EXPERIMENTS IX HORTICULTURE. 



13 



next spring, and cut out onc-Iialf of the ej'es 

 he has left. 



In regard to preparing and manuring the 

 ground, my experience does not accord with 

 the rules laid down in the books. I have 

 tried deep trenching, bones, sods, &c., ac- 

 cording to the most approved directions ; but 

 I have not yet perceived the slightest benefi- 

 cial results. On the contrary, my best grapes 

 come from an ordinary soil of about one foot 

 in depth, kept well manured by street sweep- 

 ings, which I deem a specific manure for all 

 kinds of fruit. The explanation may, per- 

 haps, be found in the fact that my soil is a 

 heavy loam with a clay subsoil, into which it 

 is not beneficial for grape roots to penetrate. 

 At all events, mine do best near the surface. 

 My strongest growing vines have been very 

 heavily manured with coal ashes. 



Two years ago my Catawba grapes were 

 much injured by the rot. In the autumn I 

 covered the ground with ground plaster, at 

 the rate of five pounds to a vine, and have 

 not since been troubled in that way. 



Last year I made a great variety of ex- 

 periments in wine pressing, — beginning with 

 cherries, and ending with quinces. Among 

 the rest, I pressed about a ton of grapes, 

 which yielded about six gallons to the hun- 

 dred pounds. The modus operandi was sub- 

 stantially the same as that so well described 

 by Mr. Longworth in a recent number of the 

 Horticulturist, except that my grapes were 

 not separated from the stems, and we added 

 one and a half pounds of loaf sugar to a gal- 

 lon of juice. 



It does not, perhaps, become me to say 

 much in regard to the quality of the wine ; 

 firstly, because I do not profess to be a judge — 

 of wine, I mean ; secondly, because I could 

 not be deemed an impartial one. All I shall 

 say is, that according to the taste of those 

 who have tried the Catawba, it is considered 

 as good, and quite as pure, as any foreign 



wines brought to this market. If, however 

 I can find an express to forward a basket, the 

 editor shall have an opportunity of testing the 

 the matter in propria persona. 



Poughkecpsie, June, 1S50. 



Our correspondent's article is full of excel- 

 lent practical suggestions, based, as usual, on 

 actual experience. We hope it will lead 

 others to favor us with their views on vine- 

 yards, wliich are becoming a somewhat im- 

 portant branch of agriculture. We agree 

 with B. entirely as to the main principles he 

 deduces from his own experiments, viz., that 

 upright trellises, frames or poles, are the best 

 supports for the vines ; that the latter should 

 be confined to a very moderate space and se- 

 verely pruned ; and that none but native 

 grapes as yet have proved of much value in the 

 vineyard. 



He states very correctly that it is owing to 

 the nature of his soil that trenching, ordina- 

 rily of the greatest value to the vine, has 

 proved of little benefit with him. If some- 

 thing could be mingled with the subsoil, at 

 the time of trenching it, to render it light 

 and permeable by the air and roots, trenching 

 would undoubtedly prove beneficial. Hence 

 the great value of coal ashes for vines in a 

 heavy soil, though they are nearly useless in 

 sandy ground. 



The samples of wine which our correspond- 

 ent so obligingly sent us, we received in ex- 

 cellent condition. They were pure and sound, 

 and some of them, (especially the Catawba,) 

 of excellent quality. But from the amount 

 of sugar per gallon added to the must, they 

 are all sioeet wines, which we think inferior 

 to the dry wines made on the Ohio from the 

 same grapes. Now light dry wines, like 

 Claret and Hock, (the natural product of the 

 Catawba, &c.,) require little or no sugar ; and 

 they cost less, and are more wholesome than 

 sweet wines, like Muscatel, Malaga, &c. Ed. 



