1847.] The Grape. 13 



perform spontaneously should be known and followed by us, if we 

 would attain success in its cultivation. 



For the same reason we should not suffer the adjacent ground 

 or border to be occupied by weeds, or even by useful plants, for 

 in the same proportion that we allow the grounds to be exhausted 

 by other fruit trees or by weeds, so in a like proportion do we rob 

 the vine of its food, and thereby cripple it in its power to produce 

 either an abundant crop of grapes, or those of a fine flavor and 

 quality. It therefore should not be attempted to raise every thing 

 in the small yards of a town; the object should rather be to pro- 

 duce a valuable quantity of good fruit of one kind or another, and 

 not a little of an imperfect kind of several. In this matter we all 

 err by cluttering up the garden wnth little patches of a thousand 

 things good in themselves, but worthless out of place and compa- 

 ny. As the vine, therefore, is so well adapted to growth upon 

 walls and in narrow bounds, in consequence of its peculiar mode of 

 growth, if we w^ould profit the most by the use of the yards 

 attached to our dwelling houses, so we may most profitably use 

 them for the grape almost exclusively. Certainly we ought to 

 give them a reasonable chance by a perfect destruction of weeds. 

 The grape vine produces a great extent of root — nearly as much 

 root as vine. Now, in the cramped condition in which we are 

 frequently obliged to grow it, we must resort to some method by 

 which a great surface for roots may be made, without obliging it 

 to send its roots too far, and in innutritions fields. This may of- 

 ten be effected by the use of stones in the superficial soil; and in 

 support of this plan we find that w^e are sustained by observation 

 as well as experience. Stony and rocky places frequently produce 

 the best of fruit. The best material, however, is found in large 

 bones of any kind mixed freely in the soil, and to any extent to 

 which the material may be procured. They furnish the same ex- 

 tent of surface as stones, and at the same time supply the plant 

 with nutriment. 



The above are all of them important considerations; they are 

 sufficient reasons why the grape should be more extensively cul- 

 tivated in town and country, and they are important as mea- 

 sures to be put in practice in order to secure a fortunate and pro- 

 fitable result. No doubt many are deterred from the cultivation 

 of the grape from the poor success which has followed from some 

 unhappy attempts, or from failures. These failures have often 

 arisen from the use of foreign kinds or varieties. In the United 

 States we have a few excellent native kinds, which are far better 

 adapted to the purposes sought to be attained, than any foreign 

 kinds which have ever been planted ; for it is well known that the 

 most successful cultivators have tried them and have failed, and 

 have afterwards taken into favor the Catawba and Isabella, and 



