266 TRANSACTIONiS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



The vine which Mr. Fuller exhibited to illustrate this low top, is best 

 represented by a ten-tined manure fork, of anything we can refer a farmer 

 to. The handle of the fork representing the single trunk may be from one to 

 three feet high, and the two arms, turning off" at right angles, support 

 the canes, represented by the tines of the fork. These arms should be three 

 to five feet long, and support three to five canes upon each, wjaich are 

 trained to grow eight to twelve inches apart, and not over^three or four 

 feet long. 



These canes bear the fruit close down to the arms, three to five bunches 

 each, and are cut away every winter, and new ones grown, alternating 

 every year, so as alwaj's to have one bearing and one wood-producing 

 cane. Mr. Fuller would plant a vineyard in rows six feet apart and eight 

 feet between vines, which would give 905 vines to an acre; and these 

 trained upon the single arm system, upon trellises only four feet high, will 

 be capable of producing twenty pounds of grapes per vine, but allowing an 

 average of only ten pounds, it will give 9,050 pounds per acre. If the 

 vines are trained upon the double arm system, on higher trellises, though 

 in rows further apart, there would be twenty canes to each vine; and if 

 each cane produces three bunches, averaging only two-thirds of a pound 

 each, it would make forty pounds per vine, and make 36,200 pounds per 

 acre, which it is possible to produce upon a well trained vineyard. 



Mr. Fuller does not think it worth while to cultivate vines upon the 

 double arm system, except upon very high priced land, because it is more 

 expensive to build high trellises, and more expensive to manage the vines. 

 It is very important to keep the vines evenly balanced, with just as much, 

 wood upon one arm as upon the other, and to keep each cane summer 

 pruned, so that one is never allowed to outgrow its fellow. The old stump 

 and arms go on increasing in size, but the bearing wood is constantly 

 renewed, and never gets up any further from the ground. Let it be remem- 

 bered that a vine always produces its fruit upon the topmost branches, but 

 that it is just as easy to keep that top within four feet of the root as at a 

 hundred feet. Mr. Fuller said that he had planted a vineyard of five acres, 

 at first with Delaware, Diana and Hartford Prolific, but of late Concord 

 only. His trellises are four feet high, with a -wooden bar at the bottom 

 and wires above, and all the vines are trained to spread their arms four 

 feet each way. 



On motion, the same subject was continued for the next meeting. 



Adjourned. JOHN W. CHAMBERS, Secretary. 



March 3, 1863. 

 Mr. J. P. Veeder, Guilderland, N. Y., in the chair. 



Apatite Rock vs. Bones. 



Mr. Eli H. Cope, Westchester, Pa., asks in relation to the apatite rock, 

 of Sussex county, N. J. He is a grinder of bones, and as they are growing 

 scarce and dear, he would like to substitute the mineral phosphate. 



