lie 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
May IB 
not show fruit, they are stopped at about an equal 
number of joints; the shoot from the terminal bud of 
hist year’s 'shoot being allowed to grow unrestrained, 
until it gets to the top of the rafter, or even beyond it, 
when its terminal bud is picked out. At the winter 
pruning, this leading young shoot is cut down to about 
half the length of the rafter, less or more, as the cir¬ 
cumstances may justify, and the side-shoots of the pre¬ 
vious summer are snagged back to an eye or two, or a 
bud; some people using the one term, and some the 
other. By the third season, the Adne may thus be fur¬ 
nished with these lateral shoots, and each of these, or 
as many as may be deemed necessary to retain, when 
cut back in winter to a single bud, presents you with a 
Vine grown on the spur system. Into the due manage- 
i ment of laterals, &c., from these spurred shoots, I need 
not now enter; a few from the points of the shoots are j 
always advisable for encouraging root action, to be 
gradually lessened and removed as the plants approach 
maturity. 
The succession-rod system is equally easily under¬ 
stood. After shortening back the young shoot, in the 
first winter the terminal-bud left is allowed to grow, 
| just as above; the shoots from the buds below are 
allowed to expand laterally, and be stopped before the 
fruit, also as above ; but the shoot from the lowest bud 
of all is allowed to grow until it reaches the point 
where the first shoot was stopped last year. In the 
j second year, at winter pruning, the whole of the side- 
shoots are removed, and the main terminal one is 
shortened, so that now there are two shoots of last 
season left, instead of spurs; and by the third season 
the house is furnished, at winter, with three young 
shoots for bearing in the fourth year; and then, at the 
winter pruning, the oldest is removed; and this being 
done every year, the system may go on as long as 
desirable. 
The long-rod system consists in having a young rod 
the length of the house every year, removing it when 
it has fruited and substituting it by another. As I 
have stated, the spur mode is the simplest, and, on the 
whole, admits most light into the house; but there is 
not such a great difference in this respect, and for these 
reasons:—On the spur mode, you must retain lateral 
shoots, though they have no fruit, because you wish to 
have a well-ripened bud at their base next year. On 
the successive and long-rod system, every side-shoot that 
does not produce fruit may be gradually removed; 
laterals on those that do fruit allowed to he produced 
i rather sparingly, and the whole strength of the Vine 
be thrown into the bunches, and into the shoot or 
! shoots designed for bearing the following year. A 
I shortish long-rod system, was part of the basis of the 
j mode so ably advocated for out-door culture by the late 
Mr. Ffoare. If any of these latter modes are adopted, 
I sudden checks to the system should be avoided, and 
| unfruitful side-shoots should only be gradually removed 
! when the young main shoot or shoots for fruiting the 
| following year are growing so vigorously as to mono- 
| polise the whole strength of the Vine. On the same 
principle, the laterals, or all the short-bearing shoots, 
i should be gradually removed, but left at one joint on 
the young succession-rods, getting them ofi 1 , however, 
gradually, as the wood browns, or you may have 
strength of wood at tho expense of smallness of buds. 
Now, keeping all this in view, and taking our stand¬ 
point by the side of this Vine, the main stem of which 
had been spurred-in from bottom to top, emitting strong 
shoots from the small buds at the base, but almost 
totally destitute of fruit; while the nice young shoot, 
half-way up the house, of last summer’s growth, has 
furnished, not only a shoot, but nice shows of fruit from 
every hud—am 1 not warranted, from this prima facie 
evidence, in coming to the conclusion, that in certain 
circumstances these young rods are more to be de 
pended on for fruitfulness than shoots from spurs 
however strong ? 
Two reasons, therefore, may bo assigned for the un¬ 
fruitfulness of greenhouse Vines in such circumstances, 
first, it is tire nature of the Vine to produce its smallest, 
least-perfect buds at the base of the shoots; so much 
so, that the slightest observation will show, that in 
pruning away the top of a fine shoot you almost 
invariably cut away the finest, roundest, plumpest, and 
—if equally well ripened with those at the base of the 
shoot—the best organised buds. And, secondly, this 
evil is often increased by the want of thorough ripeness 
of the wood in the greenhouses of amateurs, who are as 
anxious to have their plants safe earlyjn autumn, as they 
are to have a bunch of Grapes for themselves or their 
friends. This want of ripeness in the wood proceeds, 
again, generally, from two causes. The Grapes are 
often ripened before the wood is thoroughly consolidated, 
aud more especially in a dull autumn. A dry fire-heat 
would not injure the Grapes, while it would tend to 
ripen the wood, but bags of various materials are 
resorted to for keeping out the damp from the bunches ; 
and, besides the o-xpense of the fuel, it would do little 
good to plants placed in their winter habitations, since 
they had previously been revelling in a moist atmos¬ 
phere. Of course, I am alluding to this affair before 
the leaves have become brown ; as after they have lost 
their green tints, all firing, for the mere purpose of 
ripening the wood, is so much waste. 
Then, again, there is the evil arising from the contest 
between neatness and utility. 1 could direct my mind’s- 
eye, any day, on a dozen, or a score, of cases, in which 
Vines having produced abundantly for a number of 
years have, without exhibiting much trace of weakness, 
become gradually unfertile, and yielding fruit when it 
comes more distinguished for watery than rich saccharine 
properties. Although this work, as much as any other, 
is read by many of the highest professionals in the 
country, it is not with them that I would venture 
. to get into a fire-side gossiping style, as I at any time 
feel more inclined to receive instruction from them as 
authorities in gardening. To our friends, the amateurs, 
I have often been indebted for sound practical ideas. 
They, also, know it so well, that a number of them 1 
never hesitate to ask for a return in kind; and one of 
the greatest pleasures in being connected with this work 
is, that the directions from experience, or the confessions 
from my own ignorance and inadequacy, instead of 
being confined to the few, are wafted in the way of 
thousands. Not unfrequently have I selected one case 
as an illustration ; and such a good hand at being | 
personal have I become, that hints and winks of being j 
“ too bad;” “ we must take care what we say to yon," &c. ; 
have been so thrown iu my way, as to show the cap 
fitted many wearers instead of one; and the best of all 
is, that in every instance, under a very thin veil of 
assumed displeasure, there beamed from the countenance 
the unmistakeable evidence of pure satisfaction that 
their doings or undoings had been made subservient to : 
! the general advantage. 
Now let me, as an illustration, fix upon a case, with- 1 
out caring, rather the reverse, how many may apply it 
to themselves. There is a nice greenhouse, with Vines 
up the rafters; the border was well made, with a good 
drainage, and a good slope, from back to front, but no 
concreting or paving at the bottom. The ground around 
• was occupied with vegetables and flowers; more atten- i 
tion being paid to the useful than the merely tasteful ; 
aud ornamental. A little manure on this border was, \ 
therefore, no eyesore; a drenching of manure-water, or 
soap-suds, or a slight sprinkling of bone-dust on the , 
surface, was no uncommon thing; and so well did the j 
Vines as well as the plants thrive, that I have seen , 
