36G 



The Grape Culturist. 



derstand English, for one term we 

 consider identical with the other, and 

 if that is the ease, we are told in the 

 same breath almost, to do a thing and 

 not to do it. " Never prune in frosty 

 weather, nor when a frost is ex- 

 pected ;■' and again, " never prune in 

 April or May." Will the writer please 

 tell us, when is the time between 

 October and April, when it is neither 

 " frosty, nor frost can be expected ?" 

 '^ In pruning, always cut upwards, and 

 ixv a sloping direction." We would 

 like to know how a sloping cut can be 

 made, without one side of the cut be- 

 ing higher than the other, conse- 

 quently upwards 'I "Always leave an 

 inch of blank wood beyond a terminal 

 bud," and "use a very sharp pruning 

 knife, if possible as sharp as a razor." 

 Why should the knife be so very 

 sharp, when he leaves an exact inch of 

 wood beyond the bud, which as he 

 ought to know, if he does not, dies off; 

 and to us it makes very little differ- 

 ence, whether a cut on a dead vine 

 has a rough or smooth edge. But 

 enough of this, we say ; it is merely 

 to show our readers what they can 

 sometimes find in the vineyard col- 

 umns of otherwise creditable agricul- 

 tural journals. 



"A NEW METHOD TO PROPAGATE VINES 

 FROM eyes" 



has produced very favorable results. 

 By this method at least three years' 

 time is saved, and grape vine nurse- 

 ries are superfluous. The sowing is 

 done with detached eyes. You can 

 thereby propagate the same improved 

 varieties you ma}' wish, and need not 

 wait longer for a crop than one year 

 and a half. Every vine, furnishes as 



man}^ new plants as it has healthy 

 eyes or buds. The}- are cut about 

 one-sixth of an inch above the bud and 

 about as far below it, so that you have 

 pieces of about half an inch with the 

 eye attached to the middle. They 

 are cut in the fall, and preserved in a 

 cellar during winter. In Februar^^, 

 the eyes are sown in drills, about two 

 to three inches deep and six inches 

 apart, in good garden soil, covered 

 with rotten manure, occasionally wa- 

 tered during dry weather, and the 

 ground loosened and stirred occasion- 

 ally." 



[We translate this precious scra2> 

 from No. 22 of Gerherd's Farmer 

 Zeltung, a journal published at New 

 York in the German language. Here, 

 kind readers, you have propagation 

 in a nut-shell, and of course you will 

 hasten to try it on your Nortons^ 

 Cynthiana, and similar varieties, 

 which have given us dull ])lodders in 

 the vineyard so much trouble, and we 

 expect a complete revolution in Amer- 

 ican grape growing from this great 

 discovery of the ago. We always 

 thought we lived in a progressive 

 age, and tried to keep up with it but 

 we confess ourselves dead-beat by 

 this modern discover}-. We are glad 

 to know, however, that you can have 

 the finiits of your labor within so 

 short a period, and right from your 

 garden beds. AVe hope the inventor 

 has applied for a jjatent, and advise 

 you to buy it at once. Truly, this 

 nineteenth century brings forth some 

 extremely fast men.] 



COVERING GRAPES IN WINTER. 



In this latitude and much farther 

 north, the covering of vines is all a 



