VINEYAKDS. 77 



were allowed to grow, at a distance of some seven or eight 

 inches. As these shoots developed, they Avere pinched at 

 the fourth leaf beyond the last bunch of fruit, and kept tied 

 to the wires. I cut this season (1871) 1,500 pounds of fine, 

 well-ripened fruit. 



The spring following, I cut the fruiting-canes back to two 

 eyes, and treated them the same as in the preceding season. 

 The amount of fruit was rather less than I expected, the gage- 

 bugs being much more destructive than usual, requiring consid- 

 erable labor in hand-picking them, that being the only suc- 

 cessful mode of warfare against them. 



The winter of 1872-3 proved very destructive to my vines, 

 the thermometer falling to 31° below zero on the morning of 

 the 31st of January, killing all uncovered fruit-buds, and 

 injuring the vines so badly that I do not think they have 

 entirely recovered as yet. But through secondary buds we 

 replaced, during the ensuing season, most of our lost fruiting- 

 spurs, so that the crop of the present season is the heaviest I 

 have yet had, although much less, as I believe, than it would 

 have been had the vines remained uninjured, the fruiting-buds 

 having been necessarily much less perfect from late-starting 

 accessory buds than they would have been from perfect, unin- 

 jured ones. 



The expenses and returns have been as follows : 547 vines 

 at 12 cts., $65.64; compost, $20 ; preparing ground and set- 

 ting vines, $18; use of stakes, $3; 286 posts and setting the 

 same, $28.60 ; 250 lbs. wire and putting on to posts, $45.75 ; 

 pruning, cultivation and tying, six years, $85 ; cutting and 

 marketing 5,100 lbs. of fruit, at 1 cent, $51; killing bugs, 

 $8; plaster and applying, $4.75; rental of three-fourths of 

 an acre of land, at $6 an acre per annum, $27 ; interest, $46.70. 

 Total, $403.44. 



Received for 1,500 lbs. fruit, at 9 cts., $135 ; 1,600 lbs., at 

 10 cts., $160; 2,000 lbs., at 8 cts., $160. Total $455. 



A portion of the crop of the present season I am obliged to 

 estimate, as, at the time of writing, a part is still uncut. The 

 vines in this vineyard have been almost entirely exempt from 

 disease. The only insects that have injured them arc the 

 gage-bug and the thrip, the latter confining its depredations 

 mostly to the end vines and outside rows. 



