v\ 



THE CULTURE OP THE GRAPE. 187 



cellar, previous to building the house ; it is a clayey loam ; 

 this was enriched by the addition of stable manure, old 

 leather, &c., and, immediately under where the vine Avas 

 plantedj about ten pounds of glue, which had beem damaged, 

 was placed, and covered with soil. Mr. Grant is particular 

 in limiting the crop, cutting away, freely, the bunches, and 

 thinning the berries also. The spur-pruning is followed. 



The following account of the vineyards in Pennsylvania 

 was furnished me, at my request, by H. W. S. Cleveland, 

 Esq., who obtained the information from the best authority, 

 one of the largest cultivators of Reading : — 



" O n the mou ntains in the vicinity of Reading, Pennsylva- 

 nia, the grape is extensively cultivated by the German inhab- 

 itants. I am told, there are about one hundred and forty 

 acres planted with vines, in that neighborhood ; some of the 

 vineyards are fifteen years old. The soil is a red slate ; lime- 

 stone soils are avoided, as, they say, the grapes on such soils, 

 are more apt to mildew, and do not ripen so well. This, I 

 have been assured of, by men of much experience in vine- 

 yard culture, and it certainly is a very important fact, if it is 

 a fact. The aspect is the southern side of a hill, often a very 

 steep mountain side. Before planting, the land is trenched, 

 by running three ploughs, successively, in the same furrow. 

 The rows of vines are five feet apart, and the vines six feet 

 in the rows. The vines are trained to stakes, five or six feet 

 high, and are cut close to the surface of the ground, raising 

 new shoots from the stump, every year for fruit, which are 

 left two or three feet long, and then cut ojGF at the stump, 

 after fruiting. They prune any time between the fall of the 

 leaf and first of March. The only grapes cultivated, are the 

 Isal^ella and Catawba. Till within a foAV years past, they 

 have only used the grapes for wine, which is universally 

 drank by the Germans in that vicinity, and sells readily, at 

 Avholesale, for seventy-five cents the gallon. They calculate 

 that twelve pounds of grapes will make a gallon of wine, and 



