PRACTICAL HINTS IN TRANSPLANTING. 



321 



quality of the juice is the only point to be 

 considered ; for in that case, high manuring 

 al-ways injures the vinous quality of the 

 fruit. 



I have four Isabella vines, which have 

 given me, for two years past, fruit nearly 

 as large as those of the Black Hamburgh, 

 and of very fine flavor. Perhaps it may 

 please some of your readers to know the 

 treatment they have received. 



They stand in a border, 12 feet wide by 

 30 feet long. I prepared this border by 

 throwing out all the soil and subsoil to the 

 depth of 3 feet. The bottom was then 

 filled up with stones, mixed with half lime 

 rubbish, (from the walls of an old house,) 

 one foot in depth. Throwing away all the 

 subsoil, I then mixed with the good soil 

 10 cart loads of stable manure, and 2 bar- 

 rels of bone-dust, and a cart load of leached 



ashes. With these all incorporated to- 

 gether, the border was made complete by 

 filling up the remaining 2 feet upon the 

 stones and lime rubbish in the bottom. 



The vines were planted 6 feet apart, and 

 trained to an upright trellis. 



I was astonished at the gigantic shoots 

 which they made the second and third 

 years. The shoots were some of them 24 

 feet long, and as thick as my thumb. I 

 pursue the simple spur mode of pruning, 

 and obtain regular and heavy crops. Some 

 of the bunches weighed a pound and a 

 quarter last year ; and the berries were so 

 large that many persons, who saw the fruit, 

 would scarcely believe it was the same 

 variety as the common Isabella grape. So 

 much for the effects of high culture. Re- 

 spectfully yours. An Amateur. 



New-York, Dee. 10, 1849. 



PRACTICAL HINTS IN TRANSPLANTING. 



BY C. SMITH, NEWPORT, JV. Y. 



A. J. Downing, Esq. — The suggestions I 

 am about to make, relative to transplanting 

 fruit and ornamental trees, are the results 

 of some experience ; and should they prove 

 of any appreciable worth to the patrons of 

 the Horticulturist, I wish them looked upon 

 as some return for my indebtedness for 

 pleasure derived from the labors of the edi- 

 tor and correspondents of this journal. 



Premising that the reader is aware that, 

 for New-England and New-York, spring 

 is decidedly the best time for transplanting, 

 and that it is time and money saved to 

 prepare the land, intended for the garden 

 or orchard, by manuring and faithful culti- 

 vation, — we will next say, that the selec- 

 tion of the trees in the nursery, is of mate- 

 rial importance ; that the tall, slender plants 



YoL. 111. 21 



should be discarded, and only the stout, 

 healthy ones preferred. The latter will, in 

 nearly all cases, prove more vigorous, hand- 

 some, productive and long lived than the 

 former ; hence the importance of securing 

 this advantage. Instead of heading hack 

 the top, leave the limbs entire ; hut remove 

 every alternate hud on every limb, sparing 

 the terminals. This saves a year's growth, 

 and is much better than mutilating the 

 tree, which is always done at some ex- 

 pense to its vital energies and length of 

 life. 



Of 75 fruit trees set out last spring, and 

 treated in this way, I lost not one. I use 

 no water in transplanting fruit trees, — not 

 having been able to discover its advan- 

 tages ; nor do I press the earth over the 



