418 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



it, there is one fact that the amateur should never lose sight of — there can be 

 no rot where the fruit is protected from dew and rain. Where vines are trained 

 on a building under a cornice, the fruit never rots. A wide board nailed over 

 the trellis in so far as it protects the fruit from dew and ram, prevents the rot. 

 The liability to the rot is also diminished in proportion as the vine is trained 

 high. There is always less rot at the top than at the bottom of the trellis. 

 Where the vines are allowed to grow over the branches of trees with little or no 

 care, there is but little rot, and the vines are remarkably healthy and produc- 

 tive. If one can raise this fruit without having it rot — and every one can-r- 

 there is no reason why any person should hesitate to plant a few vines. They 

 may be trained on buildings, fences or trees, and the roots will find a supply of 

 food under the walks, and in all out-of-the-way places. 



Two of the Newer Grapes. — Geo. W. Campbell secretary of the Ohio Hort- 

 icultural Society, writes that one of Mr. Rickett's later productions, the Em- 

 pire State, though claimed to have been produced by crossing the Hartford with 

 Clinton, appears to have some foreign characteristics in its fruit, and probably 

 through a Clinton hybrid. But, whatever may be its parentage, I am satisfied, 

 after growing it for three years, subjected to the severest test, that it is mainly, 

 if not quite, as healthy in foliage, and as hardy in winter, as either Hartford or 

 Concord. Though I have not fruited it sufficiently to say much from personal 

 experience, I have seen it often on exhibition, and admired its fine appearance 

 and good quality. It is also remarkable as a long keeper, and seems to me to 

 be a second and very important step in advance, in the way of improvement. 

 The Jefferson grape, said to be a cross between Concord and Iona, is another 

 fine grape, with healthy foliage. Unfortunately it is not quite hardy in our 

 severe winters, but will doubtless prove a valuable acquisition in milder latitudes, 

 or where growers will give winter protection. All these varieties, besides being 

 valuable in themselves, may be even more so, as parents of other varieties, in 

 still further improving the grapes of the future. 



A Premium Grape Field. — The Massachusetts Horticultural Society 

 awarded J. P. Hayward first prize on his vineyard and he gives this account 

 of his methods: 



My vineyard contains 1,200 vines, all Concords, except one row containing 

 a considerable number of varieties. It was planted in 1877, in light gravelly 

 loam, the vines being set six feet apart, in rows eight feet apart. The vines are 

 trained on a four-wire trellis, fruiting two arms of six feet each on each vine, 

 at the same time growing two canes for renewal. When the shoots are about 

 eighteen inches long they are cut back to six leaves; also cutting all tendrils 

 and all but two of the growing fruit buds. All laterals are cut back to one 

 leaf, which has to be done two or three times each season, according to the 

 vigor of the plant. When the grapes are about the size of peas the clusters 

 are straightened and counted and cut down to thirty or less. My aim is to 

 raise ten pounds to the vine. The renewal canes I have sometimes cut back 

 to six feet during the summer, but for the past two years I have let them 

 grow as far as they would, which has been from eight to twelve feet, and 

 then at the fall pruning cut them back to six feet. I do not know which is 

 the better way. 



I have tried to raise grapes without fertilizing, but of late years have ap- 

 plied chemicals to the value of about one cent per vine. This year (1885) I 



