120 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



April 



For the Neic England Farmer. 

 GBAPES. 



The grape is a native of Asia, but is also indi- 

 genous to America. Though it is better adapted 

 to a milder climate and to a soil more impregnat- 

 ed with sulphur and limestone than that of New 

 Etigland, yet the fact that it is found in a wild 

 state in our forests, by the side of small streams, 

 stone walls and large rocks, proves that it is not 

 entirely unnatural to this part of the country. 

 High cultivation also shows that grapes can be 

 raised here with considerable success, though al- 

 ways "under difficulties." New England will 

 probably never be a wine-producing country to 

 any considerable extent, but if, with any reasona- 

 ble amount of labor and expense, grapes can be 

 cultivatt-d sufficient for the table, they are worthy 

 of much more attention than farmers have yet 

 given them. The encouragement is certainly suf- 

 ficient to incite us all to much greater attention 

 to this branch of horticulture. 



Grape vines, properly attended to, attain to a 

 great age and a great size. In Italy, vineyards 

 have continued in bearing SCO years, and a vine- 

 yard of 100 years is still considered young. 

 Pliny mentions a vine which had lived 600 years. 

 A vine which was trained against a row of houses 

 in Yorkshire, England, covered a space of 137 

 square yards, and the stem was three feet and 

 eleven inches in circumference. The celebrated 

 vine in Hampton Court, was planted in 1769. Its 

 stem is fourteen inches in girth, and one of its 

 branches extends nearly 200 feet. George the 

 Third directed his gardener to cut from it one 

 hundred dozen bunches of grapes for the players 

 in Drury Lane Theatre, and the gardener sent 

 him word that he could cut as many more with- 

 out stripping the vine. In California and New 

 Jersey, vines have attained a size and have borne 

 quantities of fruit, which would astonish New 

 Englanders. 



There is another circumstance which is unfa- 

 vorable to the cultivation of the grape in this im- 

 niediate vicinity. We are too near the ocean. 

 Humboldt says "grapes do the best in the interi- 

 or, away from the seaboard, not only because it is 

 warmer, but on account of the clearer state of the 

 heavens." 



But let us inquire what is the best we can do, 

 in the unfavorable conditions in which we are 

 placed, in the out-of-door cultivation of grapes ; 

 for I suppose that farmers generally will never 

 cultivate them under glass, either in hot houses 

 or in cold graperies. 



What, then, is the best site for grape vines ? 



A southern, or a southeastern ex])osure on a 

 hill, is prubal)ly the best position. Not on the 

 top of a hill, for that would be too much exposed 

 to the winds, nor at the bottom, for that would 

 be too much exposed to excessive dampness, un- 

 less the ground is thoroughly undurdrained, but 

 about the middle of the hill, where both these 

 evils will be comparatively avoided. When a per- 

 son projjoses to cultivate a very few vines only, it 

 can be done to great advantage on the southerly 

 side of buildings and of large rocks or boulders ; 

 and even in cities, where only a few feet of land 

 are at command, grapes can be raised with suc- 

 cess, if they have a southern exposure. The best 

 fruit is produced where the vine receives the most 

 sun, not, as many suppose, upon the fruit, but, 



upon the foliage. It is the leaves which elaborate 

 the nourishment for the fruit, and not the fruit 

 for itself. It is a great mistake to take off the 

 leaves, for the purpose of exposing the fruit more 

 directly to the rays of the sun, until, at least, a 

 few days before it is gathered. Some of the best 

 fruit is that which is almost covered up by the 

 leaves, and which hangs partly behind the slats 

 of the trellis, and is never exposed to the direct 

 action of the sun. Removing the leaves around 

 the fruit before the ripening process commences, 

 is as injurious as removing the suckers from corn, 

 and for the same reason. They are needed as 

 the breathing apparatus for the vine, for the pro- 

 tection of the canes from the fierce action of the 

 sun, and for elaborating from the atmosphere and 

 the soil, in due proportions and in proper combi- 

 nations, the sustenance necessary for the growth 

 and perfection of the fruit. The French call the 

 leaves the "parasols" to protect the vine. 



How should the border oftlie vines be prepared ? 



Inexperienced cultivators are ap^ to make the 

 border too rich. "Good, rich soils," says Red- 

 ding, "never produce even tolerable fruit." The 

 richest vines in France, and Italy, and on the 

 banks of the Rhine are grown on the debris of 

 volcanoes and on the sides of mountains, as if the 

 cultivators left everything to nature. At any rate, 

 the ground should not be highly manured with 

 unfermented barnyard manure. Though grapes 

 will grow well where the land is deeply plowed, 

 yet, as the vine is expected to stand many years 

 in the same place, it is better that the ground be 

 trenched to the depth of two and a half or three 

 feet. The subsoil should be entirely removed, 

 and the bottom so thoroughly drained that water 

 shall never permanently stand under the roots. 

 It is an old maxim with vine-dressers that "grapes 

 will never grow with wet feet." On a side hill, 

 such draining is easy. The space should then be 

 filled in with brickbats, lime rubbish, oyster shells, 

 broken bones, scrapings of the streets, sods from 

 old pastures where cattle have been yarded, with 

 a liberal mixture of decomposed manure, ashes, 

 hair and other refuse from slaughter-houses, and 

 particularly a large percentage of vegetable mould 

 or decayed leaves. The trench should be at least 

 twenty feet in diameter, as the roots of flourish- 

 ing vines need ample room in which to luxuriate. 

 The greatest growth of wood, perhaps, can be ob- 

 tained where the vine is planted near a spring of 

 running water, and very highly enriched with 

 coarse, undecomposed manure and night soil ; but 

 if the best quality of fruit is desired, a dry loca- 

 tion and the fertilizers above mentioned are un- 

 questionably the best. 



Where it is proposed to set out grape vines in 

 rows they should run from north to south. Many 

 cultivators make a serious mistake, in my ap])re- 

 hension, by setting the rows east and west. They 

 do so, as they allege, for the purpose of giving 

 the fruit a southern exposure. But a moment's 

 reflection will convince any one that where the 

 trellises run north and south, both sides of the 

 leaves will, in the course of the day, be much 

 more exposed to the rays of the sun, than in any 

 other position. 



What are the best grapes for this climate ? 



The Delaware, I think, stands at the head of 

 the list. It is indeed a small grape, but its small- 

 ness is more than counterbalanced by its adapta- 



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