June 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
117 
lage resident can refuse his aid to an effort to do 
likewise. We hope, too, that our brethren of the 
press will lend their help to advance the same cause, 
and in making more known the Rector’s little tract 
on the Pytchley Society. We are confident in this 
hope, because we see that in future Dr. Lindley pur¬ 
poses to devote “ a comer” of the Gardeners Chroni¬ 
cle to “little gardeners.” We hope the Gardeners 
Journal will also thus follow in our wake, and aid 
in the effort—the important effort—of improving the 
gardening of the many. 
THE FRUIT-GARDEN. 
The Vine on Open Walls.-—W e made some slight 
allusion to disbudding the vine in our Number for 
May 10th. This is, indeed, the very first operation 
of a series, which have for their prime objects the 
perfect development of the principal leaves with the 
bunches, and the continual prevention, through the 
summer, of any weak or watery spray so far pre¬ 
vailing as to shade the principal leaves. To those 
unacquainted with vine culture one tiling must 
appear somewhat strange, namely, that the vine 
dresser should seem to direct all his energies to the 
arresting of the rambling tendencies of the vine 
with which nature has endowed it. The process, 
indeed, seems of such a meddling character, that, 
although we are old practitioners, we still feel no small 
amount of astonishment at the immense capabilities 
which our gracious Creator has implanted in the 
vegetable kingdom; the capability of yielding in 
almost any direction to meet the wants of man, and 
that of recovering lost ground or impeded motions 
by a self-restoring or plastic power. Such power 
especially is possessed by the vine; and when we 
take into consideration its native clime, or rather 
climes, for it inhabits most of the temperate por¬ 
tions of the northern hemisphere; in Asiatic Turkey, 
Persia, Greece, the Morea, and on the borders of the 
Black and Caspian Seas; and, above all, in the 
highest perfection, perhaps, in Syria and Armenia; 
when such is taken into consideration, it may 
readily be imagined that any mode of culture, to be 
successful, must be based on the free admission of 
light to the principal organs of the tree. Indeed, 
the question of heat, although of the highest import, 
is even secondary to that of light; for, as a matter 
of proportion, the vine in Britain will bear a more 
diminished amount of heat than of light, at least so 
we think. 
The vine is late in bursting into leaf. This fact 
alone points to the high amount of excitability 
requisite in order to promote germination; and, as 
it is late in its leafing, it is evident that the first 
leaves which develop themselves are the most impor¬ 
tant, as being the first to be in a condition to elabo¬ 
rate the true sap, which must feed the fruit of this 
year, and build up the fabric of the tree for future 
crops. Hence the severe course of “ disbudding,” 
“ thinning out,” and “ stopping,” which we must 
recommend. As we are addressing ourselves to 
tyros in horticultural matters, we may as well ex¬ 
plain the technical terms just named, and which, 
being in common use amongst practical men, must, 
we suppose, be tolerated; indeed, the three we allude 
to have the merit of being peculiarly expressive. 
Disbudding signifies the removal of every opening 
bud, at the period of leafing, which is not needed 
for the present year’s crop, or for filling up some 
space on the wall which would otherwise remain 
bare. A system of first-rate vine culture, in the 
hands of a practical man, would be so complete, 
when the walls were once covered, that almost every 
shoot which did not carry fruit would be stripped off, 
as also, indeed, many of those which were fruitful. 
Thinning out. —This term has hardly so decided a 
meaning as the former, and may at first sight appear 
to be.the same process; it is not, however, precisely 
the same, for it is not deemed expedient with the 
vine, under ordinary circumstances, to carry disbud¬ 
ding to that extent which shall supersede the neces¬ 
sity of all future operations in this way. A vine to 
be thus treated must have been trained in the most 
systematic manner, and must, withall, be in a most 
fruitful condition. This process, therefore, consists in 
going over the vines again about the period they 
commence blossoming, and then making a final 
selection of the shoots to be allowed to remain. Such, 
j udeed, becomes imperative at this period; for, in the 
omission of it, the vines would speedily become a 
confused mass of shoots. 
Stopping. —This is a most distinct process altoge¬ 
ther, as will be manifest at once. Several good 
results follow from this operation. In the first place, 
the three or four principal leaves at the lower end of 
the young shoots, and below and above the bunch, 
are by it augmented in point of size and succuleney; 
secondly, the shoot is prevented shading its neigh¬ 
bours; and thirdly, it conduces to a concentration of 
the sap in the vicinity of the fruit. 
Having thus given a definite character to these neces¬ 
sary operations, we come now to the main purpose of 
these remarks—a thorough spring vine dressing. Of 
course a slight disbudding will have been carried out 
in most places before this reaches our readers; now, 
however, the process must be entirely completed. 
Let the trees, then, be thoroughly examined, and not 
a shoot left in them but what is either wanted for 
this year’s crop or for securing against vacancies in 
future years. In performing this, do not suffer the 
vines to be crammed with shoots ; thinning out is in 
general too niggardly performed. It ought to be borne 
in mind that leaf should not be permitted to overlap 
leaf; and, above all, that no growing spray, whether 
lateral or terminal, should be allowed to shade the 
principal leaves. Such being well understood, let 
the thinning out be completed at this period, and if 
any doubt arise in the mind as to the propriety of 
retaining any given shoots with a view to future suc- 
cessional branches, just pinch off the head to a single 
eye or two, and in future dressings merely prevent it 
from extending any further; this will nurse a bud 
for the next year’s pruning, and prevent it doing any 
harm by shading. 
To those who do not know what amount of bunches 
a vine should be permitted to carry, we would say, 
as a general rule, leave about one bunch to every 
square foot of superfices. So much, nevertheless, 
depends on the strength of constitution in the indi¬ 
vidual plant, that it is not easy to lay down rules in 
this respect. The vine dresser must learn to distin¬ 
guish between healthy trees with a safe root action, 
and those which are weakly or uncertain in their 
movements. 
When the thinning out and disbudding is accom¬ 
plished, the next thing is to think about “ stopping;” 
the latter process, indeed, has in part to be carried 
out with the “ thinning out.” As we omitted to give 
a description of this process in its proper place, we 
