TIIE FLOJBIST AND POMOLOGHST. 
L March, 
54 
with a view to their throwing up good marketable rods. This is a plan some¬ 
times adopted, and, to say the least of it, it is slovenly practice. My experience 
of u cut backs ” for pot-culture is that they are not so much to be depended 
upon for fruiting, as canes direct from the eye, and cleverly grown. u Cut backs ” 
are easily known from vines direct from the eye. The former come away from 
the surface of the pot, or rather from the point to which they have been cut 
back, making spaces (internodes) of from 4 in. to 6 in. between the buds, while 
the latter come away making a multiplicity of buds, increasing the space as the 
plant gains in strength. 
Presuming that the Vines arrive in 10-in. pots, a size plenty large enough for 
any one year’s cane, turn them out of their pots and remove the crocks from the 
bottom of the ball with as much of the surface and other loose earth as 
possible, without interfering unnecessarily with the roots. Prepare some nice 
turfy soil, mixed with fresh horse-droppings, and taking 12-in.-pots, well crocked, 
place some of the roughest of the mixture over the crocks, and on this the pre¬ 
pared ball ; fill in with soil round the sides, and ram it well down with a blunt 
•stick, so that water when applied may saturate the old ball as well as the fresh 
earth employed. Let u Amateur ” place the potsin a bed or trough of leaves, if 
such convenience can be had : failing this, on a shelf, with a sod or turf under 
each pot, 18 in. or 20 in. from the glass, and in a moist artificial temperature of 
about 60°, allowing the temperature to rise in the day-time, with sun heat and 
with plenty of air on, to 70°, 75°, or even 80°, closing early in the afternoon for 
an hour or so, with a high temperature and plenty of moisture, giving air again 
in the evening, and never omitting to leave a little top air on all night, and this 
continuously, from the time of the bursting of the bud to the ripening of the 
fruit. If “ Amateur ” is obliged at times to trust the closing of the house to the 
hands of persons who may neglect to leave on the crack of air, let stops be nailed 
on, so that a stagnant atmosphere may never be provoked. 
With these attentions, I will now consider the Vines to be fairly started, and 
making good progress. Be careful in tying out the laterals ; stop them two buds 
or so beyond the first show, leaving from 4 to 8 bunches on each cane, thinning 
the bunches judiciously to ensure fair-sized berries, and free circulation of air 
through the bunch. u Amateur ” should somewhere make the acquaintance of 
the little creature known as red-spider,” and the indications it generally gives 
of its presence, and with his magnifying-glass should be continually on the look¬ 
out for it, washing it off with a sponge immediately he finds an affected part. 
Let this vigilance be observed until the vines have done their work, and the fruit 
is gathered. 
I have advised “ Amateur ” to plunge the pots in leaves, or to place them on a 
turfed shelf. Either of these conditions will induce the vines to root through the 
bottom of the pots, and if he finds them doing so, by all means let the roots be 
encouraged. An “ amateur,” or even a u practical,” will find this is one of the 
