PRACTICAL RULES FOR THE CULTIVATION OF THE VINE—A LECTURE DELIVERED AT THE MECHANICS INSTITUTE, AUCKLAND. BY J. JOHNSON, Esq. M.D, ON FRIDAY EVENING, MAY 26, 1848.

Anglo-Maori Warder, Volume 1, Issue 9, 20 June 1848, Page 3

PRACTICAL RULES FOR THE CULTIVATION OF THE VINE—A LECTURE DELIVERED AT THE MECHANICS INSTITUTE, AUCKLAND. BY J. JOHNSON, Esq. M.D, ON FRIDAY EVENING, MAY 26, 1848.

(Continued from our last.) We now come to the fifth winter pruning, by which the head of the vine should be fully formed, and come into full bearing in the ensuing or sixth summer. There will now be on the vine as mnny well matured shoota proceeding from the •* moshcr branches," as there were buds left the preceding wjater, and these must be cnt back tu two or three buds each, or if there be any weak brunches to one bud, as it may be thought ths vine outjnt to bear and these ought if poss.ble to be su managed, when they shoot into branches, as to be extended round the outer circumference of the circle formed by'the bead, at moderate distances from each other, so as to U-uve the inner portion tolerably "free of wood, by which the circulation of air will be fa'ored, and the sun's rajs ailoueJ to penetrate, and if the mother branches are so placed as to balance each other the young vine w<li have taken the form must suitable, for vineyard cultivation in this ccuutry. The vine will now bear a full crop the ensuing summer, and amply repay the care that has been bestowed upon it, and the patience rtq-iired to bring it to (his state ot perfection, by iU abundant and delicious produce Ii is proba'ile that from twenty t? twenty-five buds is the maximum that T should be assigned to a healthy vine io full bearing f planted at three feet by four distant, and this exact number may be almost retained by annually cutting away the extreme brauches. projecting moit distant from the centre of the head* and prunin* back the remaining branches to the established numtci* of buds.

If the vine progreses bo successfully as it ought to do, under proper management, it will become so strong in all its parts, as to become independent of support, and stakes miy be dispensed with, it will in fget te a sturdy dwarf tree, The be£t period for pruning, after the vine is 'o bearing, may be. in the viciaity of Auckland, themontli of Augu t, in short as late as it can be done before the sap rh>cs, fjr early pruning-in May, as issometitne'i recommended, is not suited to this climate, for the buds are stimulated to burst prematurely, and tben they receive a cli:ck from tbc cold somb-we'.terly wind-?, which i* prejudicial to the ibwe.-ing and setting of tie fruit; and 1 ci*n sppfik on this subject advised y, as my vines havj suffered f»m Ijo early piuuhig. In this prunh-g, till the laterals that have b»en left must be cut away, as c o-e to the bud as it c n be done without injury, the remiina of all tendrils must alio b» removed, and the knife employed iliould be as sh.irp as a razor. It may happen in the cou.se of years, that some of tli3 motiier branches may become to.) lonfr, and project inconveniently distant from the ttem, but as pjohaiiy the vine by tha. time will have become strong enough to send out new shoots near tbe head of the stem, one of theEC.raay be selected to replace the mother branch, which may be cut clean away. The French viguerons are very particular in never permitting any person to enter the vineyaitl during tbe ■flowering aud setting of the fruit—J cannnt say that I have found walking among tbe vines at that time do any harm, but certainly no pruning nor manual interference in any way should be practised at that critical jperiod. Let tbe trees and Nature manage it unmoles.cd- ■* Vines that are intended to bear grapes for tbe table may be very richly manured, and when the ground is j the winter, bo .es, blood, ths refuse of u currier's J yard, and all animal matters may be dug iu. But. on the other baud, vines intended ior wine making, must be very sparingly manured as it is said to hurt the flavor of the wine. If used a: all, a compost of wood | vegetable mould, and well-rotted stable manure, is said I to be tlu best. The prun'ngs of the vine, chopped very ; small and dug ia, are also said to be very beneficial, but , in the ofiinary soils of this country, I should think that I the would not require manure for some years. The method of pruning 1 have hitherto described ia called spur pruning, but there is a modification of this, [ which may be called unequal spur pruning. It is u& follows—the young vine is tieated far the first three . years as described, consequently it will have, in the j winter of the fourth year, three branches ready, if the j first method had been pursued, to form *' mother- ; branches.* 1 Of these three branches, two are cut back to one bud each, which are called *< thighs," and as many buds are left ou the third as would have been itstt on all three in ** spur pruning/* and this is called a branck. If, ihere ore, sis buds bud been intended to have been hJt in the first method of pruning, there should be one on each thigh, and four on the branch, which must be fastened cq a slake. The use, however, of the two tuighs, is not so much lo produce fruit, as to ensure the brunch for nest year. The summer priming, I such cs pinching off the ends of the fruit-bearing shoots, ' the laterals, &c, is practised as in tbe common method* on the branch, but thethoots issuing from the ihishs, I are not interfered with except to pinch off the laterals, I they are perruittpd togro;v their luil length, | In the fiftk winter, t hoose the best of the two shoots I of the thigbs, aod prune it back to the number of bud* | (escept.nif the two which are to be I«ft ou the thighs.) ' that would have been retimed iu common spur pruuing; the branch of the preceding summer, mid the thigh which has not been sehe ed for a branch, ure tut back: to one bud each. When the branch becomes mure than eighteen inches long, in nrder to carry tbe buds it umy be permitted to tnur, the peculiarity of this method is developed, for the branch m slightly bsnt and f.isleued to the stake, like the top of a noteot and then wheu each branch must diinuall) be hit longer in order to carry t'ie required niiuioer 01 buds, it is bent round and fa-teued to tue stake, so a3 somewhat to resemble the letter P. This plan lias its advantages, a the branch is trained iu the lino ot the rows, him uoe* uot interfere w.'-b the digging of the ground, besidts <•\- po»ing the fruit to the ami, and might be tolto-ved here where wood u easily procured, us it reujures two stakes, one for the branch of the year, and in other to Which w lie the saouta ui the ■uura<-»tku9 t two spurs aui u

branch are left alternately on either side of the vine, ( which can easily bo kept within bounds. | There is, however, another method of pruning, which . wou'd be very suitable for gardens in this country, as , the vines mny occupy the borders, without materially interfering with other cops. This is called Espalier, or long pruning* in contra diminution to short, or spur pruning. The youusc pUnt is treated as formerly described, until the third hinter f when instead of three, ebiht hurts are left on the shoot, the lowest one being twelve or fif'een inche3 from the ground, and the shoots pro« cceding from them are permitted to grow their full lpnathT being fastened to stakes previously driven into the ground, at t*o feet distant. One or two hunches of fruit may be left nn them for appearance sake. In i\iefourth winter pruning* each alternate pair of branches is cut down to one bud, and the remaining four are left at their full length. There will be on the fruit bearing shoots issuing from these, a full crop of grapes, while ihe four single buds will have produced four vigorous shoots, which are to he trained their full length as before, to produce fruit ia the ensuing season—for it mast he remembered, aud having it continually i» mind prt vents much misconception and puzzling, in the management of the vine, that the vine only produces fruit onthe shoots springing from buds on the wood grown during the preceding summer. An ignorance of this law is the cause of all the bad pruning I liLve seen in the colony. In the fif'h winter pruning the four branches that have produced fruit in the autumti, are to be cut haik to one hud, to produce branches for bearing fruit the ensuing season, and en on front year to year, but as the old wood, the commencement or each branch that is , giveu offfroii the stem, mu»i annually become longer J by a bud, there would be in the courss of years a long unsigh'ly piece ufeld wood let—mw,m order to ob- j \iatc this, when it becomes ti>o long it may bs cut ; back to the main t tern, from which several young shoots | will burst, the strongest of which may be selected as I the future bearine branch. I Vines treated in ibii way should at least he planted \ sixteen or eighteen feet apart, to give full room for the ! extension of their bra'iekes, and the dressings of the I ground and summer pruning, should be conducted as j hefore directed. I think thii method to be well suited ' to this country, as the grapes haog well exposed to the ! sun. and are easily thinned and exaiiioed, and I may here mention that those who may b ish to have fine bunch- I t3of grapes, would do well to thin out at least one half of the berriies with a sharp-pointed pair of scissors, before tbev have done siming, a perbd of four or five weeks, in which they seem to make no progress in size, all the energies of the plant being directed to perfect the seed. It is astonishing to what a sizj the grapes will grow when this has been judiciously done, and the bunch will probably weigh tuarier than if it had not been touched. But this operation should the moment the berries begin to swell and change color. Thf re is another style of long pruning, which I may describe, as it would seem to be suited to vines trained to the side of a house, and might easily be practised here. The plant is cut down the first winter pruning, to three buds, and it may be noted, that in this mode, the stem can scarcely be too short. Secure, during the summer, two shoots, having previously rubbed off the third. I n the second winter pruning , cut these, each at one foot in length, and fix them to the wall horizontally, hy shreds of cloth or linen. These are the "motherbranches. Several shoots will appear in the spring, and they must all be rubbed off except the end one on each iroiherkbranch, and they must be secured to the wall, pptmilling, however, no fruit to grow upon them. In the third winter pruning, cut one back to one bud, and the other to as many buds for fruit as the vine will or ought to bear, and bind this branch as much as possible into an S form, without actually breaking it, and attach it to the wall. There will be in the summer, one shoot from the spur, with two bunches, and several fruit bearing shoots with two hunches each, from the long branch* The first, or shoot from the spur, may be left its foil length, but may be bent into the S form at once with benefit- The other fruit-bearing branches are to be trained horizontally, and attached to the wall, and nipped back as described. In the fourth winter's pruning, cut the branch away with all its sfuots to its lowest bad, and cut back the new branch which had been previously trained to the wall, to the number of buds it can bear. The future treatment wiill be the same till the branch is too long, and more buds are wauted, then lay in two extra mo-ther-branches from the end of the old ones, and from these raise alternate shoots sb before—thuß having each year, twojjpws and two branches —if the wall be extensive'enough, end the s«e of the stem admits, an additional mother-branch, nith its spur and branch, may be laid in. Clement Hoare gives, in his book on the culture of Ihe vine, an excellent practical rule (the result of his experience,) for the number ot buds that should be left on a vine in a bearing state —the stem of the vine is to be measured just above the ground, and two and a half inches are to be deducted from its girth, and for every remaining inch of girth, twenty buds may be left. Be calculate* that the average produce of a well-managed vine, h hslf a pound weight of grapes from each bunt hj, and there are generally two bunches on each shoot, so that if the stem of a vine measures fi»e inches, its capability is equal to the maturation of twpnty.five pounds weight of graces, and therefore the number of buds to remain after piuurag, will be fifty. That gentleman, however, is treating of the capabilities of the vine in richly manured soils, I doubt, therefore, whether the rule can be strictly aohered to in this country, although it may in some measure act as a guide in pruning. It nrny be practised in a garden, but scare, ly in a vineyard, where the vine not being stimulated by manure, is in a leva vigorous condition. However, let us first plant vines, and observation and experience will soon teach us the 1/est mode of management. It requires considerable tact to Know when the grapes are fully ripe. There are several signs which if laken collectively, show the pr*ci ( e period: they are as fol owt? —When, for fifteen day?, there has been no perceptible increase in the size, or transparency of the berries—when, after this, they become flaccid and lesthery to the t uch, and ore df tached from the stafk without the (east Effort, and when the bunches for --everal d*ys have beronie and the upper portion of their footstalks brown and bard, and easily sepirate themselves from the pulp, and when the juice lias become msciouj and svnippy, *o as to slick to the fingers like the syrup of the footstalk* of which do not turn brown, and yet they will be ripe—and the hi eh colur of black gripes must not be taken as one of the signs of maturity, nor nm't s*n imperfect colour in some kinds be considered the M*Arthur snys—" Grapc« may have attiined all the maturity of which thry nrc snsre, tiblf, eten to the extent i-t shrivelling upon the vine, and yet be colon d. but wlicn this happens it is almost a certain fiign that the vine is producing too large a crop." In th>s latter observation I fully corcnr, and i feel that I have accused the clima'eof not b-intr abb* to uinuie icme varieties of my grapes, when 1 have only to blame

my own ignorance bo permitting the vines to bear too large a crop. It is not doing the grapes justice to pluck them too enrly, for there is the greatest difference between the flavor of a partially ripe and fully ripe berry. [To be continued,]