NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



283 



For the New England Farmer. 

 A FEW WORDS ON GRAPE CULTURE. 



Mr. Brown : — A few years ago there was an 

 Isabella grape fever, and almost every family in our 

 villages had a vine or more on their buildings 5 ; 

 some erected trellises for them to grow upon, 

 which made a fine ornament. Now they general- 

 ly look as if they wanted the doctor. Many of 

 them seem past recovery. In 1850, the fruit was 

 cut off in this county by the frost, and many vines 

 injured in autumn. My vines were defoliated by 

 the first of Sept. About the 15th of August the 

 under side of the leaves became red; they appeared 

 to be eaten by some minute insect, and finally 

 withered and fell, leaving the fruit hanging worth- 

 less. The next spring, 1851, I found but one 

 plant, in a lot of 400, that had any life in its roots. 

 The roots were black and rotten ; these were one 

 and two years old. Some plants from 5 to 7 years 

 growth shared the same fate ; only some 6 or 8 

 out of 80 plants pushed a few feeble shoots. 



What shall we grow 1 Shall it be the wild, or 

 fox grape (so called) as some have recommended ? 

 To me the greatest difficulty appears to be its un- 

 productiveness, it having but few berries on a 

 bunch, and those falling off by being slightly 

 jarred ; even a high wind will shake them off as 

 fast as they ripen, especially after a slight frost. 



As a source of profit, they are worthless, for 

 they cannot be sold in market for enough to pay 

 the gathering, unless the buyer thinks they are 

 Isabellas. 



I find Isabellas grown here, are not the Isabel- 

 la's grown in the vicinity of New York. I have 

 eaten fruit that was fruit, from a vine growing in 

 Brooklyn, L. I. It was called the Isabella. It 

 commenced ripening there by the 15th 'of August. 



An extensive grape grower in the vicinity of 

 Brooklyn, who has eleven acres devoted to the 

 grape, paid §15, and trimmed the vines for the 

 cuttings for his vineyard. He considered it the 

 best grape he was acquainted with. Our Isabel- 

 las are hardly an apology. His vines are trained 

 to a wire trellis, his posts are locust and chest- 

 nut, with the wire drawn horizontally through 

 them. May not the Sweetwater take the place of 

 the Isabella'? Gen. Newhall, of Lynnfield, has a 

 variety called the Sweetwater. I think he pro 

 cured the plant or seed of a gentleman from the 

 Mediterranean. It usually ripens before frost 

 comes ; the fruit is sweet, with little or no pulp 

 transparent, pale green. It sells readily at from 

 20 to 35 cts. per lb. As it must be protected in 

 winter, I would suggest a mode of culture. It is 

 not so rampant a grower as the Isabella, which I 

 think is in its favor for training. Set the plants 

 on the south or southwest of some building or 

 fence, about two feet off, set them three feet 

 apart, in the row, and train each plant to a separ- 

 ate post. 



Prepare the post in this manner : — Set a hard 

 wood post in the ground, leaving about one foot 

 above" the ground ; prepare a pine scantling eight 

 feet long, two inches thick, four inches wide at 

 the lower end, two inches wid^it the top. Saw 

 out a piece in the post set in the ground, bore 

 two holes through the post and scantling, and put 

 pins in them so that by taking out the upper pin, 

 the scantling will lay on the ground, the lower pin 

 acting as a hinge. Set the post so that the scant- 

 lings will all lay one way, laying over each other. 



In the autumn, take out the upper pin and let 

 them fell, with the vines attached as they grew. 

 Take some boards, and lay them edgewise on each 

 side of the vines, which makes a sort of box, and 

 fill it with earth. Would not such a mode of cul- 

 ture be more ornamental, with ten or a dozen 

 plants in front of a house, than the Isabella, with 

 its naked and crooked trunk reaching to the top of 

 the house, with the fruit around the attic win- 

 dows, and that all mildewed. Some object to the 

 Isabella on account of the injury to the house, 

 which this mode will obviate. They answer for 

 shade when shade is wanted. In winter they are 

 not an unsightly thing, because they are out of 

 sight. n. 



Danvers. 



Remarks. — The Yankee shines out pre-eminent- 

 ly in that suggestion. We have vines on the 

 south side of a ledge where the snow accumulates 

 to such a depth as to break vines and trellises ev- 

 ery winter. The suggestion seems a good one. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 CORN FOR GREEN FEED. 

 Dear Sir : — I wish to inquire through your pa- 

 per what kind of corn you think it the most profi- 

 table to plant to be cut up, while green, for fodder. 

 I am aware the southern corn yields more in bulk 

 than the sweet corn, and I would like to know if 

 the latter makes up in quality what it lacks in quan- 

 tity, so as to render it as profitable to raise for this 

 purpose as the former. By answering these inqui- 

 ries you will oblige, 



Yours, &c, Daniel Buxton, Jr. 



Remarks. — We always sow the yellow flat corn 

 to cut up as green fodder for cows, and have no 

 experience with any other. Some of our readers 

 have undoubtedly made experiments with corn for 

 this purpose, and will be pleased to communicate 

 their opinions. The Working Farmer recommends 

 what it calls Stowell's Evergreen Corn for this pur- 

 pose, and states that " the stalks are nearly as 

 sweet as those of the sugar-cane, and that double • 

 the quantity can be grown to the acre, to that re- 

 sulting from the ordinary sweet corn." Corn as 

 green fodder is an important crop ; it gives a large 

 yield, is very nutritious and palatable to the ani- 

 mal, all which make it very desirable that we 

 should know what are the best kinds to use. 



Do not Work for Nothing. — "We have long 

 contended, and religiously believe, that the culti- 

 vators of American soil perform more unnecessary 

 work every year to obtain their crops than the ag- 

 gregate labor of all other classes combined. This 

 prodigious loss of labor and capital can never be 

 prevented until the laws of nature that govern the 

 fruitfulness of the earth and the rewards of farm 

 labor, are studied, understood and obeyed." So 

 says Dr. Lee. Patent Office Report, 1850-51, 

 page 63. 



Freezing of Vegetables. — Contrary to general 



£ anion, freezing is not necessarily destructive of 



life in vegetables. At Charles Island, in Hudson's 



Bay, according to Captain James, the trees had 



