Grapes in Maryland. 



195 



of Dr. Hull's Curculio Catcher, will 

 be found useful in destroying them. 

 It consists of a piece of canvass 

 stretched over a light wooden frame, 

 in the shape of an inverted umbrella. 

 By holding it under the vine early in 

 the morning and giving the trellis a 

 slight jar, they will tumble down into 

 it, and can then be easily destroj'ed 

 when they are yet in a torpid state. 



Summer layering may still be con- 

 tinued, if the weather is not too dry. 

 See June No. about modu& o'perandi. 



This will be an excellent time for 

 digging cellars where needed. As 

 this is an important subject, we shall 

 try and give our views about the best 

 and most economical arrangement of 

 them in a separate article. 



GKAPES IN MAEYLAND. 



Messrs. Editors : — Presuming that 

 a few words from one who is almost 

 ti novice, though an ardent lover of 

 grape culture, might bo acceptable, 

 wo offer you a voice from Maryland, 

 certainly a land much favored for the 

 production of fruits. We, of the 

 Peninsula, embracing the eastern 

 shore of Maryland and all of Dela- 

 ware, supply almost entirely the east- 

 ern section of our country with 

 peaches and small fruits, and we hope 

 soon to rival the West in the supply of 

 tine grapes. On our own fruit farm, 

 we have seventeen acres devoted to 

 the culture of grapes, almost entirely 

 Concords — one-half of them upon wire 

 trellises and in full bearing, and the 

 balance coming in next jqhy. The 

 vines at this date (June 9th) are in 

 full bloom, (how does this compare 

 with Bluffton ?) and promise a largo 

 yield of very line fruit. Last year 

 we began marketing fully ripe grapes 

 on August 31st, and this season is ten 

 days ahead of last year in blooming. 



We have also a younger experi- 

 mental vineyard, consisting of about 



one hundred vines each — Delaware, 

 Salem, lona and Israella, the success 

 of which we will report at another 

 time, simply remarking, however, that 

 our Delawarcs are making equal 

 growth with Hartfords by their side. 



Our farm is located on a neck of 

 land formed b}^ two arms of the 

 Chesapeake Bay, being about a mile 

 wide from river to river, and three- 

 quarters of a mile from their conflu- 

 ence, and our vineyard land has a 

 southern inclination of about twenty- 

 five feet in the thousand, and border- 

 ing on the river, thus affording the 

 benefit of a largo body of water, 

 slightly brackish. Our latitude, 39'^ 

 29", our soil light loam Avith j'oUow 

 clay subsoil, and of good, natural sur- 

 face drainage, and our vines appear to 

 thrive. 



We are training them this year, with 

 the intention of fruiting next year on 

 the laterals, as in addition to your 

 experience we have observed with 

 how much more vigor the buds pushed 

 forth upon laterals that were acci- 

 dentally left upon the vines, which 



