310 



The Grape Cultnrist. 



Macon City, Mo., Sept. Hfli, 1870. 



Me. Geo. Husmann, St. Louis, ^^o : 



Dear Sir : You will excuse me for 

 iutrudiug on 3'our time when you under- 

 stand m}' motives. I wrote j'ou last 

 Februar}" on grafting the vine. The 

 method described is a success. The 

 only diflicult}^ in grafting the vine is in 

 keeping down the suckers, or wild 

 shoots. In m}' opinion the mild days 

 of February is the time with us. The 

 present season has not been as favora- 

 ble as was 1868. We have had too 

 much dry weather, yet I see by the 

 papers the crops are splendid in some 

 sections. We are but beginners, and 

 that on a small scale. I think that in 

 1863, from recollection, there was not 

 more than a dozen vines growing about 

 Macon. Since the close of the war 

 there has been more interest taken, 

 but the nu'nber set now will amount to 

 eight or ten thousand vines with various 

 results. Some are doing finel}', while 

 others are doing poorl}", just according 

 as they have been set and handled. 

 For my part, after reading all the dif- 

 ferent works on grapes, I arrive at the 

 following conchisious : 1st, a thorough 

 preparation of the soil, which means 

 subsoil two feet deep, all the ground 

 not trench ; 2d, well grown yearling- 

 plants propagated from two years that 

 have made a growth of at least six 

 feet, set 16x16, then with proper after- 

 treatment we may look for some fruit. 

 I am in favor of the broad gauge, clear 

 through, in preparations of the soil. 

 In planting and pruning, in my opin- 

 ion, a good many of the popular theo- 

 ries must be abandoned for the follow- 

 ing reasons : I pruned a Catawba vine 

 for a neighbor this spring that was 12 

 years old, and was over SO feet in 



length, and has fruited over 200 lbs. of 

 grapes the present season. I know 

 another Concord covering one end of a 

 story and a half house, from ground to 

 gable, carrying at least 300 bunches of 

 well developed fruit. I have an Isa- 

 bella vine on trellis carrying 250 

 bunches and occupying 20 feet of trel- 

 lis. I also planted 20 fine vines in 

 May, 18(U», that made an average 

 growth of 25 feet to the vine : trained 

 to two horizontal arms ; layered one 

 arm in April, 1870 ; had an average of 

 2 1-2 to 3 lbs. of fruit on the layered 

 cane, but not a grape on the opposite 

 arm ; pruned from 6 to 10 e3'es ; some 

 tell me that was wrong,to let layers fruit. 

 1 put out some 3,000 cuttings this 

 spring that have made an average 

 growth of (> and 7 feet, and have sev- 

 eral Concords bearing a nice little 

 bunch of grapes. I take it for granted 

 that nature don't make any mistakes. 

 I also differ with some of ni}"^ grape 

 growing friends about summer prun- 

 ing (or summer slaughtering, as Dr. 

 Warder terms it) ; but to the point — I 

 see in the August number you talk of 

 abandoning the CuLXURi.'iT at the end 

 of the year. We can not think of letting 

 such a valuable work go J)y the board, 

 but will do our best to sustain it. 



J. E. McL.A.UGHLIN. 



[We think you are decidedl}' on the 

 " broad guage" system, and are running 

 that "• into the ground."' You are right 

 in preparing your ground thoroughly, 

 but it does not follow because planting 

 4x4 is too close, the vines should be 

 planted 16x16. Generally the true 

 course between two extremes lies in 

 the middle, and we think you will find 

 it there also, after experimenting some 

 more. Try 6x10, or 8x10, a while, and 



