No. 3. 



The Grape. 



81 



The Grape. 



Editors of the Farmers' Cabinet, — 



Should the accompanying essay be deemed 

 appropriate, and worthy of a place in the 

 columns of your useful Journal, let it be 

 considered as placed at your disposal. 



There is perhaps no fruit-plant in our 

 country, so little appreciated in proportion to 

 its value, or the ease and facility with which 

 it may be propagated, as the Grape Vine. — 

 Thousands of bushels of wholesome and most 

 delicious fruit, might be produced every 

 season, even in our cities, especially those 

 within the Middle, Southern, and Western 

 States, were each householder who possesses 

 a small strip of ground, even 2 or 3 feet in 

 width, by 5 or 6 in length, to devote a small 

 share of attention to this highly interesting 

 subject. 



There are few plants that yield so abun- 

 dant a product, for the space occupied on 

 the ground, or the labour required in their 

 culture, as the one under consideration. It 

 is, moreover, when reasonably attended to, 

 quite an ornament, not only to the ample 

 rear grounds of the opulent, but also to the 

 scanty space usually allotted to the dwellings 



of the humblest of our citizens ; and while 

 kept in a thrifty growing condition, its ten- 

 dency is not only to shade and cool the 

 ground, but to purify the atmosphere, by ab- 

 sorbing a larffe portion of the noxious vapours 

 which usually abound in densely populated 

 districts, during the warm season. 



There is, however, one circumstance 

 which has hitherto tended to discourage the 

 attempt to cultivate the Grape, and that is, 

 the uncertainty of success in propagating 

 it from slips laid down in the usual way, 

 and of removing them. The writer has, by 

 some experiments carefully made, and most 

 successfully carried out, ascertained that the 

 seeming difficulty alluded to, may be readily 

 overcome ; and that by a process perfectly 

 simple in itself, and attended with but very 

 little trouble. From one healthy vine, 20 to 

 30 plants may be propagated in one season, 

 with both roots and branches sufficiently 

 grown for removal to any distance, and for 

 transplanting in a condition to produce a 

 liberal crop of perfect fruit, within five or six 

 months from the time of being set out. 



The following sketch will probably convey 

 an idea of this simple though beautiful pro- 



About the middle of the Fourth month, 1 

 take of a thrifty bearing vine, 2 or 3, of 

 what are termed runners, of the last year's! 

 growth, in a healthy condition, and of suffi-| 

 cient length, say 10 or 12 feet each, to fur- 

 nish the requisite number of buds, say 20 orj 

 30 each ; place in a light wooden box, about 

 8 inches square, every alternate bud, leaving, 

 the next, between two boxes, outside in the 

 open air, for a plant. Cut off the bud that; 

 is within the box, and intended for roots, 

 with a sharp knife, transversely, near to the 

 vine. 



Let the boxes be made sufficiently strong 

 to bear removal when wanted for transplant- 

 ing, but with such openings in their sides and 

 bottom, as will admit of the roofs passing 

 out, which they will do for a yard or more 

 in length, into the beds, in pursuit of nutri- 

 ment. 



Instead of borinsf holes in the sides of the 



box, it is better to have a small slip cut out 

 from the upper edges,* to admit of laying the 

 vine carefully in from, the top, and so avoid 

 bruising it, or in the least disturbing the out- 

 side bud, intended for throwing up a plant. 

 The boxes being adjusted at such distances 

 asunder, as to enclose one good bud each, 

 and leaving another outside for a branch ; 

 sink them about three inches deep in good 

 ground ; then lay the vine carefully in, place 

 it about the middle of the box, having the 

 outside eye or bud one inch above the sur- 

 face of the ground, in the bed ; then fill the 

 boxes with a good rich mould, always avoid- 

 ing clay. 



The concern thus adjusted, every healthy 

 outside bud will throw up a plant, that will 

 in an ordinary season, grow from 8 to 12 feet 

 in height, which may be removed in the 



* See the detached figure in the cut. 



