500 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ December 31, 1891, 
pruning has been relinquished in favour of tli9 system I advocate. 
Notwithstanding the fact that my critic was this year successful in 
securing finer bunches than usual, if he will try one Vine on the 
long spur system, I shall be much surprised if he does not produce 
still larger examples next season. The fact of his having made an 
advance in that direction without changing his pruning tactics, 
seems to suggest he has been giving them extra attention. Possibly 
his borders may have been renovated a season or two ago, and the 
Vines are now reaping the benefit of that necessary attention. 
From the time the Vines were planted up to the present time, I 
fancy there must have been great fluctuations in the size of the 
bunches and their quality ; times when the Vines showed want of 
vigour, and by a little assistance in the way of fresh soil at the 
roots, have been brought to a satisfactory state again. I maintain 
this is generally the case with Muscats when closely pruned, they 
never seem to be thoroughly satisfactory for any length of time, 
unless plenty of young wood is retained and a gradual exten¬ 
sion going on ; but of course, as I pointed out in my previous 
article, other details of cultivation must be well attended to, and 
then, in my opinion, the results are far better than can be regularly 
insured under the close pruning system of pruning. 
I am inclined to think there are other causes which play an 
important part in the production of better bunches toward the base 
of the rods than near the top than are brought about by pruning 
the leader closely in its early stages of growth. Muscats in good 
condition invariably exhibit this tendency, and I have many times 
remarked upon the same fact in connection with Vines which were 
allowed to retain treble the length of leader the first season than 
your correspondent thinks desirable, and indeed few gardeners care 
to cut back so severely when they have grand wood to rely upon. 
There are thousands of Muscat Vines now grown which produce in 
one season splendid canes, reaching from the bottom to the top of 
the roof, which are scarcely shortened at all, and yet are satis¬ 
factory in every way for years after. As far as my experience 
goes it is altogether unnecessary to shorten them to more than half 
their length, seeing that with proper attention the young rods 
break evenly and strongly from top to bottom, and are well able to 
carry a bunch or two the following season. 
To my mind it is not very clear how a “ close method of 
pruning the leader in its early stages of growth,” should have the 
effect of inducing them to bear the largest bunches near the base 
twelve years after. Without doubt “ people ” engaged in Vine 
growing are anxious to cover the roof as quickly as possible, and 
in these nineteenth century days the principle to adopt is that by 
which the quickest and best returns are obtainable. A larger 
quantity of first-class Grapes could be produced from a given space 
in twenty or thirty years by replanting after half that time had 
expired than by cropping one set of Vine3 throughout. I quite 
agree with “E. M.” that thoroughly ripened wood is an important 
factor in the production of good Grapes, but it is easy to see that 
he is a little wide of the mark when he infers that it is only in 
cases where “ two or three ” shoots are left to a spur that the 
long spur system of pruning is necessary. I simply advised (in 
cases where long shoots were left) that a shoot be retained near 
the base, and stopped to a couple of leaves, so that the spur might 
the next season be pruned back to that point. Now this shows 
that the necessity for a change in the method of pruning was ap¬ 
parent before the second shoot to the spur was produced, but 
independent of that fact the objection to this basal shoot is more 
apparent than real. As I have in no instance seen less favourable 
results follow, as the principal shoot grows quite as strong as is 
desirable, and the reserve shoot forms two or three nut-brown 
buds to cut back to another season, but it will not often be 
necessary to fruit these basal shoots the following season, as a few 
of the old spurs should be pruned back each season. With regard 
to training the summer growth of Vines thinly, T have repeatedly 
penned notes for the Journal in support of that practice, but the 
majority of Grape growers must have noticed that when Vines have 
been planted a few years the portion of the trellis most scantily 
furnished is usually exactly over the main rod. Therefore, instead 
of having a tendency to overcrowd the main shoots, these basal 
ones have an invigorating effect upon the general health of the 
Vine by clothing with healthy leaves the part above indicated, 
where they can be fully exposed to light and air. 
In regard to Lady Downe’s, I believe many, indeed the majority 
of Grape growers, will bear me out in the assertion that this fine 
late Grape is prone to produce irregular crops if pruned closely 
year after year. Among other instances I noted a striking one a 
few days ago, when I had the pleasure of inspecting a fine house 
of Grapes, the varieties being principally Gros Colman and Alicante, 
with a few Lady Downe’s intermixed. The two first named 
varieties were in splendid condition, having large berries perfectly 
coloured (which is not generally the case with Colman3 this year), 
and as a proof of their excellence were selling for Is. per 
pound more than any other Grapes sold in the neighbourhood, and 
they were purchased by a firm of fruiterers who know what they 
are about, as they have established shops in nearly all the large 
towns in the Midlands and the North. Now, in this same house 
were many fine bunches of Lady Downe’s, perfect in shape, large 
in berry, and quite black. This showed plainly that the Vines were 
in good condition, yet the crop was irregular and not good enough 
to satisfy the ambitious cultivator, who intends to take a bold 
course in the matter of pruning this season. 
I must confess I was somewhat jubilant when I read the con¬ 
cluding paragraph of my generous critic’s note. Here he admits that 
with Gros Guillaume, after an eight-years trial of the close spur 
system, a change in the method of pruning has enabled him to- 
secure finer bunches than at any time previous, and I predict that 
sooner or later he will find the same principle applies t» the 
Muscat of Alexandria. The former endured restrictive pruning for 
eight years, the latter after twelve years are still satisfactory, but 
unless a large amount of young wood is left annually, before many 
more years have elapsed the gnarled and senile spurs on the Vines 
under “ E. M’s.” charge, will cease to produce Grapes of the high 
quality I have seen him exhibit in days gone by. —H. Dunkin. 
In a short note on pruning Muscat of Alexandria, p. 520, I 
alluded slightly to the pruning of young Vines. As tbe present is- 
a suitable season for this work I will say a little more on this 
subject. 
I have come to the conclusion that more young Vines are^ 
ruined by faulty methods of pruning in their initial stage than by 
anything else. I have several times inquired of gardeners why 
such a length of leader was left, not only the first year after 
planting but for several years. The answer has invariably been, 
“ Oh, I want to cover the trellis.” The question, “ How lhany 
bunches do you reasonably expect that Vine to carry ? ” pointing, 
perhaps, to one that was bearing the second season’s crop. “ Oh,, 
not more than four at the outside.” “Why, then, do you want so 
many side shoots,” was my next query. “I always understood that 
the more foliage a Vine had the greater number of roots is obtained, ,r 
has been the answer more than once. 
I have never yet seen Vines which were allowed to extend 
6 feet annually from the first until the allotted space was covered 
that were satisfactory at the end of ten years, when the same 
Vines were planted with the idea of their giving full crops of 
fruit for twenty or thirty years, and this they ought to do if 
planted properly in well made borders and managed afterwards 
on correct lines. All the Vines that have come under my notice,, 
treated in the manner described, have shown such defects — an 
uneven thickness of the rods, a kind of bulging out here and 
there, with several thin weakly parts, which cannot throw out 
vigorous side shoots from which good fruit is obtained. Well 
managed Vines ought to show a gradual decline in the size of the 
rod from the base to the point, no matter how long or how short 
it may be, whereas those mismanaged exhibit a great unevenness. 
If there is an exception in the matter of cropping and strength 
of a more uniform character in one kind than another subjected to 
errors in pruning it is in the variety Alicante. The constitution of 
this sort appears to be more hardy and better able to contend with 
such faulty management in pruning. Even this variety, if allowed 
to cover the trellis quickly, will not last in good condition so long 
as Vines of the same kind which were more restricted in their 
youth. It is very well for those persons who have an unlimited 
number of vineries at command to run the rods up quickly to 
obtain special bunches for a few years and then replant again for 
the same object ; but as in my case, where there are but three 
vineries, from which we manage to have Grapes nine and ten 
months of the year, we have to work on quite different lines. It 
is the future as well as the present that we ought to consider iu the 
method of pruning young Vines. What is required is a sufficiency 
of the leading part of the rod to be left annually from the initial 
stage to provide all the wants of the Vine, such as a sufficiency of 
foliage to promote root-action, which is essential, and to give side 
shoots wherefrom the necessary bunches of fruit shall be obtained. 
Beyond this what greater length of the leader should be left at 
pruning time that will afford these iequirements ? I would ask. Is 
it not a waste of growth to allow more ? Far better is it to concen¬ 
trate the strength of the Vine in a limited space, so that some of its 
energy is retained until a future day, when the crop of fruit is 
heavier, and the Vine will have become weaker through other 
reasons. I have many times seen Vines with serious gaps between 
the side shoots owing mainly to the fact of too great a length of 
rod being retained each year at pruning time. Why is this ? some 
will ask, perhaps. 
With Vines, as with other trees, the sap flows to the highest 
point first with greater force, causing the uppermost eyes to start 
