302 THE GRAPE. 



habite, in this climate, and, therefore, must be treated differently. 

 The native sorts, as the Isabella and Catawba, are cultivated 

 with scarcely any further care than training; up the branches to 

 poles or a trellis, and are, on this account, highly valuable to the 

 farmer, while the European varieties are of little value in this 

 climate except with especial care, and are, therefore, confined to 

 the garden. 



1. Culture of the Foreign Grape. 



The climate of the temperate portion of this country, so fa- 

 vourable to all other fruits, is unfortunately not so for the foreign 

 grape. This results, perhaps, from its variability, the great ob- 

 stacle being the mildew^ which, seizing upon the young fruit, 

 prevents its further growth, causes it to crack, and renders it 

 worthless. Unwilling to believe that this was not the fault of 

 bad culture, many intelligent cultivatoi's, and among them men 

 of capital and much practical skill, have attempted vineyard 

 culture, with the foreign sorts, in various sections of the country, 

 under the most favourable circumstances, and have uniformly 

 failed. On the other hand, the very finest grapes are produced 

 under glass, in great quantities, in our first-rate gardens, espe- 

 cially in the neighbourhood of Boston ; in the small yards or 

 gardens of our cities, owing to the more uniform state of the 

 atmosphere, the foreign grape thrives pretty well ; and, finally, 

 in all gardens of the middle States, the hardier kinds may, under 

 certain modes of culture, be made to bear good fruit. 



Without entering into any inquiries respecting the particular 

 way in which the mildew (which is undoubtedly a parasitical 

 })lant,) is caused, we will endeavour to state concisely some 

 practical truths, to which our own observation and experience 

 have led us, respecting the hardy culture of the foreign grape. 



In the first place, it is well known, to gardeners here, that 

 young and thrifty vines generally bear one or two fair crops of 

 fruit ; second, that as the vine becomes older if it is pruned in 

 the common mode, (that is to say the spurring-in mode of short- 

 ening the side branches, and getting fresh bearing shoots from 

 main branches every year,) it soon bears only mildewed and , 

 imperfect fruit ; and, finally, that the older and larger the vine, 

 the less likely is it to produce a good crop. 



This being the case, it is not diflScult to see that, as the vine, 

 like all other trees, is able to resist the attacks of disease or 

 unfavourable climate just in proportion as it is kept in a young 

 and highly vigorous state, it follows if we allow a plant to retain 

 only young and vigorous wood, it must necessarily preserve 

 much of the necessary vigour of constitution. And this is only 

 to be done, so far as regards training, by what is called the re- 

 newal system. 



