372 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ May 13, 1886. 
forcing they are generally prematurely ripened and robbed of 
that season of complete repose which is essential to success. 
It is almost impossible to ripen them naturally and rest them 
properly if ripe fruit is required in April or early May. They 
are frequently rested prematurely by being turned out of 
doors, and then, instead of being rested, are forced again into 
growth by the influence of strong heat. If started with a 
temperature of 45° to 50°, as often recommended, they will 
rest, and continue to do so for several weeks after they are 
started before they display the least signs of moving. What 
else can be expected ? for the canes have not thoroughly 
lengthened out before the close of May; if no time lias been 
lost, it is August before the cane has thickened and developed 
into full size, then it has to be ripened. I have always found 
that such Vines, whether home-grown or purchased, are 
unsuitable for the work for which they are required. I do 
not contend that a crop of fruit, such as it is, cannot be had 
from them, for I have had to force them on several occasions. 
Forcing of this nature is hard work, and always attended 
■with much uncertainty. In the hurry to grow the Vines and 
got them ripened for starting they are not allowed sufficient 
time, and either fail to show fruit, or, if they do, they fail to 
bring the crop to perfection. 
Vines, from which ripe fruit is cut during the time stated, 
should have their wood brown and, to all appearance, 
ripe by the end of May, and Vines in this condition, if the 
foliage is kept clean, generally retain their leaves long enough 
in autumn to considerably reduce their period of rest. This 
being the case with Vines producing ripe fruit, those grown 
from eyes and the wood not even brown for three months 
later cannot be expected to give such satisfactory returns as 
those that are thoroughly hard and ripe by the time they 
commence to ripen their wood. 
The uncertainty of Vines grown from eyes for very early 
forcing leads me to shift them into larger pots and fruit 
them for a second and even a third year. This is an excel¬ 
lent plan, and each year the Vines are in better condition 
than in the preceding one, provided they are allowed room 
to develope their foliage and are not too heavily cropped. 
Another, and perhaps a better system, is to plant out the 
Vines in a narrow border where larger quantities of early 
Grapes are required, but these must give place to the method 
I am about to detail where fruit of fine size and quality is 
required annually early in the season. 
For the purpose a narrow span-roofed structure is 
decidedly better than a lean-to, for the Vines can be so 
prepared that either side will produce a crop of fine fruit 
every alternate year. To be successful both sides of the 
house should be planted in a narrow border, say 18 inches 
deep and the same width. Planting may be done during any 
of the months named, but the side intended to fruit next 
spring should be planted as early as possible. The strongest 
canes for this side should be selected and planted 18 inches 
apart, on the opposite side small planting canes may be 
placed the same distance apart. If sufficient canes are not 
forthcoming for this purpose, a few that will be well ripened 
by autumn may be planted in July or August, so as to become 
partially estabJi-hed in the soil before winter. These, when 
the house is started, should be pegged on the surface of the 
border, and from these sufficient strong fruiting canes will 
be produced to furnish the roof for fruiting the following 
season. This is a good plan of furnishing the side of a house 
with fruiting canes without much trouble. The shoots nearest 
the extremity of the cane and the base will in all probability 
start away first, but to prevent these taking the lead they 
should be pinched when about 18 inches in length, and com¬ 
pelled to lead away again from the main eye by the removal 
of the lateral growth. These canes, in fact, may all be again 
pinched when they have travelled half way up the trellis. 
When they reach the extent of the trellis allowed them they 
should be again pinched, and the laterals stopped from time 
to time as may bo required. These canes will be well ripened 
in time to produce ripe fruit by the middle of May if the 
fruit the previous season has been ripened by the end of the 
month. 
The Vines that have fruited should be syringed and the 
foliage preserved as loDg as possible after the fruit has been 
cut. At pruning time cut these canes close back and allow 
them to make strong clean canes for succeeding those on the 
opposite side. This will certainly be their condition if they 
receive the same treatment as those on the opposite side 
carrying the crop of fruit. These canes will be fully made 
by the end of April, and brown from base to the top by the 
close of May, and, therefore, thoroughly ripe in early autumn 
for pruning and starting into growth to bear the following 
season’s crop of fruit. 
Vines grown for early forcing on this principle can be 
syringed and the foliage kept clean, which might not be the 
case if mixed with those carrying fruit. By being fruited 
only every alternate year they thoroughly recruit themselves 
and are capable of carrying a heavier crop of fruit without 
permanent injury, which would be the case if fruited annually. 
It is surprising what effect a year’s freedom from fruit-bear¬ 
ing has upon young Vines, for they recover from the strain of 
the previous year’s work. By this system there is always one 
side of the house full of fine strong early-ripened fruiting 
canes, much stronger, and two or three months at the least 
earlier ripened, than it is possible to produce by raising the 
Vines annually for the purpose from eyes. 
The narrow border with rich top-dressings annually and 
judicious feeding after the two first years will support the 
Vines well for five or six years, when another portion of the 
border, the same width, may be added, which will support 
them until they are pulled out and renewed. It is impos¬ 
sible for me at present to say how long Vines on this 
principle will continue to do satisfactorily, but by fruiting 
one side annually they are easily renewed without disturbing 
those required for the following year’s crop. After the canes 
have fruited and are exhausted they can be taken out, a por¬ 
tion of the border removed, and then enriched with loam, 
manure, and other necessary essentials, and the whole trenched 
and well mixed. Young Vines planted at once in this border 
would become established before autumn and make strong 
fruiting canes to succeed those on the opposite side until they 
are cleared out and renewed. 
This is the easiest and decidedly the best method I have 
practised, and the most certain for a supply of good fruit 
early in the season. Vines undoubtedly fruit much better 
from young canes early in the season than they do when 
grawn on the spur system. Vines subjected to the spur 
system of pruning have failed with us early in the season, 
and we are not much surprised, for the first leaves nearest 
the base generally fall early in summer, and the shoots when 
cut back to these eyes have only a poor chance of producing 
a good crop of fruit. They are also much more liable to fail 
if the crop proves slightly too heavy than if the reverse is the 
case.— Wm. Bardney. 
PEOFITABLE GARDENING. 
( Continued '-from page 329.) 
Marechal Niel Rose. —No garden nowadays may be said to 
lie complete without a plant or plants under glass of this wonder¬ 
fully popular Rose, and those who have either to make a garden 
partially self-supporting or who are growing entirely for sale ought 
especially to cultivate it extensively. The very best positions for 
it are the roofs of conservatories and greenhouses, it being imma¬ 
terial whether these be span-roofed or lean-to in form. As a pillar 
Rose I consider it useless, as each time we tried it a plentiful crop 
of green fly was the principal result. When trained thinly on a 
trellis about G inches from the glass it is much less liable to be 
affected by either mildew or green fly ; and what is also of great 
importance, a great variety of plants may be grown satisfactorily 
underneath, which fact must not be overlooked when calculating 
the cost and returns. For instance, we find Azaleas, Camellias, 
Deutzias, Imantophyllums, Ferns, and Palms all succeed admirably 
under a thinly trained Marechal Niel, and other Roses in pots have 
also done fairly well. This being so, no one need hesitate about 
