IN THE ORCHARD. 



239 



In working about orchard trees some men. 

 have great difficulty in avoiding injury to 

 the trunks, especially if the trees are young. 

 A careful adaptation of harness and tools 

 will much facilitate the work. The ordi- 

 nary farm harness, with its projecting hames 

 and upright turrets, is entirely unfit for or- 

 chard use. The former should lie as close 

 to the collar as possible, and the latter 

 should consist simply of a ring, which will 

 be flat on the saddle. 



The ordinary long double trees also are 

 entirely unfitted for the orchard; the ends 

 will surely scrape the trees in passing even 

 if bound with cloth. At Maplehurst we ulc 

 a set made with principal beam 31 inches 

 long, of an oak piece 2 x 3^, and the whiffle 

 trees are each about 22 inches long. These 

 enable a horse to walk quite close to a row 

 of trees without injury to the trunks. 



Most of tne plowing in an orchard on 

 sandy soil may be done with a gang plow, 

 and the trees may be finished with a one- 

 horse plow, followed by a grape hoe, like 

 the one shown in the accompanying illus- 



tration. This tool enables a wonderful sav- 

 ing of work, not only in the vineyard but 

 also in clearing away the sod and earth close 

 about the trees. If managed skillfully with 

 a horse trained to the work there will be 

 very little left for hoe or spade after the 

 grape hoe has done its work. 



GRAPES AS A PROFITABLE CROP 



AARON COLE, ST. CATHARINES, ONT. 



THE best variety of grapes that may be 

 grown for profit will depend very 

 much on the character of the soil. I have 

 two vineyards, one on a alay loam and the 

 other on a deep gravel. The same varie- 

 ties of grapes are planted on both, namely 

 Niagaras, Concords and Worden. 



These I consider the three best varieties 

 for money making, but it is also essential to 

 have some red grapes. The Vergennes and 

 Brighton are possibly the best. None of 

 the Rodgers variety have proved satisfac- 

 tory to me, but for an assortment I would 

 recommend a few Agawam and Rodgers 

 No. 15. It is necessary to have red, white 

 and blue grapes in order to fill a car in good 

 shape for the northwest trade. 



SOIL AND FERTILIZERS. 



The soil requires more or less fertilizer. 

 I find nothing better than well rotted barn- 

 yard manure placed around the vines in the 



fall of the year. Above all things, do not 

 place green manure around them during the 

 winter season, or your vines will suffer from 

 incursions of mice. Bone meal is also 

 good, about 400 pounds to the acre being a 

 proper amount. 



The best" soil for grapes is deep coarse 

 gravel, and the next best a clay loam. 

 Either of these require very little fertilizer 

 as compared with a sandy loam. In the 

 spring of 1867 I planted 270 vines on 

 gravel, and I have had occasion to manure 

 that portion of my vineyard only once since. 

 Those vines furnish me with plenty of wood 

 and grapes every year. My impression is 

 that the stones in the gravely soil draw from 

 the air what is required for the nourishment 

 and fruition of the vines, and the soil as a 

 result is self-sustaining for grape culture. 

 No crop gives the farmer more pleasure to 

 handle and market than a good grape crop. 



