212 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
June 
form, that all the strength otherwise expended in their 
growth may go to the production of wood, until their 
proper time for bearing shall arrive, on their new side- 
shoots next year. Thus a constant alternation of one 
and two years shoots is kept up. 
Most of the pruning already mentioned is done in 
autumn, winter, or early spring; but summer pruning 
is of much importance, if large, well-filled bunches of 
the best flavored grapes are desired. If the vine be left 
to itself after receiving its winter’s pruning, a great pro¬ 
fusion of useless wood will be produced, resulting in a 
similar evil to entire neglect, but less in degree. It 
should be occasionally examined, say twice a month 
during the early part of the summer, and only enough 
shoots left to cover the surface evenly at regular inter¬ 
vals ; and also to allow at regular intervals the clear and 
unobstructed growth of the new uprights, shown by 
dotted lines in Fig. 1. The bunches of fruit must be 
reduced in number so that there may be only two on 
each side shoot; and after the bunches have well formed, 
the side-shoots are to be pinched or broken off as shown 
at the dotted line c, Fig. 2, so as to leave two or three 
joints above the upper bunch as at a. If allowed to run 
without pinching off, there will be too thick a growth of 
leaves and shoots; while on the other hand, if a suffi¬ 
ciency of leaves are not left, the fruit cannot well ma¬ 
ture. For, it must never be forgotten, that the full 
growth and 'perfect ripening of the fruit, depends 
wholly on a full supply of leaves , with a free admission 
9 f light and air for their healthy development. Hence 
ihe entire error of the practice of picking off the leaves 
to let the light in on the fruit. And hence too, the 
longer the side shoots extend themselves before being 
nipped, provided they do not crowd or interfere with 
each other, the better matured will be the grapes. 
These directions will not be new to. experienced culti¬ 
vators; but to beginners, from whom we have many in¬ 
quiries on the subject, they may prove valuable. 
-- 
Miscellaneous Items. 
Large Market Garden.' —The Fitches, of Fulham, 
England, keep 12 horses in constant employment in mar¬ 
keting vegetables, drawing manure, &c., for their mar¬ 
ket garden. They employ 150 laborers in summer, and 70 
in winter. So perfect is their culture, that a visitor assert¬ 
ed that he had not seen a weed on their whole 150 acres. 
Quinces on Thorns. —W. Bacon states in the Horti- 
culturist, that some of the most beautiful quinces he has 
seen, grew on stocks of the common native thorn, the 
specimens being large, fair, and possessed of golden 
beauty. The stocks were an inch to an inch and a half 
in diameter, and were grafted about two feet high. These 
trees are less bushy, require less pruning, are more har- 
dy, and are not liable to the attacks of the borer. The 
country abounds with thorn bushes, which may be thus 
changed to objects of beauty and usefulness. 
Hedges. —Some of the papers speak of fine hedges 
being made of the Siberian Crab. A drawback is its 
liability to the attacks of the mice. Even the Osage 
orange, it appears, has been injured by mice. The buck¬ 
thorn, on account of its poisonous quality, appears to be 
proof against all attacks of the kind, at the same time 
that it is easily propagated, easily transplanted, needs 
clipping but once a year, and assumes a thick, dense, 
and hedgy growth. 
The Diana Grape.—Robert Harwell of Mobile, 
says, “ The Diana Grape fruited with me this year, and 
is certainly the best grape I ever tasted. The vine is a 
strong grower and good bearer, and will suit this cli¬ 
mate as well as we could desire. I had Catawba grapes 
ripe at the same time the Dianas were ripe, and although 
the Catawba is a most excellent grape, it cannot be com¬ 
pared with the Diana for fine flavor.”—[Hort.] 
Verbenas. —A correspondent of Moore’s New-York¬ 
er, gives the following directions to make a verbena 
grow so as to be really a verbena. Remove the earth in 
the spring from a circle two and a half feet in diameter, 
and to a depth of one foot; then loosen the soil at the 
bottom thoroughly with a bar. Put in some well rotted 
fine manure as the earth is thrown back, rounding slight¬ 
ly the surface. In this bed set out a plant of Robinson’s 
Defiance. Its splendor will repay the labor. 
Good Treatment.—Linus Cone, of Oakland coun- 
ty, Michigan, states in the Michigan Farmer, that there 
is now standing in his fruit garden a pear tree set a year 
ago last spring, when about as large as one’s finger, and 
two feet high. It is now five inches in diameter, eight 
feet high, and the united length of the growth of the se¬ 
veral branches last season, was fifty feet. No further 
explanation is needed than the simple fact that he is one 
of the most skillful culturists in that state. 
Selling Fruit in Illinois. —The Prairie Farmer 
informs us that a man living near the Pecatonic river, 
who some years ago set out an orchard of seedling ap¬ 
ples, giving them little care, sold the past season $400 
worth of fruit from them; and another man on the same 
river, who selected good varieties and gave his trees good 
attention, sold fruit to the amount of $1,000. A. A. Hil¬ 
liard, of Macoupin co., Ill., brought 60 bushels of peach¬ 
es to Chicago merely as an experiment, and sold them 
for $2.50 per bushel. In the eastern cities they sold so 
low as scarcely to repay gathering. 
Kill the Weeds. 
If June is the season of flowers, it is equally the sea¬ 
son of weeds. The soil has now become warmed, and 
the vital forces of nature, awakened from the dorman¬ 
cy of winter, are evinced in the speedy germination and 
rapid growth of all plants, whether favorable or unfa¬ 
vorable to the interest of the farmer and gardener. 
Weeds should be destroyed as soon as they appear. 
The sooner they are attacked, the easier they are killed, 
the less injury they do to the crop, and the less they ex¬ 
haust the soil. The mere brush of a hoe, or the scratch 
of a harrow, will effect more in the destruction of weeds 
which have just vegetated, than a much greater amount 
of labor applied after they have had time to extend their 
roots and become firmly fastened in the soil. The farm¬ 
er and gardener should therefore begin with a determi¬ 
nation to prevent, in the outset, the growth of every¬ 
thing injurious to crops, and they must follow up the 
warfare through the season, not only for the benefit of 
present, but future harvests; for there is no truer max- 
im in agriculture, than that “ one year’s seeding may 
make seven years weeding.” 
When the weather is dry, weeds are easily killed, in 
