88 CORRESPONDENCE. 



In the fall of the year I went to a swamp where 

 vines grew wild, and dug out forty sods, I then dug 

 out holes with a stub hoe, about three feet apart, into 

 which I put these sods of vines, and stamped them in 

 with my feet. The next season the vines grew rapid- 

 ly, and as they spread, the other grasses diminished 

 till the vines had complete possession of about six 

 rods of ground on one side of the pond or hollow, 

 where the sand from the beach had blown in and 

 raised the ground a little. For the last three or four 

 years there has been produced from one peck to one 

 bushel per rod. The fruit on one side of these vines, 

 very soon after they are out of blossom, rots very 

 much, in some seasons more than one-half of the crop 

 is thus destroyed before maturity. I am unable to 

 account for the decay on one part of the lot, while on 

 the other they come to maturity as sound as cran- 

 berries in general. 



Three years since I had the whole lot improved and 

 set with vines, they grow very well, and the fruit pro- 

 duced is sound and healthy. The last season was 

 very dry, some of the vines, I fear, are destroyed, the 

 fruit was literally baked on the vines. This spot is 

 some twenty feet above the sea, the water during the 

 winter and spring is held by a bed of blue clay, 

 which lies about three feet below the surface. 



In the autumn of 1850 I commenced improving 



