12 



THE GENESEE FARMER 



Jan. 15, 1831, 



GRAPE VINES. 



As public opinion is now in favor of wine- 

 making, and that too from our native grapes, 1 

 hope farmers who live in those parts of the 

 country where they abound will turn their at* 

 tention to the subject; and if they would spend 

 a few days during the winter in gathering cut- 

 tings from such vines within their knowledge 

 as possess good qualities and distribute them 

 among their friends they would confer a lasting 

 benefit on their country. Many practical men 

 are now satisfied that the native American 

 grapes are the finest in the world for making 

 ivine. The peculiar fragrance of the wine, 

 when properly made, from the fox grape, can- 

 not fail to give it superiority over most other 

 wines now in use ; and it is ascertained that a 

 wine may be made from the summer or chicken 

 grape, equal in quality to the finest Claret or 

 Burgundy. As vines are generally propaga. 

 ted from cuttings, which should be taken from 

 the old stock, during fall or winter, I hope 

 those who feel interested in the temperance 

 cause and advancement of our country, will 

 think proper to devote a little time to so laud- 

 able an object. 



A few directions for taking cuttings may be 

 acceptable to the unpractised. Three points 

 are to be kept in view. 1st. Select good bear- 

 ers. 2d. Such fruits as have the most desirable 

 flavor, either for the table or for wine; and 

 here allow me to observe that those grapes 

 that are the most desirable for the talle are not 

 always so for wine. 3d. Se ect those vines 

 which are best growers. There are three 

 principal ways of propagating vines by cuttings. 

 1st By a short piece of the preceding year's 

 wood, containing but one eye or bud — this is 

 buried with the bud up one or two inches be- 

 neath the surface. 2d. By pieces of the last 

 year's wood of one foot or more in length con- 

 taining at least three joints, which are to be 

 buried two thirds their length in the ground. 

 3d. By two joints of the hist year's, with one 

 of thejpreceding year's wood, making the form 

 of the cutting like an inverted T. The second 

 is the method generally practised in France. 

 The cuttings, after being taken from theparen' 

 stock should be kept in a damp place or buried 

 in the ground till spring, then set in a rich soil, 

 if you have a situation where the cuttings will 

 be sheltered from the-noon day sun they will 

 succeed much better than in a southern expo- 

 sure. 



The torms for. and chicken grapes may not 

 be familiar to all. The fox grape is the name 

 applied to the large American grape growing 

 io the New England, and most of the Middle 

 States ; it ripens in September, varying in she 

 and color from white to deep purple, posses- 

 sing a peculiar fragrance which is not found 

 with any other kind of grape. 



The chicken or summer grape, is an interme- 

 diate kind between the fox and late frost grape, 

 both as to size and time of ripening, of a dark 

 purple color, quite sour, and moderately astrin- 

 gent; and there is no doubt but this kind wil' 

 he found an excellent w,ne grape, and will sup- 

 ply the place of the tender grapes of Europe 

 for making red wines, and might with propriety 

 be called the American Burgundy grape. Both 

 these kinds of grapes are capable of enduring 

 the Severest winters of the northern parts of 

 (he United States. 



CURRANTS. 



Among all the fruit of the garden, there is 

 none more useful than the Currant. The bush- 

 es will thrive in most soils ; they endure our 

 most severe winters ; are constant bearers ; 

 the fruit continues long in use, and they are 

 not liable to be destroyed by insects. Who 

 will neglect to cultivate so valuable a fruit ? 

 There are four kinds of this fruit which should 

 be found in every garden. The largo red and 

 white Dutch, the Champaigne pale led, and 

 the black English Currant. We find this Iruit 

 in different shapes upon our table for three 

 months or one quarter of the year, and always 

 acceptable. As for wine. I know it will be 

 said that they make a heavy kind of wine, which 

 may be drank when we can get no other. Let 

 the reader consider this is an age of improve- 

 ment, and we know of a cask of currant wine in 

 this county, made the last season, which will be 

 pronounced equal in quality to any imported 

 wine which can be purchased in this place ai 

 two dollars per gallon. As there will be an 

 account given hereafter of the manufacture of 

 this wine, by the gentleman who made it, we 

 shall only observe that the materials were all 

 the produce of his farm, and such wine can 

 well be made at half a dollar per gallon. We 

 see attempts made to train the currant as a 

 dwarf standard; this requires much time in 

 cutting down the sprouts which are constantly 

 springing from the root, but which may be a- 

 voided by commencing right at first. As this 

 ts a proper season for commencing the prepar- 

 ations for forming currant plantations, a few di- 

 rections to young gardeners maybe usefu.. 



The best method of propagating currants is 

 by cuttings; these maj be taken from the fall- 

 ing of the leaf in autumn until spring. Select 

 the straightest & most thrifty shoots of the pre- 

 ceding year's wood, which should be eighteen 

 inches long or more, let them be cut at such 

 distance from the old wood that the buds are 

 found regular, and are large and distinct. When 

 you have collected as many of these straight 

 shoots as you wish, cut the lower end to a 

 point, that it may more easily be stuck in the 

 ground, then, with a sharp budding knife, cut 

 out each bud much in the manner of cutting 

 them from a cion for budding — proceed in this 

 i manner as far as you wish the body of your 

 bush to remain without limbs, as no sprouts 

 will ever come out of that part deprived of buds* 

 and the greatest care should be taken that not 

 one bud, however small, should be left, as that 

 would defeat all your calculations — alter this 

 stick themjin the ground from four to six inches, 

 keeping them perpendicular. The first summer 

 they will take root and make small growths, af- 

 ter which they may be set in the places where 

 you wish them to remain. As they increase in 

 size the topi should be pruned and shaped to 

 ihe tasto of the operator. Currant bushes, 

 managed in thi- way, will continue in bearing 

 fifty years — ihe fruit will be larger and better 

 flavored than from those hushes left to grow 

 in the common manner; the borders will not 

 ho infested with sprouts ; and dwarf standards 

 are ornamental, and should be found in evory 

 well regulated garden. 



Among the giants for the public service of 

 1830, the French chamber of deputies have 

 voted 5,100,000 francs (rather more than $1,- 

 000,000) for the completion pf varTrjifs canal* 



BROOM CORN. 



From the unlimited use of this article it has 

 become of great consequence, and for several 

 years past the growing of it, as a field crop 

 has been attended with a handsome profit ; and 

 the manufacturing of it into brooms gives em- 

 ployment to the farmer within doors at that 

 season of the year when his timo is of least 

 worth We do not know whether the increase 

 in price the present season is owing to the fail- 

 ure of the crop, or the increasing demand for 

 brooms, when manufactured ; but from some 

 cause the price, both of the unmanufactured 

 and manufactured article, has increased from 

 fifty to seventy-five per cent, within the last 

 year. Brooms which were worth one year 

 since one dollar and fifty cents per dozen, are 

 worth this season two dollars and sixty-three 

 cents, and the unmanufactured brush has been 

 sold as high as ten cents per pound. Allow* 

 ing the produce of an acre of good land to be 

 one thousand pounds, this wuuldgive the far- 

 mer one hundred dollars as the product, and 

 the labor required would be but little more 

 than that for cultivating an acre of Indian corn ; 

 beside the broom corn would prodnce from 

 twenty to twenty-five bushels of seed per acre, 

 which 13 worth as much as oats to feed lo fowls. 

 Great care should be given to the selection of 

 seed by those who intend to plant, using only 

 such as grow upon the best stalks, which pro- 

 duced the longest brush. As it is of import- 

 ance to farmers to raise those crops which wilj 

 give them the greatest profit we would recom- 

 mend to those who have land suitable, to in- 

 quire into the prospects for this crop. 



MADDER. 



This is theRubia tinctoria of Linneus, and 

 is thus described :— Calyx, four toothed ; Co- 

 ral, four cleft and bellform ; stem, square and 

 piickly ; leaves, whorled ; plant, perennial. — 

 In growth and habits this plant bears a strong 

 resemblance to one growing by the side of 

 ditches and commonly known by the name of 

 Clivers. It is propagated either by seeds or 

 offsets ; the latter method is the one generally 

 practised. This plant has been long cultiva- 

 ted as a dyeing material. Madder thrives best 

 in a deep rich soil, rather wet than otherwise 

 it is cultivated in rows or drills, not unlike po- 

 tatoes, or in bods of four or five feet wide, 

 which are to be earthed over from the space 

 between them. A person of our acquaintance, 

 who has cultivated this plant for a number of 

 years, prefers planting in rows and plowing 

 and dressing it much in the manner of pota- 

 toes. The roots are taken up after two years 

 if from offsets, but not till the third year when 

 raised from seed. This operation is performed 1 

 in autumn, and the crown oT the roots are set 

 in a new plantation. The roots are dried and 

 ground, or sold without, as the market offers . 

 the price varying from twenty to thirty cents 

 per pound. The produce of an acre may be 

 calculated at from fifteen hundred to two thou- 

 sand pounds. It is with a variety of this plant 

 that many of onr western Indians make their 

 beautiful red colore. The root is sometime!: 

 attacked by the grub, which prov.es very inju- 

 rious to the crop. 



