208 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF THE 



vines as directed by Dr. Grant in liis Manual of the Vine. 

 That is, I dug a trench one foot deep and three feet wide, on 

 the north side of the border, and once in six feet drove a stake, 

 then raised a mound about four inches high in the bottom of 

 the trench opposite each stake, and placing the vine upon that 

 close to the stake, spread the roots out evenly and carefully in 

 every direction toward the border, and then filled the trench 

 about half full of the soil thrown out. I let but one cane 

 grow to the vine, and kept them well tied, and at each hoeing 

 filled the trench a little, and in the fall filled it up even with 

 the surface. 



They all lived, but after all my care and minute following 

 of directions, this border is not a success. AVhether the fault 

 was in the vines, which were not No. 1, or in the manner of 

 planting, or in mixing the subsoil, which is dark ferviginous 

 sand, or from pure cussedness, I am unable to say. Not one 

 of them has ever blossomed, and until last season not one ever 

 ripened any wood. At that time, however, I was so ignorant 

 of what a vine ought to do the first year, that I regarded the 

 three to four feet of growth to the vine that year a pretty good 

 success, and determined to set a small vineyard that fall. So 

 I wrote for catalogues to all the nurserymen whose business I 

 saw advertised in the papers, and from them selected F. L. 

 Perry, of Canandaigna, N. Y., as the proper man to deal with, 

 and from him ordered 100 Delawares, 100 Concords, 100 louas, 

 and 50 Isabellas, " all to be No. 1, one year old, grown from 

 single eyes under or by his patent process." These I received 

 in excellent condition and set them at once that fall (1867) in 

 the following manner : holes were dug one foot deep and three 

 feet in diameter, in each of these a mound was raised to within 

 three inches of the surface, comi^osed of one-half surface soil, 

 one-fourth swamp muck, and one-fourth well rotted stable 

 manure, all well mixed together. Upon this was sifted a thin 

 coat of surface soil, just enough to prevent the roots, placed 

 upon them, from coming in contact with any fermenting sub- 



