June 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER, 
153 
by the earnest desire to avoid repetitions, and to 
make our labours truly useful. 
Well, then, “lateral” or “ axillary ’’shoots, what 
is to be done with them ? they are nature's own 
effort. And what did nature design them for ? 
Why, to extend the fabric of the tree right and left, 
either on the banks of the Rhine or in wild wood¬ 
land scenery, where they grow in perfect freedom, 
and festoon themselves in every direction. This 
cannot be permitted in a British greenhouse, and 
we must, therefore, see whether nature insists that 
every lateral must be preserved, or whether she has 
endowed the vine with capabilities of yielding to 
artistic modifications, to please her “masterpiece 
called man.” The latter is happily the case, as 
proved by every day practice for centuries, and the 
fact is as convenient as it is surprising. It is, there¬ 
fore, found the best policy to continue stopping these 
laterals or axillary shoots very frequently whilst the 
first swelling of the berry is proceeding; the fre¬ 
quency of the stopping being determined chiefly by 
the aggression which occurs in the act of these 
laterals rambling so far as to overshadow the first 
made or larger leaves. 
The result of this close stopping certainly is to 
limit the extension of the tree according to its innate 
powers ; such, however, is amply compensated for by 
increased size in the berry, the powers available 
being concentrated more in the immediate neigh¬ 
bourhood of the biuich This stopping, therefore, 
is repeated as often as necessity calls for its repe¬ 
tition, until the first swelling is completed, when 
what is termed the “ stoning ” period commences. 
During this crisis (which in general lasts some six 
or eight weeks) the berries appear stationary; nature 
seems to be engaged in forming and organising the 
vital principle in the seed, the perfecting of which is 
one of the great ends of the existence of the vine. 
The close stopping during the 2nd period having 
accomplished all it was intended to do, may now, for 
awhile, cease, at least in part, and as much spray 
suffered to ramble freely as space can be found for. 
This course "will excite, indeed create, an extra 
volume of root, which will be of immense service 
both in the current season and for strengthening 
the tree for future progression. The leading shoot, 
above all others, may now be encouraged to ramble 
freely in any direction open to it; this it is, indeed, 
which holds by far the most powerful reciprocity 
with the root. We say not that stopping of all kinds 
must absolutely cease during this period; still, in 
free-growing vines, some amount will be necessary; 
it must, however, be stopping of necessity; some of 
the shoots will begin to cross each other’s track, and 
such must be made to give way by a timely stopping. 
3 rd Period : the Last Swelling oe the Berry. 
—Now again commences another and distinct crisis 
in the vine: nature having formed abundance of 
perfectly developed organs for a thorough elabora¬ 
tion of those juices which, as before observed, must 
give flavour to the fruit and solidification to the 
fabric of the tree; having thereby also brought an 
increase of new roots into play, and having tho¬ 
roughly organised the seeds in the berry, the rest of 
the matter becomes what we may term appropriation 
of the juices. The fruit acquires flavour and the 
buds plumpness and firmness ; for whilst the fruit is 
perfecting, another year’s stock, at present in em¬ 
bryo, are being organised and folded safely up in 
their winter’s coats, in the simple-looking buds 
which may be found in the axil of every leaf, and 
which may be counted on, and dealt with, as seeds 
laid up in their winter’s store. The whole business 
of the tree now becomes elaboration, which, in plain 
language, signifies a chemical transformation of their 
fluids, to be appropriated by the fruit and the buds. 
Light—abundance of solar light—with a complete 
circulation of air, and a comparative dryness of at¬ 
mosphere, are now the grand requisites. To obtain 
the greatest amount of light on the principal leaves 
is henceforth the object of the cultivator; and to 
accomplish this he must strip away all those laterals 
which shade in any degree the larger leaves. This 
done, finger and thumb work ceases; the cultivator 
has done all that was required of him. 
Before we conclude let us endeavour to impress 
one idea strongly on the minds of our embryo gar¬ 
deners :—Do not strip away leaves or spray in order 
to throw sun-light on the fruit. This is a very 
common error; the fruit receives its colour through 
the agencies of the leaves, and not in spite of them. 
Sun-light is by no means indispensable to their 
colouring, nay, it is prejudicial unless when they are 
becoming perfectly ripened, then their cuticle (skin) 
is able to bear it, and leaves are sometimes plucked 
away from any late grapes, in order to facilitate the 
dispersion of damps leading to mouldiness. 
These remarks contain, we conceive, the whole 
rationale of the process of stopping, according to our 
notions and practice. Doctors differ, so do gardeners, 
and it is possible that, like other mortals, we may 
hold erroneous views in some respects; such we 
cannot hope to escape entirely, but we believe that 
the foregoing account of stopping will be found in 
the main to embody the very best practice extant. 
With regard to the rearing of young vines for the 
first two or three years, some deviation from the 
above practice is necessary; we must, however, defer 
that, having much to say on the subject. 
As vinery advice peculiar to the season, we say, 
do not coddle your vines; ventilate freely at all times, 
taking care that back air is given liberally before 
seven o’clock in the morning. Those who want to 
get them forward as soon as possible may close their 
houses soon after four o’clock p.m., with a solar heat 
of 95°. 
If the borders are indeed well drained, and the soil, 
as it ought to be, porous, liquid manure should be 
given in all dry weather, especially during the end 
of the first swelling, and through the entire part of 
the stoning process. Half-rotten manure, mixed with 
old leaves, may be laid on the border four inches 
thick, and the liquid manure sprinkled on these 
when very hot with sunshine. It is well also to 
apply the liquid heated to 90 °. R. Errington. 
THE ELOWER-GARDEN. 
Weeping Trees. —A more proper name for trees 
of this description would be drooping, for they are 
trees the branches of which, instead of growing in 
the more general way upwards, send their slender 
shoots downwards. The weeping willow, the weeping 
ash, and the weeping elm, are the most familiar 
examples of this mode of growth. In order to have 
handsome trees of this description, it is necessary to 
graft or bud the weeping variety on tall upright 
species of the same genus. Choose such as have 
clean straight stems; prune off all the small branches 
to the desired height, and if there are three branches 
near the top leave them on, to receive, at the proper 
season, a graft on each. The tree will then sooner 
