23^ ^^^ Vineyards of Vineland, 



twenty one-horse loads of stable manure on the vineyard ground and 

 an adjoining area, covering altogether about one acre and three fourths. 

 I was without experience in grape culture, crowded with work, and 

 planted the vines hurriedly, digging the holes with a hoe, and of course 

 they were not planted very deeply, perhaps about four inches. Be- 

 tween the rows of grapes I planted thi-ee rows of strawberries, and 

 these occupied the ground pretty fully until in July of the next year. 

 The vines were not staked at all the first season. The Concords bore 

 a cluster now and then the first year ; the next, perhaps ten pounds in 

 all ; the third season I allowed them to bear only about one pound per 

 vine. The growth of wood was healthy, but not at all rampant nor 

 remarkable. I staked them the second season, and trellised to four 

 wires the third. They covered the trellis very fairly in 1868, and to its 

 full capacity in 1869. I attempted little or no thinning last year, and 

 they bore about six pounds per vine. The other varieties planted with 

 the Concords received exactly the same treatment, and proved a total 

 failure : most of them are now dead and replaced, and the few that 

 remain ought to be. 



In the spring of 1867 I purchased one thousand more Concord vines, 

 one year old. The ground designed for the vineyard being only par- 

 tially cleared, I planted about half of them temporarily by themselves, 

 but put four hundred and eighty on the vineyard ground, ploughing 

 once, making the holes three and four feet across by about eighteen 

 inches deep, taking out the stumps only where they came in the way, 

 and using no manure. About half of this ground had been cleared 

 and ploughed the previous season, but had had no crop upon it, and no 

 manure ; the rest had been cultivated one season with sweet potatoes, 

 and sparingly fertilized with muck compost. The vines were planted 

 with care, and set ten inches deep ; the growth was only moderate, and 

 generally the new land showed the poorest result. Some were quite 

 poor ; these I dug up and replaced in the spring of 1868. At that time 

 I also extended the rows, adding one hundred and eighty-four more 

 vines. These were all on new land, stumps extracted, and lightly sub- 

 soiled. To make the subsoiling more effective, I ploughed a ditch in 

 fhc line of the rows, making it fully eighteen inches deep, and giving 



