December 10, 1891. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
489 
W HEN considered as a merely mechanical operation, the 
pruning of Yines is a simple and easily acquired branch of 
the gardener’s art, but viewed in its true light, as a necessity of 
cultivation, and a means by which we are enabled to control the 
quality of the crop and the size of the bunches produced, and also 
to rejuvenate apparently worthless Yines, few, if any, of the gar¬ 
dener’s multitudinous duties will so well repay thoroughly thinking 
over before a single shoot is cut. The condition of the Yines to 
be operated on, their behaviour during the previous season, the 
peculiarities of different varieties, and the purposes for which 
they are grown, all come in for due consideration. Take the case 
of Yines which have become weak and debilitated, and which 
therefore produce unsatisfactory crops ; a surprising improvement 
may be made in one season by ignoring all hard-and-fast methods 
of pruning, and leaving plenty of young wood, so as to be able to 
have a number of shoots to select from at disbudding time. Instead 
of cutting back to one or two eyes, as so frequently recommended 
(without any qualifying conditions being given) prune to wherever 
the best bud can be found, whether it happens to be 2 inches or 
2 feet from the point it was last pruned to. With old Yines in a 
bad state, this often makes the difference between a very poor crop 
and a creditable one. I do not say that any system of pruning will 
make up for deficient root action, or the evils of an unsuitable 
border. These are matters which should also have proper 
attention, but if half the Yines in the undesirable state described 
were pruned closely, and the other half left as recommended, a 
second trial would not be necessary. Neither do I advise old 
Vines to be kept when they are so unsatisfactory, but there are 
hundreds of cases in which gardeners have no choice but to leave 
them, and in such instances, with the roots attended to and the 
long-spur system of pruning adopted, many might surprise even 
themselves with the result. It will be urged how unsightly these 
long spurs must be, but this need not be the case, as a shoot can 
always be retained at the base when the disbudding is done, and 
later on be stopped at a couple of leaves, so that the spurs may be 
cut back to that point at successive prunings. 
My remarks thus far are intended to apply to Vines in an un¬ 
satisfactory state. In the case of those in a sound healthy con¬ 
dition the character of the crop may be greatly varied by the 
method of pruning adopted, and before this is determined it must 
be distinctly understood that close pruning means comparatively 
small bunches. Therefore, where Grapes are grown for home use 
alone, and large bunches are not particularly prized, cut back to one 
or two eyes, and fairly good bunches will result, such as are 
extremely useful for keeping up a continuous supply. One great 
point in favour of medium sized bunches is they are generally cut 
a nd used while in a perfectly fresh state, while larger bunches are 
not unfrequently dished up many times in succession till their 
appearance is not inviting. 
Those who grow for market find, that except for special 
occasions, medium sized bunches weighing from 1 to 2 lbs* 
are in much greater demand than those of larger size, although a 
limited number grown to an imposing size are in constant demand 
for exhibiting in the windows of high-class fruiterers’ shops, and 
command a higher price per pound than those of less bulk. The 
majority of Grapes grown for market, however, pay best when 
No. 598. —Vol. XXIII., Thibd Series. 
large numbers of moderate sized bunches are produced, and 
pruning to one or two eye3 is found to answer best with most 
varieties. LadyDowne’s seems, however, to be an exception, and it is 
too much inclined to produce very small bunches, or to produce 
them too sparingly if pruned closely year after year. It is 
therefore always advisable to leave three or four eyes when 
pruning this variety, then at disbudding time when the back buds 
are promising they may be retained in preference to the terminal 
ones. 
Two other varieties of Grapes which succeed much better when 
pruned on the long rod or the long spur system are the Muscat of 
Alexandria and Gros Guillaume ; the former never appears 
thoroughly satisfactory for any length of time if closely pruned 
annually. It is really little short of marvellous the difference in 
the produce of closely pruned and closely stopped Yines of this 
variety ; but the spurs should be kept a greater distance apart 
than most others require, and a shoot always retained at the base 
of the spur, so that after a couple of years the long spurs may be 
cut back to that point. Gros Guillaume should be treated on the 
long spur system for two reasons—first because much larger 
bunches are produced, and also because it is not generally a free 
fruiter if pruned back closely. 
Having now given a few hints on the pruning of Yines to pro¬ 
duce bunches of moderate size, and also pointed out those which I 
consider should never be pruned closely, I now come to the course 
to be followed in cases when exhibition bunches are wanted, as 
there can be no doubt that the greatest achievements in cultivation 
are attained where each variety is grown (and perfectly coloured) 
to as large a size as possible. To accomplish this there should be 
at least three or four eyes left at pruning time, so that a good selec¬ 
tion of shoots can be made when the bunches are visible. Only a 
few gardeners, however, grow their Grapes from a purely exhi¬ 
bition point of view, so that all the Vines need not be treated on 
this long spur system. If some are pruned to one or two eyes and 
the rest allowed a couple of extra buds, and when a very promising 
shoot is found still longer, bunches of a great variety of sizes 
will then be the result, so that there may be abundance for 
home consumption, and a few extra good ones for exhibition 
purposes. 
After a perusal of these remarks, the question will naturally 
arise in the minds of some growers as to what effect the various 
methods of pruning enumerated will have on the colouring of the 
Grapes produced, as there is a general belief that, with close prun¬ 
ing, Grapes, as a rule, colour the best. This is true to a certain 
extent, but the matter requires careful observation before a 
reliable opinion can be formed ; for instance, it is a well-known 
fact that small bunches invariably colour the best. It is not an 
unfrequent occurrence to see a few small and medium sized ones 
(on Vines where every spur has been pruned closely) coloured per¬ 
fectly, while the remaining bunches are far from being in that 
desirable state ; and most growers know that the larger the bunch 
the longer the colouring process takes to complete. It is, there¬ 
fore, reasonable to suppose that with a given number of large 
bunches and the same of small ones the latter would produce the 
larger percentage of perfectly finished examples ; but, if only a 
relatively small number of really fine bunches attain that high 
standard of perfection, this would in reality be a greater achieve¬ 
ment in the art of Grape growing than the production of double 
the number of bunches of a size met with frequently enough to merit 
the definition of commonplace. It seems to be an unerring law of 
Nature that the highest degree of excellence is only reached by 
a sacrifice of minor considerations, and those cultivators who 
thoroughly think out their methods of procedure, and under the 
constant guidance of their reason and observation strike out a bold 
course, are invariably rewarded with the greatest amount of 
success in Grape growing, as in most other matters connected with 
horticulture, and indeed, with life in general.—H. Dunkix. 
No. 2254.— Vol. LXXXV., Old Series. 
