Reports on Grapes. 



269 



say the Catawba has rotted worse this 

 year than ever before; one man Mr. 

 Merton sa3's, out of two acres l-ie won't 

 have two hundred and fifty pounds ; Isa- 

 bella has not set well except in some 

 few places ; that is about a!l the kinds 

 are grown to any extent, some Dela- 

 wares and a few lonas are grown ; men 

 around Cleveland as general thing 

 seem afraid to plant any new varieties. 



J. W. I. BARNkY. 



[Sorry to hear that your people are 

 so far behind the times. You should 

 trv and wake them up. Lei them come 

 out West and see us and our grapes, 

 we will try and make converts of them. 



Editor.] 



Os«KGO, OuEGOX, July 28, 1870. 



Editor Grape Culturist : 



Since the date of ray last commu- 

 nication the weather has been favor- 

 able to the grape crop, except that 

 Ave had sevei'al dixys rain, just as 

 Allen's Hybrid and Delaware were 

 in full bloom, which prevented their 

 fertilization to some extent, so that 

 the bunches on those kinds are very 

 loose. Other kinds blooming later 

 were not so much afiPected. vSince 

 then we had some of the hottest 

 weather ever known in this valley. 

 The grape vines are looking splen- 

 didl}'. There is not the slightest 

 symptom of disease of leaf or berry 

 on any of my vines, either native or 

 foreign. The berries of Concord, 

 Diana, Hartford, Delaware, Israella, 

 loua, Creveling, Allen, and Black 

 July are almost full sized,'and I expect 

 to see some of them begin to color in 

 a couple of weeks at farthest. My 

 vines are all trained to stakes, except 

 a few which are pruned to a head some 



fourteen inches from the ground — a 

 very popular method in California. 

 I think it will succeed here. I pro- 

 pose to experiment Avith various 

 modes. In the finest vineyard in 

 Oregon they grow two or three canes 

 from the ground and train them to a 

 stake. At the winter pruning they 

 cut all away but one cane, Avhich is 

 the lowest one. This they cut back 

 to eight or ten buds which bear the 

 fruit. This bearing cane is not tied 

 up, but is permitted to bend over to 

 the ground with its load of fruit. 

 Two or three of the shoots nearest 

 the ground are trained up to the 

 stake and permitted to grow to its 

 top, when they are checked. The 

 I'emaining shoots are broken off just 

 beyond the last bunch of fruit, and 

 so they continue from year to year. 

 The vines in this vineyard are about 

 three feet apart each way, and the 

 cultivation is all done by hand, and 

 consists of simply digging up the 

 ground in the spring with the vine- 

 3"ard hoe. The proprietors are French 

 vinedressers whose ancestors followed 

 the same business in " La Belle 

 France." They raise magnificent 

 grapes, and "■ lots" of them, and suc- 

 ceed in ripening them early. I should 

 think that some of our Grerman vint- 

 ners would find a good field for their 

 operations in this State, and I should 

 be glad to see them. 



Yours, very trul}', 



A. E. Shipley. 

 Aug. 13, 1870.— Not being able to 

 mail my letter till now, I open it to 

 say to you that Hariford Prolific is 

 coloring finely. No other variety 

 shows the color yet. 



A. E. S. 



