GRAPE CULTURE. 



Many entertain the opinion that grapes cannot be success- 

 fully grown, except it be a single vine, here and there, in some 

 favored locality. Certain they are that it is useless to attempt 

 to grow grapes for market in the Eastern and Northern states. 

 Both these notions are erroneous, having been formed some 

 years ago, when the Isabella and Catawba were the only hardy 

 out-door grapes to be found in the catalogues. The Isabella 

 originated in South Carolina, and is seldom grown to perfection 

 in the latitude of New England, and the Catawba requires too 

 long a season. Those who judge of the possibilities from what 

 they know of these varieties, are not up with the times. They 

 forget, if they ever knew, that the new varieties have shortened 

 the required season at least a month. 



A knowledge of the best treatment for bringing the fruit to 

 early maturity will aid the grower still more, and a selection of 

 a proper soil and exposure will also tend to insure success. In 

 favorable localities, with suitable varieties and intelligent cult- 

 ure, the grape crop is as certain as a crop of Indian corn. The 

 conditions best suited to each are nearly identical. There are a 

 few fruit-growers who are already masters of the situation, and 

 are making the grape and the peach crop very remunerative. 

 Inquirers and converts are rapidly increasing. 



New England is on the extreme northern limit of grape cult- 

 ure, and the grower, to succeed, must study and observe the 

 conditions of success carefully. Almost any man can find spots 

 on his farm that are practically a hundred miles north or south 

 of his dwelling-house. For the grape, choose the spot farthest 

 south a warm, sandy loam, with a gentle slope, and southern 



