THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, June 1 , 1858. 
SHORTENING AND REMOVING THE LATERALS 
OE VINES. 
“ Last autumn, I planted my Vines, three years old, from 
pots, outside the house. At the beginning of March, I started 
them. Some have made shoots six feet long, and near half an 
inch in diameter. I removed the laterals as they appeared, 
| thinking to promote the strength of main stem. I now find 
j that they are pushing out fresh laterals by the side of the buds. 
Will this injure the bud for next year ? Shall I continue this 
close stopping P Will the rods require to be cut back next 
pruning, and, if so, how far ? ”—W. Z. 
[Removing laterals does not add to the strength of the 
stem. Look at a common young tree, remove all its side 
branches, and leave it merely with a leading shoot: do you 
expect the main stem will be as large as if you had allowed 
short twigs to clothe it all the way ? To get the greatest bulk 
of timber from a tree, give it plenty of room, and let it ex¬ 
pand freely on all sides. This would, however, give weight of 
timber, but not weight and extra utility in the main stem or 
; trunk. Hence the shortening and pruning, to concentrate as 
much as possible in the main stem. Thus we shorten laterals 
on a Vine stem, to encourage size of stem, that the lateral may 
be a feeder and not a robber ; and, as lately explained, we re- 
■ move these laterals toward autumn altogether, when maturity 
of the wood is of more importance than mere weight. Let the 
laterals, that now come, grow and remain for a couple of months, 
j stopping them beyond the first joint; and, when they push 
I and grow again, stop at the next first joint made ; and let that 
be the first removed in the autumn. From your description, 
we would cut down your canes next autumn to a third or so 
of their length. Keep in mind, that much fruit early paralyses 
I a Vine for ever. I have taken a full crop of such rods as yours— 
say from twelve to eighteen bunches—but they did little good 
. afterwards. Telling the cause of, and not concealing failures, 
are quite as useful as detailing successes. Be assured, that 
allowing a lateral to come now from the side of a bud will 
not injure it. Supposing your Vine growing on vigorously 
to the end of the summer, if you had fine main leaves at 
your buds, and also a large-leaved lateral, and allowed these 
latter also to remain, then, as previously explained, you might 
have strong wood, but not matured, and small pointed buds 
instead of nice plump round ones. Therefore, in autumn, we 
speak of gradually removing the laterals, in order not to assist 
the growing but the ripening process. The mere size of a 
Vine stem, independent of age, is no criterion as to length or 
fruiting. Yours may be as thick as your finger or thumb 
before winter, and, if the wood is well ripened, it would show 
fruit next year from top to bottom, but would be injured 
afterwards. Some would keep it nearly all the length, allow 
s it to produce side shoots regularly, and take only four or six 
bunches, cutting all the rest away. Most people would cut it 
down to the length of a third of the rafter, and only fruit it 
| all the length about the third year, and that, though slow, 
! would be the surest mode.—R. Fish.] 
| EARLY FLOWERS FOR A COLD GREENHOUSE. 
“ It would oblige me—and, perhaps, others also—to have a 
list of perennials, annuals, and bulbs, that (with the exception 
of the month before the flowering of the Crocus, I suppose) 
would keep tolerably gay in a greenhouse without any arti¬ 
ficial heat, with the assistance of a cold frame, for storing the 
plants till on the point of flowering. 
“ There seems a greater difference, in even varieties of the 
j same flower, in suitability to greenhouse culture than I was 
j aware of ; as, out of twenty varieties of early Tulips, I have 
only been successful in two or three.”—W. M. G. 
[Keeping your circumstances in view, we would mention 
the following:— 
P&rennials.—Dielytra spectabilis, double Wallflowers, Cine¬ 
rarias, Calceolarias, scarlet Geraniums, Cyclamens, Musk, and 
1 other Mimuluses ; Campanula pyramid alls ^ and others ; 
! Violets of kinds; Chinese Primulas, Polyanthuses, Ane¬ 
mones, &e. 
Bulbs. —Hyacinths, Narcissuses, Jonquils, Tulips, Crocuses, 
| Snowdrops, Dog’s Tooth Violets, Leucojum vernum; Scillas 
in variety ; Oxalis, various ; Gladioluses in great variety; and 
Liliums of the Japan kinds. 
Annuals. —Balsams, sown in spring; Schizanthus, Migno¬ 
nette, Stocks, sown early in autumn; and almost every hardy 
and half-hardy annual. 
Among shrubs, Fuchsias, Cytisuses, and Daphnes; and 
even Camellias and Azaleas may hold a prominent place, if 
due protection is given.] 
CULTURE OF WEIGEL A ROSEA AND CLETHRA 
ARB ORE A. 
“ Having a plant of Weigela rosea in full flower, I shall be 
much obliged for instructions, after it has done flowering, 
how to prune it. As the flowers are all at the ends of the 
shoots, and the branches are very long from the main stem, 
I wish to know if the plant may be pruned, after flowering, 
as it is so straggling. 
“ I have a plant of Clethra arborea , which is not flowering 
this year; it is making good wood. May it be brought out, 
as Myrtles or other greenhouse shrubs?”—M. F. 
[Do not be afraid to prune out the shoots that have flowered, 
when done flowering, but encourage the young shoots show¬ 
ing. Give plenty of water in summer, as we presume the 
plant is in a pot, and give plenty of unobstructed sunlight in 
autumn, to get the shoots ripened earlier. It is quite hardy 
near London. 
Place the Clethra arborea out of doors in June, and give 
it plenty of sunlight, and it will give you plenty of flowers 
next season.] 
TREATMENT OF CHINESE AZALEAS AFTER 
BLOOMING. 
“Please to tell me what is the best method of treating my 
Chinese Azaleas when out of flower, so as to make them bloom 
every year, instead of every second year, which is what mine 
usually do ; also, whether they should get much ivater while 
in flower and after, that is, be well watered every day, or every 
second or third day. They are now in full bloom, having been 
in a cool greenhouse all the winter, but I could give them 
some heat. The plants do not look vigorous, though full of 
flower*, as the leaves were brown. Should they be plunged 
in the open air during the summer, and how long ? Will the 
little shoots, such as I send, answer for cuttings ; and, will it 
be too late to plant these cuttings a month or two hence, as 
only the white ones have made shoots as yet ? ”— Jane. 
[We are very loath to disoblige a lady, but much space 
would be saved, if some of our fair friends, and unfair friends 
too, would turn up some of our indexes now and then. The ; 
whole minutiae about watering, will be found in late volumes, 
and, perhaps, more especially in an article on Window Garden¬ 
ing : it would take a column to condense it. Azaleas must, j 
just like other plants, be watered when they want it; but, | 
generally when in flower, they require a fair portion. Specifying 
any time would just lead our questioner astray. As soon as 
the flowers fade, clean them all away, and all remains of seed 
pods, and syringe the plants all over, and well; and, as you 
can give them heat, keep them closer and warmer, until the 
young shoots are growing freely. Then gradually give more 
light, and more air ; and then, about August and September, 
expose them fully to the sun, in an open house, or a sheltered 
place out of doors, keeping the pots from the sun, not the 
tops, and housing by the end of September, or the first ten 
days of October. When the shoots are from an inch and a 
half to two inches long, and just cut off where the older and 
the new growth meet, is a good size for cuttings. Place 
them in silver sand, over sandy peat, in a pot tliree-parts 
filled with drainage, and covered with a bellglass ; and keep 
the pot close and warm. The sooner they are in the 
better, though they will do for a month to come. Jf not 
rooted early in autumn, it will be best to allow them to remain 
in the cutting pot all the winter. If rooted by the middle of 
August, repot in sandy heath soil, either one in a small pot, or 
three or four round the sides of a four-inch pot. The latter 
is the safest and best for beginners. The established plants 
will flower none the worse for being rather cool, if safe, in 
winter. Heat is most wanted when they are making their 
fresh wood.] 
