224 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[October, 
with the spout resting on the sitting-room stove. “ I’ve let them get as dry as 
ashes in the winter, never putting on a drop of water from fall to spring, I’ve 
changed and changed them to smaller pots, till I’m tired of it, ‘and not a flower 
have I had for my pains. I’ll try this last thing, and if that don’t do ”—she finished 
the sentence by taking the tea-kettle to the window, and pouring the smoking 
contents in the pots. A neighbour had been in an hour before, and said she knew 
of a Cactus that flowered immediately after being treated in this way. Let the 
earth get perfectly dry, then pour on boiling water, and the plants will throw out 
buds in a few days. 
We watched our scalded friends, to see them wilt down, but we were dis¬ 
appointed in our expectations. After a good many days we discovered—what do 
you think ? Little red dots all over the Snake Cactus, and round buds occasionally 
scattered over the other. And now—well, I’ve only one more thing to say—you 
should see the glory with which our little shelf is filled.—F. A. B. 
The above curious dialogue, from the American Horticulturist^ appeared 
originally in the Rural New Yorker. 
VINES AND VINE-CULTUEE.— CiiArTEii V. * 
Pruning and Training. 
continuation of my remarks on the winter pruning and training of the 
3 Vine—that is, of the ripened wood of the plant—let me suppose the 
Vine to have completed its second season’s growth, and to be in good order 
‘ij) for pruning. If it has grown well, there should now be some four or five 
shoots on either side of the main rod or stem left at the j)revious pruning, with a 
corresponding continuation of the main stem itself, to 10 ft. or 20 ft. or more, as 
might be allowed. These side-shoots have then to be pruned ; by doing this we 
form the first spurs, and according as we do this, do we lay the foundation of 
good or bad spurs for all time to come. It is well, therefore, for the sake of 
future appearances, to give a little care and attention to the matter at this stage. 
As already stated, with well-ripened wood there need be little fear of losing a 
crop of fruit through too close pruning. The bud or eye situate close to the stem, 
although not so large and conspicuous as the others further off, will produce as 
strong a shoot as they, and as good a bunch of fruit, or nearly so. Besides, close 
pruning has the advantage, especially in the present case of first pruning, of keeping 
the spurs close at home. Fig. 3 may be taken to represent a portion of the main stem 
of the second season’s growth, showing the formation of the first spur, a is a 
spur properly pruned and formed ; b is a spur of far more pretending appearance, 
such as the timid and uninitiated always leave. It is, however, wrong, and should 
be cut off as shown by the cross line a h. Some cultivators recommend leaving 
long spurs at pruning-time, so as to have a choice of buds at disbudding-time, 
intending then to rub off the front one ; but this system is pernicious, as the 
upper bud is sure to break the strongest, and to allow it to break, and then to 
rub it off, is a sheer waste of force, 
