FRUITS. . 123 



all in this region ; this year there is no sign of any. Good 

 drainage and high culture are very essential for grape-vines, 

 and wood ashes are good. I cover the border every fall with 

 six inches or more of manure, and dig it in the spring. 



Statement of D. H. Stichney, Groveland. 



I wish I could answer 3^our questions in relation to the 

 cultivation of the grape in a manner at all satisfactory to 

 myself, for I have had abundant crops some years and nearly 

 failures in other years with the same treatment — indeed, 

 perhaps I ought not to use the word treatment, for I have 

 never followed any particular method. 



I have perhaps one hundred and fifty vines, mostly from 

 layers. They are upon a variety of soils, and were I to give 

 an opinion I should say that my best success had been upon 

 the poorest soil. I am of the opinion that land can be made 

 so rich that you get a monstrous growth of wood at the 

 expense of the fruit. I have not"ced that the best fruit has 

 always been found upon vines from two to four years old. I 

 can account for this in no other way than that the top has 

 been allowed to make all the wood that desired to grow, and, 

 as sometimes is the case, the vine will start out with a heavy 

 crop and every prospect of success, till the grape gets about 

 its full size, when it remains and hangs upon the vines until 

 the leaves are all off, and never comes to anything at all. I 

 know of no remedy unless it be to thin or reduce the crop 

 one-half, or even more, and this we are loth to do, for if done 

 at all it must be done in June or July, when we are not sure 

 but the conditions will be favorable for a full crop. 



You ask what kinds I recommend. I hardly know what to 

 say, for I have had failures some years of all varieties ; still I 

 would not part with any of them. I am quite sure the Con- 

 cord will perfect its fruit more years in ten than any other 

 variety now known. 



I am also well satisfied that a high, dry, sandy soil, or a 

 soil full of cobble-stones is the most desirable for the grape. 

 Such a soil Mr. Gage, of Metheun, has, which enabled him to 

 show a number of kinds of ripe fruit at the New England 

 Show at Manchester, N. H., upon the first of September. I 



