THE OOTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, November 29, 1859. 
40 rods Beans on part of old Clover lea. 
20 „ Potatoes on part of old Clover lea. 
20 „ Lucern on ground that had been Potatoes. 
The ground having been all broken up as directed, 
the Wheat crop may be sown about the middle of 
November, or about the time common in the district for 
sowing this well-known crop. I have advised it here 
as being one of the most likely to be useful, and one 
that invariably does well after Clover. If the autumn 
prove mild, slugs will abound and prove destructive : 
if so, a dressing with soot will check their ravages, and 
a little more seed may be dibbled into the blank places 
caused by these depredators. I have advised Wheat 
as being the most useful change between green crops ; 
and as soon as it is cut I would recommend the ground 
to be ploughed or dug and well manured, and a por¬ 
tion of it sown with Turnips as early as possible—the 
White Round or Stone being as good as any for this 
work. The other portion I would advise to be sown 
with Tares in October; the ground having, as said above, 
had a good dressing with dung. It is presumed there 
are not many weeds ; but to ensure these being few it 
is advisable to hoe the Wheat crop all over towards the 
end of April, destroying any small weeds that might 
otherwise be troublesome. The Turnips will also want 
thinning at the proper time. We ought to have re¬ 
marked that, prior to the Clover lea being broken up, 
it ought to be looked over, and any Docks, Nettles, 
Dandelion, or other deep-rooted perennial weeds that 
might be there, ought to be removed by hand at once 
and destroyed; but with good management these intruders j 
ought to be few, and their expulsion immediate on their ! 
being seen. 
BEAN CROP. 
This must be treated somewhat differently. The same 
breaking up and dressing with dung may take place; 
but instead of the Beans being made to represent the 
whole crop they are only to form a part of it, or rather to 
become a nurse to another one. The ground being 
therefore ready, let the Beans be dibbled in in rows 
from eighteen inches to two feet apart, and the usual 
distance of about four inches apart in the row : this may 
be done at the latter end of November. The small field 
winter Bean is the best for this purpose; and in May 
a row of Swede Turnips may be sown between the Beans, 
which, though not prospering so well as those sown in 
the open ground, yet very of ten turn out a useful good 
crop, and do well. Of course, care must be taken not to 
injure the Beans when sowing the Turnips ; and also 
not to injure the Turnips when harvesting the Beans. 
A little care exercised this way, and hoeing and clearing 
the ground where the Bean-stalks were, and transplanting 
Swede Turnips to fill up any gaps in the rising crop in 
damp weather, complete the work here for the summer. 
J. Eobson. 
(To be continued.) 
VINES UNPEODUCTIVE IN A GEEENHOUSE. 
Mr black Hamburgh Yines have been planted and trained in 
my greenhouse on the spur system about seven years. The 
border is about four feet across and well drained, and the Yines 
healthy, but they do not produce half a crop of Grapes annually. 
The spurs were left last year with two or three eyes, but this did 
not work any improvement. A practical gardener recommended 
me to allow one of the shoots from the lowest eyes to grow with¬ 
out stopping it, and to cut away the old wood, and use the new 
shoot in its place. He advises this to be done each year; but 
before I adopt such a strong measure I should be glad of your 
advice on the subject. The few Grapes that the Yines do pro¬ 
duce are fine and well flavoured, but there are not more than six 
or eight bunches on each plant at the top of the house. The 
new shoots are not very strong, but the wood appears pretty well 
ripened.— Arthur Loftus. 
[We fear that the mere mode of pruning will not do all for 
your Yines that you require. If your Yines are very luxuriant 
we should judge that the roots have got down too deep, inde¬ 
pendently of rain drainage. If only moderately luxuriant and 
healthy, as you say, and yet bearing chiefly near the top of the 
house, then we judge that your Yines need more nutriment 
in your narrow border of four feet, such as a top dressing of rich 
manure of bruised bones, or a sprinkling of superphosphate of 
lime over the border several times in summer before you expect 
rain. With a sufficiency of nourishment at the roots, and the 
foliage fully exposed to the sun, and the wood well ripened, we 
do not see how the spurs on the lower part of the Yine should 
not be as fruitful as those on the upper part, though, as a general 
rule, the finest fruit would be at the top of the house. If in 
your narrow border you have given none of these surface- 
dressings, then it would be w’ell to do so before greatly altering 
your system of management. 
The Vine, however, just like a young, stunted Oak, will be 
greatly invigorated by r cutting it back to young wood, either as 
you propose doing, or by sacrificing the crop for a season, so that 
the whole strength of the roots may be thrown into one shoot. 
Under your circumstances resolve to recruit the Yine, and yet 
secure the crop. We should have preferred taking the young 
rod before stopping only half the length the first season, and 
taking it to the top of the house the second season. We would 
thus make a compromise between fruit and strength of wood. 
If, as you say, the new shoots are not very strong, it would be as 
well to do so even now. If the young shoots range from the 
girth of your finger to that of your thumb, and are well 
hardened and ripened, you may cut away the old stem with its 
spin’s, and depend on the new shoot bearing from top to bottom, 
though it would be better to place it horizontally along the 
house until the buds had broken regularly ; as, if you train the 
shoot upright at breaking time, the buds farthest from the roots 
will start first and rob those buds nearest to it. 
We can hardly make the matter so clear as we should like 
without entering so far into general routine as would prevent 
any misconception, and, therefore, we will say a few words on 
the management under different circumstances. 
1st. Vines bearing on spurs. —Even in this case the upper 
spurs will be apt to obtain a more free supply of the sap than 
the lower ones ; and to counteract this we leave more laterals at 
first on the lower spurs and curtail them at the top, in-order so 
far to restore the equilibrium. We leave a joint or so of these 
laterals as well as all the main leaves on the spurs, as far as the 
fruit, or a joint beyond, in summer, in order to keep up a brisk 
root action; but as the autumn approaches we gradually remove 
these laterals, and leave only the main leaves at the joints, in 
order that ripening and hardening of the wood may be promoted 
at the expense of mere growth. Understand this thoroughly, 
and you see the key note or principle of culture when you wish 
to change your mode of growing or pruning, as— 
2nd. On the long-rod mode of growing and yet not losing a 
crop. —In this case select a shoot near the base of the stem not 
to be stopped, whilst every other shoot on the Yine is stopped, 
either before the fruit or where there is no fruit, at the distance 
of five joints or so from its base. The shoot not stopped, having 
its growing point unmutilated, will grow more freely than the 
others. The reason why the shoots not having fruit are not 
removed at first is to prevent the l ine thereby receiving a check. 
No laterals should be allowed to grow on these barren spurs. 
Laterals should only be permitted on the higher fruitful spurs, 
j and just to maintain a good flow’ of sap to the extremities and 
keep a brisk root action. But as the young unstopped shoot 
grows rapidly, which it is almost sure to do, the unfruitful 
spurs in its vicinity should be cut close off to the stem, and all 
the laterals even from fruitful spurs. By the time the shoot has 
got halfway- up the house all the barren spurs should be cut 
clean out, and shortly after no laterals should be permitted to 
remain even on fruitful spurs, the main leaves being quite suffi¬ 
cient to draw' nourishment to the fruit, whilst the one unstopped 
young shoot will take all the running, so to speak, and keep up 
a vigorous root action. So thoroughly must the encouragement 
be given to this one unstopped shoot, that even fruitful spurs 
should be cut clean out as soon as the bunch of Grapes is cut. 
It will now be seen that, except for a short time at first, no 
barren shoots and no laterals are to be left to compete with the 
one shoot—the hope of the future. That shoot is to be treated 
differently. As soon as the laterals from its base extend a couple 
of joints, each is to be stopped ; and when the shoot is four feet 
or so in length, stop the lateral at the first joint. The object is 
