DECEMBER MEETING. 263 



We next present to youv consideration the line young vincyunl of II. Dale 

 Adams of Gak'.sl)urg, near Kalamazoo, bnt no description can do justice to the 

 api)earance of this baby vineyard of two years old vines, — elegant in neatness 

 and jjcrfection of culture, and laden with fully ten pounds of sj)lendid clusters 

 to each vine, (piite enough for its " two years," though you can't prove by us 

 that it had not passed tiiat nuiture age by some three or four months, — and the 

 vines were two years old when set. Soil a rich loam, ^vith gravel and clay 

 below, and good natural drainage. It consists of 800 Concord vines, 10x10 

 feet, trimmed to a two wire trellis — with third wire to be put on next year — 

 posts thirty-six feet a])art, no vacancies, cultivates through the entire season, 

 till fall ; all right, perhaps, in his soil and location, but so much wood left, and 

 fruit grown, is a heavy draft on young vines. 



At Monroe we had the pleasure of examining the line 3-acre vineyard 

 of Jos. 0. Sterling, which is 12 years old, nearly all Concord, and planted Gx8 

 feet. It is regularly i)runed by the renewal system, cutting back clean to the 

 ground all old wood, saving about four canes of new ; tying all these up to first 

 wire, the ends being bent over the wires and tied again. It receives no sum- 

 mer pruning; is cultivated till late in fall, and is then plowed to the vines with 

 deep furrows, leaving a trench in the middle between the rows. He would trim 

 at any or all times from fall to spring, beginning when the leaves drop, and 

 continuing till April. Has always begun on the same side, and pursued the 

 same order to the close, and has never been able to see any difference in the 

 vines so pruned, either in the yield or condition. This is among the finest of 

 the twenty odd vineyards at Monroe, and to add anything concerning the llavor 

 or qutility of the fruit would rightly be deemed superfluous. The soil is a very 

 strong clay loam, tilled with thorough drainage. 



Another Monroe vineyard examined was that of Joseph Sedlaczek, containing 

 near 1,000 vines, of Concords mostly', this being, in fact, the leading variety in 

 most of the numerous vineyards of Monroe. We found in this lot 700 Con- 

 cords, a small number of Catawbas, and some extra fine Delawares, The soil 

 is sand scraped on and covering a black soil, underlaid with clay. A portion 

 of this vineyard was but imperfectly drained, caused, perhaps, by some obstruc- 

 tion in the drainage. This is mentioned only as pointing to the results which 

 were apparent in those ])articular rows, such as spotted grapes, a little mildew, 

 and phylloxera more effectively ; plainly showing that our grapevines require 

 every possible aid and advantage in witlistanding the assaults of these dread 

 foes. Drainage and culture cannot be too perfect. These vines are pruned in 

 winter, the old wood trained each way on a three-wire trellis. AV^ell loaded in 

 '77, but a light crop in '76. 



The Leonard Reisig, Monroe, vineyard of forty acres, is principally Concord, 

 too, with a light collection of Delaware, Diana, Catawba, Martha, Virginia 

 Seedling and others. Showed grapes of most excellent quality, but not 

 renuxrkable for quantity or size of berry or bunch. These heretofore had been 

 chiefly used for wine manufacture, but of late there appeared to have been a 

 falling off in this direction. These vines stand 8x8 feet, wire trellised, and 

 located on the same low limestone ridge, with the celebrated Henrietta vineyard. 

 It shows some vacancies, and plenty of the phylloxera, which seems to have 

 preempted every cubic inch or fraction of an inch of soil even to the very 

 center between the rows, in fact, as far as the roots extend, clear to the finest 

 and remotest fibre and rootlet. His i-ystem of pruning preserves the old wood 

 somewhat, spread each way, fan shaped, and indicates, perhaps, not so good 

 results as the renewal system in same vicinity. 



