28 IIoiv shall we ^lant and p?'une our Vineyards 7 



given to the Is:ibcll:i. Our own Isabellas were planted eiglit by ten, 

 that is, eight feet b:;tween the rows and ten feet in the line of trellis. 

 On about half of that vineyai'd, where the soil is richest, I am satisfied 

 they will soon need more room ; and the same is true of our Delaware 

 vineyard — in fact they are already crowding each other ; and here 1st 

 me say, that on good soil (and the Delaware will not do well on any 

 other) it is by no means the feeble vine it has been represented, but a 

 vigorous grower. 



When Mr. Underbill says, " The distance to be obsei-ved in planting 

 vines along the line of the trellis must depend upon the richness of the 

 soil," he has got the whole thing in a sentence. Mr. Byington's vine- 

 yard, to which he calls especial attention, is at the bottom of the valley, 

 on alluvial soil, many feet in depth, containing gravel enough to make 

 it retain heat and render its drainage perfect, and fertile enough to 

 grow anything. His Delawares, six years old, it is true, fill a trellis 

 seven feet high, and his vines are sixteen feet apai't ; but his neighbors, 

 two or three hundred yards distant, who are cultivating vines upon the 

 arid hill-sides, can do no such thing, and do not attempt it. With re- 

 gard to his method of pruning, while he has not as yet made many con- 

 verts in his own locality even, he has succeeded in growing large crops 

 of fine-looking fruit ; and should he continue to do so for a series of 

 years, with vines remaining healthful, he will not need to argue that it 

 is the proper treatment for his vines and other vineyards similarly sit- 

 uated. I examined his vineyard carefully but a few days previous to 

 Mr. Underbill's visit, and my own estimate was, that his vines had from 

 thirty to seventy pounds of fruit each, so that I am not at all surprised 

 at the average of fifty pounds per vine reported ; but bear in mind that 

 this vineyard is on ground exceptional in its good qualities of great 

 fertility, perfect drainage, and exposure to intense heat. 



The practical difficulty which occurred to me in reference to this 

 peculiar method of pruning was this : how arc you to renew the 

 wood of your vine without doing the very thing he deprecates and is 

 seeking to avoid? i. e., cutting oil' such large portions of it as must 

 necessarily disturb the normal balance of root and vine. I do not see 

 how it is to be avoided. On the other hand, I am thoroughly convinced 



