122 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



After the rye was harvested, pastured till spring of 1865, when 

 it was ploughed and planted with corn, manured in the hill, 

 with a compost of hen-dung, ashes and plaster, at the rate of 

 twenty-eight bushels of hen-dung, seven bushels of ashes, and 

 two hundred pounds of plaster per acre, yielding a fair crop. 



In May, 1866, ploughed and harrowed the ground ; then fur- 

 rowed it north and south ten feet apart, east and west six feet 

 apart, the distance at which the vines are set, setting them 

 wthere the furrows crossed. Also planted a row of potatoes in 

 the ten foot spaces, manured in the hill lightly with a mixture 

 of flour of bone and plaster. Hoed in around the vines, at 

 first hoeing, in 1866, forty pounds of flour of bone and six 

 pounds of sulphur. In spring of 1866, sowed broadcast and 

 worked into the ground forty pounds of flour of bone, with 

 equal measure of ashes mixed, moistened with water and al- 

 lowed to remain about a week before using. The vines were 

 hoed twice in 1866, three times in 1867 and 1868, and twice in 

 1869, using a small horse plough lightly the first time each year, 

 and a cultivator at other times. 



The method of pruning and training has been as follows : — 



In 1866, the vines were allowed to grow without pruning or 

 training till November, when they were cut back nearly to the 

 ground. In the spring of 1867, set stakes from two to three 

 inches in diameter, cut eight feet long, two to each vine, one 

 and a half feet from it, making them three feet apart in the 

 rows, setting them about a foot and a half in the ground. As 

 the vines grew, trained up two branches from each, one to each 

 stake, using waste strings from the factory. In November, cut 

 back the vines to the top of the stakes ; also pruned off any 

 side shoots that were on them. In 1868, kept the vines tied to 

 the stakes without pruning till November, when the branches 

 were cut back to within three buds of the main vine. 



This fall, shall cut off all of the present year's growth to 

 within one good bud of the old wood, and so continue from year 

 to year. Have left the vines standing winters, renewing any 

 strings that were weak in the spring. The vines showed a little 

 mildew in 1868, and also in 1869. Dusted them lightly with 

 sulphur and it left immediately. 



The expenses have been as follows : — 



