24 The Knox Fruit-Farm. 



THE KNOX FRUIT-FARM. 



THE GRAPE-SHOW OF 1867. 



June and October are famous months with Mr. J, Knox ; for in them, 

 respectively, he holds his strawberry and his grape exhibitions. In them 

 he invites his horticultural friends to come and see the products of his 

 strawberry-fields and of his grape-trellises. These now become the 

 centres of attraction to horticulturists^ all over the country. Upon these 

 occasions, all may go, not merely to see samples of the fruit tastefully 

 arranged upon the tables at his warehouse at the city, as at any other 

 horticultural show, but the visitor can go to the grounds where they are 

 produced ; and there he can study the important characters of the plants 

 and vines, observe the peculiar modes of treatment to which they have 

 been subjected, and see for himself the wonderful health, vigor, and pro- 

 ductiveness of some varieties, which would appear fabulous in narration ; 

 and he can also discover the weakness, infertility, deficient health, or other 

 defects, of some sorts which may have made a very respectable appearance, 

 and have been highly lauded, when shown by the plateful at a horticul- 

 tural exhibition. During the current month of the vintage, these grounds 

 have been visited by many of the most prominent horticulturists of the 

 country. Many have seen them for the first time, and have expressed their 

 satisfaction and delight at the results produced ; and many others have 

 been to refresh their memories of past visits, and to watch the progress of 

 new varieties coming into fruit under the treatment and upon the soil of 

 this locality. The writer belongs to the latter class ; and, having enjoyed 

 the opportunity once more of seeing many of the comparatively new grapes 

 in fruit, he proposes to present an abstract of his notes to the readers of the 

 Journal. 



The mode of preparation of the soil, the laying-out, the planting, and the 

 culture, pursued by Mr. Knox, have been so often laid before the public, that 

 they will not need to be again detailed, further than to state that a rather 

 stiff calcareous clay loam is ploughed deeply, and planted with grape-vines, 

 generally one year old, single-eye plants, that are set at a distance of six by 



