of Rural Art and Taste. 



211 



A Fairfield County Fruit 

 Farm. 



BT WILLIAM 11. YEOMANS. 



GREEN'S Farms, a part of the town of 

 Westport, is situated on Long Island 

 Sound, and on the line of the New Haven and 

 New York railroad. The soil is comjjaratively 

 fertile ; some portions are formed of a sort of 

 decomposed micaceous schist. Where a liberal 

 application of fertilizers has been made, the 

 soil gives evidence of great productiveness. 

 The surface is rolling, interspersed with hill 

 and dale, sufficient to give pleasing variety. 

 About one mile from the Green's Farms sta- 

 tion, is situated the farm of T. B. Wakeman, 

 Esq., well known in the western part of the 

 State for his success in the cultivation of fruits, 

 more especially the small fruits. His land is 

 extremely fertile, from the fact that in former 

 years he, with many others in that vicinity, 

 made onion raising a specialty, and, as a con- 

 sequence, or from necessity, his land was made 

 very productive. Mr. Wakeman, after having 

 tried all kinds of fertilizers, provides for any 

 deficiency that may occur in his barnyard and 

 manure pen, by the purchase of large quan- 

 tities of leached ashes, which he ships from 

 Canada, and the wisdom of his course is at- 

 tested in the luxuriance of his meadows and 

 pasturage. 



This farm consists of eighty acres, fifty of 

 which are under cultivation. It is well sup- 

 plied with all necessary farm buildings, all in 

 excellent condition. 



There are three and one-half acres of grapes 

 in bearing, with more that have not yet arrived 

 at that point. As an evidence of the value 

 of the application of ashes to the soil upon 

 this farm, a knoll is pointed out which was 

 originally almost wholly barren, and yet, with 

 a liberal use of ashes has been brought to that 

 point, that grapes grow in it to the greatest 

 perfection and in great luxuriance. The vines 

 are set in rows eight feet apart, and about 

 six feet apart in the rows, trained to a 



trellis composed of posts set about eight feet 

 apart, with wires stretched the whole length 

 of the vineyard, five to each row. These are 

 usually trained upon the two-eye system. 

 Subsoiling and under-draining with both bones 

 and stones have been tried, with no appreci- 

 able advantage. The soil is kept clean and 

 entirely free from weeds, by the use of cul- 

 tivator and hoe. The varieties grown are 

 principally Concords and Ives seedlings, with 

 some Hartford Prolifics, and a very small num- 

 ber of fancy varieties for home consumption. 

 The Concords and Ives are preferred above all 

 others for marketing. The sales last season, 

 which were not completed at our visitation, 

 were estimated to amount to twenty tons at 

 an average price of eight cents per pound. 

 The fruit is put up in neat boxes, holding 

 from three to eight pounds each, and so sent 

 to market. It has been determined that Con- 

 cords sell best in the New York market, and 

 the Ives seedling in Boston. The Ives is a 

 much better grape for transportation and hand- 

 ling, in consequence of the toughness of its 

 skin, in which respect it is much unlike the 

 Concord, being remarkably tender, and ex- 

 ceedingly liable to injury from handling. The 

 sales commence as soon as the fruit is suffi- 

 ciently ripened, which is about the last of Au- 

 gust or first of September, and continues until 

 late in the season, as considerable quantities 

 are secured for late sales. They generally 

 bear at three years old. It was a very grati- 

 fying sight to behold a portion of the vineyard 

 in the full burden of fruit, the clusters large 

 and fully developed. 



Upon the farm are five acres of strawberries ; 

 these are set in rows thirty inches apart, four- 

 teen inches apart in the rows. The principal 

 varieties, those considered most profitable, are 

 the Wilson and Jucunda. Considerable care 

 is exercised in keeping the vines well culti- 

 vated and shorn of runners. They are kept 

 in bearing but two or three years, but are 

 renewed. In consequence of the close prox- 

 imity to the sea shore, salt hay is used, and 

 much valued as a mulch. The amount of 

 sales the past year were three thousand dol- 

 lars. The quantity sold about five hundred 



