76 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTUKE. 



preparation of salt and lime, made by slaking a cask of shell- 

 lime with water containing a bushel of salt, four bushels of the 

 preparation being used to each cord of muck ; the quantity 

 used each year not exceeding 25 loads, spread and ploughed 

 in to a depth of some seven or eight inches. 



The preparation of the ground for the vines consisted of 

 ploughing and harrowing. Stakes were then set, and five 

 large shovelfuls of the before-mentioned compost spread 

 around each stake, in a circle of about four feet in diameter, 

 and well forked in. 



The vines, which were good two-year-old plants, were then 

 carefully set, pains being taken to have the roots well spread, 

 and some four inches below the surface. As soon as the buds 

 had developed to shoots of two inches in length, all but the 

 best one were removed, and that one was kept tied, and its 

 laterals pinched until the 1st of September, when, having 

 attained a height of from four to six feet, the tops of all were 

 pinched. As soon as the leaves had fallen, they were pruned 

 to three or four buds and a height of about a foot, soon after 

 which all were covered with earth to a depth of three or four 

 inches. 



The cultivation was done principally with a horse and an 

 ordinary steel-tooth cultivator. The middle spaces were not 

 occupied, except in about one-third of the vineyard, which 

 was set to strawberries, two rows, two feet apart, in each 

 space, and they were not allowed to spread to within three 

 feet of the rows of vines. The strawberries grew finely, 

 and bore two heavy crops. I think it would have been 

 better had I set the entire vineyard to them, as the manure, 

 they received more than compensated, by enriching the land, 

 for any temporary check they may have given the vines. 



The second season the vines were allowed to make two 

 canes, which grew very vigorously, and by fall attained a 

 height of eight or ten feet, when they were cut back to about 

 four feet in length, and covered the same as the previous sea- 

 son. The spring following posts were set twelve feet apart, 

 and galvanized No. 13 wire fastened to them by staples, the 

 lower wire being sixteen inches from the ground, and the 

 fourth and last three feet from the lower one. The canes 

 were securely tied to the lower wire, and from these, shoots 



