ORCHARDS AND VINEYARDS. 117 



•which is the only manure that has been used on this lot up to 

 the present time, except what I shall mention hereafter, in con- 

 nection with the strawberries raised between the rows of vines. 



At the time of planting the vines the ground was ploughed, 

 harrowed, and made as fine and level as the remaining stumps 

 and roots would allow, and then carefully planted in straight 

 rows, ten feet apart, and seven from each other in the rows, 

 where stakes were to be used to support the vines ; between the 

 rows I planted two rows of strawberries, which were allowed to 

 run into beds. In the spring of 1868 the edges of these beds 

 were trimmed, which left two beds three feet wide, with a path 

 on each side of them ; from these beds I sold, in 1868, a little 

 over 1400.00 worth of berries and plants, and the only manure 

 or fertilizer that was applied to them was a lot of ashes from a 

 pile of stumps, gathered from the same lot, burnt, and spread 

 where the strawberries were to be planted, and two hundred 

 pounds of superphosphate of lime sowed in the spring of 1868. 

 In July of the same year, as soon as the crop of strawberries 

 was gathered, the entire beds were ploughed under. Since that 

 time there has been no crop raised between the vines. 



These vines have certainly been grown without animal ma- 

 nure, and I might say, almost without any manure ; still, I would 

 not have it understood that I would not use any manure, for I 

 certainly should, if in my judgment the vines needed it. What 

 the grape-grower must have to produce the best crops of fruits, 

 is a medium-sized short-jointed, solid and well-ripened wood ; 

 excessive manuring does not give that, but rather a coarse, long- 

 jointed, immaturely ripened, soft, spongy wood ; the first will 

 produce an abundance of fruit, of good quality ; the last, less 

 fruit and later in ripening ; perhaps, I should say that withhold- 

 ing manure would apply more particularly to the strong-grow- 

 ing varieties, such as the Concord, Hartfox'd, Diana, and most 

 of the Rogers'. 



Five hundred of these vines are trained on stakes, two arms 

 and two stakes to each vine ; one arm is coiled around each 

 stake, and spur-pruned with rather long spurs, as the two buds 

 nearest the old wood are very often only leaf buds, and would 

 not give fruit. This is the case with the Concord, more partic- 

 ularly than w^ith other sorts. The rest of the vines are on a 

 wire trellis, and are intended to spread out as evenly as possible 



