130 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



the close of the season have a very large crop of half-grown, 

 unripe grapes with which to crowd the market with Concords 

 at one dollar per bushel, as has been the case the present 

 year, or shall I aim for a harvest of large, well-ripened ber- 

 ries, upon clusters weighing from half a pound to one pound 

 each, selling at remunerative prices, the purchasers saying 

 these grapes did not grow out of doors, how is it that you 

 grow better grapes than any one else? I can show you a man 

 to whom a dealer has within a month offered twenty cents a 

 pound for Concord grapes. Quality rules. At the same time 

 we are caring for this year's crop we must have a good look- 

 out for the next one. Upon the vines where a strong bud 

 starts, the shoot from it should be trained up and along the 

 wire in an opposite direction from the bearing arm, except the 

 vine planted at the end of the row. This vine's fruiting arm, 

 as also its arm for next year's fruiting, is to be turned the 

 same way. Take good care of the young arms, for from them 

 comes your next year's crop. Pinch out the laterals at second 

 leaf, and if they start again repeat the operation ; stop the 

 shoot when six feet in length. 



The fifth year we do as we did the fourth, excepting the 

 first vine in the row, the bearing arms grow one way and the 

 growing arms the other ; thus the vines are renewed year by 

 year. 



A vineyard, properly cared for, is surely good for this gen- 

 eration and the next, and I be I eve for a longer period. 



The varieties I should recommend for Essex County are the 

 Concord, a few Delawares, and try Worden's seedling, and 

 John B. Moore's Early Black when he will let you have them. 



A word about peach-culture. My soil is the same as for 

 grapes, fertilizing also same as for grapes, substituting salt 

 for bone. I have about one hundred and fifty trees in bear- 

 ing, planted eight years ago. In 1872 I had fifty bushels of 

 good fruit, in 1874 one hundred and thirty bushels of first- 

 rate fruit. In 1873, in an orchard of about one hundred trees, 

 the yellows appeared and a e spreading through the orchard. 

 The rule should be, if a tree is affected by it, to immediately 

 remove and destroy it, root and branch. A liberal use of salt 

 and unleached ashes may be a preventive. 



