ISABELLA GEAPE CULTUEE. 



cedar), five inches square at the bottom, and two and a half by five inches at the top, 

 set eight and a quarter feet apart, with strips of one and a half inch stuff, two and a 

 half inches wide, nailed from post to post, eighteen inches above the ground, and at 

 the top of the posts. Between these, three tiers of No. 14 iron wire are drawn, 

 dividing the space equally between the wooden strips, and secured to each post. 



These trellises are now completely filled with good, strong, bearing wood, ready for 

 use next season, much of which is over three-quarters of an inch in diameter ; and 

 large portions of it are now apparently ripe. I allowed these vines to bear only about 

 seven pounds each last season, though they set for full three times that quantity. I 

 rubbed off every alternate bud on all the vines last season ; and after they were set 

 for fruit I took off half of it. My fruit was mainly sold to dealers in Elraira, and 

 retailed by them at fourteen cents per pound, by the side of Isabella grapes, cultivated 

 near Penn Yan, at twelve and a half cents. One dealer, Mr. II. H. Risbards, after- 

 wards informed me that he sold fifty-three pounds of my grapes in one evening at 

 fourteen cents, and but three pounds of the shilling grapes. Do you suppose those 

 dead carcasses had any thing to do with this ? I do. 



Last spring, before these vines commenced their growth, I measured some twenty- 

 five or thirty of them, taking them " as they run," and I found but very few of 

 thera to measure only ten inches in circumference. Nearly all measured over a 

 foot around the body, several of them fifteen inches, and one seventeen inches. But 

 why did not those dead cattle and leather shavings kill them ? Surely it is a marvel 

 that they did not ; for I have repeatedly dug down to the bones within the past two 

 years, and have always found them completely surrounded with a net-work of living 

 fibrous grape roots — not dead ones! I am allowing these vines to bear this season 

 just half what they set for, after a severe autumnal pruning ; and I estimate the present 

 crop at 3,200 pounds, or 20 pounds to the vine, notwithstanding the hail storm on the 

 4th of July destroyed at least 1,000 pounds. 



My grapes last season commenced making their first turn on the 1st day of Sep- 

 tember, and the entire crop was ripe before the 30th. This season they commenced 

 turning red on the 20th day of August, and at this time (September ^tli) more than 

 1,000 pounds are making the second turn. In fact, I have seen Isabella grapes oflered 

 for sale in Rochester, in the month of October, not as ripe as these are. 



I will not say 2')ositi veil/ that my fruit is equal in flavor to that produced by more 

 seemly fertilizing materials, for that would hardly seem possible ; but I will send you 

 a sample of it as soon as I consider it ripe, that you may have an opportunity to judge 

 for yourself. One thing I have remarked in regard to these vines : no insects, of any 

 sort, have as yet disturbed them, except that three or four of the vines, the year they 

 were planted, were dug out by dogs in their nocturnal attempts at a premature resur- 

 rection of those dead carcasses! Mildew has never affected them, although, from 

 their remarkable luxurionce of growth, I have expected to encounter much trouble 

 from this most patience-trying scourge of the vineyard. 



I have adopted the plan this season of mulching my vines with spent tan. I applied 

 it early in July, having kept the vines thoroughly cultivated previously. I shall cover 



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