266 THE GRAPE. 



others prefer inside. If sandy ground, no care will be required to 

 form a drainage ; but if on clayey, retentive soil, dig out all the earth 

 three feet deep, form a drain in centre at bottom, leading away from 

 the house, prepare fresh virgin earth or turf from old pastures or 

 woods, and mix well rotted barn-yard manure in about equal quan- 

 tities, or perhaps a little most of the soil, add to this one-tent), in 

 quantity each of gypsum (plaster of Paris), and ground bones, nr 

 one-sixth of wood ashes ; let it be well mixed before putting in the 

 border. Parings of horses' hoofs, and cinders from a blacksmith's 

 shop, street scrapings, leather parings, old rags, bones, &<:., are all 

 used and all good, but the above named materials, wrth liberal water- 

 ing with soap-suds, and occasional sprinkling with sulphur (which 

 will be necessary at times to check mildew) will give good growth of 

 vine and fruit. 



Planting and Training. The vines, being obtained from the nur- 

 sery, generally come in crocks or pots ; the earth should be well wet, 

 and then by inserting the finger at the hole at the small end or bot- 

 tom of the crock, the whole ball of roots entire is pushed out ; now 

 plant just outside the front wall, and so that you can run the stem 

 immediately under, leaving the roots only outside ; let each plant 

 stand half way between each rafter, and as they grow train to a wire 

 fastened at top each of front and back wall, so as to be six inches 

 below the glass. Spur pruning is regarded best for cold houses, and 

 is plainly described as follows : " In pruning in the Fall, after the 

 first year's growth, each alternate eye is disbudded on each side of 

 the cane, leaving those wanted for breaking next season about fifteen 

 inches apart. The next season, when pruning for spurs, the sidrj 

 shoots are cut back to three eyes, or even four, according as the 

 lower buds may be plump and well rounded. In breaking, each bud 

 puts forth a shoot ; the most promising one nearest the top, and the 

 one at the base is allowed to remain, and the other is rubbed out. 

 The top one is allowed to bear, and the fruit on the bottom one is 

 pinched out. The fruit-bearing spur is stopped three or four joints 

 above the fruit, and the other one next to the base is also stopped, 

 when it has grown seven or eight leaves. They are now trained as 

 shown in the following figure. 



"a is the bearing shoot, and b the one not to be 

 fruited till next year ; at next pruning (or what is still 

 better, two or three weeks previous), a is cut clean out 

 to the base of 5, and, when the leaves fall, b is cut back 

 to three eyes, as a was last season, and so on from yjar 

 to year." Every Fall, at approach of cold weather, take 

 down the vines, lay them on the border, inside, and cover 

 with tan-bark four inches deep ; cover the border outside 

 same depth with barn-yard manure. 



Routine of Culture. The following brief instructions, from A J. 



