472 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
Kovember  18,  1897. 
their  leaves,  and  where  only  a  week  or  so  ago  sheets  of  blood  red 
covered  the  wall  and  clung  to  the  trellis  above,  there  is  now  only  a 
network  of  grey  branches.  One  Ampelopsis  alone  still  keeps  its  leaves. 
This  is  A.  Hoggi,  a  self-clinger,  with  large  leaves,  but  these  turn  not 
crimson  but  yellow  flushed  with  red.  They  are  like  some  saffron 
sunsets  we  see.  Close  by  Eose  Madame  Isaac  Pereire,  climbing  up 
the  trellis  pillar,  is  about  to  yield  its  last  petals  to  the  all-powerful 
spirit  of  the  year’s  departing  time.  Finer  blooms  we  could  hardly 
desire  than  those  given  in  October,  their  colouring  far  more  pleasing 
than  that  of  summer’s  prime. 
Overlooking  the  Lily  pool  there  are  still  Tropjnolums  in  bloom. 
Some  of  the  older  leaves  were  crippled  by  frost ;  but  those  unde¬ 
veloped  at  the  cold  time  have  now  expanded,  and  are  fresh  as  in  July, 
and  the  flowers  themselves  are  as  gay  and  bright  as  in  the  beginning 
of  September.  Near  by  are  Sweet  Peas  still  “  winged  for  flight,” 
and  crown  and  tricolor  Chrysanthemums,  with  Scabiouses  and  other 
annual  flowers;  while  in  the  rock  garden  the  little  “Diamond 
Flower  ”  of  our  cousins  across  the  Atlantic,  but  known  to  botanists  as 
lonopsidium  acaule,  shines  at  the  base  of  the  stones.  A  wonderful 
posy  can  be  gathered  from  the  annuals  alone. 
There  are  also  some  late-planted  Gladioli,  and  were  it  not  that 
their  spikes  of  gay  blooms  are  still  so  effective  in  the  garden  they 
would  have  been  cut  before  this  to  open  in  water  in  the  house. 
Patches  of  Crocus  longiflorus  look  bright  on  the  rockwmrk  terraces  or 
peeping  above  a  groundwork  of  greenery  in  the  border.  They  are  kept 
in  countenance  by  some  of  their  sisters,  such  as  a  few  lingering  flowers 
of  Crocus  speciosus  and  a  few  others,  noteworthy  among  them  being 
Crocus  Isevigatus,  a  pretty  fl.ower  which  opens  to  a  comparatively  small 
display  of  sunlight.  There  are  yet  a  few  of  the  double  Meadow 
Saffrons  sjwken  of  before,  and  they  please  nearly  everyone  with  their 
soft  tinted  rose  or  rosy  purple  or  white  blooms.  A  few  single 
Colchicums  appear  from  time  to  time  as  well,  but  their  blooming  time 
is  soon  over  now. 
In  one  of  the  borders  a  late  plant  of  the  pretty  annual  Poppy 
Papaver  umbrosum,  is  well  nigh  as  bright  in  colouring  as  in  the 
height  of  the  Poppy  time.  Its  scarlet  black-based  petals  are,  how¬ 
ever,  less  fugacious  now  than  in  the  heyday  of  summer,  and  stand 
long  on  the  plant.  Here  and  there,  in  out-of-the-way  corners,  the 
Welsh  Poppy,  Meconopsis  cambrica,  gives  a  few  of  its  clear  lemon- 
yellow  flowers;  and  another  Poppy  wort,  Stjlophorum  diphyllum,  has 
a  bud  ready  to  open,  to  give  us  a  companion  bit  of  colour.  Flowers  of 
Somnus  we  call  them,  but  the  God  of  Sleep  has  for  once  forgotten 
that  it  is  time  his  plants  were  at  rest  for  the  year. 
In  a  quiet  corner  Claytonia  virginica  makes  a  spreading  carpet, 
with  its  fleshy  green  leaves  and  pale  pink  flowers.  It  is  a  “  weed” 
here  now,  but  one  which  is  more  than  tolerated  for  its  use  as  a 
groundwork  for  other  plants,  as  well  as  for  its  own  (|uiet  beauty. 
The  earlier  Michaelmas  Daisies  have  passed  away,  but  the  later  Star- 
worts  are  in  beauty  yet.  Sprays  of  little  starry  blossoms  like  those 
of  Aster  cordifolius  Diana,  or  larger  flowers  like  those  of  Aster  grandi- 
florus,  await  us,  if  we  wish  to  adorn  the  house  at  the  expense  of  the 
garden.  Each  spray  or  bloom  we  cut  may  well  be,  as  Emerson  says, 
“  loaded  with  a  thought  ”  of  Nature’s  gifts,  to  soothe  us  in  the  sad 
autumn  days.  Pretty,  too,  is  a  clump  of  Plumbago  Larpentse 
crowning  a  rockery,  its  blue  flowers  harmonising  well  with  the  bright 
tints  of  its  leaves. 
There  linger  other  flowers  still,  posthumous  children  of  the  autumn’s 
warmth.  They  flower  in  company  with  Chrysanthemums,  one  or  two 
Christmas  Boses,  and  the  Primroses  and  other  spring  flowers  which 
the  mild  time  has  coaxed  prematurely  into  the  light  of  day.  These 
seem  to  look  askance  at  the  survivors  of  the  summer’s  brave  array. 
Hardy  Fuchsias,  Hydrangeas,  Campanulas,  Androsaces  do  not  look 
fit  company  for  the  children  of  the  spring. 
Yet,  after  all,  we  love  them.  They  all  help  us  over  the  dull  time, 
and  tell  us  even  better  than  our  recollections  alone  of  that  time  when 
the  garden  was,  and  will  again  be,  full  of  the  glory  of  blossom  and 
leaf,  bathed  in  the  sunlight  and  redolent  with  the  sweet  odours  of  the 
flowerB.=-S.  Abuott. 
PRUNING  VINES. 
Pruning  of  all  descriptions  seems  to  have  had  a  great  fascination 
for  gardeners  from  time  immemorial,  and  to  be  a  deft  knifesman  was,  at 
one  time,  considered  a  great  accomplis-hment  for  any  gardener.  There 
can  be  no  doubt  that  many  old  gardeners  were  expert  workmen  in  the 
matter  of  making  clean  short  cuts,  and  in  arranging  the  wood  with 
mathematical  precision  over  the  surface  of  fruit  trees  and  Vines.  The 
great  weakness  of  the  system  they  pursued  was  that  they  held  too 
closely  to  hard-and-fast  rules  under  circumstances  which  differed 
greatly.  We  of  the  present  day,  on  the  other  hand,  go  perhaps  to  the 
opposite  extreme,  and  in  many  instances  follow  no  particular  system 
with  such  persistency  as  did  those  of  old  ;  but,  often  grasping  certain 
principles  which  underlie  the  work,  each  man  strilics  out  a  course  for 
himself,  and  it  must,  I  think,  be  admitted  that,  on  the  whole,  highly 
satisfactory  results  have  been  obtained  under  very  different  methods.. 
Thus  it  will  ever  be  as  long  as  the  brain  is  trained  to  guide  the  hands. 
Alter  the  conditions,  and  let  the  brain  withhold  its  guiding  power,  it 
is  then  only  a  matter  of  time  as  to  when  disaster  will  come. 
Vines  have,  perhaps,  not  suffered  so  much  as  fruit  trees  from  a  reck¬ 
less  use  of  the  knife,  because,  if  the  roots  are  vigorous  and  plentiful, 
and  the  foliage  kept  free  from  insects,  a  fair  share  of  success  may  be 
obtained  under  almost  any  system  of  pruning.  Still,  there  are 
degrees  of  excellence,  and  all  should  strive  to  obtain  the  best  results. 
Market  gardeners  who  plant  their  Vines  closely  and  root  them  out 
before  they  become  very  old,  generally  prune  closely,  and  have 
every  reason  to  be  satisfied  with  the  results.  Private  gardeners  are 
somewhat  differently  situated,  as  their  employers  often  do  not  care  to 
destroy  any  Vines  as  long  as  there  is  the  slightest  prospect  of 
bringing  them  into  a  satisfactory  condition  without  resorting  to 
radical  measures,  and  we  a.l  know  that  Vines  must  be  extremely  old, 
and  in  a  most  deplorable  condition,  before  they  can  be  termed 
absolutely  worn  out,  though  of  course  it  is  often  an  open  question 
whether  or  not  reilanting  is  the  best  courte  to  pursue. 
When  dealing  with  old  Vines  which  have  become  weak  and 
debilitated,  a  surprising  improvement  may  be  made  in  one  season  by 
ignoring  all  hard-and-fast  methods  of  pruning,  and  leaving  plenty  of 
young  wood,  so  as  to  be  able  to  have  a  number  of  young  shoots  to  select 
from  at  disbudding  time.  The  basal  buds  on  the  shoots  which  such  Vines 
produce  are  often  very  poor,  and  to  prune  to  them  means  a  miserable 
crop,  while  on  the  other  hand  the  shoots  are  simply  shortened  to  the 
best  bud  to  be  found,  no  matter  whether  it  is  2  inches  or  2  feet 
from  the  base  of  the  shoot,  a  fair  crop  may  usually  be  secured.  I  do 
not  say  that  any  system  of  pruning  will  make  up  for  deficient  root 
action  or  the  evils  of  an  unsuitable  border.  Th(  se  are  matters  which 
should  also  have  pioper  attention.  By  following  the  plan  above 
advocated  at  disbudding  time  the  shoot  carrying  the  most  jiromising 
bunch  can  be  retained,  and  the  others,  with  the  exception  of  one  at 
the  base  of  the  shoot,  be  removed.  ■  This  lower  shoot  should  le 
encouraged  to  grow  as  strongly  as  possible  by  lemoving  the  buds, 
sliould  any  show,  then  the  chances  are  that  the  following  year  the 
old  shoot  can  be  removed,  and  the  basal  shoot  be  relied  upon  to 
produce  a  bunch  of  £air  size. 
In  dealing  with  Vines  in  a  sound,  healthy  condition  the  character 
of  the  crop  may  be  greatly  varied  by  the  method  of  pruning  adopted, 
and  before  this  is  determined  it  must  be  dis  inctly  understood  that 
close  pruning  means  comparatively  small  bunches,  except  in  the  case 
of  young  Vines.  Therefore,  when  Grapes  are  grown  for  home  use 
alone,  and  large  bunches  are  not  particularly  prized,  cut  back  to  one 
or  two  eyes,  and  fairly  good  bunches  will  result,  such  as  are  extremely 
useful  for  keeping  up  a  continuous  supply.  One  great  point  in 
favour  of  medium-sized  bunches  is  they  are  generally  cut  and  used 
while  in  a  perfectly  fresh  state,  while  larger  bunches  are  not 
unfrequently  dished  up  many  times  in  succession  till  their  appearance 
is  not  inviting. 
Lady  Downe’s  is  not  nearly  so  much  grown  as  formerly,  for 
although  it  is  a  splendid  keeper,  its  tough  skin  seems  to  be  against  it, 
and  if  closely  pruned  it  frequently  produces  too  many  small  bunches. 
Gros  Colman  and  Alicante,  on  the  other  hand,  usually  give  good — 
and  often  large- bunches  when  close  pruning  is  regularly  practised. 
I  have  lately  seen  another  remarkably  line  late  Gr  ape,  which  must 
inevitably  come  to  the  front,  and  be  largely  grown.  It  is  named 
Royal  Leanrington.  Mr.  Crump  of  Leamington  has  a  house  entirely 
filled  with  it,  and  the  bunches  on  closely  pruned  'Vines  are  all  large 
and  shapely,  with  good  perfectly  coloured  berries. 
Gros  Guillaume  does  not  continue  satisfactory  for  long  if  close 
pruning  and  stopping  are  practised.  Under  that  system  of  procedure 
the  berries  are  frequently  quite  small,  and  the  crop  often  scanty, 
whereas  if  long  spur  pruning  is  adopted,  latge  bunches  are  produced 
annually,  if  the  spurs  are  kept  from  18  inches  to  2  feet  apart.  In  many 
instances  in  which  Muscats  are  not  satisfactory,  I  am  convinced  from 
past  expeiience  that  they  may  be  greatly  improved  by  practising 
either  the  long  rod  or  long  spur  system.  There  are  many  good 
cultivators  whom  I  know  do  not  agree  with  the  plan,  as  they  contend 
that  by  close  pruning  they  kept  their  Vines  in  good  condition  for  a 
