MICHIGAN STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 207 



The Secretary read the following essay by Hon. J. G. 

 Ramsdell, of Grand Traverse, on the 



CULTIVATION OF THE GRAPE. 



In 1863 I sent to a Michigan nnrsery for six vines, leaving 

 the selection to the nnrseryman, and received two Dianas, two 

 Delawares, and two Isabellas. These I set in the spring of 

 1863. I succeeded in kilhng one of each kind; the others 

 lived. It is nnuecessary to state how I set them or tended 

 them, — any one can do as well, and few can do worse. The 

 Diana made a good growth, and bore a few clusters the second 

 year. The third year the Diana gave a good crop, and the 

 Isabella bore a few clusters, but did not ripen them well. The 

 fourth year the Delaware, which was a very feeble vine, bore 

 a few compact clusters, and the others bore full, and all 

 ripened well. The fifth year, 1869, the Delaware came forward 

 rapidly, and gave about ten pounds of very superior fruit, and 

 ripened it fully. The Diana and Isabella were both heavily 

 loaded with fruit, but not a grape ripened upon either. That 

 winter the Diana was injured so that it bore no fruit in 1870. 

 The Isabella was moved in the spring and died. The Dela- 

 ware bore a heavy crop. These vines were tied to trellises, 

 but were pruned but little, and never manured. 



In 1866 I read some articles in the New York Tribune on the 

 culture of the grape, written by Dr. Grant, of lona Island, 

 and became satisfied from those articles, and the success of 

 my Diana vine, that with proper culture, we could raise our 

 own grapes, notwithstanding we were marked on the map as 

 being in latitude 44. 



That fall I sent to River Bank nursery, Adrain, for six Del- 

 awares, two Dianas, two Isabellas, two Israellas, two lonas, two 

 Concords and two Hartford Prolifics ; and to Dr. Grant for his 

 Manual of the Vine. In the spring of 1867 I prepared a bor- 

 der or bed, eleven feet broad, running east and west, on a gentle 

 slope facing the east. This bed was trenched eighteen inches 

 deep and manured heavily with stable manure. I then set the 



