I 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, November 10, 18(7 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
f 
D 
j M 
D 
W 
_Weather near London in 1856 . 
Sun 
Rises. 
Sun 
Sets. 
Moon 
R. & S. 
Moon’s 
Age. 
Clock 
af. Sun. 
— 
NOVEMBER 10 — 16 , 185". 
Barometer. 
Thermo. Wind. f a T in 
Inches. 
Day of 
Year. 
10 
11 
12 
13 
14 
15 
16 
Tu 
W 
Th 
F 
S 
Son 
M 
Perennial Sunflower. 
Leadwort. 
Indian Scabious. 
Dark Foxglove. 
Antirrhinums. 
23 Sunday after Trinity. 
Tansy-leaved Ox-eye. 
29.544—29.413 
29.480—29.348 
29735—29.682 
29.863—29796 
30.006—29.849 
30.040—29.989 
30.249—30.130 
45—25 
45—34 
44- 30 
45— 36 
42— 25 
43— 23 
47—22 
N. 
N. 
N. 
N.W. 
N. 
W. 
N. 
01 
07 
04 
02 
12 a. 7 
14 
15 
17 
19 
21 
22 
16 a. 4 
15 
13 
12 
11 
9 
8 
0 9 
1 24 
2 38 
3 50 
5 2 
6 15 
sets. 
24 
25 
26 
27 
28 
29 
1 £ 54 
15 48 
15 40 
15 32 
15 22 
15 12 
1 a 1 
314 
315 
316 
317 
318 
319 
QOA 
temp,7a?«,e,°SE^ d.7.L^ /•»■> ‘be average higheat and 
on the 13th. in 18.0. During the period silVeTre fine! anf on feH. ’ ’ ' ° CC “ rred the 12th ' ,n 1841 > lowest cold, ,5°, 
PRUNING THE VINE. 
I said the usual practice of pruning the Grape Vine 
in this country is contrary to the theory on that subject, 
ancl that many of our best gardeners are well aware of 
the fact, or, in other words, are behind the scenes, and 
know both sides of the question, but without influencing 
their practice. I also confessed I was one of tha't 
number, but I forgot, at the time, that Sir Joseph 
Paxton in some of his works said that the theory of 
Vine pruning, as explained by the best authority in 
England, was ‘ a baseless theory,” or some short words i 
to that effect, which I am quite certain I have read 
somewhere. I also said that I planted a Vine in 1852 
on purpose to try this question ; that I fruited the Vine 
this season on various plans of pruning, five different 
ways; and it will be in your recollection that I asked so 
many gardeners by name, and all the rest of them and 
of amateuis in the lump, which ot four out of the 
five ways ought to produce the heaviest bunch of Grapes, 
the best coloured, and the ripest. 
| . . Tbe shoot tb en bearing No. 4 bunch was fifty-two 
joints long, and Nos. 1 , 2, and 3 bunches were on shoots 
That were stopped one, two, and three joints beyond the 
bunch. I had a great number of letters, but as no 
names were to be mentioned I shall only classify the 
answers I had. 
To stop a Vine shoot at one, or '’two, or three eyes 
beyond the bunch is immaterial according to these 
i etui ns; but the best practice, or rather the most 
successful practice, of the present day is to stop the 
shoot just one inch beyond the bunch. The best of 
some of the Grapes at Willis’s Rooms were thus stopped. 
I hat class is, therefore, settled. The great battle is in 
the next class of pruning, that is, pruning according to 
i tbe tb eory of the thing, whereas I began with stopping at 
five joints beyond the bunch, and ended at fifty, or fifty- 
two joints rather, but say from five to fifty. 
| One of the best Grape growers in England told me 
: before two witnesses, in the centre of the terrace gardens 
I at the Crystal Palace, that my No. 4 bunch ought to be 
j tbe wo , rst I had if it had the longest shoot beyond it. 
One of the best of the Judges in Willis’s Rooms told 
| me th e same thing, and he had seen my Grapes. Another 
gardener a long way in the country, who has written on 
! the Vine, and is considered such a good authority that 
he is sent for by committees all over the country to be 
one of the Judges of their shows—this good practical 
Judge wrote to say that my No. 4 ought to have the 
largest bunch—just the very contrary to what the Judge 
at Willis’s would have. But hear his whole letter: 
“ My opinion respecting your Grape Vine question is 
this — No. 1 , or top bud, first ripe and best colour; No 
4 the largest bunch.” There was not another word in 
the letter. 
These are the two extremes in this class, and there is 
! a half way between them. Another excellent gardener, 
who gives his'name below without any hesitation, 
says, “ Curiously enough, I have on my outdoor Vines 
nearly a fellow experiment to your own. I have twenty 
examples merging from four to thirty buds stopped I 
beyond the fruit; thirty examples from one to two buds ! 
stopped beyond the fruit; and upwards of forty examples 
stopped at three buds beyond the bunch. The kinds 
are the Sweetwater and the Black Esperione. According 
to the best of my judgment the earliest by a few days° 
and the best coloured, are those with thirty eyes before 
them, and trained vertically ; but for size of bunch, or for 
the quantity of fruit to be grown upon a given space, 
recommend me to No. 1 trained horizontally .” The italics 
are my own. 
Another very instructive letter I must also quote from, i 
It is about an old Black Cluster plant which yielded no 
fruit for seven years. A young experimentalist, who is 
well known in The Cottage Gardener under a fictitious 
name, then took the management of the old Vine, which 
was against a south wall. “ I got rid of the old branches 
as soon as possible, and brought up young shoots from 
the old stumps, which produced the following year, but 
the fruit did not ripen properly (the garden is in Wilt¬ 
shire). The next year I had more shoots, more Grapes, I 
and better ripened; still it was all trouble for a mere 
nothing, and I began to think the cause was my own 
inexperience. I therefore changed sails, and began a 
different practice. I thinned the bunches freely, allowed 
one bunch only to a shoot, stopped a few at a few eyes 
from the bunch, and the rest were not stopped till the 
end of August. Those shoots which were not cut back 
produced the best berries and the best bunches decidedly, I 
and this year the Grapes were ripe about the middle of ■ 
September, and a fast amateur has pronounced them I 
first-rate for the kind of Grape. Another point I have 
observed is this—the bunches which are shaded by the 
leaves from the direct midday sun are not affected with 
the rust, as some of those that have been exposed are. 
As it is possible I may be called upon to cultivate the j 
Grape on a large scale out of doors shortly I shall 
watch your proceedings with interest.” 
There is but one more statement in all the letters I 
received which is of public interest; but I will first 
state that the last two letters here quoted made me alter 
my promise to bring the shoots with the bunches 
attached to the fruit meeting of tbe Horticultural Society, * 
as my experiment is corroborated in both. I also 
refused bunches of Grapes on the shoots for the purpose 
of corroborating the experiment. The statement I allude 
to is this : “ Out of twenty examples growing before me, 
the larger (longer) the branch the lesser the bunch. 
The bunches on the spurs that are shortened to three 
or four eyes must of necessity prove monopolisers of all 
the good things which reach them.” This sentiment, in 
one form or another, is repeated in two-thirds of the 
letters which were sent to me, and is in direct opposition 
to the theory of Vine pruning—the “ baseless theory,” 
as Sir Joseph Paxton said. 
Now let us turn to this theory of Vine pruning and 
see what it is. “ If all the leaves which a tree will 
naturally form are exposed to favourable influences , and 
No finnnr.xYvr Vat yty 
