THE SECRETARY'S PORTFOLIO. 199 



five or six feet of vine between tlie ground and the wire would be too much ex- 

 posed to the sun (and I do not know that live feet would be injured any more 

 than two or three feet, which is always exposed under any system), tlien the 

 vines may be planted close to the post on the north side, posts being set twenty- 

 five feet apart, and a three inch strip of thin board tied on the south side of 

 the center vine. If in certain localities it is necessary to bury vines in winter, 

 this plan facilitates the work, as they will bend much easier, there being not so 

 much stiffness or branches in the way. If bagging is found necessary, it can 

 be done in half the time now required, as the clusters hang separate and below 

 the wires. If necessary to use netting, one width cut lengthwise covers the 

 whole underside of tlie arbor. Another advantage of this system : The early 

 frosts injure all the leaves on the old plan ; on the above plan the top leaves 

 are injured and they protect the under ones for a much longer time." 



EXPERIENCE WITH GRAPES. 



Joseph Lannin, President of the South Haven Pomological Society, gives 

 the Michigan Farmer his experience in growing grapes concisely as follows : 

 Six years ago I planted 2,000 vines, 1,000 each of Concord and Delaware, pay- 

 ing three cents per root for the Concord and seven cents for the Delaware. 

 The ground on which the roots were planted is a clay subsoil, with a sandy 

 loam surface and slopes gently to tlie south. I believe the vineyard received 

 good treatment in tlie way of cultivation and pruning. The vines are tied to 

 stakes about three-feet from the ground. Now, the result: During the past 

 three years I sold a large crop of Concordn each year, they paying principal, 

 interest, and for the labor, while in '79 I sold only twenty peck baskets of the 

 Delaware, and last season only forty eight-pound baskets. It is true the Dela- 

 ware sold for nearly double the price of the Concord when put up in the same 

 manner, but the difference is altogether in favor of the Concord. My Dela- 

 wares were slightly affected with mildew last summer, and the vines now have 

 a sickly appearance, indicating very clearly that they will bear no fruit this 

 season. I am trimming them back very close, and shall certainly pull them 

 out of the ground if they fail in 1882. Had I known as much six years ago 

 about Delawares as I do now, I would not have planted them. 



OVER-CROPPING ORCHARDS. 



H. E. Bidwell, of Plymouth, in our State, remarks in Country Gentleman: 

 One can see the premature old age in nearly all the bearing orchards in 

 our laud, and a vigorous pruning will not cover it up. We try to grow a crop 

 of trees and a grain crop at the same time. One grows at the expense of the 

 other, and both suffer. It brings the trees into early bearing, and this satisfies 

 ns; if not, we get impatient in waiting for fruit ami folluw tlie practice of others 

 and seed the orchard to grass. We smile the following spying in beholding 

 the trees one mass of bloom, and are farther pleased to see later in the season 

 the trees bending under a load of ripening fruit. We call it productiveness, 

 but it is more often premature death, and it is no wonder that many trees die 



