THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
September 9. 
366 
Clapham, Sept. 11. 
Dumfries and Galloway, Sept. 9tli. (Sec. Mr. W. G. 
Johnstone.) 
Forfarshire (Eastern), Sept. 15 (Arbroath). 
Glasgow, Sept. 10. 
Hampshire, Sept. 9 (Southampton), Nov. 18 (Winches¬ 
ter). (Sec. Rev. F. Wickham, Winchester.) 
Hexham, Sept. 15,10. 
Hull, Sept. 10. 
Kirkcaldy (Fifeshire), Sept. 9. 
Lincoln, Sept. 14. 
London Floricultural (Exeter Hall, Strand), Sept. 14+, 
28, Oct. 12+, Nov. 9+, 23, Dec. 14+. 
Mid Calder (Parish school-room), Sept. 10. 
North London, Nov. 23, Chrysanthemum. 
Northampton, Sept. 27, Dahlia. 
Oxfordshire (Royal), Sept. 23. (Secs., C. Tawney and 
W. Undershell, Esqrs.) 
Peebleshire, Sept. 14th. (Sec., J. Stirling.) 
South London (Royal), Oct. 14+,Nov. 11+, Dec. 9+, 10. 
Surrey Amateur (George Canning, Grove Lane, Camber¬ 
well), Sept. 15, Dahlia. 
Turriff, Sept. 17. 
Whitehaven, Sept. 17, Dahlias. 
POULTRY SHOWS. 
Birmingham and Midland Counties, 14th, 15th, 10th, 
and 17th December. 
Bristol Agricultural, December 7th, 8th, and 9tli. 
(Sec. James Marmont.) 
Cornwall (Penzance), about a week after the Birming¬ 
ham. (Secs. Rev. W. W. Wingfield, Gulval Vicarage, 
and E. IP. Rodd, Esq.) 
Manchester and Liverpool, Sept. 23. (Sec. Mr. IP. 
Wliite, Warrington.) 
t For seedlings only. 
PRUNING VINES. 
(Continuedfrom page 210.) 
The Spur System : Third Year .—At the above page 
we carried out the second year’s culture; we now proceed 
with the third. In the fourth, we shall have a complete 
vinery, and that, if the border be right, and the subse¬ 
quent practice good, will last nearly a century. 
The last remarks were up to the month of September, 
in the second year; and the last operation was a cover¬ 
ing of manure to the border. The pruning of the 
vines will take place as soon as the leaves have fallen, 
for after they are no longer useful it cannot he done too 
soon; for vines, more especially young or luxuriant 
ones, are exceedingly liable to bleed if pruned in the 
spring, and bleeding—that is, running of the sap—is a 
heavy tax on the strength of the vine. 
The character of the wood will now stand thus: a 
cane, or stem, reaching to the hack of the house, or nearly 
so, the lower portion studded at regular distances with 
what the gardener terms spurs, every one of which will 
contain an accumulation of materials for the future 
development of the buds. It must here he explained to 
the uninformed, that every young vine-shoot possesses 
a host of buds, or the germs of buds, at its very base, 
as though in anticipation of the aims of the vine¬ 
dresser. Mr. Crawshay, to whom we believe the sug¬ 
gestion of the close-spur system belongs, used to term it 
“pruning to the spawn-eye,” and he laid immense stress 
in fully carrying out this principle. Right, he doubtless 
was, in principle, but, somehow, the best spur-systems 
have their exceptions, as the Scotch poet said— 
“ The best laid plans of men and mice aft gang aglee, 
An leave us nought but grief an pain for promis’d joy.” 
And just so with the vine; many a one, after establish¬ 
ing this practice, thought it necessary to depart a little 
from it. They, perhaps, have found that their neigh¬ 
bour carries the medals away at the exhibition who did 
not prune so close, or who had adopted the long-rod 
system. And, in very truth, there are cases in which ] 
vines will not hear well if pruned to the “ spawn-eye ;” 1 
but, we are assured, that in all such cases it is a defect 
of root-action, the border not being what it ought to he. 
All we can advise in such cases is, where spawn-eye 
pruning is not found to succeed, and it is not desirable 
to disturb the border, that the dresser give up the 
niceties of spawn-eye pruning, going a joint farther; 
and if that does not succeed, to break into the long-rod 
system, or some approach to it. 
“ A cane, or rod, is reaching nearly to the hack of the 
house, the lower portion studded with spur-shoots.” In 
pruning those side-spurs they must be cut back to one 
eye, or, at the most, two; if one eye, it will be Mr. 
Crawshay’s “ spawn-eye,” and, as before observed, 
situated close to the base of the spur-shoot. Now, in 
pruning these back, a selection will have to he made, 
if most of the side-shoots have been retained as spurs, 
for they will he too close together. A first-rate and 
careful cultivator, however, would have displaced all 
hut the necessary ones at their first budding in the 
previous summer,—a practice we scarcely dare recom¬ 
mend to the uninitiated, for fear they encounter accidents 
with the remainder, which might cause a length of 
main stem to he destitute of spurs. This brings us to 
the distance most desirable for the situation of the 
selected spurs, and we should say, that one to a foot 
all up the rafter would he amply sufficient; indeed, to 
obtain grapes fit for the first exhibition tables, three 
inches more might he allowed. If the spurs are allowed 
to remain closer, the consequence will he. that the 
advanced foliage of one will overtake and much shade 
the other, thus compelling the vine-dresser to he too 
severe at times in his pruning and stopping processes. 
These spurs should, as far as possible, be selected on 
opposite sides of the shoot alternately, not only for the 
sake of symmetry, but also as facilitating the equal 
admission of light; hut this is not indispensable. 
Next: what is to be done with the leader, or upper 
portion, which has not yet developed its side-spurs? 
The character of this must be examined, in order to 
ascertain the condition of the buds on its sides. It not 
unfrequently happens with gross young vines, that on 
one part of the upper portion the eyes will be at very 
irregular distances, and the wood in their vicinity dis¬ 
torted, and looking somewhat immature, as compared 
with the lower portion. This is a mere consequence of 
a too great rapidity of growth at a certain period for the 
amount of light; it is an extravagance of nature, and it 
is sometimes necessary to prune some of this away. 
However, as it is most desirable to furnish the whole 
rafter this summer, such must he pruned with some 
caution ; and if no great irregularities appear, the cane 
may he shortened to within a foot or so of the top of the 
rafter. Of course, all laterals on the sides, which have 
been merely pinched hack, must be pruned close to the 
main stem. 
We have now a clean rod, or main stem, nearly the 
length of the rafter, studded about half its length with 
little knotty spurs, each of which will, in its day, it is to 
he presumed, yield many pounds weight of good grapes; 
the other half, a clear, stout, short-jointed rod, ready, 
with the returning spring, to do in like manner. Pre¬ 
suming the roots to be in a border outside, we advised, 
at page 211, the application of a manurial covering to 
the border of a foot in depth ; this should be dung fresh 
from the stable-door. Such will impart much fertility 
to the border, and will serve, as previously stated, to 
work up, in order to produce a bottom warmth in the 
ensuing January or February — a proceeding, when 
rightly conducted, of immense benefit to vines. 
The next thing in order, is to dress the wood of the 
vines, and to thoroughly cleanse the house; effect 
