TO PREVENT THE ROT IN GRAPES. 



121 



produced it, is considered, the yield is truly 

 enormous. 



Ii were superfluous to tell the readers of 

 the " Horticulturist," how a crop of the Ant- 

 werp is produced ; but it may not be super- 

 fluous to tell them that a strong, deep loam, 

 with but little sand, is the only soil from 

 which they may expect a full crop, every 

 season. A slate soil, a gravelly loam, or a 

 stiff, cold clay, cannot be relied upon for 

 this fruit. 



Mr. Parsons, of Flushing, Long Island, 



somewhere says (I quote from memory, and 

 it may be incorrectly,) that ihe Antwerp 

 has been in cultivation in this country 

 about 30 years ; yet the markets have never 

 been sufficiently supplied with it. And he 

 might add, that not one-tenth of the deni- 

 zens of our large cities, who are abundantly 

 able and willing to supply their tables with 

 luxuries, have ever so much as seen a spe- 

 cimen of that delicious fruit — the large 

 Red Antwerp Raspberry. S. A . Barrett. 



Milton, August Hlh, 1848. 



TO PREVENT THE "ROT" IN GRAPES. 



BY A JERSEYMAN. 



Dear Sir — You will probably call to mind 

 a conversation between us when I was at 

 Newburgh in 1846. I laid before you an 

 account of the disease which had then 

 made its appearance in our native grapes, 

 — the Isabella and Catawba. It commen- 

 ces about the first of July, in the form of a 

 dark spot upon a few berries. These af- 

 terwards become entirely spoiled by the 

 disease ; and this rot spreads from berry 

 to berry till a large part of the bunch, or, 

 in many cases, whole bunches are entirely 

 spoiled by it. Wet seasons, unsuitable 

 soil, and various other causes have been 

 assigned for it ; but as yet, to my mind, no 

 satisfactory explanation has been given. 



You advised me, at that time, to apply 

 sulphur and lime in the form of gypsum, or 

 common ground plaster of paris ; and you 

 also advised me to use the leaves and 

 prunings of the vines for manure. 



This is the second season of my trying 



your advice ; and as I received it with 



the promise of making known the results, 



I accordingly send you a brief statement. 



Vol. III. 8 



which I think proves that the advice was 

 good. 



I have about twenty vines of the Isabella 

 and Catawba grape, in a full bearing state, 

 trained on upright trellises. In the month 

 of June, (latter part,) 1846, at the time I 

 made the summer pruning of the vines, — 

 cutting ofT the side shoots two joints above 

 the fruit, — I opened shallow trenches, say 

 four or five inches deep, at the roots of the 

 vines to be pruned. As fast as the pruning 

 was finished, the leaves and young stems 

 cut off* were laid in these trenches, sprinkled 

 with sufficient gypsum or plaster to whiten 

 the foliage, (from a pint to a quart per 

 plant,) and the Avhole trodden down and 

 buried in the trench. 



As soon as the leaves fell in the autumn 

 I repeated the process, — raking up the 

 leaves and burying them around the roots 

 of the vines, after dusting them over with 

 plaster as before. 



In June, 1848, the present season, I re- 

 peated the same operation at the summer 

 pruning. 



