1860. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



367 



should be kept moist, and we may even go beyond 

 this, and say that the raore rapid the dung heats 

 the more liberal should be the supply of moisture. 

 If it is not present naturally, then we would re- 

 commend its addition to the heap. We are fully 

 convinced of the great difference in the value of 

 manure, according as it has been kept moist — not 

 too wet — or it has been allowed to rot in a dry 

 condition. We feel that upon the production of 

 a good-quality manure much of the profit of shed- 

 feeding depends ; and as it has been said of old 

 ''that a word to the wise is sufficient for them," 

 so now also is it true of our readers. We trust 

 that the hint we give to watch more closely the 

 management of their manure heaps will not be 

 overlooked. 



THE CULTIVATION OP NATIVE GBAPES. 



The following is Mr. E. A. Brackett's report 

 to the Fruit Committee of the Massachusetts Hor- 

 ticultural Societj', in relation to the cultivation of 

 our native grapes. 

 To the Chairman of the Fruit Committee : 



Dear. Sir : — To your request that I would 

 communicate to you my method of cultivating our 

 native grapes, particularly the Diana, the nature 

 of the soil, system of training, &c., I cheerfully 

 reply, not that I expect to throw any new light on 

 the subject, or that my mode will be found to dif- 

 fer materially from that of others. The growing 

 interest felt in this department, the certainty that 

 it must continue to occupy a prominent position 

 in the horticultural art, assures me that the ex- 

 perience of any one, however simple, may be of 

 service. 



My little vineyard is situated on a side hill, 

 facing the west, and protected on the north by a 

 belt of pine woods. I should have preferred a 

 more southern or eastern aspect. The soil is by 

 no means what would be called a strong one ; it 

 consists of from four to fiix inches of turf mould, 

 with a reddish subsoil about two feet deep, resting 

 upon a bed of blue gravel. In prepai-ing for the 

 vines the ground was trenched two feet deep, and 

 the top soil put at the bottom. Stakes eight feet 

 long were then set at the distance of seven feet 

 apart each way ; one vine was planted to each 

 stake, and immediately cut down to two eyes. 



And here let me say a word as to the time of 

 setting the vines. My experience is greatly in 

 favor of fall planting. A vine set in the autumn 

 (and it should be done as soon as the leaf falls) 

 will in three years be as strong and as capable of 

 bearing a crop of fruit as one of five years old set 

 in the spring. The training of my vines is at 

 once simple and ornamental. The first year two 

 shoots are allowed to grow, and as they elongate, 

 are carried spirally, both in the same direction, 

 about five inches apart, around the stake, and this 

 is continued until they reach the top. The late- 

 rals are allowed to grow at random. In the fall 

 they should be pruned back to within eighteen 

 inches of the ground, and the laterals to one eye. 



Second year, continue the two canes from the 

 two uppermost eyes, as directed in the first year. 

 The laterals will require summer pruning. In the 

 fall cut back the canes to within eighteen inches 

 of last year's wood. Continue this course until 

 the vine is established the whole length of the 



post — whatever surmounts it, is to be cut back. 

 The fruit is borne upon the side shoots, and the 

 pruning is on the short spur system. The form 

 of the vine may be shaped to the taste of the cul- 

 tivator ; that of the pyramid is decidedly the best. 



Those who understand the nature of the vine 

 will readily perceive the advantage this system 

 offers. The vine is thus kept at home. The light 

 and air circulate freely through it. The buds 

 break evenly ; there is no tendency in one part to 

 rob the other of its due proportion of sap, and 

 when once established, requires less care than any 

 other mode of training. 



Some of my vines, the first year after planting, 

 were watered with sink-drain water, and being 

 satisfied that it injured them, I have discontinued 

 the practice, and have since root-pruned them, in 

 order to check too free a growth of wood. Many 

 of my neighbors injured their vinos by giving 

 them large quantities of stimulating manures, such 

 as fresh stable manure, dead horses or other ani- 

 mal manure ; thereby exciting them to make an 

 increased growth of long-jointed wood. I grow 

 my viaes for the fruit, and am satisfied if they 

 make a few feet of short-jointed wood, and the 

 only manure (if manure it maj' be called) which I 

 now give them is a top-dressing of anthracite coal 

 ashes. 



The Diana, with me, has proved a great grower 

 and free bearer — the bunches of good size, and 

 the berries large, some of them measuring seven- 

 eighths of an inch in diameter. It is a matter of 

 surprise that this, the most delicious of our native 

 grapes, should have received so little attention, 

 while new varieties, greatly inferior to it in point 

 of flavor, have been heralded as the greatest ac- 

 quisition to our list of hardy vines. 



The past season has not been favorable to the 

 ripening of out-door grapes. 



Respectfully yours, E. A. Brackett. 



Fruit Growing at St. Joseph, Mich. — A 

 correspondent of the Ohio Farmer speaks in high 

 terms of the success of fruit raising in this section. 



The certainty of a crop for a few miles along 

 the lake, and the facilities for marketing, the 

 cheapness of land, and the pleasant locality and 

 lake breezes, all combine to make it one of the 

 most seductive to the amateur, or market fruit- 

 grower, in the West. The trees are never injured 

 by the cold in winter, as the lake never freezes, 

 and the thermometer rarely ever gets below zero, 

 when a few miles east or south, it frequently is 

 down twenty degrees below zero. Many may 

 think this is an over favorable account of this lo- 

 cality, but I am only giving my experience here, 

 which is short, hardly enough to become acclimat- 

 ed — two winters. I came from ]Missouri, a little 

 over a year ago, and bought a place for three 

 thousand dollars, and my peach and pear crop 

 sold to a dealer here for nineteen hundred and 

 sixty-one dollars. I have only three hundred and 

 eighteen bearing peach trees, and one hundred 

 pear trees, the latter quite young. This is the 

 reason for the faith that's within me. 



Remarks. — Dry your peaches, and send them 

 East — we will give you 13 to 20 cents per pound 

 for them. 



