"282 



GENESEE FARMER. 



Nov. 



Cultivation of the grape. 



Mr. Barry — Sir: I ^e in the last number 

 of the Genesee Farmer, an inquiry respecting 

 the best mode of manuring, pruning and culti- 

 vating the grape. A contribution to that object 

 from practical experience may be useful. I 

 have an Isabella grape which when I entered on 

 my present residence I found spread and tangled 

 to a great e.vtent, having been trained over an 

 arbor — a decidedly bad plan. 



That was in June, 1846. I merely tied it up 

 as well as I could, leaving it to fruit. The crop 

 was tolerably large, of small, insipid fruit. The 

 next winter the vine received a general heading 

 and thinning out ; the ground vras stirred up 

 with a fork, fresh soil was laid on, and a coating 

 of ashes mixed in. The succeeding crop was 

 improved, but still deficient in size and flavor. 

 Last winter I gave the vine a general overhaul- 

 ing. First, I fixed on two string branches 

 starting from the main trunk near the ground, 

 and fastened them to the trellis horizontally. I 

 then took my pruning knife and cut away sev- 

 , eral branches, some from the trunk, some from 

 the arms which I had fastened along ; a few 

 being as thick as two fingers. Next I marked 

 those branches from the horizontal arms which 

 looked most promising for fruit, tied. them up, 

 four on each side of the trunk at intervals of 12 

 or 1.5 inches, and headed them down to 5 feet in 

 height. I then selected branches between the 

 spaces which 1 cut down to within two buds, one 

 branch in each interval, and then cut away 

 every thing else clean to the stock. The vine 

 now looked really handsome. 



In the Spring I removed superflous buds, and 

 lateral shoots. The fruit and wood branches 

 grew vigorously this season, spreading all over 

 peach trees that stand near. In September, I 

 headed all down to within 4 or 5 buds of the 

 trunk, and girdled at two buds distance from the 

 trunk, and now need only say that few, if any 

 in this neigliborliood could show a finer crop of 

 grapes, large, numerous and delicious. The 

 ground was occasionally stirred and kept clean. 

 This winter I shall cut the fruit branches away 

 to within two or three buds of the trunk, the 

 intermediate wood bra;iches being left for fruit- 

 ing next season. In addition to the fresh soil 

 and ashes, I have dug in from the ash hill a 

 tjuantity of material that was mixed up, bones, 

 old shoes, &:c. The grape is a gross feeder. 

 I have several vines coming on, which I shall 

 train, prune and cultivate in the same way. 



It is unquestionably bad practice to allow the 

 vines to fruit amidst such spreading, lengthening 

 and entangling of branches as one sees almost 

 everyv/here. A friend showed me a vine that 

 covered a wing and wood-shed, with a large 

 quantity of fruit, such as il was. 



My vine, I may add, when in fruit a few 



weeks ago, was ah object of great attention and 

 admiration to all who saw it. Next season it 

 will show still better, from the increased in- 

 fluence of manuring, &c. 



Yours, &c., C. Thompson. 



Rochester, October, 1848. 



Mode of Preserving Peach Trees from Mildew. 



Mildew infests many kinds of plants, and as- 

 sumes many diflerent appearances. It attacks 

 peaches and nectarines, (particularly the Tillot- 

 son. Early June, and other serrate varieties,) 

 seizing the tender points of the shoots, which 

 are quickly destroyed. 



It has been ascertained by naturalists that the 

 mildew is a species of Fungus, which attaches 

 itself io certain plants when they are in a pecu- 

 liar state of growth favorable to its nature. If 

 this be so, it cannot with propriety be called a 

 disease, though its eflects are equally destruc- 

 tive. Luckily, it is a vegetable of a more deli- 

 cate constitution than the plant it fixes upon, 

 because it very soon yields to an application of 

 soap-suds, or the following ; slack two pounds of 

 roach lime with about six gallons of water ; after 

 it stands sixteen or eighteen hours, pour off tlie 

 pure water and mix it with four gallons of soap- 

 suds. Syringe the trees once or twice with this 

 mixture, at the time the mildew makes its ap- 

 pearance, and in a day or two it will disappear. 

 This mixture appears also to nourish the trees, 

 and give the leaves a verdure and luxury of ap- 

 pearance superior to any thing I ever before wit>- 

 nessed. This I have practiced several times 

 with great success. 



To prevent the mildew in the month of May, 

 syringe your trees with soap-suds, then dust 

 them well with common sulphur; this prevents 

 any attack of the mildew. 



Yours, &c., E. Dagge. 



iMt. Hope Nurseries, Rocliester. Oct., 1848. 



Hortictuliiral Humbugs. 



There are a number of these which take pe- 

 riodical journeys in the papers, and are thus 

 "rescued," as the Prairie Farmer says, "from 

 drowning." Am.ong them are, that the inser- 

 tion of apple grafts in a potato before planting 

 in the earth, insures their growth ; that covef- 

 ing asparagus stalks with a bottle, the stalk will 

 soon swell prodigiously and fill the bottle ; that 

 the exclusion of grubs from cabbage may be ef- 

 fected by a circle of salt ; that transplanting 

 evergreens is successful at midsummer ; that by 

 grafting or budding the peach on the willow, 

 the fruit, " when'''' it grows, will have no stones; 

 that plucking jiotato balls will cause a great in- 

 crease in the tubers ; that peach and apple seeds 

 planted in the fruit, will infallibly re-produce 

 the same variety; that the escape of sap, by pru- 

 ning the grape in spring, will destroy the vine, &;c. 



