52 BOAED OF AGEICULTUEE. [Jan., 



the paper which we have had this afternoon, and I think it is 

 to be very highly commended ; and especially, I would say, 

 Mr. Hale's selection of varieties is capital. 



This matter of pruning grapes has been alluded to, and it 

 is a matter of very great importance ; I think more than 

 almost anything else, except the cultivation. The Concord 

 grape has been spoken of ; and that is the grape of the coun- 

 try. Probably nine-tenths of all the grapes that go to the 

 New York market are Concords. I wish they were better ; 

 but they are fairly good, and the people are satisfied with 

 them. The question is — How to raise the Concord grape, and 

 how to prune it ? I was pleased with the remark of our 

 friend, Mr. Rogers, of New Jersey, in regard to different 

 varieties requiring different management. I think that is 

 eminently so. Indeed, I know it is so. What is necessary 

 for the Concord will not do at all for the Delaware. 



In regard to the Concord, I spent most of last week up the 

 Hudson, visiting the vineyards there, and enjoyed it exceed- 

 ingly. I saw a great many extensive vineyards. They have 

 a way of raising the Concord grape there which is perhaps a 

 little peculiar to their locality, but they are very successful. 

 I saw vineyards there from which over ninety tons had been 

 shipped. Their method is what is known as the Kniffen sys- 

 tem, and it consists of posts, with a trellis of two wires, one 

 three feet from the ground and the other about six or six and 

 a half. The vine is trained so as to form, you might call it, 

 a double T. There are two arms that run on the first wire 

 and two on the upper wire. The vines are planted about 

 eight or nine feet apart, and occasionally a man plants them 

 as far apart as ten feet, — but I think that is the exception, — 

 and, as Mr. Fenn has very well remarked, they manage to 

 raise their fruit on young wood.» This is a peculiarity, and 

 they feel that it is a necessity ; and I find that old arms and 

 short spurs are what they detest. But, on the other hand, 

 they calculate to get a new arm on a wire, each way, each 

 year, and limit the fruit production to those new arms. 



If any one should happen to be at the railroad station in 



