THE CULTURE OF THE GRAPE. 171 



I have pruned, in every Aveek, from twentieth October till 

 tenth March, and never have been able, with the most care- 

 ful observation, to perceive any difference in the time of start- 

 ing, or the vigor and health of the vine or fruit. The late 

 pruned ones are certainly more hable to bleed, but, if the 

 bleeding hurts them, the injury is not yet perceptible on my 

 vines. I leave from three to five buds on my fruiting shoots, 

 according to their strength. More than half the vines in this 

 vineyard are Isabella, the rest are Catawba, Elsinboro, Black 

 Madeira, Norton's Seedhng, and one or two other inferior 

 kinds, which I do not know. The Isabella is the most certain. 

 The Catawba I think the finest grape, but it is much more 

 liable to rot and mildew than the Isabella. Twenty pounds to 

 a vine is a fair crop for either of these. The Elsinboro is 

 very highly esteemed in this vicinity. Its size is that of a 

 large pea, and the seeds are large, but its flavor is pleasant, 

 the pulp melting, and it has less of the foxy flavor than any 

 of our native grapes. The grape which I have called the 

 Black Madeira, I am inchned to think, must be the Lenoir. 

 A gardener, who worked for the former OAvner of my farm, 

 told me it was ' Black Madeira,' — but I can find no descrip- 

 tion of such a grape, and it certainly is not ' Bland's Ma- 

 deira,' which is but a synonyme of the Alexander. Downing's 

 description of the Lenoir, answers to the grape which I have 

 called Black Madeira. It ripens a week or ten days before 

 the Isabella, and is a sweeter grape. Norton's Seedling is 

 third rate with us ; it bears well, and ripens well, but is foxy 

 and sour. 



" I planted a new A^neyard last spring, (1847,) near my 

 old one, and on a similar soil, though the ground has a very 

 gentle slope to the southwest. Six months previously, I ad- 

 vertised, in our village paper, for bones and refuse animal 

 matter of every description, which set the boys to collecting 

 them, and before spring I had procured about three tons. I 

 had a pit prepared, in which they were thrown, and every 

 fresh deposit immediately covered with old sod, of which I 



