108 



The Grape Gulturist. 



any given method of cultivation, or va- 

 riety of gtapes, has proved successful 

 or desirable ; where practiced, and by 

 Avhom grown. 



For the fact is — and all of us have 

 observed it, however pure and high 

 minded may bo the great majority of 

 our grape growers, our tield of labor i 

 may hemixde — has been made to pro- | 

 duce "thorns and thistles" from seed 

 scattered b}" the concealed hand of 

 some of the servants of the '^enemy of 

 all righteousness." Again, "theory," 

 though always more or less instruc- 

 tive, has often — when called to the 

 aid of the practitioner, prove<l but a 

 blind guide. 



Hence, it is of the greatest impor- 

 tance that the novice in grape grow- 

 ing, may be able to distinguish be- 

 tween what has been accomplished, 

 and what the mere theorist may pro- 

 claim as practical or important, when, 

 by actual trial, his theoretically mark- 

 ed out method may be found to be as 

 fatally faulty as the man}'- ingenious- 

 ly contrived perpetual, self-propelling 

 machines, Avhich, though beautiful 

 models of mechanical genius, fail en- 

 tirely to meet the end in view. 



When I read an apparently inter- 

 esting communication from a brother 

 grape grower, disclosing the true 

 method of planting, training, pinch- 

 ing, pruning, &.C., &c. — points upon 

 which we so often and so resolutely dif- 

 fer, and then, to heighten my anxiety, 

 announces as the natural result the 

 most complete success — why, I want to 

 go at once, and have both oral and 



ocular demonstration of what has been 

 accomplished, that I may go on confi- 

 dently and '*(lo likewi'<c." 



I say, ''I want to go," Init under- 

 stand me, I don't always hurry off; 

 not quite so often as I used to, for, to 

 tell the truth, my ardor in this regard 

 has been materially damaged by past 

 experience ; for I have so often failed to 

 discover the object of my anxiety, failed 

 to find the sought writer or his where- 

 abouts, or, finding him, have been 

 made sadly conscious thai my visit 

 w\as neither expected nor desired; in 

 short, made painfully to realize that 

 the "play was out," or that it never 

 had been performed, and, as a matter 

 of course, never would be. 



Well timed and quite in order, in 

 my judgment, is the suggestion of 

 your Eichmond correspondent, whom, 

 did he not remind us of his forty yeare 

 of experience, we should unmistakably 

 recognize as a real and practical grape 

 grower, (live us ''the sanction of a 

 name." 



By the way, Messrs., can you tell 

 me where I can find "Labrusca," or 

 give me his real name^ or the where- 

 abouts of his habitation ? 



He is evidently a very intelligent 

 grape grower, but — excuse me, I really 

 am a little anxious to know^ whether 

 he ever groirs any grapes. 



(TRTFFITn. 



We cannot tell you who "Labi'usca" 

 is. — Ed, 



