300 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



time gioimd bone and potash have been applied, about two 

 hundred [>oiinds to the acre, in the proportion of two parts of 

 bone to one part of petash. The crop which you saw at the time 

 of your visit (September 13) was not large, yet in ray opinion it 

 was all the young vines ought to carry. In August I thinned out 

 the sm:;ll bunches, leaving not over fifteen bunches on a vine. 



The present year being very cold and wet, the grapes were 

 fully two weeks later than last year in ripening. The heavy and 

 continuous rains caused many of the well ripened berries to crack, 

 somewhat injuring the sale of them. The Niagaras being later, 

 did not become ripe and sweet before the early frosts, and the 

 market being fully supplied with grapes from other States, they 

 did not sell well ; but with better weather in future years I expect 

 they will ripen so as to be sweet and command a fair price. 



Pruning can be done at any time after the leaves have fallen. 

 I usually prune in November, cutting away the old wood as much 

 as possible, leaving four or five arms of last j'ear's wood, about 

 four feet long, on each vine. These arms when trained on the wire 

 trellis, a part each way from the stem, should reach to those of the 

 next vine, thus covering the entire length of trellis. Trellis is 

 made by setting posts seven and one-half feet long at intervals of 

 sixteen feet, thus leaving two vines in each space. Four wires 

 (No. 14 galvanized) are stretched the length of the row and 

 fastened to these posts by means of small staples, the lower wire 

 about twenty inches from the ground, and the other spaces about 

 fifteen inches each in width. 



Among other varieties of grapes which I grow to some extent, I 

 consider the Worden, Brighton, Pocklington, Hayes, and Esther 

 as ver}' promising. The Pocklington when fully ripe is a most 

 excellent and showy grape. 



By request I give you a short history and description of my 

 youug Gravenstein Orchard. The orcliard contains about sixty- 

 five trees, — set about the years 1881 and 1882, distant from each 

 other about thirty-five feet. At the time of setting, holes were 

 dug broad enough to receive the roots without cramping, and deep 

 enough to give plenty of mellow soil, and to admit the tree as low 

 or a trifle lower than it stood in the nurseiy. After trimming off 

 the mangled ends of roots, the trees were placed in position, and 

 the hole gradually filled in with fine soil worked well in among the 

 roots with the fingers. When completed the soil was firmed by 



