EEPOUT SUPERINTENDENT OP GARDENS AND GROUNDS. 363 



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ing over 25 pounds Lave been produced. Tlie fruit keeps for a long 

 time after it has ripened, but it is scarcely of second-rate quality. 



Golden Hamburg. — This forms a tine-looking bunch of large-sized ber- 

 ries. It is also a good-flavored fruit when it reaches the golden-colored 

 state. It is a Me-ripening kind, and desirable for a grapery. 



Zinfindal. — A hardy, vigorous vine, and very productive. The bunches 

 are long and slightly shouldered ; berries medium-sized, and possessed 

 of a brisk, vinous flavor. 



Purple Damascus and Purj)Ie Ramburg are not worthy of culture. The 

 fruits have no particular merit, and the bunches are usually irregular, 

 and the berries ripen unevenly. 



White Tolcay. — A very showy fruit, bunches large, and berries above 

 medium size. When well ripened the fruit is well flavored, but the 

 berry is liable to decay during damp weather. It can readily be dispensed 

 with for better kinds. 



Royal 2It(scadine. — A fine early grape ; it is among white varieties 

 what the Hamburg is among black varieties, a sure bearer and always 

 reliable. The bunches are of good size, and the fruit of good flavor. It 

 is one of the best white grapes for a cold grapeiy. 



Charles Duhamel. — An early ripening grape of the Sweetwater type. 

 This grape represents a class which may possibly prove profitable in 

 many of the Southern States, as early marketable white grapes. 



Mmcatcl. — This belongs to the same type as the last, but is much su- 

 perior in flavor, and is an abundant bearer. 



PROPAOATING NATIVE GRAPES. 



For the past few years most of the grapes raised in the garden have 

 been propagated in beds in the open air. Hard, well-ripened wood is 

 selected and made into cuttings, which are each about 4 inches in length. 

 Whether the cutting contains one bud or eye, or more, is not important, and 

 if a single eye can be obtained with 3 inches of wood attached, it is con- 

 sidered a good cutting, although lengths which are under 3 inches are 

 looked upon as uncertain should the weather during the early portion 

 of summer prove to be hot and dry. 



The ground is prepared by turning it over to a depth of 12 inches in 

 the fall, leaving it as rough as iiossible, so that it may be effectually per- 

 meated by frosts. As early in spring as the ground can be worked, the 

 surface is carefully forked over, and broken up as minutely as practica- 

 ble ; it is important that the soil should be deeply pulverized. 



Previous to inserting the cuttings the surface is further broken by 

 using a rake having iron teeth four inches in length. This operation 

 does not consist in merely raking over the surface, but in pushing the 

 rake to and fro to the fuU length of the teeth, so as to thoroughly 

 comminute the soil as deep as they will reach. 



The beds are marked ofi:' in breadths of 10 feet with 3 feet wide alleys 

 between. The cuttings are inserted in rows across the beds ; they are 

 placed about 2 inches apart, and the rows are formed about 6 inches 

 from each other, so as to admit of a narrow hoe to be run between them. 



To avoid tramping on the soil, a wide board is used to stand upon 

 while planting the cuttings. The whole of the cutting is pushed into 

 the soil, so that the upper bud or end (the cutting being closely cut above 

 a bud) is level with the surface. 



The bed is afterwards covered over with a layer half an inch in depth, 

 consisting of a light friable soil ; pure sand may be used if nothing bet- 

 ter can be procured j a mixture made of one part sand and one-half 



