5o. 124.] jn 



inflammations, palsy, and apoplexy. I am a physician, and I do not 

 recollect a butcher, in fifteen }eais of my practice, who died tohat / 

 term a natural death. I have told them this. They eat meat 

 three times a day. They must eat more fruit. They suffer also from 

 chronic diseases, produced by eating too much animal food. When 

 I have found them with their systems deranged — seeing all nature 

 in dismal, false colors — out of humor — I told them to leave their 

 meat, and eat vegetables and fruit. 



It is not altogether the climate which renders Frenchmen vivacious 

 as they are. It is their diet — vegetables and a little pure wine. 



The heat in England is not strong enough to penetrate the soil 

 deeply. They plant shallow, therefore. I plant my vines deep. 

 Most of our planting must be so. The vine roots run great lengths 

 for their supplies, a great many feet. Our city pruning is bad. I 

 prefer what is termed long 'pruning to spur pruning. I grow my 

 grapes on last year's growth of wood. I give them considerable 

 length. I prune in March, and as late as the beginning of April. 

 Bleeding does no injury to the vine or grape. I have tried that well. 

 I train my vines six feet high, five feet apart in the rows, and the 

 rows are six feet apart. I train them on wires fastened to the posts. 

 I prune always so as to grow my fruit on the wood which grew the 

 last year. That branch I take special care of. I cut out that branch 

 which bore fruit the last year. I also rub off certain of the shoots 

 from the buds, so that there shall not be too much fruit to render the 

 whole less perfect. By this I get not only better grapes, but in fact, 

 more of them. In our city vines, we leave ten times too much vine 

 and fruit on the stems. I am now trying experiments on a variety 

 of grapes, and in due time I will give the results. Any dry situation 

 will produce grapes. The vines ought not to stand in wet locations. 

 France, in 1830, raised one hundred and fifty millions of dollars 

 worth of grapes ! I say to you with confidence, from the knowledge 

 which I possess, that we can raise nearly double the quantity of grapes 

 on an acre that France does, or Germany does, on an average of 

 years. 



I prefer planting my vines in the spring — but for the Isabella, 

 spring or fall will do. The pulp in our grapes is lessening every 

 year. Five years ago, the French, Spaniards, and Italians here would 

 not eat our grapes — now they begin to relish them. The matter of 

 our grape is enclosed in a capsule; the Madeira grape is cellular in 

 its structure. There is some art in eating grapes. Some persons do 

 not know how to do it well. 



Townsend Hilliard, of Philadelphia, made a written communication 

 on the grape, chiefly as to a worm which attacks the root of the vine. 

 It was read follows: 



