Gardening in Ohio, ^-c. 331 



Grapes. 



Of the grape, my garden contains the following varieties: 

 Isabella, Catawba, Constantia, Madeira, Bland's Madeira, 

 Miller's Burgundy, black Hamburgh and black Raisin. The 

 stems of several of the Isabella and Catawba vines measure 

 from eight to twelve inches in circumference near the ground. 

 They are trained on close wooden fences, or the walls of 

 buildings, and some of them are kept in place by horizontal 

 wires. The surface is usually, every spring, covered with a 

 coat of lime white-wash, in which is difiused a liberal sprinkling 

 of sulphur. During the heat of summer the fumes of this min- 

 eral protect the foliage from the depredations of the thrips and 

 other small insects. A close or continuous surface is consid- 

 ered necessary to guard the blossoms and tender grapes from 

 spring frosts, and to radiate heat in ripening the fruit. Grapes 

 on open trellises or arbors generally r\[)en jioorly. All the 

 cardinal points of the compass are embraced in the exposures 

 of the vines, and all of them ripen their fruit. The south and 

 west ripen first, the north and east last. The Isabella is con- 

 sidered to be the most rich and luscious of our native grapes. 

 The Catawba, when fully ripe, is nearly or quite its equal. 

 With us it is more apt to rot when two thirds grown, if the 

 season is wet and the roots not well drained. It will bear 

 much closer pruning than any other native variety that I am 

 acquainted with, and in this respect, as well as in the complex- 

 ion of its wood, closely resembles some of the finer foreign 

 grapes. The Catawba is soonest ripe, usually early in Octo- 

 ber or last of September. The Isabella is not fully ri])e till 

 late in October, unless in a south exposure, but is picked and 

 eaten by many persons when the skin becomes of a deep pur- 

 ple. When fully ripe, the honey-bee and wasp are very 

 troublesome visitors, eating holes into the fruit, and sucking 

 out the luscious juice, letting in the rain, which soon produces 

 decay and the wasting of much of the crop. The only rem- 

 edy is covering the vines with a screen of millinet. Bland's 

 Madeira is a fine grape and ripens well, as does also the Lis- 

 bon or foreign INIadeira; but the vine needs protection in the 

 winter. When down I usually let them lay on the ground till 

 the spring frosts are past, thereby insuring a crop. Unless a 

 remedy is found in the fish-oil soap, I shall abandon the culti- 

 vation of the black Hamburgh in the open ground, so subject 

 is the foliage and fruit to mould and decay when about half 

 grown. 



