries 
lately in different gardens and not in the same district, in which 
both good and bad management was apparent, and good and bad 
crops of Grapes advancing accordingly ; when in some houses the 
temptation was great to linger and admire, and from others it 
was a treat to escape, perhaps a few hints appropriated under the 
•circumstances may not be unacceptable if recorded as suggesting 
lines of guidance on the one hand that may possibly be of service 
to some who may not be pursuing the right path, or as warnings on 
the other for the benefit of the undecided who are in doubt as to 
which course to take in their procedure. As the leading object of 
these notes is neither to administer reproach to men who fail nor 
to accord praise to those who succeed in Grape-growing, the houses 
and the Afines in them shall be referred to under numbers, and it 
as hoped no one will seriously object to the arrangement. 
No. 1 vinery.—A new range, admirably adapted for the purpose, 
and in which the Vines have been planted two years. Some of 
them have made good growth and are bearing prodigiously ; others 
have a stunted appearance, with small light green, rusted or warted 
leaves, and the house on the whole is very unsatisfactory—one to 
he left as speedily as possible without hurting the feelings of the" 
■“manager.” It is, in truth, more than he can manage. The garden 
has been enlarged, and Vines are new to a good worker and vege¬ 
table grower, who would be happier in the outside department, and 
might with great advantage to the owner of the garden and himself 
make room for a competent man for the “ glass.” Perhaps this 
will be so. The borders were made the full width of the house 
inside, also outside, and “lots of manure” was used. Strong 
fruiting canes were planted, the soil shaken from the roots, and 
the canes not shortened, while they were forced into growth in 
No. 419.— Vol. XVII., Thied Series. 
February. In that brief statement lies a jumble of mistakes. The 
borders were made too rich by half, and are now in a “ soapy ” 
state. They were five times too large to commence with ; the 
Vines having been shaken out ought to have been shortened con¬ 
siderably, and they ought not to have been forced. It was entirely 
a matter of chance that some of them made a good start, and now 
because the others d'd not these that did are made to bear beyond 
their capacity. This will bring things to a level no doubt, but it 
will be a low level, and this good vinery, which cost £300, will not 
be well furnished till new Vines are planted in a new border of 
sound fertile loam, narrow for a year or two, and firm. But this 
is not the time for details in border making. Ti e lesson to be 
profitably learned is this. Those amateurs, we will say, who have 
planted Vines this spring without shortening the canes, and which 
are pushing pretty strongly from the top and trying to grow, but 
the lower buds starting weakly, then standing still, will fail in 
their object if they do not gradually remove the growths from the 
top downwards, one or two to-day, another or two to-morrow, till 
the root force, which is weak, is concentrated on a growth at or 
below the base of the rafters ; then by maintaining a genial atmo¬ 
sphere, and not admitting air through the front sashes till the top 
ventilation fails to keep the temperature below 90°, a good cane 
may possibly be “ run up ” during the season ; but it cannot be if 
the weak root force is frittered away through a multiplicity of 
outlets (buds), the weakness of the growths from which will be in 
proportion to their number. When newly planted Vines are stubborn 
or weak, there, then, is the remedy—reducing the outlets, and main¬ 
taining a moist rather than a dry atmosphere, through being chary 
of front ventilation till the canes get strong, then they may have 
air in abundance for ripening them. 
Vinery No. 2.—Also nearly new, but the Vines cover the roof. 
The owner is their gardener in this case, and, like many another 
amateur, was afraid to thin both laterals and fruit. It is very 
evident the growths were overcrowded last year, hence the weak 
laterals this, and these when seen were far too numerous. The 
Vines are not 3 feet apart, yet there was an average of three 
laterals to each foot run of rod. The spurs are in places not more 
than 6 inches asunder, with, in most cases, two laterals from each, 
duly topped beyond the bunches, only one however from a spur 
bearing fruit, this bunch having been removed from the other 
because the owner of the Vines had read of that being a “ good 
plan.” The plan is good enough in many vineries, but in this one 
there is only one right name for it—bad. With half the laterals 
removed the foliage would be too crowded and the Vines weakened 
instead of strengthened, for let it be clearly understood that a 
dozen imperfect leaves cannot compensate for the absence of one 
fully developed and capable of doing its important work. 
The laterals should be so thinly disposed that the leaves on 
them can attain the full size of which they are capable without 
crushing against each other, or in other words there should be 
space between them so that glints of sunshine can pass through 
into the house. Let amateuis take that as a guide, and if the roots 
are duly supported, and the foliage kept fresh and clean, healthy 
Vines must of necessity follow, provided the serious evil of 
overcropping is avoided. In the case in question the gradual 
removal of surperfluous growths went steadily on for a week, and 
now the Vines are in a fair way for maturing a good crop of 
fruit with an increase of strength for better work next year ; had 
they remained unrelieved they would have been seriously injured 
before the end of the season, and next year’s crop practically 
worthless. 
When sufficient leaves are produced on the laterals for occupy¬ 
ing the space at disposal, with a little to spare between them, all 
subsequent growths that push from the axils of the leaves should be 
pinched out as soon as they can be seized with the finger and thumb. 
It is not in the least necessary to pinch all these sub-laterals to the 
orthodox “ one leaf this may be done with those starting from the 
No. 207 .‘>.—Vol. LXXIX., Old Series. 
