THE 



GRAPE CULTURIST. 



Vol. II. 



AUGUST, 1870. 



No. 8. 



AUGUST. 



WORK FOR THE MONTH, 



But verj'' little remains to bo done 

 in the vineyard, if it has been kept in 

 good order so far. Tying the 3'oiing 

 canes along the upper wires occasion- 

 ally, and keeping the soil loose, clean 

 and mellow, will be about all that is 

 really necessary to do. This latter is 

 all the more necessarj", as August is 

 generally the month of drouth, and 

 the loose mellow soil is the best mulch 

 for the vines. 



Most of the varieties will color in 

 the course of this month ; birds, foxes, 

 raccoons and opossums will begin their 

 depredations, and must be closely 

 watched. W^e are far from advising 

 the indiscriminate slaughter of birds? 

 as we think that they do more good, 

 on the whole than harm, by destroy- 

 ing myriads of noxious insects. But 

 the oriole, we confess, taxes our 

 patience to such a degree, by poking 

 his bill into every ripe bei'ry, that we 

 have little merc}' on him, especially 

 as we never sec him in the vineyard 

 except when grapes are ripe. The best 

 plan to keep them in check is to erect 

 some tall leafless bush in several places 

 in the vinej'ard. The birds will alight 

 on them before they go into the vines, 

 and a dose of powder and lead may 

 then be applied without hurting the 

 vines. The brown thrush, cat-bird 



and cardinal are also much addicted to 

 grape stealing, but we confess that we 

 always wage war against them with a 

 troubled conscience, as we think that 

 the insects they destroy counterbal- 

 ance their destruction of grapes. But 

 do not shoot our little graj- sparrow, 

 the best friend you have ; quietly and 

 unobtrusively it slips along among 

 the vines, with its clear eye always on 

 the watch for worms and bugs. Fos- 

 ter and protect him and the pretty 

 blue-bird; they never touch grapes, 

 and only live on insects. We have no 

 mercy on our four-footed depredators, 

 however, and if foxes, raccoons and 

 opossums see fit to attack our grapes 

 wholesale, we think ourselves justified 

 in waging war against them with all 

 and every means in our power. One 

 of the most destructive is a dose of 

 strychnine, put on the w^ng or leg of 

 a chicken, and scattered about through 

 the vineyard. We have killed a whole 

 family of foxes in this way in a single 

 night, and if they partake of these 

 pleasing morsels, the poison acts so 

 quick that they will not get out of the 

 vinej'ard alive. But of course you 

 must keep your dogs at home while 

 applying it, or the}^ might share the 

 fate of their arch enemies. Where 

 you cannot obtain strychnine, steel 



