128 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



VINEYARDS. 



WORCESTER NORTH. 



Statement of Jabez Fisher. 



The " Plantation of Native Grapes " to which I have invited 

 your attention, consists of fifty-two vines in a single row. The 

 vines were grown by layering in 1856, and set in their present 

 location in the spring of 1857. The exposure is a gentle slope 

 to the south and east, with shelter on the north and west. The 

 soil is a strong loam resting on a clayey substratum. "Water 

 having been found to stand within two and one-half feet of the 

 surface occasionally during the year, especially in spring and 

 autumn, a drain was laid previously to planting the vines, 

 directly underneath where they now are, three feet deep. Tile 

 was used for the bottom, and small stones were filled in above 

 to within eighteen inches of the surface. Upon these a layer of 

 horn waste was spread, and loam filled in to the top. The 

 ground was not trenched nor otherwise specially prepared, only 

 as it had been left after the cultivation of ordinary crops. The 

 variety was the "Concord," and the vines were set six feet 

 apart. In 1857 they were allowed to grow at random, and in 

 the fall were pruned, as they had been at time of planting, to 

 two or three eyes. In 1858 a single cane from each vine was 

 trained to a stake, and at the autumn pruning cut back to 

 about two feet. 



In the spring of 1859, a trellis was erected of posts and wire. 

 The posts were chestnut, two by two, set two and one-half feet in 

 the ground, and rather more than five feet out, at the distance 

 of ten feet apart. At each end, a post, three by five, was set in 

 a foot and braced. Upon these posts four strands of No. 12 

 iron wire were stretched, the lowest eighteen to twenty inches 

 from the ground, and the others at distances of fifteen inches. 

 The strength of one man with a little skill is sufficient to stretch 

 the wires in warm weather. At each end the wires pass through 

 holes in the posts, and are secured by driving the bent end into 

 the wood, assisted by a staple made of the same wire. The wires 

 are fastened to the other posts by staples driven into one side of 

 them. The posts were entirely covered with coal or gas tar, and 



