GRArE CULTURE. 25 



a deep border means late ripening, and in this climate we cannot 

 spare a single day. If you require a longer season to ripen the 

 fruit, you must have the same for the wood. Mr. Moore again 

 spoke of the two Isabella vines to which he alluded at the previous 

 meeting. These both had a southern exposure ; the first one 

 planted had ver}^ little preparation, but in the hope to get finer 

 fruit from the second the border was made three feet deep, and to 

 his astonishment the fruit was ten days later than that of the first. 

 Mr. Moore did not believe we needed a border of greater depth 

 than that of ordinary plowing. Mr. Barnett's vine bed occupies 

 only one quarter of the ground ; that is, the roots of an acre of 

 vines are confined to a quarter of an acre. Under these circum- 

 stances the roots must fill the border as those of a plant fill a pot, 

 and the vines struggle one with another, and they are root pruned 

 besides. The vines are not allowed to have their own way, and 

 Mr. Moore had sometimes thought it desirable to let them have 

 their own way a little. Mr. Barnett, however, must crowd and 

 prune the roots of his vines because his border is so rich. Mr. 

 Moore had never seen any variety of Vitis Labrusca grown in this 

 way that did not lose its vigor. Perhaps under Mr. Barnett's 

 system, when the roots are in the same condition as those of a pot- 

 bound plant, it is necessary to make the border as rich as he does 

 and the moist soil, which is not generally desirable for vines, might 

 be proper where the roots of an acre of vines are confined to a 

 quarter of an acre. 



Any vine started at an angle with the ground can be easily laid 

 down, whereas if grown upright it cannot be. Mr. Moore thought 

 it would be necessary to lay down vines grown in such a rich bor- 

 der, and he asked if it would not be better to grow them so as not 

 to need laying down. Although Mr. Barnett had a difl^erence of 

 two weeks in his favor, Mr. Moore found no difficulty in ripening 

 wood. Vines grown in soil rich enough to produce from forty to 

 fifty bushels of corn to the acre will ripen their wood, though 

 larger than that which Mr. Barnett exhibited here. 



Mr. Moore regarded the method of pruning as of very little con- 

 sequence ; one might be more convenient than another, but the 

 object is to get grapes, and any method that would fill the trellis 

 with short jointed, well ripened wood will effect this. He had 

 tried many plans, including the renewal, under which you might 

 succeed for a year or two. He thought it desirable to prune in the 



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