Excerpt from Illustrated Catalogue and Price List of Grape Vines, Small Fruits, &C

As so much has been recently written on this subject I shall at tempt to give only a few of the most important points, as demon strated by my personal observation. In pruning a young vine, it 1s not wise to be governed so much by its age as by its vigor, the prin cipal object to be obtained is to concentrate the growth in one cane, by this means a considerable advantage is gained over that of al lowing several shoots to remain, as a vine so trained will fruit much sooner and the fruit will be far superior, both in appearance and quality. In pruning older vines in autumn, I have always obtained the most satisfactory results by keeping in view the removal of as much old wood as possible, providing there is sufficient canes of the present season's growth of suitable size with which to replace the old. Such canes will always produce fruit of superior quality and appearance, and at the same time a greater abundance. In selecting canes for fruiting, those of medium size are much to be preferred, say from to {z of an-inch in diameter, from two to five in number, and cut back to 3 to 5 feet in length, according to age and vigor of the vine.

Summer psunino. - I find nothing to recommend in summer pruning beyond the removal of all weak and barren shoots which are not capable of producing fine fruit, all such should be removed as soon as the embryo bunches are developed, except such as may be required for next season's fruiting, and pinching at the top wire a few of the most vigorous shoots;which threaten to rob the weaker neighboring ones, allowing only the strongest shoots, one at each joint along the cane which shows the finest bunches, to remain. Many of these will often develop three and even four bunches, if the vine is well set with fruit. These should be thinned according to varieties and size of bunches. For Delawares, two bunches to a shoot will usually be sufficient to insure a crop. If Iona or other varieties producing large bunches, like Highland or Montgomery, one bunch to a shoot will be snfiicient. Aside from this, any further pruning during the growing season has a tendency to weaken and retard the object so much to be desired, the rapid development and early ripening of the fruit. Nature never labors in vain, and there fore the abundance of growth and foliage developed during the summer, are largely stored with essential elements required for the development and ripening of the fruit, during the autumn after the growth of the vine has ceased and should never be removed.

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