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THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY 
evitably ‘ start.’ For instance, if he stopped the laterals 
without leaving an eye beyond the bud at the base, this bud 
would start, and I think I am justified in calling this the 
‘ fruit-bud,’ inasmuch as it contains the embryo Grape ; and 
if all such buds started on a Vine it would bear no fruit. 
“ I have always been taught to cherish these buds with 
the greatest care, for unless they be well formed, plump, 
and well ripened, and unless the large leaf springing from 
them be well preserved, there would be small chance for the 
cultivator.” —H. S. Watson. 
Our correspondent is perfectly correct when he ex¬ 
presses his confidence that the object of this publication 
is to “ instruct, and not to mystify.” I had not the 
honour to see a letter from “ A Beginner,” and therefore 
cannot say whether the answer was appropriate or not. 
Detailed answers are intended to be generally interest¬ 
ing. Such short answers as the one referred to apply 
chiefly to the particular inquiry. There does seem a 
little obscurity in saying that “ he need not be afraid of 
starting prematurely the buds for producing fruit and 
shoots next season, by stopping the shoots now on which 
these buds are placed.” The statement is, no doubt, 
correct, according to the generally received ideas of stop¬ 
ping main shoots or laterals, because, though sometimes 
a few of the buds may be started prematurely, there 
will be plenty left behind for the next year’s supply; and 
yet I can easily imagine such a case of injudicious pinch¬ 
ing and stopping that the best and plumpest buds 
might be started into growth, and that growth be very 
imperfectly ripened for producing fruit the following 
year. 
Without drawings and more time and space than can 
now be spared I may not do much to enlighten be¬ 
ginners, yet obligation for our correspondent’s suggestion 
ought to prompt to the attempt. Two parts of our 
correspondent’s letter require a passing notice. First, 
allowing as a general rule, and chiefly when Vines are 
grown on the rod system, that “ unless the buds be well 
formed, plump, and well ripened, and unless the large 
leaf springing from them be well preserved, there would 
be small chance for the cultivator,” yet that statement 
applies, as I have hinted, chiefly to growing and 
pruning the Vine on the rod system, by which shoots 
are grown one year to produce fruit the next. The 
importance of fine healthy foliage and its full exposure 
to light can never be overrated either by beginners or 
old practicals; and though I should be sorry to have a 
fine leaf taken from its attendant bud, which I wished 
to produce a fruitful shoot next year, I should not sorrow 
over it much if I had good healthy foliage above it. I 
have previously mentioned that in the case of healthy, 
fruitful Vines with their roots near the surface it 
mattered but little how they were nipped and pinched, 
provided there was healthy foliage equally diffused over 
it; for when in the winter time every bud was removed, 
plump and non-plump, and the main stem left as bare 
as a walking-stick, that stem from the cut parts sent out 
shoots from unseen buds so fruitful that more than half 
had to be removed. I have no wish that beginners 
should adopt such a system—quite the reverse; but I 
mention it as a proof that fine fruit may be obtained 
otherwise than from the plumpest hud. I also have 
frequently had instances of very superior fruit coming 
on shoots that broke at once from an old stem, where 
there was no leaf, and no perceptible bud the previous 
year, the shoot, in fact, starting in some cases from that 
part of the stem covered with soil. The mode of manage¬ 
ment most nearly allied to the clean walking-stick system 
of pruning is that so generally practised under the 
name of the spur system ; but here, again, the cultivator, 
however he may rejoice in fine foliage, does not depend 
upon the largest, plumpest buds in the axils of the 
largest leaves found from the middle to the end of the 
shoot, but upon the very small, almost imperceptible 
GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, June 23, 1857. 183 
buds concentrated at the base of the shoot, the rest of 
the shoot, with its beautiful buds, being cut away in the 
winter pruning. Nor does he thus place his dependence 
on these small buds in vain if the wood has been well 
ripened, and the whole plant, as in the first instance, 
stored with organisable material. 
In such a case, the fruit being produced on shoots 
coming from such small basal buds left at the winter 
pruning, it is customary to nip out the points of such 
shoots when grown one joint beyond the fruit. This 
stopping will induce lateral shoots to come there, and 
between each bud and leaf on the shoot. Encourage 
these to grow a little if you wish to promote root 
action. If that is not required, or the foliage would be 
too crowded, stop them likewise back to the first joint, 
and then, as the wood begins to harden, remove them 
gradually altogether. If removed too early, and you 
prevent the shoot lengthening again at the point, you 
may start some of the most prominent buds near the 
point, especially if there is not a heavy weight of fruit; 
but, unless carried to an extreme, there is no danger 
of starting the small buds near the base of such shoots, 
to which, under this system, you would cut back in 
winter. I should allow a growth of some laterals at 
first in such a case before the wood began to change 
colour, not because I valued such buds a bit that were 
ultimately to be removed, but because, their starting 
would have a tendency to prolong growth, and to waste 
upon that growth ultimately to be removed those powers 
of the Vine that should be concentrated upon the 
swelling of the fruit and the maturation of the wood. 
I did not intend saying so much here on stopping 
on the spur system; but, as it is somewhat appli¬ 
cable to any system after fruit bearing commences, a 
few more words may render the reverting to it again 
superfluous. This is the mode I have adopted, and 
would always adopt, could I by any means overtake 
such things in time. Having stopped the shoot from 
the spur-bud one joint beyond the fruit, I would allow 
laterals to grow a joint or two, and as many of them 
as would not overcrowd or shade the larger main leaves, 
just on the principle that, as roots and branches act 
relatively and correlatively, I thus increase the vigour 
of the Vine as a whole. When the wood begins to 
get hard and loses its green colour the formation of 
small leaves and shoots, instead of increasers, become 
exhausters of vigour, and retard the maturing by 
continuing the growing processes. I then gradually 
remove the whole of the laterals, but not taking away 
too many at once, and removing those nearest the point 
first; but I am careful to leave every main leaf as fully 
exposed as our correspondent would desire. For the 
fine buds in their axils near the point I have no such 
tender care, but would rather that the highly organisable 
matter stored in them was deposited in the lowest bud 
or the main stem; and, therefore, had I time, like 
many amateurs, after thus removing the laterals I 
would also remove the greater part of the buds, doing 
it gradually, taking a couple or so from the point of the 
shoot first, whipping them out with the point of a knife, 
the only care required being that you do not start the 
lower buds, to which you cut down in winter. Mind, 
the leaves must not be injured while the buds in their 
axils are removed. When I have thus done with spur- 
pruned Vines, and they were otherwise in right condition, 
I have frequently had an extra superfluity of fertility, 
the shoot coming from the small bud left at the base or 
spur in the winter pruning generally showing from 
three to four or five bunches, one of which only was 
usually retained. 
Our correspondent will now see that whether scooped 
out in summer or not, the plumpest buds, on the spur 
system, are invariably removed. I am sure he will 
forgive me for noticing a second part of his letter, on 
