NEW ENGI.AND FARMER. 



Published by Jobs B. Bussbll, at JVo. 53 J\rotik Market Street, (over the Agricultural ffarehouse). — Thomas G. Fbssbnden, Editor. 



VOL. VI. 



BOSTON, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 1827. 



No. 16. 



HORTICULTURE. 



TO TnE EDIIORjOr THB NEW' EHOIAND TABnEB. 



VINES. 



Y«u will do mo the favor to acknowledge the 

 following errors of the press, in the extract from 

 the original French of Porteau's and Vilmorin's 

 Treatise on Grapes ; errors, I know to be very 

 natural in printing a foreign language, from a 

 badly written copy. 



The points over all the participles were omitted 

 — toilles was put instead of "toilles" — yeaux for 

 •' yeux" — donuerent for donneront — quis for " qui" 

 — and produirent for " produiront." " Grappes 

 d'escellent raisin" is bo pot in the original, and I 

 suppose is a French idiomatic expression, though 

 it wonld be vile grammar in our language. These 

 are trifles, but mi?ht be imputed to me. I shall 

 now give you the reasons of Mr Vilmorin, which 

 I omitted in the translation, because I thought no 

 reason necessary in support of authority so high ; 

 and I believed that the public would not require 

 '.hem — and, indeed, to judge by the numerous 



writers agree with each other in the proper mode 

 of training, or pruning. Every new writer from 

 Hitt to Hayward, has his own scheme. I would 

 not intimate, that in forcing grapes the English 

 gardeners are not eminently successful. Bui they 

 are so in twenty different ways. They are so at- 

 tentive, so neat, lo utterly indifferent to expense, 

 that success is hardly to be avoided. In France, 

 on the other hand, it is an affair of subsistence — 

 it is the great staple of their whole country, oven 

 to the north of Paris — yes, to a- latitude 4 degrees 

 north of Quebec From the history of the culture 

 of the vine in France which I have carefully gone 

 over, I find, that the plan of planting their vines 

 very near to each other, in all the middle, and es- 

 pecially the northern provinces, has been of high 

 antiquity. In 1763 an innovator appeared in 

 France. Mr Maupin in his treatise, entitled, " A 

 New Method of Cultivating the Vine," contended 

 tJiat the vines should be planted 4 feet from each 

 other. All France was alive to this question. — 

 thanks I have received from intelligent men, 1 1 The experiment was fairly tried and failed, and 

 should suppose t.hat I was not mistaken. |the French returned to their old system of close 



"TRANSLATION.' planting, and of short pruning. This is the true 



" We admire, say Porteauand Vilmorin, as many [history, and, if ever the vine shall be successfully 

 "others do, those branches of the vine, which are, cultivated here for projit, not for luxury, for the 



is, that in the British works, I find nothing but the experiment. Too nauch has perhaps been 

 chaos. As you would naturally expect from peo- said on <At» topic k, yet too much can hardly he 

 pie, who raise the grape as a luxury only, no two] said, if we can succeed in making the culture of 



" carried to 200 feet in length, — and we admit, 

 " that there are parts of a wall, which can only be 

 "covered by branches, the roots of which are 

 " very distant, but we recollect, that whon a^. . .cii 

 " has extended beyond q certain distance, it no 

 " longer gives fine bunches, 6uf at its cxtremilies — 

 "the spurs of the centre nolongerprodnce anything 

 " but small bunches, [grapillons] and soon die of 

 "inanition. This inconvenience doubtless occur- 

 " red to the Thouiery gardeners, and by an admi- 

 " rable calculation, they fixed upon the length of, 

 « eight feet for each vine. It follows, from this 

 " arrangement, that the sap is equally distributed 

 " to all the spurs — and that all the bunches are 

 " well nourished, and more beautiful." 



" We should also, here remark, that, "hough 

 •■' the branches at Thomery are only eight feet 

 " long, they do not throw out extraordinary jhools, 

 " because, the plants being set at 20 inches dis 

 " tance only, apart from each other, their roots 

 " dispute or contend with each other for nJiirish- 

 " ment. The cover of the wall also, extending 

 " over the vine 9 or 10 inclie.^, contrihates to 

 " check the growth, not sinning by any excess (:\e 

 "penchant par aucun exces) its fruit has nil the 

 " qualities u-hich it is susceptible of acquir ng." — 

 Such is the strong, and to my understanding, the 

 sound l.ingiiaie of men, living in a country, which 

 has cultivated ih'^ gr-'ipe ever since the invasion of 

 Julius CsEsar, before the birth of our Saviour, and 

 which raises one million of pounds of grapes, for 

 every pound, rai.-ipd in Eng],! ■! & America united. 



Knowing, that your " Brooklyn correspondent" 

 has set his face against this French moile o:' train 

 ing, and that he is, from his long experien:c, and 

 great success, a host in himself. I have set myself 

 to work, to brush up my old acquisitions on this 

 subject, by revising the English and French au- 

 thorities on the culture of the vine. The result 



arket, not for the dessert of the opulent, I pre- 

 dict that we shall adopt that mode. 



All the French writers admit, that where the 

 soil is .ery rich, and the situation sheltered by 

 hills, you may extend to mu( h greater Ifnutl, your 

 bearing wood, and permit more luxuriant growths, 

 and th.it, in such places, your bunches will be 

 much larger. Such is the fortunate scite of your 

 intelligent correspondent at Brooklyn. He enjoys 

 natural advantages beyond the power of art, and 

 he has added to them artificial ones, surpassing 

 his natural benefits. Sheltered from all cold blasts 

 by a lofty hill — his garden in rapidly descending 

 terraces, protected also by a noble wall, if the 

 grape were left to itself it could not fail to fluur 

 ish. Transport his vines in their present state, to 

 an exposed plain, and transport with it the Intel 

 ligent owner, and not one bunch of his grapes 

 would ever ripen, on espaliers, unprotected by a 

 wall, if he should pursue his system of permitting 

 one vine to make 700 feet of new wood in a season. 



His experience is no better adapted to common 

 use, than that of a man, who had only cultivated 

 the vine in a grape house. Every one, who knows 

 his seat is sensible, that more judgement could 

 not possibly be shown, than he has done — but it 

 is a judgemen' exercised in a sort of Pmudise. — 

 Jily fate has been far diflferent. To me, every pos- 

 sible natural disadvantage has been opposed. I 

 think, therpfere, for my fellow sufferers, and I feel 

 persuaded, that for them, the cheap, simplp, mod- 

 erate training of the Thomery gardeners promises 

 success. I have a happy chance of tryinj the ex- 

 periment, this year, for a friend. I have planted 

 against a conjmon country stone wall, a set of 

 vines, which I shall train on the Thomery plan 

 and I promise to give the ptiblic an impartial ac- 

 count of its success. My own vines (.35 years 

 old) do not in my judgeoient, offer a fair field for 



the European hardy grapes practicable. 



I was much pleased, with a thought of the 

 younger Mr Kenrick, of Newton. Excited by the 

 account of training the grape, at Thomery, he 

 said, he was resolved to try a quarter of an acre, 

 but never to extend them above the i'.rbt rail, say 

 6 or 9 inches from the ground. In this way he 

 could protect them on the north by boards, and 

 have successive rows not farther distant than cur- 

 rants are planted. I may as well thro.v off alf 

 disguise of fictitious names. J. LOWELL. 



Roxbury, J^ov. 6, 1827. 



ISABELLA GRAPE. 



This grape has been introduced into the interi- 

 or of this state, with great success. A Loc kpoit 

 paper mentions that a vine brought to that illage 

 from Prince's garden. Flushing, three years since, 

 has borne between 5 and 6 bushels of grapes, cf a 

 quality and flavor superior to any other kind here- 

 tofore introduced into that part of the country. — 

 The grapes are about the size of a musket ball, 

 and grow in large compact clusters. The troubit 

 and expense of covering with earth for the win 

 ter, which attends almost every other species oi 

 grape cultivated in this country, is saved by the 

 cultivation of this. It is found to do well, by re- 

 maining upon the trellis during the severest win- 

 ters. 



We look ''orward with much hope to the gene- 

 ra" cultivation of the vine in the fine valleys ci 

 the west, and to the manufacture of those light 

 ■' ines, which may supersede the use of rum and 

 whiskey — the last of which is now manufactured 

 so extensively and chcMply, that it can be sold for 

 four cents per pint. [N. Y. Statesman.] 



SHADE TREE. 



"When to build, is the question a man shoulii 

 reflect upon a great while, and perhaps not build 

 at all ; but when to plant he should not reflect, but 

 plant immediately." 



Now is a good time to plant and transplant tht 

 generality of shade and forest trees. We are all 

 aware of the very great addition that ornamentai 

 frees are to dwellings, especially in towns and 

 open parts of the country ; but fev/ attend to hav- 

 ing them planted. The inhabitants are either ten- 

 ants and " going away," or defer the matter yeai 

 after year for lifetime. Tavern keepers are too 

 insensible of the great advantage that a shade in 

 front of their houses would be to them, or we 

 thould not see so many naked fronts. Any one 

 wlio has travelled during the heat of summer, 

 knows the comfort of stopping at a tavern where 

 his horse and himself can be refreshed under the 

 cool shade of trees ; and that he would rather 

 travel miles than be subjected, whilst resting, to 

 the burning rays of a meridian sun. A garden 

 and a few ornamental trees, add twenty-five per 

 cent to the value of any dwelling in the estima- 

 tion of a person of taste ; and both these are in 

 the power of every one to command ; and to pre 

 pare which would be a healthy recreation. 



The naked and exposed appearance, and the ab 



