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CULTURE OF NATIVE GRAPES. 



should be alike, both side petals alike, and 

 the lower petal uniform. 



6. All white grounds should be very 

 pure ; and the colours, no matter what they 

 be, on the white, should be decided, well 

 defined, and by no means flush into the 

 white. 



7. The spots on the upper petals, or the 

 marks in any other, should not break 

 through to the edge. 



8. Colours being a matter of taste, do 

 not affect the real properties so much as 

 other points, unless it be on the score of 

 novelty; on this ground a bright scarlet 

 would be desirable, and a black spot. We 

 have plenty of approaches to both, but none 

 very near. 



9. The plant should be shrubby in its 

 habit, the foliage close, and of a rich bright 

 green, the joints short and strong, able to 

 support themselves in every part without 

 assistance. The flower should be large, 

 not less than five in a truss, and come at 

 the end of every shoot. 



The obvious faults of most geraniums 

 are, long and pointed lower petals ; uneven, 

 twisted, notched, or pixkered edges ; long 

 footstalks, which make the truss loose and 

 open ; weak shoots, and stalks that will not 

 hold up the flowers without propping, which 

 destroys the appearance of the plant alto- 

 gether; small leaves and long joints, which 

 make the plant open, the habit gawky, and 

 the foliage poor. 



REMARKS ON THB CULTURE OP NATIVE GRAPES. 



BY D., NEW- YORK. 



The best of our native grapes — such as 

 the Isabella and Catawba — are not equal 

 in flavor, it must be admitted, to the finest 

 table grapes of Europe ; yet, when tho- 

 roughly ripened by the hot sun of the mid- 

 dle states, they are a valuable fruit for the 

 dessert in autumn ; and as they are easily 

 kept after maturity till February or March, 

 they must be considered one of the most 

 desirable of our hardy fruits. 



Some remarks on their cultivation, based 

 upon a practice of ten years past, may, per- 

 haps, interest some of your readers not al- 

 ready skilled in this matter. 



After training the native grapes in a 

 great variety of modes, I must be allowed 

 to give it as my opinion that where large 

 and regular crops of the finest fruit is de- 

 sired, the vine must be kept within com- 

 paratively narrow bounds. Our native 

 grapes have greater natural luxuriance than 

 the European species ; I have myself had 

 one vine to produce 1200 perfect clusters 

 in a single year ; and have known several 



cases of single Isabella vines covering 

 whole arbors of 40 or 50 feet in length. 

 Notwithstanding this, there cannot be a 

 doubt that small vines, kept within narrow 

 bounds, and closely and regularly pruned, 

 will give a much larger product, and bear 

 more uniform crops, on a given space of 

 ground, than large vines occupying the 

 same soil and space. In the latter, you 

 have the difficulty of a large amount of old 

 wood to contend against, and the extra 

 quantity of manure which grown large 

 plants require to produce a corresponding 

 effect upon them. 



It is, perhaps, not easy to give a satisfac- 

 tory limit for the size of the vines for open 

 trellis culture ; but my favorite size (for an 

 upright trellis, 7 feet high,) is 6 feet apart 

 from vine to vine. Placed at this distance, 

 I do not find the least trouble in making 

 my vines produce a given number of bunch- 

 es every season, without in the least ex- 

 hausting the roots, so far as I am yet able 

 to judge. 



