Field-Cidtiire of the Grape in Massachusetts. 201 



laid out in buildings or statuary about a country-house can add so much to 

 give it an air of taste and refinement as a well-kept lawn. 



We propose to speak of the grasses recommended in the above list at 

 greater length hereafter. Charles L. Flint. 



Boston, Mass. 



FIELD-CULTURE OF THE GRAPE IN MASSACHUSETTS. 



But a few years since, our horticulturists would have pronounced the 

 cultivation of the grape in the vineyard to be impossible ; and we must 

 confess, that, with the grapes known to us at that time, the great body of 

 cultivators -would have concurred in that opinion ; but to-day, with one 

 hundred acres of vines growing in Massachusetts, many of them yielding 

 an annual income of one thousand dollars or more per acre, the question 

 may be considered settled, — the vineyard is possible in our rude North. 



I propose to show, so far as I may in this brief paper, a few of the con- 

 ditions precedent to the successful cultivation of the grape in New England ; 

 some of which, though unnecessary in regions peculiarly suited to the cul- 

 ture of the grape, and therefore neglected in the popular treatises on that 

 subject, are yet so needful to a complete success, that we feel obliged to 

 present them frankly to the consideration of those who propose to plant 

 vineyards. 



The best climate for the grape is undoubtedly much warmer than ours. 

 A long season, a fervid sunshine, and especially a dry and warm autumn, 

 prolonged into October, secure the ripening of the grape so completely, 

 that it reaches its best co^idition. In such climates, trenching the soil 

 deeply is a preventive of the effects of summer droughts ; and, as the heat 

 of the long summer warms the earth to a great depth, the deepest roots 

 get the necessary heat, and thrive and multiply. In such a climate, trench- 

 ing is therefore serviceable ; but at the North, if I can trust my own expe- 

 rience, it is not only unnecessary, but pernicious. 



Here at the North, with the exception of very sheltered situations, well 

 exposed to- the sun, and having also a favorable sail for the absorption of 

 heat, the soil does not become properly heated for the wants of the grape 

 to a greater depth than one foot from the surface* 



VOL. I. 26 



