Reports on Grapes. 



271 



hundred this spring, and who also 

 planted shallow, states that he did 

 not lose five per cent. This spring I 

 grafted four Isabella, stocks J inches 

 through, wiih Martha, and not being 

 able to find a smooth place below 

 ground, I cut off the stock even with 

 the ground, and set in the grafts in 

 the usual way. Then I threw a few 

 handsfull of loose ground on the graft, 

 60 as to cover it. This was my first 

 attempt at grafting, but all four 

 started, and three are growing finely. 

 Very respectfully yours, 



C. £. SOEST, 



Of Soest & Bros. 



Champaigx, 111.. .Sept. 5. ISTO. 

 Iteo. HusMANN, Esq., Editor Grape 



Culturist, /St. Louis, Mo.: 



(i rapes have done wonderfully well 

 here this year. No blight, no rot, no 

 mildew; few if an}- insects, except in 

 narrow districts, and the crop is at 

 least three weeks earlier than usual. 

 There are grapes, and grapes of the 

 finest, and to be had at the fine price 

 (to the consumer) of five cents a pound. 



You say the Clinton is a failure in 

 Missouri, and a correspondent from 

 Texas says the same thing of the Con- 

 •cord there; an<! he says, too, the Clin- 

 ton dried up. Here the Clinton has 

 done Avell — ver}^ well, indeed, every- 

 where ; and where it has had liberty, 

 light, air, and sunlight, it has done 

 magnificently indeed. To be sure, in 

 •some lew places one may see that the 

 gall insect has done damage — a dam- 

 age, so far as I have seen*, confined to 

 that grape alone. 



I was down to the great orchard- 

 ist's " Eural,'' the other da}-, where I 

 saw about 500 Concord trained on Dr. 



Hull's "double and twisted" sj-stem, 

 which on this, the fourth year from 

 setting, were estimated to carry fif- 

 teen pounds to the vine. "Whether 

 this is a large yield or a small one I 

 do not know, but in the way of grapes 

 it was the noblest sight I ever was 

 witness to. No blight, no mildew, no 

 unripe or decayed grapes — nothing 

 but health, and strength, and vigor. 

 Every bunch purple with bloom, ever}' 

 one perfect, but none very large or 

 very small. "Eural" told me the 

 vines had not been touched in the way 

 of pinching or pruning this season. 

 I am anxious to see how long they 

 will submit to Dr. Hull's sj-stem, and 

 whether vines so health}' and vigor- 

 ous will consent to be tied to stakes 

 two or three years longer. ''Eural" 

 has not a great variety of grapes, but 

 they all looked well as to foliage, and 

 all promising as to fruit, but Taylor's 

 Bullett, on which the bunches were of 

 all sizes, and the berries in all stages 

 of growth, ripen and decay. 



It is worth noting, that just the year 

 when the pear and apple appear to be 

 going down before the attacks of in- 

 sects and the blight, the peach and 

 the graT)e seem to take a new lease of 

 life^ and lead us to think that they 

 will suit themselves to our prairies as 

 successfully as corn and the whole 

 tribe of grains and grasses do. 



Yours, truly, B. F. J. 



[Fifteen pounds of grapes to the vine 

 is a fair, but not a large yield. What 

 would our friend Eural say to five 

 acres of Concord, ti'ained to ti'ellis, in 

 their fourth year also, which at least 

 average thirty-five pounds per vine ? 

 He could easily see them here if he 

 visited us — all large, perfect bunches, 



