-Editors' Letter Box. 



313 



of your region. We are well aware 

 of the groat influence the lakes have 

 upon the amelioration of the season. 

 We think you ai'o also mistaken if you 

 suppose we have earlier frosts in 

 autumn than you have. This ma}' bo 

 the case in the inland disti-icts, but on 

 the banks of the Missouri and Missis- 

 sij)pi the same influences prevail which 

 you ascribe to your lakes ; and our 

 springs are much earlier than yours, 

 thus giving us a longer season. The 

 best proof of this is, that our grapes 

 ripen much earlier than the same va- 

 rieties do on the lakes. 



But we are glad to see that you are 

 satisfied with j'our localit}', and have 

 no doubt it is a good one. We can 

 assure you that we are equally well 

 pleased with ours, and hope that each 

 and all of our readers are "in the same 

 fix."— Ed.] 



Green Cueek, Sheluy Co., Ills., \ 

 August 18th, 180',). \ 



Hon. (iEOrge Husmann : 



Dear Sir — You would oblige me, 

 and perhaps a good many readers of 

 your 'much esteemed journal, if you 

 Avould give me some advice through 

 its columns on the following subject : 

 Last spring I planted about 300 good 

 Concord vines, two years old. Con- 

 tinual rain prevented me from prepar- 

 ing the ground as soon as I intended 

 to do it. I plowed about eighteen 

 inches deep, and with a sjDade put the 

 lowest earth, which is of a yellow 

 color, and especially on the lower end 

 of the piece of ground a tough clay, 

 on top. Soon after a heavy rain set 

 in, and made the newly worked 

 ground so wet that I could not walk 

 on it for several days. I did not get 

 the upper end worked until it Avas diy 



again. I received the plants some- 

 what late, and every one, even a man 

 who worked in a vineyard in Germany, 

 told me the vines ought to be planted, 

 because some buds had already grown 

 about one inch. The rain did not 

 cease to fall, and the ground remained 

 wet, I got a man to plant who told 

 me he had planted 'thousands" in 

 Missouri already. He planted so deep 

 that the one eye was about equal with 

 the surface. About eight da^'s after 

 I prepared the upper end of the ground 

 (which is more sandy and poorer) in 

 the same manner, and after that it did 

 not rain much more. I received some 

 plants from another man (Warsaw, 111.) 

 good ones also, which had started still 

 more than the first ones. I planted 

 them myself, just as the other ones 

 were planted. 



Now, I find that the vines on the 

 upper end, which was worked after the 

 heavy rain, and which is quite loose, 

 have shoots from six to nine feet long, 

 while those on the lower end are only 

 about two or three feet long. The 

 latter ones sunk about half a foot, and 

 the ground around the roots and every- 

 where is as hard as a road. Now, 

 what I wnsh very much to know is : 

 What shall I do to make the vines on 

 the lower end grow next year ? The 

 cause of their slow growth is, in my 

 opinion, the density of the ground 

 (caused by working the ground and 

 planting when wet) and the sinking of 

 the vines. Some have their lowest 

 roots from ten to fourteen inches deej). 

 I hope you will be so kind as to give 

 me some advice about this. 



As the grapes have been rotting this 

 year all over the country, I trust you 

 and no doubt a good many readers of 



