Notes on the November Culturist. 



371 



er also, read, ponder, and inwardly 

 digest all that this article contains, 

 and they will find their profit in it. 



Reports on Grapes. — Full of instruc- 

 tion, teaching us all very plainly and 

 forcibly that, while it may be well to 

 " prove all things" cautiously, it is 

 wise to " hold fast that which is good." 

 We must be content to rely, chiefly, 

 on the few varieties that withstand 

 disease in all seasons, and subject all 

 others to a full probation, on a very 

 limited scale, until they shall establish 

 an undeniable claim to be admitted to 

 the preferred list. 



Another suggestion is presented by 

 this record of disaster : the policy of 

 instituting, everywhere, experiments 

 with the view of discovering some al- 

 leviation, if not remedy, for the ex- 

 tensive disease of our cultivated 

 grapes. 



Should vines ever be planted in 

 deep holes, however shallow the roots 

 may be buried ? 



[We think not, as the holes will 

 form so many water wells, where the 

 water is bound to remain and stag- 

 nate. — Ed.] 



Is deep trenching judicious ? Are 

 not our grapes fruited too near the 

 ground^ thus subjecting them to the 

 greatest possible influence of the sul- 

 try atmosphere, resulting from a very 

 hot sun immediately succeeding a 

 heavy rain, even of short duration ? 

 While under draining is indispensable, 

 is there sufficient attention given to 

 surface draining, by keeping the beds 

 well ridged up to the line of the trel- 

 lis and the water furrows at all times 

 well opened to a point of discharge ? 

 And in the all important matter of 

 pruning, do we not, many of us, induce 



a plethoric, and, therefore, an un- 

 heal thj^ growth, by restricting the 

 "base of operations" in short prun- 

 ing the rampant growers ? Would 

 we not get more pounds of fruit, 

 and secure better health to the vines^ 

 by leaving six eyes to produce twelve 

 bunches, than by cutting back to 

 force eyes for tAvelve bunches ? 



[Undoubtedly so ; see article on 

 "pruning the vine." — Ed.] 



Much, very much, seems to me to 

 depend on the correct solution of these 

 questions, and I trust that our grape 

 growers, everywhere, will institute 

 experiments tending to such solution. 

 In the very interesting correspond- 

 ence, Mr. Miller is made by the printer 

 to recommend "Eogcrs' ISo. 10," as 

 " a noble substitute for the Catawba," 

 instead of Rogers, No. 1, (Goethe), as 

 Mr. M., of course, wrote. So Mr. 

 Hart is made to refer to me as Mr. 

 Weith, and also to represent a single 

 Alvey vine, planted in 1868, as pro- 

 ducing 1,500 te 2,000 perfect bunches 

 this season, instead of 150 to 200, as- 

 it was no doubt written. 



[The printer was right in this in- 

 stance. See Mr. Hart's note in De- 

 cember number. — Ed.] 



Grafting Vines. — Mr. Allaire asks 

 if grape vines can be grafted and 

 transplanted at the same time. I 

 have succeeded rather better by that 

 mode than otherwise. My first at- 

 tempt, thirty-three years ago, was 

 with sixty-three wild roots, dug from 

 the hedges in April, grafted and 

 planted the same day. Out of this 

 number, only six failed to stand, the 

 balance growing off vigorously, and 

 all bearing well the next year. 



