376 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
r Miy 10, 1 S 89 , 
The gardener’s duty to his employer in his work will make him 
study it at first, and day by day ever after, thoroughly, as a whole 
and in detail, and down to the lowest and most commonplace detail. 
Nothing must be lightly passed over, nothing scamped, but every¬ 
thing attended to with punctuality, promptitude, and with the 
highest skill, both as to plan and execution, which his head can 
devise and his hands carry out. He must “ put his conscience into 
his work.” He must, above all things, study the special require¬ 
ments of his employer, and also the particular needs of his 
employer’s establishment. Whatever his own fancies and desires 
may be they must be subordinated to the wants of the establishment 
he has to provide for, and parenthetically it may be here said, for 
the guidance of the young gardener entering on a situation that 
the rule is. Vegetables- are the first consideration, fruit the next, 
and flowers the last. Exceptional cases may turn tliis rule upside 
down, or modify it in some degree ; but if they do they only make 
the rule more absolute. It is the duty of the gardener to at first 
find out exactly which is chief, and then arrange accordingly. 
Though he may make one point chief he ought to strive to do all 
things well. In order to fit him to do his work all the better he 
must keep himself abreast of the times by making himself 
acquainted with the best thoughts of the day, in all new ways of 
doing work, adopting such as are good, in new inventions of 
gardening necessities, being cautious about adopting any until quite 
satisfied that “ there’s something in them in new plants and new 
ways of growing them, in new seeds, or roots, or manures, or 
implements, and indeed in all other matters which make up the 
economies of gardening. This must be done as a duty to his 
employer, and to show that he is “ a workman that needeth not to 
be ashamed.” 
There are one or two qualities which might be, and ought to be, 
cultivated by the gardener, which would materially assist him in 
doing his duty to his employer. Energy and industry are under¬ 
stood to be guiding qualities, indeed they are indispensable ; and 
if to this the gardener can add concentrativeness, or that power of 
will and thought whereby a man can settle his whole mind on any 
particular duty he has in hand until he has finished it, this will 
contribute largely to successful labour. Tact and common sense 
are qualities which every born gardener has as a birthright, or ought 
to have, and if he has besides what the Americans call “ gumption,” 
which they say is more than tact and common sense (which is the 
gift of being able to do, and say “ the right thing in the right 
way, at the right time ”) then the gardener will become more ex¬ 
cellent as a man and a workman day by day, and, therefore, able 
more fully to do his duty to his employer. 
Now let us come to the conclusion of the matter. 
Not so much as to a master or employer will the true gardener 
do all this, though that position he will ever recognise and maintain, 
but, as man tojman, *• doing as_he would be done by.” Putting 
himself into his employer’s place he will act towards him as he 
would expect his employer to act towards him if their positions 
were reversed, or, indeed, as he—the gardener—expects his em¬ 
ployer to act toward him in their present relations. He will make 
his employer’s interests his interests and serve him, “ not with eye 
service but in singleness of heart.” By so doing he will gradually 
rise in his master’s estimation, and his own, in his profession, and 
will have that best of all friends a good conscience.— Excelsior. 
THINNING GRAPES. 
During the next few weeks the bulk of Grape-thinning will 
require pressing attention in gardens throughout the country ; and 
as it is work that cannot be delayed without causing a wasteful ex¬ 
penditure of the energies of the Vines carrying the crop, all good 
cultivators make a point of straining every nerve to keep the work 
from getting behind, and with this object in view contrive by some 
means to thin every bunch as soon as it can be clearly ascertained 
which berries have set properly, and may consequently be depended 
on to result satisfactorily. Grape-thinning is by many considered 
a tedious operation. Perhaps it is in some cases, but of all 
gardening operations it is the one I like the best when I have 
before me shapely well set bunches, some of which with good 
thinning and proper attention should make models of good form, 
while others bid fair to become masses of gigantic size. Each 
variety, nay each bunch, requires to be thinned according to the 
length of the footstalks and the size to which the berries grow. 
This helps to make the work the more interesting, and many 
pleasant hours have I spent in thinning the berries and studying 
the habits of most of the best varieties in cultivation. 
No hard-and-fast line can be laid down as to the distance the- 
berries of each variety should be apart when thinned, because the- 
same varieties growing in different houses often differ considerably 
in the length of the footstalks, and in the case of Black Ham- 
burghs much difference is apparent in this respect in Vines growing 
in the same house. The berries of those with the greatest length 
of footstalk should be left much closer together than those with- 
shorter ones, for the simple reason that as the berries increase in 
size they will force each other upwards and outwards as far as the-, 
length of footstalk will allow. For compact bunches of Black 
Hamburghs when the Vines are vigorous an inch apart over tlie 
lower part of the bunch is about the right distance, but this dis¬ 
tance should be gradually lessened as we approach the top of the 
bunch, as it is a common error to over-thin the shoulders with the 
result that as the berries swell, their own weight bearing them 
down, and leaves vacant spaces on the top of the bunches, which 
quite spoils their appearance. 
The mistake of over-thinning is not always made at the first 
thinning, but when the berries are about half grown they rest uponi 
each other and appear to be too close together to allow of their 
swelling to their proper size. Sometimes this may be the case, but. 
my experience teaches me that this is just the stage at which they 
are the more likely to be over-thinned, in the case of those bunches 
that have long footstalks, as it is sm-prising to all but those that 
have closely watched them how the berries, as they increase in 
size, will gradually force each other into their proper positions till 
the bunch is filled out evenly from point to shoulder. It is without 
doubt a good practice to look over all Grapes when they have con>- 
pleted their first stage of the stoning process, to remove any berries 
that are not likely to have room to swell to their full size, but it 
must be done with caution to avoid the mistake I have already 
pointed out. 
Madresfield Court, one of the most handsome of all Grapes both 
in bunch and berry, should be well thinned, but an inch apart is- 
generally far enough, in consequence of the berries being oval in 
shape instead of round, and the same remark applies to Muscats. 
Gros Colman requires more space for its berries than any other 
Grape grown, as they not only grow to a large size, but the 
footstalks are nearly always short, 1^ inch, and sometimes a 
little more is not too much. Gros Maroc requires only a trifle 
less space. An inch apart is far enough for Lady Downe’s and 
Alicante. If this room is given all over the bunch, the footstalks 
being very stiff keep the berries in their proper positions till they 
are full grown. Shoulders are often formed on one side of a bunch. 
When they are small we remove them, as they only spoil the shape 
of the bunch and do not add much to its size. Double bunches, 
when large, we sometimes leave, as a good solid bunch of that 
description, with shapely tapering bunch on either side, look well 
on an exhibition board. 
Tying Out Large Bunches. —For medium-sized compact 
bunches this operation need not be resorted to, as when properly 
thinned the berries will gradually form themselves into their proper 
positions and make handsome specimens, provided the outline of 
the bunch is good. With large bunches, however, the case is quite 
different, and unless tying out is practised to a considerable extent 
much of the bunch must be cut to waste, and many fine bunches of 
Gros Guillaume and Trebbiano, which might have been made into 
splendid specimens, have been thinned down until they have become 
very moderate in size. Having had considerable experience with 
bunches which when cut weighed from 5 to 12 lbs., I will describe our 
mode of procedure. Gros Guillaume sometimes produces bunches 
of enormous size with large spreading shoulders, and at otheis 
bunches that are well proportioned and solid in build, but in nearly 
all cases the footstalks are longer than those of any other Grape, 
excepting Buckland Sweetwater, which requires exactly the same 
treatment in the matter of thinning as Gros Guillaume. 
To tie out and thin a large bunch of the last-named Grape 
requires much patience. Our first proceeding is to fasten apiece of 
raffia to the shoulders on the top of the bunch, bring them nearly 
up to a horizontal position, and arrange them at equal distances all 
around. It is not enough to have only one piece of tying material 
to support each shoulder, but these should be placed an inch apart 
all along the shoulder, otherwise as the berries swell their weight 
will weigh the point of the shoulder down and perhaps break the 
stem of the shoulder at the point where the tying material is 
