VINEYARDS. 43 



unleaehcd ashes, they being, much more powerful and caustic. 

 Grapes undoubtedly possess the finest flavor when newly gath- 

 ered, but their season may be prolonged, if not in its full excel- 

 lence, yet with sufficient attraction to make it worth while. 

 With proper care grapes may be kept until Christmas, and at 

 that time will command a price which would not be paid for 

 fresh fruit during the highest of the grape season. As yet, the 

 preserving of the fruit seems to be but little understood. Grapes 

 packed in small boxes, containing not more than five pounds, 

 with layers of paper between the bunches, keep best ; dry saw- 

 dust and cotton were each tried with very unfavorable results. 



The method of raising vines on cedar stakes, at nine cents 

 each, about six inches in diameter, which will last ten years, is 

 much more economical than on trellises for farmers' out-door 

 culture. The chairman of your Committee is convinced, from 

 his .own observation and experience, that Rogers' Nos. 15 and 

 19 will prove valuable additions to the list of hardy grapes 

 cultivated in Massachusetts. Peter Lawson, 



Henry L. Shattuck, 



Committee. 



Statement of John B. Moore. 



The grape vines on the east side of my vineyard, containing 

 one hundred vines, are all of one variety, viz., the Concord. 

 The lot is described as follows : Aspect, south-east, with a gentle 

 slope ; soil, light sandy loam, underlaid with red loam and 

 gravel ; it was cleared up about eight years ago. At that time 

 it was covered with a growth of small pitch-pine, birches and 

 scrub-oak trees, and not worth more thai} $20 per acre. The 

 wood was cut, brush burned, and the lot ploughed ten or twelve 

 inches deep, and planted every year, until 1864, with corn, pota- 

 toes, beans, squashes, &c. During the time that it was planted 

 it was well manured, yearly, with a compost made of peat and 

 manure. Since the spring of 1863 there has been no manure of 

 any sort put on the lot, except one peck of leached ashes to a 

 vine last spring. 



I have briefly stated to you the nature of the soil, the previous 

 crops, the former condition of the land, its value and the 

 manuring. And when I say well manured, -I mean, as near as 

 I can judge, thirty horse-cart loads of compost to the acre, which 



