554 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Dec. 



of strengthening the mind. Its most common ef- 

 fect is, to create an extreme sensibility to the 

 slightest wound. It foments impatient desires, 

 and raises expectations wliich no success can sat- 

 isfy. It fosters a false delicacy, which sickens in 

 the midst of indulgence. By repeated gratifica- 

 tion, it blunts the feelings of men to what is pleas- 

 ing, and leaves them unhappily acute to what- 

 ever is uneasy. Hence, the gale which another 

 would scarcely feel, is, to the prosperous, a rude 

 tempest. Ilencc, the rose leaf doubled below 

 them on the couch, as it is told of the eifeminate 

 Sybarate, breaks their rest. Hence, the disrepect 

 shown by Mordecai, preyed with such violence on 

 Ihe heart of Haman. Upon no principle of reason 

 can we assign a sufEcient cause for all the distress 

 which this incident occasioned him. The cause 

 lay not in the external incident. It lay within 

 himself; it arose from a mind distempered by 

 prosperity. 



EXTRACTS AND ESPLIES. 



TRANSPLANTING AND GRAFTING GRAPES. 



Mr. Editor : — A few days since I found a 

 small grape-vine Avhich had a few very excellent 

 grapes growing thereon ; I want to take it up 

 and set it near my house. Will you inform me of 

 the best time to take it up and how to proceed ; 

 whether I shall cut any of the top off, or any of 

 the roots ? One of my neighbors has a large grape- 

 vine growing close to his door ; it fills the top of 

 an arbor, which he has built some six or seven 

 feet high, so thick that it makes a perfect shade 

 beneath; but what is singular about it is this; it 

 blossoms full every year, but never bears a grape. 

 Now if you or your correspondents can inform 

 me of any method that will cause this vine to 

 bear fruit, I shall feel very thankful for the in- 

 formation. 



When is the best time of year to graft a grape- 

 vine ? I grafted one last June, the 5th, and after 

 starting and growing a week or two it died ; 

 whether it was the dry weather, or whether it 

 was too early or too late in the season, I am un- 

 able to tell. I sawed the vine off below the sur- 

 face of the ground and made two holes the size of 

 the scions and put them in, and >^.•'• o-^"'^'"? wax 

 around tho o*- ' .- — • >"'«" covered the whole with 

 «iri except the top bud of the scions. 



C'c/. 7. Ignoramus. 



Remarks. — In transplanting grape-vines save all 

 the roots, but shorten the top, prune to a single 

 stem for some distance from the ground, and then 

 bud as many branches as are necessary to fill the 

 space desired ; be careful not to have too much 



wood, and to cut away all weak shoots. If yourUr«r, while it is at the same time a prolific^bearer 

 ground is dry, transplant in autumn,— if it is wet, and an esccdlont fruit. Last year and the year 

 transplant in spring. | before, we ate them and thought them superior 



^ Your large vine is probably a barren or "male'': to the Isal)ella ; this year we have eaten them to- 

 vine. You can graft it by cutting it off below Igether and thought the latter grape fully equal to 

 the surface of the ground, and inserting the sci-| the Concord, if not a little better. But this year 

 onsin the mode usually practiced upon apple- we have the Isabella in perfection,— the first time 

 trees, called cleft grafting ; do not pare the scions for several years. The Cliarter Oak we have nev- 

 too thin, cover with clay and earth up to the top er tasted. The Diana has also the merit of early 

 eye of the scions. i ripening, and is a fine hardy grape. Both the 



Ihe best time for grafting the grape is thought grapes being in perfection, you prefer the Cataw- 



to be when the vine has just put out its leaves, 

 and the first abundant flow of sap is over ; the 

 scions must be kept from starting into growth be- 

 fore they are put into the stock. We have tried 

 grafting by boring holes in the stock,but without 

 success. 



what are the BEST GRAPES? 



Mr. Editor : — I wish, sir, to make some inqui- 

 ries of you in relation to grapes. Are the Con- 

 cord, Diana, Charter Oak, Sage, and some other 

 varieties of grape loudly puffed up in agricultural 

 papers equal in value to the Isabella and Cataw- 

 ba grapes? In regaid to the Concord, it is declared 

 by some to be only 5th rate ; as to the Diana, a 

 dish of the same were exhibited at our County Ag- 

 ricultural Fair ; the size of the berries and 

 bunches were not more than one-third as large as 

 Catawba grapes by their side, I purchased one 

 bunch of them, which was divided among several 

 good judges of grapes, and they were tried with 

 the Catawba and declared to be inferior in size, 

 and flavor, and evidently they were no riper. I 

 would say also that Mr. W. S. King, of Boston, 

 decided they were the true Diana. 



The Charter Oak Grape is raised by a gentle- 

 man of my acquaintance, and is declared to be 

 valua])le only for preserving ; the berries, however, 

 are of enormous size. The Sage grapes I have 

 tasted and although of large size, it has the sharp, 

 foxy flavor of the wild native grapes. 



Now, Sir, if I am incorrect or mistaken in any 

 of these varieties, I hope to be corrected, and I 

 desire your opinion, for 1 believe that farmers are 

 the last class to be humbugged, and these grapes 

 have obtained a high reputation by the descrip- 

 tion given in agricultural and horticultural jour- 

 nals. My opinion is that the Catawba Grape, 

 for a hardy out-door grape (if well cared for) ia 

 decidedly tiie best grape. P. M. Augur. 



■ MidcUefield, a., 1854. 



Remarks. — A comparison of grapes by a sing le 

 trial of them side by side, canld »oti give any one 

 a fair iden "^ '-neir permanent value. Fur in- 

 ecance, Catawbas and Isal)ellas have ripened well 

 tliis year where they have scarcely been known 

 to ripen before. Now to take them in their Ijest 

 condition, and that a condition only realized once 

 perliaps in five or ten years, and pronounce them 

 more valuable than some other grape which af- 

 fords a crop of fair ripe fruit every year, would be 

 a very unflxir way of deciding on their respective 

 value. The great merit of the Concord grape is 

 tl-.at it ripens an abundant and rich crop every 



