ILLINOIS HORTICULTUKAL SOCIETY. 319 



AFTERNOON SESSION. 



The Secretary read the following essay on 



GRAPES.— BY A. C. HAMMOND, OF WARSAW, ILLINOIS. 



Every one convursant with aiiL-ieut history, is uwarc that vine culture has clainieil tlie attentiDU of 

 every civilized nation from the time the All-Father jilaceil our fireat progenitor in the frarilen of 

 Eden until the present day. The Muses have sung of the clusters of purple and gold. The philoso- 

 pher has moralized on their healing health-giving (pudities, and at several periods of the world's 

 history it has heen found necessary to regulate vine planting by law, as it was being engaged in so 

 extensively as to cause a scarcity of the bread producing crops. 



There is no other fruit that will succeed in such a wide range of latitude or under such a variety of 

 circumstances. In our own favored land, it may be found growing from ocean to ocean and from 

 the lakes to the gulf of Mexico. Nor is there any other fruit that will make such large returns from 

 a few feet of ground. And there is scarcely a dwelling in all the land, unless it be in closely built 

 cities, around which it may not be grown in abundance. But it is my purpose in this paper to dis- 

 cuss grape growing as practised in the vineyard, rather than in the garden or by the amateur. 



When the grape numia swept over the country several years ago, many who engaged in the 

 business did so with more zeal than knowledge; supposing that the happy owner of a vineyard was 

 ou the sure road to fortune. Thej- therefore planted largely, without much regard to varieties, 

 ijuality of i)lants, or congeniality of soil. , The result is, what might have been foreseen, disastrous 

 failure in many instances. Yet in the hands of those who possess the requisite skill failures have not 

 occurred more frequently than in any other branch of agriculture or horticulture. And in some 

 instances the result has been very gratifying. The pecuniary success ot this branch of Horticulture 

 in Central Illinois may therefore be said to be no longer problematical, and the large amount of 

 capital invested in it makes it a subject of great importance. Yet in common with other branches 

 of business it has its drawbacks. Among them, the rot is more dreaded by the cultivator than all others 

 combined. I will therefore call attention to some of its exciting causes and suggest a remedy. 



A wet tenacious soil is by all acknowledged to be a fruitful source of disease. The remedy for this 

 difficulty is apparent— thorough underdrainage in all vineyards not perfectly drained by nature. 

 The experience of the past season has taught us some lessons we shall be slow to forget. The 

 almost continuous rains of the entire season, and the scalding suns of the last of July and first of 

 August, were suthcient in intensity to rot any grape if the location was the least unfavorable, unless 

 it belonged to the genus Salamanrler. 



(Query. Could not some of our enterprising nurserymen furnish us with something of this kind at 

 about five dollars per root ?) 



The feeble, unhealthy plants sent out by the propagators is another prolific source of evil; and a 

 large proportion of the vines that have been planted in our vineyards should be classed under that 

 head. They are generally grown in a border of rich compost, which causes them to grow with great 

 vigor early in the season, but before they have matured their growth they are often attacked by 

 mildew, and the ripening process is arrested. Such plants will be found to be furnished with a mass 

 of fibrous hair-like roots, very attractive in appearance to the novice, but really of very little 

 value, as such roots are destitute of woody matter, and are killed by a few moments' exposure to the 

 air. Those plants should be selected that are supplied with strong wiry roots, even though they be 

 few In number, as such roots are an evidence of health; and as they very readily throw out an 

 abundance of vigorous spongioles, they make strong healthy plants. 



Overbearing may also be mentioned as a cause of many disappointments to the gra])e grower. If 

 vines are once permitted to overbear, they lose so much vitality that it takes tliem several years to 

 recover, and if other conditions are favorable they fall ati easy prey to disease. The experienced 

 vine grower will promptly apply the remedy, hut the novice seldom possesses the courage reipiired 

 to cut half the fruit from his pet vines. 



Every cultivator has observed that vines growing near houses or arbors, and permitted to ramble 

 over them at will, are more exempt from disease than those growing in the vineyard. Our native 

 vines, in their normal condition, spread themselves over rocks and shrubs, and climb the highest 

 trees. Do not the laws of vegetable physiology as well as conmion sense teach us that to confine a 

 plant of such a rambling nature to one or two stakes, and annuallj- cut it back to one or two canes, 

 is to place it in an abnormal state, and provide those conditions most favorable for the attacks of 

 disGase. I am inclined to believe that the whole system of training as now practised is radically 

 wrong; and that if we were to plant our vigorous growing varieties with rows ten feet apart, and 

 sixteen feet in the row, and train on high trellises, that the results would be more satisfactory, as 



