FRUIT CULTURE. 137 



twelve hundred dollars from the sale of grapes, grown on one 

 acre of ground. 



Soil, and Manuring the Vine. — The best and most natural 

 soil for the grape is a dry, porous limestone. It should be well 

 drained ; cold and wet situations are unfavorable for the vine. 

 In manuring for the grape, we should never use animal manure 

 M72Composted, — such was the testimony at the National Fruit 

 Growers' Convention. The mineral manures, in consequence 

 of their ingredients, have the most effect on the quality of the 

 fruit, while animal matter encourages the formation of wood 

 too fast, and makes the vine tender and subject to disease, and, 

 we think, mildew. 



The best dressing we find is bone and oyster shell flour, 

 manufactured without burning. Bone dust contains the most 

 nourishing elements, which, with wood-ashes, and a good sur- 

 face soil, well covered in the fall with dry leaves, are nearly all 

 the materials necessary for the vine ; the finer the dust of the 

 bone, tlie more immediately active it becomes. Bones are 

 said to contain a greater amount of phospheric acid than any 

 other one substance ; hence it has been beautifully expressed 

 that " there can be no civilization without population, no popu- 

 lation without food, and no food without phosphoric. acid ; and 

 that the march of civilization has followed the direction or 

 supply of this material." Of all fruits none are more impatient 

 of wet than the grape ; a dry situation is absolutely essential ; 

 therefore, if the soil be at all retentive, thorough draining is 

 necessary. 



Grafting the Yine. — This is easily performed in the follow- 

 ing manner : The soil, in the spring, is removed from the base 

 of the stock below the surface. The vine is then sawed off and 

 cut smoothly with a sharp knife. A cleft is then made in the 

 top of the stock, two or three inches deep, and the scion inserted, 

 containing two or three eyes. It is then covered with grafting 

 wax, or clay, and the surrounding earth drawn np in a mound. 

 The grafts which you intend to use in the spring should be cut 

 from the vine in the fall previous, and buried either in the 

 earth on a dry place, or put into sand in a cool and dry cellar. 

 It is better, in the spring, to wait until the stock upon which 

 you intend to set your grafts is in some state of forwardness^ 

 say nearly or quite in leaf, before you set the scions. 



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