132 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



There must be a variety. To have all of the above varieties 

 would not require a large space of ground. A garden and 

 yard are always "open at the top." A piazza, a trellis, the 

 side of the house, the side of the barn, will accomodate 

 several vines. They are as ornamental as honey-suckles or 

 wistarias, and don't take up any more room. The nearer to 

 the house one gets a vine, the more food it gets from the 

 wash-tub. The perfume of the flowers and of the fruit is 

 always pleasant and exhilarating. 



It is not necessary in this report to give our opinion which 

 and where is the best place. We are writing for family use, 

 not for a vineyard, writing for younger members of the 

 society and their friends. Hence we have said, plant some- 

 where on the homestead. If possible, plant on warm, dry 

 soil, and in a place sheltered from the early morning sun, and 

 the cold north and west winds. We have grown them upon 

 all sides and exposures, — east, west, north, and south sides of 

 buildings ; on trellises, trees, and stakes ; in gravel, sand, 

 loam, and muck, and have come to the conclusion that one- 

 half of the growth depends upon the grower, the other, the 

 variety planted. 



About pruning. "First catch your hare, then dress him." 

 Three or four years' attention to growth, and the experience 

 therein acquired, will teach one about what to do. We are of 

 the opinion, however, that few people prune too much. 



"I wish I could grow such grapes on my place as you have 

 here on this table," said a member of this society to one of 

 your Committee, three or four years ago. "Why not?" was 

 the reply. "Oh, my place is so elevated and cold, and the 

 winters so long, that they won't grow and ripen." "Will you 

 take some vines and try?" He took some vines and tried. 

 Last year the man took to one of our county fairs the fairest 

 and best grapes on exhibition. They were grown upon the 

 south side of a barn-yard wall. It is proper here to say 

 that he was proud of his success, and he believes in grape- 

 growing for family use. Is there another farm in that town 

 where some spot could not be found equally favorable to the 

 growth of the grape? Are there ten more farmers in that 

 town who could be stimulated by his success to do likewise? 

 It is of little importance to us, members of this society, what 



