SECRETARY'S REPORT. 157 



day informed mc, that, on a piece of " blowing sand," in the 

 town of Sunderland, which had yielded only an occasional crop 

 of rye, they have seen a vineyard of grapes growing for these 

 two years with health and vigor. This corresponds with my 

 own experience. On a gravelly hilltop, which has had manure 

 but once in twenty-seven years, viz., in 1856, 1 have a vineyard 

 of the Concord which gives me my best grapes and makes my 

 best wine. 



There are, perhaps, some exceptions to this rule — some grapes 

 which will thrive on a strong and rich soil. I know one instance, 

 at least, which is in point. A gentleman planted on a hillside, 

 with a clay soil, rich, but " pasty " in the early season, the Dele- 

 ware, the Diana and the Lona. Neither of these grapes do well 

 with me ; but with him, in this clay soil, they grew with vigor 

 and bore good crops. Other similar circumstances lead me to 

 the conclusion that the grapes I have named need a rich soil, 

 and perhaps a strong one, to arrive at their best state. This may 

 also be true of some other grapes, but they are the exceptions 

 to the rule of the case. Too rich soils should be avoided — 

 especially wet soils. If the vines, after they have borne a few 

 crops, show signs of weakness, light top-dressings can be given. 

 Get your vines, if possible, from soil similar to that in which you 

 propose to plant them ; for if they come from a rich soil they 

 will pine in a poor one ; but if your soil is strong and moist, 

 get your vines from a similar soil, if you can find vines which 

 thrive in it. It is of equal importance that you have a good 



ASPECT. 



A south aspect is undoubtedly the best, and a hillside better 

 than the plain. In such an aspect the grape receives, in the 

 autumn, when the grapes are ripening, the greatest amount of 

 heat the climate permits. Shelter, also, is important, concen- 

 trating, as it does, and holding the heat, which, in the open 

 plain, is blown away by every wind. In the shelter of adjacent 

 woods the accumulated heat stays about your vines, quickening 

 the flow of the sap, and promoting largely the early maturity, 

 and improving the quality of the grape. Such a location is 

 equivalent to a latitude farther south. Do not be afraid to plant 

 the grape because you do not happen to be upon the isothermal 

 line, or have the aggregate heat which theorists prescribe as the 



