Causes of Failure in Grape Groiving. 



309 



C.VUSES OF FAILUEE m GEAPE GEO WING. 



We were prevented by press of 

 matter last month, to comment on 

 this very useful and critical article of 

 our friend Bush. He also takes us to 

 task for inconsistencies which he 

 claims to have found in our writings. 

 Now, while we do not claim to be in- 

 fallible more than other men, and are 

 always willing to acknowledge errors, 

 we think we can easily explain these 

 seeming inconsistencies to his satis- 

 faction and that of others. If our 

 fi-iend was as practical a grape 

 grower, as he is certainl}^ a good 

 theorist and careful calculator, he 

 would perhaps not have found them, 

 or they would have explained them- 

 selves. There is not alone the num- 

 ber and price of plants to be deducted 

 in the two calculations, but also the 

 additional labor of an acre of bearing 

 vines, which is double that of an acre 

 in its second year, and four times the 

 cost of an acre in its first year. 

 Besides, we practical men learn to do 

 all these things somewhat cheaper 

 ever}^ year, of which fact he, behind 

 his desk, is perhaps not aware. The 

 cost of cultivating an acre will of 

 course vary with the different modes 

 of training, etc., with different culti- 

 vators. Our friend also forgets, that 

 our book was written four years ago, 

 and while layering did pay w^ell then, 

 the price of vines has decreased so, 

 that it would very likely not ])iiy ex- 

 penses now. He saj's, " even if some 

 could make it pay, the receipts for the 

 layers would come in after the second 

 year, and we must have the money to 

 pay for labor, etc., beforehand." We 

 can assure him that we did tiot forget 



this, but it is so with every operation 

 in farming; we invest our labor, etc., 

 beforehand, and can only realize the 

 profits after the crop. But is this a 

 reason why we should not count on 

 them at all ? 



Again, he sets out to give us his 

 estimate, but he has hardly started, 

 and we have not heard what it is, be- 

 fore he " switches off" into the expe- 

 rience of his fi'iend S. Now, as he 

 very truly remarks, 8. has not been 

 extravagant, but he has walks around 

 the house and stable, small bridge, 

 cabin for workmen, fare to town, etc. 

 This may have seemed necessary to S. 

 and friend Bush also ; to a practical 

 grape grower, one who has to deal 

 with the stern realities of life, these 

 would be counted among the luxuries. 

 The practical man would go to work 

 and plant his vines, cultivate them 

 with all the skill and industry he 

 could muster, get along the best way 

 he could in a small cabin himself, and 

 after he had made his first crops, and 

 had realized the money therefrom, he 

 would make walks around his house, 

 plant his shrubbery, etc. He would 

 need no cabin for his workmen, be- 

 cause he would do the work himself; 

 he would not need much *^fare to 

 town," because he Avould find so much 

 work, that he could not get time for 

 such trips; in short, unless the grape 

 grower is a rich man when he com- 

 mences, he must deny himself all 

 these things for a few years, and 

 grapple with the stern reality of in- 

 cessant work, and little recreation, 

 until he has earned them by the 

 sweat of his brow. We know a num- 



