376 TRANSACTIONS OF THE HORTICULTURAL 



The fall found some experiments with apples very satisfactory, 

 and the most delicious pie that ever Madge had the pleasure of 

 making, was of apples from Indiana east of Danville. They were 

 hard and green, coarse-grained, exceedingly brittle and juicy, 

 but delicious to eat, and similar in taste to the Albermarle 

 Pippin, of Virginia, the Pippin however not ripeningtill spring, 

 and these being gone by December. . The Baldwin and Rhode 

 Island Greening shared quite equally in merit for their cooking 

 qualities ; Madge preferring the Baldwin for eating as not being 

 so acid as Jerry's Greening. 



Jerry had learned something before the 25th of July about 

 turnip planting, so he was ready on that day to try again another 

 crop, and the winter' found their cellar so well supplied with 

 vegetables that Madge found it easy to answer the still daily re- 

 curring question: "What shall I get for dinner to-day?" 



GRAPE CULTURE. 



BY PAUL BONVALLET, ST. ANNE. 



Gentlemen — By request of Mr. A. Bryant I have the honor to 

 present you the following report on grape culture in Kankakee 

 county, the result of many years experience. 



We are situated in the southeastern part of the county. This 

 locality is yet sparingly settled, it is composed of wild prairies 

 and sandridges varying from ten to forty feet in height. The soil 

 in the prairie bottoms consists of a black sandy loam resting on 

 quick sand and is consequently quite cold, when drained it is 

 well adapted for gardening and general farming. The ridges are 

 composed of a deep, yellow sand and are covered with young oak 

 timber, the large trees — some of them measuring from two to 

 three feet in diameter — were cut down many years ago. 



On one of these sandridges my father, with a capital of several 

 thousand dollars brought from France, was induced to plant a 

 vineyard about twenty years ago. At that time all kinds of 

 produce, especially fruits, were selling at very high prices. It 

 was then claimed by some horticultural reports that such a time 

 would never be known when the supply of fruits would exceed 

 the demand, and that Concord Grapes would never retail for less, 

 than 15 cents per pound. 



The soil of our sandridges is of the very best to be found for 

 grape culture; as it is quite dry in summer the young vines will 

 not grow very much until they are deeply rooted, and it will take 

 several years before they are fairly established ; when well started 

 and if properly treated they bear good crops of superior quality 

 every year. The high situations are quite exempt from late frosts, 

 except last season when a freezing wind took away about four- 

 fifths of the crop. The proper distance for setting the vines is 

 about 8x10 feet apart. They are trained on a single wire about 



