GEAPE-CULTUEE. 



^ 



As this is only the second season with my vines, I presume it will be said that I 

 have only been anticipating future crops — raising three years' Grapes in one, and 

 thereby using up the vines. If I find it so, I will report hereafter ; at present I will 

 only say that I have taken up better canes, and have riper wood for next year, than I 

 had for this. 



Though an unobservant follower, I pin my faith a good deal upon Mr. Ciiorlton 

 as a Grape-grower; not because his rules are more in keeping with that impatience of 

 results so characteristic of Americans, but because I believe with the instincts of true 

 genius he endeavors to overcome difficulties. It may be true that vines require a cer- 

 tain maturity of wood and root before they should be permitted to bear. What that 

 maturity is, observation must determine. It requires several years for a vine to pro- 

 duce from seed; that is one thing; and nature indicates its law, by refusing to pro- 

 duce earlier. But v,'hen a vine is artificially grown from cuttings, the analogy may 

 not be complete. It require little maturity of wood ; for the fruit is always produced 

 on a branch of the same year. Does it require four years induration ; or is capacity 

 of root and stem, whether of one or many years' growth, the question ? Experience 

 alone must decide this. Some vines, from appearance, are less fit at three years, than 

 others are at one. The objects in Grape-culture may also have something to do with 

 it. If a cultivator wants to take premiums at a State fair, under sharp competition, 

 he may take six years to mature four bunches of Black Hamhurgs that shall weigb 

 three pounds a piece. If, on the contrary, he wants Grapes for family use, less showy 

 but equally good, he can in the mean time raise one hundred bunches that shall weigh 

 a pound or less a piece. I have raised this many this year from a single vine eight 

 years planted. 



It is true that nearly all the authors condemn early production ; yet Grape-culture, 

 in cold vineries, is in this country in its infancy ; and when a novice looks in the 

 books, he will find sufficient diversity of opinion to afford him full scope for enterprise 

 and experiment. Take, for instance, the following suggestions by authors of repute : 

 "The Muscat of Alexandria requires a high, moist terajjcraturc, when in bloom, and 

 then the complaints against it as a bad setter will be remedied." — Mcintosh, page 

 439. "For the Muscat of Alexandria, a dry atmosphere^ when at rest and when in 

 bloom, is «n(??\?pfns«i/?/ necessary." — Chorlton, page 43. "Open the grapery soon, 

 and close early, ought to be a maxim well riveted on the mind." — Idem, page 58. 

 "Open late." — H. G., Boston, Horticulturist 1852, page 323. "Give little air until 

 fruit is ripening." — Idem, page 323. "Give plenty of air." — Downing. 



To close an article, already longer than I intended it to be, and written chiefly for 

 novices like myself in Grape-culture, I would say, that my borders settled some six 

 inches after planting the vines, which I filled up with a light compost and manure. 

 The vines, rejecting the theory laid down for them in " terra-culture," have occupied 

 and filled the added soil with new roots, and 1 do not yet perceive the evil of it stated 

 in the books. I mention it that others may make their borders in lime to settle 

 before planting. 



