FRUITS. 173 



knife or pointed wire. A good preventive is to form a cone 

 of earth a foot high around the trunk about the first of June ; 

 or if made of leached ashes it would be better. Remove this 

 heap in October, and the bark will harden below the reach of 

 the fly the following year. 



VARIETIES. The best kinds in succession from early to 

 late, are the Red and Yellow Rareripes, Malacatune, Early 

 York, Early Tillotson, George the Fourth, Morris' Red and 

 White Rareripes, Malta and Royal George. These succeed 

 each otherfrom August to October. 



THE APRICOT AND NECTARINE. These are of the peach 

 family, but generally inferior as a fruit and much more diffi- 

 cult of cultivation, being more liable to casualties and insects. 

 They require the same kinds of soil and cultivation as the 

 peach with a warm exposure. As they are propagated solely 

 as an article of luxury and are not wanted for general use, 

 we omit further notice of them. 



THE GRAPE. 



The details for the proper rearing of this fruit demand a 

 volume, but we can only refer to some prominent points in its 

 cultivation. It grows wild in abundance and of tolerable 

 quality in many parts of the United States, climbing over 

 trees, rocks and fences in great luxuriance. We have seen 

 in the Eastern States a dozen excellent native varieties of 

 white, black and purple, of different sizes, shapes and flavor, 

 growing within the space of a single furlong. So abundant 

 were the clustering vines on the Atlantic coast in the vicinity 

 of Narraganset Bay, that the old Northmen who discovered, 

 and for a short time occupied the country in the 12th century, 

 gave it the appropriate name of Vinland, or the Land of Vines. 

 The finer kinds require loose, shelly soils with warm, sunny 

 exposures and proper trimming. Thus cultivated they are 

 often raised with profit. The more choice and delicate kinds 

 must have protection in winter and glass heat in summer, and 

 are therefore better suited to large towns, or to a well arran- 

 ged conservatory. 



VARIETIES. The best American kinds are the Isabella 

 and Catawba, for the Middle, and the Scuppernong for the 

 Southern States. North of latitude 41 30' neither of the 

 two former ripen certainly except in long, warm seasons, and 

 it would be better for the cultivator north of this to select some 

 of the hardiest and best wild grapes of his own latitude for 

 out- door propagation. Grafting a foreign variety on a 



