July 10.] 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
225 
indeed, is not unfrequently the case, especially with 
: vines trained in houses. The vine-dresser must begin 
with disbudding every shoot not required for the present 
crop, or for filling blank spaces; not one must be left for 
i which a reason cannot be given. This done, a general 
j stopping must be practised as a rule, only leaving a 
couple of eyes beyond the fruit. Where, however, 
! vacant spaces exist, shoots may be left nearly as long as 
. the vacant space is high, stopping them in due course, 
| when near the top of such space. And now the shoots 
should be fastened close to the wall or roof, taking cai - e 
I not to cram the bunches too close to the wall. Where 
vines have been duly attended to previously, the stop- 
| ping, or removing of laterals, will be the chief business; 
! these may he, for the most part, pinched to one eye; 
but where the foliage is becoming too thick, let them 
; he at once stripped clear away; for, be it remembered, 
we would make it a point never to suffer any mere 
spray to shade one of the principal leaves through the 
whole summer. This is the key-stone of the arch in 
! out-door vine-culture. 
The Peach and Nectarine. —Having offered suf- 
j llcient advice on these, at page 187, we need not amplify 
here on their summer treatment. Let us, however, 
j repeat, that a close attention to their Midsummer dress- 
! ing, as there detailed, is imperatively necessary. The 
true bearing wood for the succeeding year, must have 
every facility afforded it for ripening. There is no 
reason why a single shoot should he retained long after 
Midsummer, which is not really wanted, and for which 
a reason cannot be afforded. This severe practice, 
closely followed, is the true clue to a thorough ripening 
of the wood; on which, as before observed, a good 
future prospect can alone be based. 
The Fig. —Here we have a particular subject. The 
fig is an “ odd sort of fish” by the way. The very first 
point in out-door fig-culture, is its training; that is to 
say, a determination to ensure plenty of light to all the 
i young shoots requisite for future bearing. A nice dis¬ 
crimination is requisite in selecting, for the fig, under 
ordinary circumstances, is apt to produce an undue 
amount of spray, and that, too, at several intervals; 
thus, several disbuddings become necessary. Short 
jointedness is alone the criterion of fruitfulness ; no one 
need expect successful crops from shoots like willow 
twigs. It so happens that such are not always the first 
development. Many of the first-made shoots will be 
found of an opposite character, and must be rubbed 
away without hesitation; and some, subsequently pro- 
' duced, will be found much fitter to be reserved. Let 
there be no hesitation, then, in removing those with the 
features of barrenness; and such will continue to he 
produced occasionally until the beginning of August. 
Not a single shoot, indeed, produced after Midsummer, 
ought by any means to be reserved, that is to say, 
shoots emanating from the main stem; such are sure to 
be too succulent to ripen well. This character of wood 
must not, however, be confounded with a second growth, 
which will frequently spring from the point of the 
current year’s shoots that have been pinched or stopped. 
The latter is almost always short and fruitful, owing, 
doubtless, to its emanating from sap in a highly elabo¬ 
rated state. 
And now the trees being totally divested of every 
needless shoot, let us turn our attention to stopping, or 
pinching, of the young shoots; an operation which, 
although not equally necessary with all kinds, and under 
all circumstances, is, nevertheless, in the majority of 
cases, of much service. To convey an idea to the un¬ 
informed, as to what are, and what are not, fitting sub¬ 
jects to operate on in this way, we may observe, that 
the main point is not to cause the trees prematurely to 
dcvelope a host of flourishing looking fruit early in the 
autumn, but to prepare the trees for that condition by 
the spring. It is well known that all fruit which is large 
as a horse-bean in the autumn, can never be relied 
on to endure the low temperature of a long British 
winter; and that all good practitioners strip all such 
away, well knowing that they will draw in the matured 
resources of the trees. It is another thing, however, 
to find nice short-jointed wood in the autumn, full of 
those plump and double-looking buds, in which may be 
plainly seen, or felt, the embryo young fig of the future 
year, at this period a mere protuberance only, the 
winter quarters of the future fig. Such will endure the 
winter as well as the wood itself, and one of the prime 
objects should, doubtless, be, to get plenty of shoots of 
this character. Some kinds, under certain circum¬ 
stances, naturally produce them, whilst even the same 
kind, under adverse circumstances, needs a little finger¬ 
ing, in order to induce such a habit. In general, such 
“ stopping” will be best performed from the middle of 
July to the middle of August, according to the character 
of the wood; that which has the least tendency this 
way at the earliest, and that which needs less assistance 
at the latest period. The practice of one season, with a 
close observation, will teach any intelligent practitioner 
the rationale of the whole procedure. It consists merely 
in squeezing the point of the young shoot flat, where 
such shoot has produced some five or six eyes. 
Pears. —Having in previous advices said a good deal 
on this head, we will not now occupy much room. The 
main point is to pinch the top off every shoot that is not 
wanted ultimately, we dare not say totally remove 
them, or we would. As it has been observed before, 
light more than heat is the all-important object with 
regard to the tender kinds. It is, doubtless, good 
practice, then, to commence clearing away obstructive 
matter betimes; and as the work is compelled to be 
progressive, an early commencement is necessary. 
Thus, through May a severe disbudding is requisite, 
carrying the operation even into June. Through June 
and July the pinching or stopping may succeed the 
disbudding; and by the end of July, a total removal of 
many of the shoots which were pinched may take place. 
The * reasons for this course stand thus: with tliree- 
fcurths of our pears in this climate, it is necessary to 
take some steps in the spring, when they first shoot, to 
check an over-active root, which is but too apt to occur 
through mild, showery weather, especially if the soil 
contain anything rich, or much organic matter. This 
check is accomplished by the disbudding; for, although 
such grossness* may be mainly attributable to a robust 
condition in the previous year, yet, as these things pro¬ 
ceed at a sort of compound-interest-rate, no sooner do 
such shoots become developed, than instant provision 
is made by nature for an enlargement of the fabric of 
the tree, by a considerable accession of new fibres, or a 
corresponding extension of the old. Such is, at least, 
our view of the matter, and we do think it would be 
difficult for any one, whether theorist or practical, to 
disprove the doctrine. But this severe operation, by 
consequence, leaves a kind of surplus fund of sap for 
a-wliile in the system of the tree; and, as the embryo 
blossom-buds of the future year will soon be in the course 
of organisation, care must be taken not to drive them 
beyond sober bounds, and thus convert them into shoots. 
Suffering, therefore, the tree to employ _ the surplus in 
shoots of moderate character for a-wliile, is a good decoy; 
and by, or about, Midsummer, the habit of the embryo 
buds becoming more confirmed daily, means may com¬ 
mence, having for their object the free admission of 
light, to mature all the remaining processes. Such 
means consist, at first, in pinching the points of every 
shoot which has to be destroyed ultimately; and, as 
before observed, towards the end of July, a number of 
such shoots maybe removed by the knife, merely leaving 
a couple or three eyes, with their leaves, at each base. 
