22 



7'he Grape Cultnrist. 



and that the only correct advice on 

 this head is to prune "judgmaticall}'." 



I have, however, found that all old 

 countrj' peoi)lc are inclined to prune 

 too close, and not leave bearing wood 

 sufficient to consume the energies of 

 the vine, and, as a result, there will 

 be an overgrowth of vino, and what 

 few bunches of grapes do form will be 

 smothered out, unless you are con- 

 stantly summer pruning. AVe practice 

 summer pruning, but not so much as 

 seems to be the case with you. It 

 consists principally in regulating the 

 young shoots intended for bearing 

 wood the next season, and pinching 

 the fruit spurs where the shade is 

 likely to be too dense. 



But in my rambling letter I have 

 ran entirely away from the subject of 

 the trailing chain culture. My object 

 was to give you an outline of my sys- 

 tem of pruning, and you could see 

 whether, in a climate where such prac- 

 tices succeed, the trailing culture 

 would not likel}^ be very advantage- 

 ous. 



]^ow, I will tell you another thing 

 about grape-raising here. Yines al- 

 lowed to run on the ground like pump- 

 kin vines bear the very finest of fruit, 

 and ripen perfectly and evenly, lying 

 right on the ground. Why I would 

 wish to have the vines raised at all 

 would be to keep the grapes from 

 gettiug dirty. Yours, respectfully, 



A. B. EOBERTS. 



[If 3-ou can get along without culti- 

 vating your vines during the summer, 

 trailing chain culture may do, other- 

 wise we see a serious objection in the 

 necessity of disturbing them during 

 summer, and "laying back" on the 

 other row. Yours must be a Lcreat 



countr}^ for grapes, and we would 

 like to see it. — Ed.] 



Marion Hill, near Kichmond, Dec. 21, 1869. 



Dear Sir : Enclosed please find Sl.OO 

 for Grape Culturist, for the year 1869. 



You have my thanks for the numbers 

 sent me. I have found them to be of 

 great and deserving interest, and just 

 the thing needed by the grape grow- 

 ing public. I reallj^ hope you will be 

 able to make it not only a permanent 

 institution, but a pa3-ing one. 



My experience is not yet sufficient 

 to justify me in urging m}' views of 

 grape growing upon your readers, or 

 I might occasionally find leisure to 

 drop you a line. I am satisfied, how- 

 ever, of the success of grape growing 

 and wine making in this section. It 

 is to become a great business here, 

 some day. 



Dr. Jones, who has a small vine- 

 yard in my immediate neighborhood, 

 has fruited the Concord, Ion a, Dela- 

 ware, Black .Hamburg, Ives seedling, 

 and Diana, for two years, and, thus 

 far, no rot or mildew has made its 

 appearance on any of them, though 

 the Catawba, fruiting onlv a short 

 distance off, was bad)}' affected with 

 them. The doctor regards the lona 

 as being veiy far sujierior to any other 

 grape grown b3' him; and, in fact, it 

 is a veiy fine grape, but I do not think 

 it will compare witli the Delaware, or 

 even the Taylor, as wo have it here. 



I have now nearly twelve acres in 

 vinej^ard, most of which will be in 

 bearing next season, though to tell the 

 truth, I have not done my vineyard 

 justice the last year. I have had 

 politics on the brain, and grape grow- 

 ing and politics do not consort well, 



