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NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Nov. 



For the New England Farmer. 



VINERIES— BARK LICE— QRAFTINO- 

 THE GRAPE. 



Mr. Editor : — I am blessed with a vinery, and 

 an abundant crop of luscious fruit of several va- 

 rieties ; and I pride myself on my success gener- 

 ally, as it is all from my own honest personal la- 

 bor and handicraft. But there is one drawback 

 to my complete victory, just as the day is almost 

 won, and the bunches ripening. I know that not 

 a drop of water should touch the fruit after the 

 1st of August, when it has attained its full pro- 

 portions and has begun to color. But in these 

 northern latitudes, rain will come with our equi- 

 noctial of September, and it will pour down pret- 

 ty frequently and freely in the course of October 

 and November, and then drip, drip, drip it will, 

 through ventilators and every chink in glass roofs. 

 And the fruit cracks, and rots, and mildews, in 

 spite of sulphur, quicklime, and every appliance 

 I can think of; particularly the most delicate and 

 nectarian Muscats. I know of a remedy, radical 

 but troublesome and costly. It is to suppress all 

 present ventilators in the roof, and to open new 

 ones in the back wall, close to apex. And I beg 

 all fortunate ones who have their vineries yet in 

 embryo in their creative minds, to profit by my 

 experience ; and although taught by all the most 

 approved Treatises on the Culture of the Grape, 

 &c., to avoid this one error at least, of the learned 

 Treatises in question. I now beg of your able 

 correspondents a palliative for this evil, if any 

 there be, before resorting to a removal of my 

 vinery. « 



In this French country, I cannot find the 

 French name of the Black Hamburg. Can your 

 Boston importing nurserymen tell ? The great 

 Downing, the able and reliable Chorlton, (my 

 vade mecum,) do not say. 



In return for the favors asked, will you allow 

 me to impart to your readers, Mr. Editor, a few 

 bits of proved experience: Soft soap and sul- 

 phur well mixed, and rubbed on apple trees in 

 the spring, will destroy the bark lice ; when they 

 have resisted the soap mixed with ashes or with 

 lime. 



Cleft-grafting of the grape, just above the root, 

 when the sap has thickened by the growth of two 

 or three leaves to each bud, is a pretty operation, 

 and almost invariably successful under glass. I 

 have not succeeded out doors. Draw the soil 

 around and above the graft, leaving but one bud 

 to the light ; and, as of course, in a well-regulat- 

 ed, well-watered therefore, vinery, the soil around 

 the graft will remain moist until the shoot has 

 grown up to the top of the wall, and the graft 

 will even throw out new roots of its own before 

 the summer is half gone. And the next season 

 will reward you by an improved product. 



In a strong tub or vat, dissolve sulphate of 

 copper or of zinc, in the proportion of one pound 

 to each couple of buckets of water, and soak there- 

 in shingles for a week, garden sticks and poles 

 for a fortnight, fence-posts for three or four 

 weeks, and you will thereby make them water- 



firoof, metallic, and four times as durable and 

 asting as they would be without that cheap and 

 simple preparation. 



Half an inch thick of salt, sprinkled on your 

 asparagus bed, and on your currant and goose- 



berry bushes, as soon as the snow disappears in 

 spring, besides forking in old manure, will do 

 wonders. It creates a spontaneous growth of 

 "giant" asparagus and "cherry" currants, and 

 wards off the mildew. 



The spunk that lines the inside of the agaric 

 commonly called puffball, which grows in old 

 meadows, will stop the most obstinate bleeding. 

 A very powerful styptic. 



I am proving some other important items of 

 knowledge, Mr. Editor, but as I do not wish to 

 deceive other as I have myself been deceived 

 sometimes by newspaper and even book (!) reci- 

 pes, I forbear, for the present, any further teach- 

 ing. I have, for instance, ascertained that the 

 riyiging and wiring of the grape to hasten matu- 

 rity, so much written about sometime ago, is a 

 humbug and a delusion. 



Montreal, Oct. 9. An Old Subscriber. 



THE ADIRONDAC GRAPE. 



At the recent annual exhibition of the Montre- 

 al Horticultural Society John W. Bailey, Esq., 

 of Plattsburg, N.Y., presented a new grape, which 

 the Montreal Herald says Mr. Bailey discovered 

 at the foot of the Adirondac Mountains ; — that 

 it is a native grape which ripens Jifteen days be- 

 fore any other, and is decidedly of better quality, 

 possessing a most delicious flavor. 



The editor of the Burlington Sentinel has re- 

 cently received some of the grapes, and after eat- 

 ing them, says he is "induced to think highly of 

 them," — and that "they are a dark colored fruit, 

 not quite black, with compact and fair looking 

 bunches ; the berries larger than those of the Del- 

 aware." 



In a note accompanying the grapes, Mr. Bailey 

 says : — 



"I send you herewith a sample of my new grape, 

 the 'Adirondac' . . . This sample grew on a 

 layer and on the ground, and is deficient of its 

 natural high flavor, but it will give you some idea 

 of its character. The bunches are fully as large 

 as the Isabella, it ripens from the 5th to the 20th 

 of September, or two weeks before any other 

 good grape. The Delaware and Concord were 

 just beginning to change color. The Isabella was 

 perfectly green and about two-thirds grown. This 

 must be the grape for the Northern States and 

 Canada. It has fruited for five or six years, and 

 always ripens as early as stated, or two weeks be- 

 fore any other good grape." 



Plymouth County Society. — The following 

 are the names of the persons elected October 

 3, as officers of this Society for 1861-2 : Chas. 

 G. Davis, Plymouth, President ; Albert Fear- 

 ing, Alden S. Bradford, Vice Presidents ; V. 

 R. Swift, Charles Gurney, Henry A. Noyes, 

 Horace Ames, Epiiraim B. Thompson, P. M. 

 C. Jones, Thomas Ames, Charles Burton, N. 

 Tribou, Joseph Cobb, Augustine Pratt, Di- 

 rectors, or Trustees ; Wm. Latham, Secretary ; 

 Joshua E. Crane, Treasurer. 



