378 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



Hr. Hard spoke of grape culture on Kelly's Island, and said they planted 

 about eight feet apart each way. 



Mr. Ramsdell said it might not do so much damage there to plant close to- 

 gether, for the vines did not make as vigorous a growth in that soil as they do 

 here. On our soil they grow much faster, and require more space in which to 

 run. 



The direction of planting them came up, and Mr. Hurd stated that he planted 

 east and west. 



Ramsdell said he had done the same. 



Mapes had planted north and south, more for convenience than anything 

 else, and asked why the other gentlemen would plant east and west. 



Eamsdell said the prevailing winds being in the west, they dried off the 

 vines quicker after a rain, which was very necessary. Planted in that way, the 

 winds could pass through the rows more easily. 



Mapes asked if it had been a common practice to cut the vines back to two 

 buds. He had always followed that, and his vines did not do well. Mr. Mc- 

 Nabb had told him not to do it as they bled so as to injure them. 



Ramsdell and Hurd asked him if he cut them in the spring. 



He said he did. 



Ramsdell and Hurd then very emphatically informed him that was the 

 trouble with his vines. He should not cut them in the spring at all. 



Barnes said he got a man to trim his vines and he cnt them terribly, so that 

 they bled enough to dampen the ground all around them. They made a very 

 rapid growth, but he had less than half a crop of grapes that season. 



Hurd asked about cultivating where they run on the ground. 



Ramsdell recommended the use of a potato hoe or fork, but thought that 

 thorough mulching was better and cheaper than cultivating on sandy soil. 



The society then took a vote on the best distances apart to plant grape vines 

 in this section, and recommended that Concords be planted 15 feet apart with 

 20 feet in the row, and Delawares 10 feet apart with 15 feet in the row — these 

 two kinds representing the extremes. 



After selecting the "Currant Borer" as a topic next weak, the society ad- 

 journed. 



GOOSEBERRIES — THEIR CtlLTURB AHD PROFIT. 



"Gooseberries" being the topic for discussion, the meeting invited Mr. 

 Ramsdell to open the subject. 



He explained that the gooseberry was propagated from cuttings, in the same 

 manner as currants. The cuttings were put in a cellar in the fall, and kept 

 there until spring, when they were ready to set out. In his experience he 

 found that mulching did a great deal of good, and prevented mildew, and 

 made the bushes bear more plentifully. Since he came here he had experi- 

 mented with the English varieties, which have always mildewed, and he dis- 

 covered that they did not mildew here, even without mulching, thus 

 showing that this climate is almost perfectly adapted to the English va- 

 rieties. His experience here with them bad been in heavy clay soil well 

 drained, and he had found that it was well adapted for them. He thought 

 thorough cultivation would pay well. He had never seen the time when 

 there could not be sold twenty-five times as many as th(^re were in the 

 market. He was satisfied from what he had seen here that 500 bushels could 

 be raised on an acre. The English varieties, the Houghton and the Honghlou 



