346 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



FRUIT GROWEES' SOCIETY OF WESTERN NEW 

 YORK. 



The Fruit GroAvers' Society of Western New- 

 York held their autumn meeting at the Court-house 

 in this city September 28. 



Tliere was a fine show of grapes, pears, &c. 

 Ellwangek i& Barry exhibited 60 varieties of the 

 former and 35 of the latter. H. N. Langwortht 

 showed several varieties of grapes, and L. A. Ward 

 sent some noble specimens of his favorite pear — 

 the Slieldon. 



D. P. Beach, Esq., of this city, exliibited several 

 bunches of Isabella grapes that attracted much at- 

 tention from their enormous size and excellent 

 quality. The bunches weighed about 20 ounces 

 each, and the berries were fully as large as Black 

 Hamburghs. Such results show how much our 

 old sorts may be improved by good cultivation. 

 This vine was set out three years ago. A little 

 superphosphate was mixed witii the soil, and it has 

 since been liberally watered with soap-suds. It 

 has a good southern exposure, and ha» been well 

 pruned. We have seen bunches nearly as large 

 before, but the vine had been rung. Nothing of 

 the kind was done in this case. The result is due 

 mere\v tA good culture. 



Mr. Kino, of this city, exhibited a new seedling 

 grape, laised from seed three years ago. ^ It is a 

 pleasant, sweet grape, almost seedless, very juicy 

 and without pulp. 



Mr. IIalskt, of Cnyuga county, showed several 

 fine sjiecimens of upland cranberries, both of the 

 fruit and vine. 



The meeting discussed the following subjects: 



1. Its thi tnmf. treatment nf th.« vlnf, a» practiced in the 

 vineynrdu nf the old countries, equally adapted to our cli- 

 mate and soil t If not, what is the best method of training f 



There seemed to be no one present sufficiently 

 acquainted with the European system, to s|ieak on 

 the subject, and it was moved that members con- 

 fine tlu-mselves to the last clause of the question. 



Dr. Miner was called upon, and said tliat he had 

 trained grapes both on trellises and to stakes, and 

 could see very little difference. 



B. Fish had not had a very long experience, but 

 he had tried both ways and preferred training on 

 the trellis rather than to stakes. 



H. II. Olmsted, of Genesee county, said he set 

 out a vineyard of ten acres last year, and he would 

 like to know what was the best method of training 

 them. They were all Delawares. He had hith- 

 erto used wire trellises and liked them very much; 

 but now wire costs more than douiilo wl)at it did, 

 and he would like to find something cheaper that 

 would answer the purpose, temporarily. He had 

 thought of using tarred cord. 



B. Fish thought wire would be the cheapest in 

 the end. 



Mr. Olmsted liked wire better than slats of 

 wood, because you can tie the vines to it more 

 easily, and in a large vineyard he found this quite 

 an object. Wire trellises, too, are best because 

 they let in the sun and air. 



D. L. Halset, of Cayuga county, said he pur- 

 chased cast-otF telegraph wire. He had bought it 

 for three cents per pound, and found that it made 

 a cheap and excellent trellis. 



Mr. Olmsted said he had paid six cents per 



pound for wire, and now it costs twelve cents! 



2. What is the best soil for successful vineyard cultiva- 

 tion ? 



Mr. Crane, of Lockport, said a warm, gravelly 

 soil was best, especially for the later varieties. 

 For the early sorts, such as the Delaware, a heavy 

 soil might be good, but he found that grapes ripened 

 earlier on warm, light soil. 



Dr. Miner thought if the ground was thorovghly 

 underdrnined there was not much difference in the 

 time of ripening either with grapes or corn. He 

 knew of a case wliere grapes on a clay soil were 

 quite as early as on light, warm, sandy soil — but 

 the clay soil was thoroughly underd rained. 



Mr. Olmsted planted on a gravel and sand loam, 

 with clay subsoil, with gravel enough to allow the 

 water to pass through. His grapes ripen well. 



Mr. PiNNET had a neighbor who has a well-un- 

 derdrained clay soil, while his (Mr. Finney's) is a 

 warm, sandy soil. On the clay soil the grapes are 

 a week earlier than on his land, although it is 

 thorougldy dry ten feet deep. 



Mr. Ckane admitted that thoroughly under- 

 drained clay soils were good. 



H. N. Langwortht thought a deep, gravelly 

 soil, located on high ground, best for maturing the 

 grape. Lo>n grounds, if ever so dry, are liable to 

 frosts. He would ver plant on low land. In- 

 sects are more numerous on sandy soils than on 



