66 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



WESTEEN NEW YOEK FBUIT-GR0WER3' SOCIETY. 



The Annunl Meeting of this Society met iu the Court 

 House, at Rochester, on Thursday, January 15, 1863. 

 There was a tine exhibition of fruit, especially of winter 

 pears. The following subjects were discussed : 



I. Have any of our new or old varieties of ffrnpes been in- 

 jared iiitKeir conditution by what are called ^^ vicious 

 7/iei/iods of propagation " f 



H. E. Hooker said the Delaware and some other varie- 

 ties occasionally failed, and the cultivators attributed the 

 failure unjustly to the nurserymen. He believed that 

 vines propagated in hot-houses were just as good, when 

 well growu, as those propagated out of doors, by layers. 



L. B. Lakgworthy asked Mr. H. if he had ever ob- 

 served whether plants propagated from buds were weaker 

 than those propagated from cuttings. 



Mr. Hooker said he had not. He did not believe that 

 the coiistitrdional vigor of the plants is injured by artificial 

 propagation. 



Dr. Spencb, of Yates county, had purchased a good 

 many grape vines, particularly the Delaware, that were 

 propagated in hot-houses, and one-half of them perished. 

 Such plants need more care than those raised from layers 

 in the open air. 



Mr. Hooker thought that the difficulty must have been 

 that the plants were not sufficiently hardened off before 

 getting out in the ground. 



E. Moonr, of Lockport, said one of his neighbors pur- 

 chased one hundred Delaware grape vines that were 

 raised in a hotrhouse and planted them out in the fall. 

 He (Mr. M.) thought they would not live, but the vines 

 had grown six feet and are very strong. These plants 

 have been reproduced from single eyes for ten years, and 

 yet it was evident their constitution was not injured. 



P. Barrt said his experience was that one grape plant 

 grown under glass and properly ripened, was worth five 

 vines grown in the open air, for the reason that the bot- 

 tom-heat and glass ripened them up perfectly. It is one 

 of the very best means of improving, instead of injuring, 

 the grape. He thought all who had had experience 

 would confirm what he had said. 



H. N. LANGwornr had been unfortunate in getting 

 fruit from the Delaware. He had, for four or five years, 

 purchased vines from the hot-houses, but had not yet 

 been able to get good plants. 



ilr. TowNSEND, of Lockport, purchased from Messrs. 

 T. k E. Smith, of Geneva, some fifty plants. They all 

 grew and have all done well. When he received them 

 the vines were no larger than a pencil. Ho was careful 

 to cut off all the dead roots and spread them out. 



Mr. YouNGLOVE, of Steuben county, had received some 

 Delftwares that were no larger than a knitting-needle. 

 They all did well. 



Judge Larbowb, of Steuben county, had planted grapes 

 grown both ways, and could see no difference. They 

 both did as well as he could desire. 



II. What is the best vmnure for the pear, and the best 

 method of applying it to tlie pear, the apple, the plum, 

 and the grape f 



Mr. TowNSEND thought the answer to ibis question was 



rerv simple: Well-rotted manure applied in the fall on 



the surface and worked in in the spring. 



Mr. Sharp, of Lockport, gave a very humorous de- 

 scription of a method of manuring orchards by seeding 

 them down with thistles. If gentlemen wanted the seed 

 he could supply them, if they spoke quick ! The thistles 

 brought up the mineral food of plants from the subsoil, 

 the leaves attracted the fertilizing gases from the atmos- 

 phere, and the plants, by decay, enriched the soil! 



Mr. YoDNGLOVE thought the lu>e was the best manure. 



Mr. Spence had found rotten wood, mack, Ac, very 

 valuable. 



Mr. Olmsted, of Genesee, who has a splendid petr 

 orchard, finds leached ashes very beneficial. 



Mr. Moody thought leached ashes excellent for both 

 pears and apples. In his nursery he had seen them 

 nearly double the growth of trees. 



P. Barry thought we should not confine ourselves tt> 

 one kind of manure. If you used barn-yard manure one 

 year, ashes, Ac, might be used the next. He alluded to 

 a pear orchard of twenty-five hundred trees that were 

 dressed with bone-dust, and he never saw a finer orchard. 



Charles Downi.vg, in answer to a question, said lie 

 used manure composted with muck. 



Mr. Baret said muck, in this section, is injurious to 

 trees if applied at the roots without having been exposed 

 to the atmosphere for a year or so and otherwise pre- 

 pared. A few days ago, however, he saw a muck in 

 Westchester county, N. Y., that could be applied fresh to 

 all kinds of plants — even plauts in pots — without injury. 



Judge Lareowb thought that grapes did not need any 

 manure. If he manured his grapes the vines grew too 

 rapidly, and" were succulent and killed back in the win- 

 ter. He thinks the hoe, the plow and the cultivator are 

 the best manures for grapes. Grapes grown on poor 

 land are sweeter than when grown on rich land. He has, 

 on some veiy poor, lp,achv land, applied leached ashes 

 aod lime, and they had a good effect. He thought grape* 

 needed lime. 



H. E. Hooker agreed with Judge 'Larrowb. In this 

 section the land is rich enough for grapes. He thought 

 grapes would not bear high manuring. 



Mr. Hoag, of Lockport, mentioned a case where vines 

 left without manure bore good crops, while those ma- 

 nured were unproductive. The Delaware and Rebecca, 

 perhaps, needed manure more than any other varieties. 

 His experience, on the whole, was against manuring the 

 grape at all. 



III. Which are the best three native grapes for home eon- 

 suinption f 



Judge Larrowk would name Catawba. He was aware 

 it would not ripen in most parts of the State, but with 

 him it ripened well, and was the best grape he knew. 

 Right years ago he set out the first Catawba grape vine 

 in his neighborhood, and last year over two hundred tuns 

 of Catawba grapes were raised within a distance of ten 

 miles I They are used to make wine. The next grape he 

 would name was the Diana, and the third the Delaware. 

 The Delaware will make a nice wine; but the skin is 

 thin and the grapes will not keep. It is very productive 

 and the quality excellent. Unlike other varieties it 

 will bear manuring. 



F. W. Lay, of Monroe county, would name the Concord. 



JosiAH Saltsb named : 1. Delaware aa his first choice— 



