146 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Marou 



nate stem is cut wholly down to the horizontal 

 arm ; so that, while last year's upright shootis 

 furnishing a crop of grapes this year, — this year's 

 shoot is growing (free from all bunches,) for a 

 similar crop for next year. No shoot, therefore, 

 remains above the arms longer than two years. 



Spur-pruning is best adapted to slowly growing 

 sorts, (chiefly exotics) which cannot produce a 

 full-len»th branch in one year. The renewal 

 system is best for the most vigorous American 

 varieties, which will grow fifteen or twenty feet 

 in a year. Fig. 7 exhibits distinctly a vine 

 trained to a trellis, and treated on the renewal 

 system, the dark shoots being the present season's 

 bearers, and the dotted lines showing the growth 

 of the canes for bearers next year, while new 

 ones are growing in the places of this year's 

 bearers. 



Summer pruning, which consists in the removal 

 of all supernumerary shoots and bunches as fast 

 as they appear, and in pinching off the ends of 

 bearing shoots, after enough leaves have formed, 

 is of great consequence. Vines left to themselves, 

 even after a thorough spring pruning, soon have 

 such a profusion of leaves and branches, that 

 none can perfectly develop themselves, and the 

 fruit is consequently small, the bunches meagre, 

 and the ripening late. The summer pinching 

 of the ends of the bearing shoots should be cau- 

 tiously done, and not before the grapes are about 

 half grown; four or five leaves, at least, should 

 be left on every one, above the last bunch, and 

 never more than two bunches be allowed on each 

 bearing fruit. 



The old vine should never be allowed to rise a 

 foot from the ground — the lower it is kept, the 

 easier the vine will be managed, and the freer it 

 may be kept from suckers. Some of the best 

 cultivators bury the old stump beneath the soil. 



The preceding will, we hope, fully answer all 

 the inquiries of our correspondent, and prove 

 useful to beginners generally. We are not aware 

 of any experiments in root-grafting the grape 

 out of ground — its success can only be proved by 

 actual trial. 



GROUNDS ABOUT THE HOUSE. 



There is probably no other way in which the 

 homestead may be beautified, and even made prof- 

 itable, than by expending every year a little money 

 and labor in laying out and planting with fruit 

 trees, shrubbery and shade trees, a space propor- 

 tioned to the size and style of the buildings, and 

 immediately about them. Shade in summer, pro- 

 tection from storms and winds in the winter, and 

 wholesome fruits, may be obtained, together with 

 that constant idea of the beautiful which such 

 such an arrangement would present. Below are 

 some remarks to the point, which we copy from 

 the Country Gentleman : 



"There is nothing in practical life, in a knowl 

 edge of which our countrymen are more deficient, 

 than in laying out and properly planting and 

 cultivating the grounds around their dwellings. 

 Very often they are not laid out nor planted at 

 all, but are left in a state of primitive bleakness, 

 or only ornamented by objects of confusion and 



disorder. Where improvement is actually at- 

 tempted, the result is not unfrequently a combi- 

 nation of inconvenience and stiffness ; and very 

 few neatly, economically and tastefully laid-out 

 grounds are to be met with. Why should not 

 this art, which every living man in the country 

 ought to practice, be taught in our higher 

 schools ? Latin and Greek are excellent studies 

 for those who have plenty of time and means for 

 these as well as other departments of knowledge ; 

 but for such as cannot master all, would not the 

 months consumed on Tacitus and Thucyides, be 

 more profitably spent on those fascinating and 

 eminently useful studies, drawing and architec- 

 ture, in connexion with landscape gardening? 

 When will the time come that the latter will 

 have only an equal chance with the foi'uier? 

 Time once lost never returns ; and it is of the 

 highest consequence that those who direct the 

 mode that young people shall spend it at the 

 most critical of all periods in their lives, should 

 study carefully the best modes for accomplish- 

 ing 80 all-important an object." 



5^^ We have heretofore given a portion of the 

 remarks of the President at the last session of the 

 Pomological Society, and now proceed to give 

 some of the reports from the States represented 

 in the convention. 



REPORT FROM NEW HAMPSHIRE. 



B. F. Cutter said, New Hampshire, as a State, 

 in former years, has not been celebrated for cul- 

 ture of fruit of any kind ; but since our State 

 and county Fairs have been in operation, a new 

 era has commenced in the business, and an im- 

 petus given to it that, in some places, almost 

 amounts to a mania. Information is sought for, 

 and orchards, containing the most choice collec- 

 tions, are being set in the most approved manner, 

 that in a few years will work an entire revolution 

 in the business. The nursery business remains 

 good, and the nursery-men are becoming more 

 experienced, and paying more attention to making 

 choice collections of fruit ; yet we have many 

 varieties of fruit cultivated of a local character, 

 and many of them entirely worthless, which 

 makes one of the most serious drawbacks in fruit 

 culture. 



REPORT FROM VERMONT. 



C. Goodrich said, the Northern Spy has not 

 yet answered our expectations. It is a hardy 

 and good grower, but a very shy bearer. Old 

 bearing trees, grafted in 184G, have yet produced 

 little fruit ; while in the same orchard, and like 

 trees as those grafted at the same time with the 

 Baldwin, cut from bearing trees in Cambridge, 

 Mass., produced full crops the fourth season, and 

 have continued to do so in alternate years, at the 

 same time making a large growth. The Graven- 

 stein sustains its high character ; fair, very hardy, 

 good grower and bearer, and in every respect I 

 must mark it best. 



REPORT FROM CONNECTICUT. 



The committee reported that the early part of 

 the season of 1853 was made remarkable by the 

 appearance of the Palmer worm, so called, in 

 great numbers, which destroyed the foliage of 

 apple trees, as well as that of some others, and, 



