FRUIT-GARDENING. 115 



their whole length at the time of trimming in October. In 

 November, they are laid on the ground at full length, fastened 

 down with pins, and covered lightly with earth. In this state 

 they lie all the winter. In April, as soon as the weather will 

 permit, they are uncovered, and left lying on the ground ten or 

 twelve days. By the first of May the vines are trained to stakes 

 or poles of the length of ten feet and upwards ; and by the 

 middle of June the stakes are entirely covered by new shoots 

 of the vine, and with plenty of fruit, which ripens in September. 

 Mr. W. says, that until he pursued his present course, his fruit 

 was frequently blasted and mildewed ; but that he has now vines 

 twenty or thirty feet long, which run up the fruit-trees adjoin- 

 ing ; others, being carried up eight or ten feet, are stretched 

 horizontally. It is seldom he gathers fruit within three or four 

 feet of the ground, and he has never any blasted or infected 

 with mildew. He keeps the ground cultivated by frequent 

 hoeing ; but he says he has used no manure for ten years or 

 more. 



PREPARATION OF SOIL AND PLANTING. 



Edward H. Bonsall has a vineyard of American Grapes at 

 Germantowu, Pa., in a high state of cultivation. In a letter to 

 the author, from which the following is extracted as appropri- 

 ate to our subject, he says : 



" Mr. Bonsall's vineyard is situated between the Schuylkill 

 and Delaware rivers, four miles from the former, and eight from 

 the latter, at an elevation of three hundred feet above their level ; 

 has an aspect facing S.S.E., with a substratum of light isinglass 

 soil, and seems well suited to the purpose. He says : ' From 

 my experience, both on my premises and at other places, it is 

 my opinion that we should reject almost all the foreign varieties, 

 especially where our object in cultivating them is to make wine.' 

 He has upwards of thirty varieties of American vines under 

 cultivation ; he recommends preparing the ground by ploughing 

 with two ploughs with strong teams, one immediately behind 

 the other, in the same furrow, each of them set deep ; and after 



