SECRETARY'S REPORT. 61 



in the front rank of the cultivators of that fruit, and at the head 

 of all those who have endeavored to improve the hardy native 

 grape of New England, and to give us a new and valuable 

 seedling adapted to our soil and climate, equally useful for the 

 table and the wine-press. 



Mr. Bull said he would invite the attention of the audience 

 to the cultivation of the grape in the field and vineyard, which 

 he believed to be both possible and profitable in Massachusetts. 

 He had, he believed, established the fact, by long experience, 

 that in soils suited to grape culture, and with proper cultivation, 

 the grape was one of the surest of fruit crops, and the most 

 profitable. But in order to succeed in raising large crops of 

 grapes it was necessary that the soil should be dry and warm, 

 and that the cultivator should get perfectly ripe wood, and 

 strong and well-set buds for the next year's crops. 



Many writers recommend breaking the soil to the depth of 

 two feet or even more, and making it rich with composts before 

 planting ; but he did not believe this to be good practice, but, 

 on the contrary, actually injurious, for the following reasons, 

 viz. : — 



The soil of Massachusetts does not get heated, during our 

 short summers, sufficiently for the healthy growth of the grape, 

 to a greater depth than about one foot. Now, if the ground is 

 trenched and made rich, the roots of the vine are coaxed down 

 into the lower and colder stratum of soil, and the wood and 

 buds are not properly ripened, the former being spongy and 

 immature and, as a necessary consequence, the latter being 

 weak and imperfect, so that the next year's crop will be enfee- 

 bled, and will ripen later than its proper season. The vine, if 

 a rampant grower like the Concord, will make so much wood as 

 to get out of hand, and make it impossible to prune it much 

 without having such a luxuriant growth of wood the next season 

 as cannot mature, and the evils above stated become chronic. 



The grape-grower should always aim to get thoroughly ripened 

 wood. "Without this he cannot count on a crop of fruit with 

 any certainty, even if the immature wood survive the winter, 

 for the buds are never perfect until the wood is fully ripe. Let 

 us see, therefore, what method we shall take to obtain this well 

 ripened wood. In the first place, let us remember that the 

 grape requires heat at the root. This is indispensable. Do not, 



