182 



The Scuppernong Grape. — Yellows in the Peach. Vol. XII. 



In some sections of the country the black 

 knots are nearly as troublesome as the cur- 

 culio. For this disease there is one simple 

 and effectual remedy, and that is, whenever 

 the knots are discovered, to cut oft' all the 

 limbs so diseased, and immediately burn 

 them. Sometimes it will be necessary to 

 look over the trees two or three times in a 

 year. 



To show that plums can be and are raised 

 in our own State, by those who choose to do 

 so, we will n)Gntion a few facts within our 

 own knowledge. Jacob Steinmetz, in Coates 

 street, has a tree of the Blue Gage variety, 

 that has produced ten bushels of fuiit in a 

 season. James Laws, in Seventh street be- 

 low Noble street, has a Bolmar Washington 

 tree, that has produced more than five bush- 

 els in a season — five of the plums weigh a 

 pound, and the crop would in market com- 

 mand sixty dollars. In our next we propose 

 giving a descriptive list of the thirty finest 

 varieties of plums in the country. 



B. G. BOSWELL. 



Philadelphia, Dec. 29th, 1847. 



The Scuppernong Grape. 



This grape is destined without doubt to 

 take a high rank as a fruit — and when the 

 culture and the season are propitious, and 

 the art of managing the fermentation is fully 

 understood, a wine resembling the wines of 

 the Rhine will be produced of excellent 

 quality. The culture of this vine is simple, 

 but it must always be recollected that it does 

 best in rich dry loam. The growth is rapid 

 after the first year, and will produce a fair 

 crop the third year, if properly treated. The 

 distance at which the vines should be planted, 

 as standards, depends upon the object the 

 planter has in view; if for shade and fruit, 

 then twenty feet each way, but if for wine, 

 and are intended to last for many years, then 

 forty feet is the shortest distance. Arbours 

 ,are, I think, best, because if the grape is ex- 

 •posed to the full rays of the sun it becomes 

 'hard and the skin is thick and tough. Trel- 

 lis training exposes the fruit more to the 

 sun, and causes maturity earlier than arbour 

 training, and perhaps admits of pruning 

 more easily — but all things considered, I 

 give the preference to arbour training. 



The old cultivators of this vine insist that 

 pruning is not required, and that it is hurt- 

 ful to the vines. I have not found it so — 

 and when the vine is four years old I prune 

 moderately every year. I whitewash my 

 vines in the mouth of April, and cut into 

 small parts the pruned wood and lay it 

 about the roots of the vines. The fruit is 

 .'larger and better when the vine is pruned. 



and I venture to say that it will be found, 

 where wine is the object of the cultivator, 

 that all the rules known for pruning will be 

 observed on this vine as strict as any other. 



I am very particular to layout my ground 

 so that no water stands about the vines. 



The manure I use under my vines, when 

 planted as standards, is composed of old 

 bones, old shoes, old hats, old hoop-iron, and 

 anything else of that class. E.\'cavations 

 being made, say twelve inches deep, are to 

 be filled up to within an inch or two of the 

 surface, and then planted, the roots of the 

 vine being spread out and then covered one 

 or two inches deep, and then train them up 

 and never suffer them to fall to the ground. 

 The training of the vine is all important 

 upon the arbour, for if suffered to run toge- 

 ther, it will, by means of its tendrils, mat 

 together and produce but little fruit. 



It should be trained with great care and 

 the main branches spread upon the arbour, 

 and tied down so firmly that the wind can- 

 not move them. — Alabama Planter. 



YelloAVS in the Peac"h. 



For many years the peach tree has been 

 subject to a disease known as the yellows. 

 'I'his disease seldom makes its appearance 

 before the tree has arrived at maturity, as 

 its great vigor and rapid growth appear to 

 preclude the developement of the disease 

 previous to the tree fruiting. Much time, 

 labour, and research have been spent in 

 fruitless endeavours to eradicate this disease 

 afler it has made its appearance in orchards, 

 and the only result arrived at is the neces- 

 sity for replanting new trees, to take the 

 place of the old ones at short intervals of 

 time. Many applications to trees have been 

 recommended, and potash, lime, tobacco, 

 banking up trees in winter, &c., have had 

 their advocates. Although individual cures 

 may have been effected, or decay for a time 

 arrested by the remedies, yet such instances 

 are extremely rare; and when applied on a 

 large scale are shown to be without value. 

 The disease, a true consumption, still con- 

 tinues, and will continue, unless some radi- 

 cal method is adopted to eradicate it. From 

 my own observation and experience, I am 

 led to the belief, that this formidable disease 

 has been much aggravated and spread 

 throughout the country by budding from 

 trees containing in themselves the seeds of 

 incipient consumption, not yet externally 

 developed. A bud may be taken from a 

 tree apparently sound, but after a time both 

 trets will be afl^ectcd and decay, and so on 

 ad injinitum. The only remedy appears to 

 be to bud from' trees which are known to be 



