3IO Notes and Gleanings. 



one sweet ; while no man ever could pick a half-dozen of the New Rochelle (or 

 commonly called Lawton) in succession, and find all sweet. The Kittatinny is 

 more prolific than the Dorchester, and, I think, the most so of any variety ; and 

 its fruit is second only to the Dorchester : for while it has, perhaps, more spright- 

 liness, it lacks a little of the saccharine, and does not please as well, time after 

 time, in eating, as the Dorchester. As market-berries, I think Wilson, Kittatinny, 

 and New Rochelle, are all desirable : the first because of its earliness, not for the 

 quality of its fruit, for that always has a hard core ; the second because of its 

 productiveness, and the quality such, that, where customers are at all discriminat- 

 ing, more price per quart can be obtained. Its canes are also the most hardy 

 of any variety. The New Rochelle is a great producer, and continues a long 

 time ; and its fruit so large and showy, that it will sell even if the sour side 

 shows. 



" Grape-Culture.'''' — A subject of immense importance all over the country, 

 but especially at the West. The selection of varieties to meet the soil and cli- 

 mate in which they are to be grown is an item of great importance, and one 

 which has been too much overlooked. While I believe some variety of grape 

 can be grown so as to be palatable in almost every section and soil, I do 

 not believe any and every field capable of growing corn will produce grapes rich 

 in saccharine, and with no greater per cent of acid than is requisite for health 

 in eating, or for keeping and character when made into wine, without the addi- 

 tion of some foreign material, as sugar, et ccetera. Hardiness of vine is an all- 

 important item for vineyard culture ; for, how:ver it may prove profitable to lay 

 down and cover the vines in winter, the mere fict that it will have to be done 

 with any vine checks the spread of that vine at once. It is no small item to 

 go through a vineyard of sixty or a hundred acres in the fall, prune and lay 

 down for winter, and then again in spring go through and uncover. 



All these items are good in themselves, perhaps ; but we must wait a while, I 

 think, before any extensive vine-grower will practise winter laying-down and 

 covering. With the writer, I agree that the best plants to be had should always 

 be planted ; and, when they are bought, the planter should make two or more selec- 

 tions of them, placing all the strongest and best by themselves, and so on with 

 each grade ; for there is nothing more annoying and unsatisfactory in grape- 

 culture than to have the rows with every now and then a failure or an imperfect 

 plant. All who have such failures should at once fill up ; taking away the poor 

 vine, and, replacing with strong two-year-olds, give plentifully of rotten manure 

 for the first season. It is no use trying to nurse up the poor plant. 



'■'■ Ajuerican Grape-Growinj.'''' — T\\& grounds taken by Mr. Husmann, in 

 opposition to any prize being awarded to one grape as superior over our whole 

 country, are undoubtedly correct ; for while the vine, like the apple-tree, can be 

 grown almost everywhere, yet all observing pomologists know that the quality of 

 fruit of any one variety varies in only a difference of a hundred feet or so in 

 location. To me this shows that soil is a point more to be observed than cli- 

 mate ; although, with the grape, soil without climate cannot and does not de- 

 velop saccharine. I have seen the Newtown Pippin scab and knot and half ripen 

 on one tree, while another only two hundred feet distant gave large and fair 



