FACTS ABOUT GRAPES. 207 



upon rich soil ; it made so much wood that it does not mature ; 

 even if I laid it down, it would not fruit; whereas, upon poor 

 soil, I have no difficulty. 



I plant my vines ten feet apart one way, and seven feet the 

 other. The reason why I do not have them the same distance 

 apart each way is, that I may go through one way with a horse 

 and cart, if I see fit. I do not think it is desirable, here in 

 Massachusetts, to plough exceedingly deep. I am satisfied that 

 ploughing fifteen or eighteen inches deep makes the crop later. 

 I may be wrong about it, but I think I am correct there. 



In regard to pruning, any system, no matter what it is, or 

 no system, that will keep your trellis or your poles on which 

 the vines grow, full of short-jointed, well-ripened wood, will 

 give you a crop ; and no matter how they are handled, you will 

 get two or three crops. The difficulty comes after you have 

 taken off three or four crops of grapes. Then, when the wood 

 has become old and a little crabbed, and runs into a good many 

 shoots, you will find more difficulty, if you do not exercise a 

 little more judgment than perhaps some use. You will want 

 to cut out some of that old wood, and get new wood in its 

 place. New wood, short-jointed, well-developed buds, will give 

 you a good crop. Your next year' crop depends upon the wood 

 you grow this year. 



Perhaps I need not say anything more about grapes, unless 

 it may be about varieties. I buy every new thing that comes 

 up, and get humbugged generally ; but then, I rather enjoy it. 

 I have found the Concord almost the only grape that pays me a 

 profit ; perhaps I ought to mention also the Hartford. I real- 

 ized from a very small piece of Hartfords that I had this year, 

 which came earlier than the others, more profit than I did from 

 my Concords, getting about fourteen cents a pound for two 

 tons which I had. Now, we do not have to take the trouble 

 with our grapes at Concord that the western folks do. We 

 take our bushel boxes into the field, pack them full of grapes, 

 load them into the wagon in the field, send them to Boston, and 

 sell them by the box for what we can get; we do not have to 

 pay anything to the commission merchant, but take all the 

 money there is in it, weighing the boxes before they are put up, 

 and changing boxes with the buyers. This makes a very 

 simple thing of it, and one quite readily done. 



