146 ANNUAL REPORT OF NEW-YORK 



{d.) It should be well drained that the roots may not be chilled 

 and surcharged with water. 



(e.) Manures, in such a climate as ours, and when applied to 

 such a plant as the grape, should be unstimulating, that is com- 

 paratively. Hence, if bone dust be applied it should be coarse, 

 and guano should be in small quantities. The composts of swamp 

 muck with manure, ashes, lime, &c., are safer than fresh stable 

 or barn-yard manures. This advice is given to those who seek 

 only so large crops as are consistent with a high regard to the 

 health of the vines. I am well aware how discordant it is with 

 the advice and usage of many who would apply large quantities 

 of fresh stable manure and the offal of slaughter houses to their 

 grapes. They certainly succeed, in evenly tempered seasons, in 

 thus reaping large crops of delicious grapes. Those who are 

 willing to run the risk, and it may be well for those who have 

 ample grounds and wealth to do so, may go beyond this, and 

 stimulate their vines freely, hoping for a season of uniform 

 weather, or trusting to the application of fresh ashes and plaster 

 of paris to check incipient mildew. But even such would do 

 well to cultivate a portion of their vines more moderately, that 

 they may become a dependence in case of severe visitation of 

 disease upon those more highly cultivated, and constitute a more 

 healthful source whence to draw cuttings for future use. I have 

 long been of the opinion that the fertile character of the soils, 

 in the valley of the Mississippi, interacting with the instability 

 of the climate, was the cause of the frequent rot of the grape 

 there, as well as of the difficulties in the culture of cherries, 

 pears and plums. The ravages of insects there, which frequently 

 seem connected with the diseases of these fruits, also become 

 more marked in the same connection. The fertility of the soil 

 probably aids in their production, especially in hot, damp weather. 

 Fruit trees making very rapid growth present a succulence and 

 tenderness of fibre which invite their attacks, especially when 

 their juices are in a morbid condition. The fact that many soils, 

 of not the highest quality, will yet, in good seasons, produce very 

 good grapes, while in seasons of severe changes, the application 

 of ashe? and plaster of paris, or a solution of sulphur and lime, 

 is needful to save them from the ravages of mildew, is a proof, 

 not of the essential deficiency of the soil, but of the enfeebled 



