November 8. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
73 
succession of strong young shoots is provided from 
the very first; and these, after producing a crop, are 
cut away to make room for succeeding bearers, which 
are produced in a regular series by the mode of prun¬ 
ing established. In the spur system a single stem is 
carried up beneath the rafter, and from this stem, by 
a judicious shortening (by means of the knife each 
season), are produced a series of side shoots at deter¬ 
minate distances; and from these side shoots, or 
rather from the base of them by spur pruning, spring 
the buds which produce the bunches. So, then, our 
amateur friends who are young gardeners will see 
that “ spurring back,” or “ spur pruning,” is a mere 
technical phrase in gardening parlance, signifying 
the pruning back to those insignificant looking em¬ 
bryo buds, which in the case of the vine always 
seem to cluster about the base of the young shoots, 
as if they anticipated the rutldesss hand of the 
pruuer; and that such pruning is diametrically 
opposed to the “long rod system,” which lias for its 
aim larger bunches: these, it is assumed, are produced 
from those bold looking eyes or buds which are found 
seated in the axils of the larger leaves, on the large 
young shoots. At some future period we will return 
to a review of the rival systems; for the present we 
must work at our subject according to our text. 
In peach pruning the case stands very different: 
here the fruit is produced almost entirely from the 
sides of the last year’s shoots, which at once produce 
a blossom in the very first act of development. 
Other circumstances conspire to render the pruning 
of the peach or nectarine very different from that of 
the vine, of which more by-and-by. A judicious 
thinning out is the first matter with the peach, and 
finally a shortening of the points of reserved shoots. 
We here readily admit, that where a proper course of 
summer’s management has been pursued, little thin¬ 
ning will be necessary: but we must suppose that 
they have received but ordinary treatment under 
such circumstances, then there will be a superfluous 
amount of young shoots, and a selection has to be 
made. We have before explained the operation of 
the true bearing wood, the over luxuriant wood, and 
the decaying wood; or, at least, in the latter case, 
those shoots which are premonitory of decay. Our 
readers must therefore refer to back articles on the 
peach, for space will not admit of our frequently re¬ 
peating details. 
We must now take a leap, and take it for granted 
that the trees are actually pruned ; what then must 
be done ? It so happens, that both the vine and the 
peach, as well as the nectarine, are liable to the de¬ 
predations of insects, as well as those destructive 
fungi, which are not the less formidable on account 
of their anomalous and insignificant appearance. 
Many are the enemies of these trees, but we at present 
must grapple with the common peach aphis, the red 
spider, the mealy bug, and the mildew fungi. Some 
of these depredators must be attacked when the trees 
are in the growing state ; nevertheless, all good cul¬ 
tivators take preventive measures when the trees 
are at rest, by dressing the wood all over, both vine 
and peach, with a mixture which will go far tow r ards 
an utter extermination both of insects and their 
eggs, and will, at the same time, by adhering long to 
the trees, prove of a repulsive character. We may 
here venture to recommend what we have for years 
used with success; it is for vines, as follows:—Provide 
a clay paint, that is to say clay beat up in water until 
a thick mud, or of the consistence of thick paint. Get 
another vessel, and beat up four ounces of soft-soap 
in a gallon of warm water, add to this four or five 
handsful of flowers of sulphur, which also beat tho 
roughly up, and finally add as much of the clay paint 
as will give a body to the whole, say about one-third 
of a gallon. 
For peaches use the same mixture, excepting the 
amount of soft-soap ; we only use two ounces to tire 
gallon for these trees. The mixture may be applied 
with an ordinary painter’s brush, taking care to fill 
every crevice with it; our practice is to go over twice, 
this ensures the searching of every portion of the 
wood. We deem it expedient to apply white lead to 
every cut of the knife, both in the peach and the 
vine ; in the former it serves to keep out moisture, of 
which the peach is very impatient, in the latter it 
prevents the possibility of bleeding which sometimes 
occurs, and is very prejudicial to the vine. It ought 
to be here observed, that most good cultivators strip 
away all loose or loosening old bark from the vine. 
We are no advocates for such a skinning alive as 
we have before now been witness to, believing that 
tho coarser bark acts with a controlling power, pre¬ 
venting a too sudden increase or decline in the tem¬ 
perature of the fluids within the stem. Still, what is 
already loose may fairly be stripped away lor the 
sake of the chance offered of reaching the very dens 
of the insect tribe. 
Having now “ said our say” on pruning and dress¬ 
ing for the present, a little must be stated about root- 
management, or, in other words, the management oi 
the borders. If vines are to be forced of which the 
roots are unluckily in outside borders, the first thing 
to be done is to cover the border with some loose 
and dry material, which will at once arrest the de- 
parture of the remaining ground heat, and also throw 
oil' rains; the latter is a most important affair. We 
do not think it advisable to apply hot fermenting 
material previously to the actual forcing period; 
nevertheless, if a slight fermentation took place in the 
covering, it would scarcely be objectionable. Care 
should be taken to make the surface steep and 
smooth, in order to facilitate the passing away of 
waters. It is by far the best security to provide a 
tarpaulin: these are cheap enough, and we do think 
that every border would be better covered with one 
from the middle of September until April or Hay 7 . 
We will say more about this utility shortly. 
For inside borders a different practice must be 
pursued; here no fermenting material is needed. A. 
sort of huskiness is apt to engender on the surface ol 
these, which is averse to a wholesomcness oi atmo¬ 
sphere, and tins should be removed, and a top-dress¬ 
ing of proper compost applied. Inside borders should 
be suffered to go nearly dry after the fruit is gathered, 
and if such is the case, a watering becomes necessary, 
using tepid manure-water, and going over the border 
at twice, suffering a day to pass between the two 
applications. Then must follow the compost most 
proper to facilitate rooting, and to coax the fibres to 
the surface; and after this, our practice is to coat 
over the surface with such short litter or droppings 
as are used for mushroom beds, as those continue 
porous longer than decomposed manures. 
These preparations accomplished, forcing may com¬ 
mence; the first stage of which lor a week or two is 
little more than excluding frost, and changing tho 
atmosphere in the house from a dry one to that 
gently moist character of air which is known io pro- 
mote the germination of the bud in early spring. 
To this end the syringe must be in frequent requisi¬ 
tion, using it night and morning. Before our ama¬ 
teur friends get their vines and peaches into bud wo 
will recur to this subject. R- Errington. 
