wmH'i'^ 



1864. 



THE ILLmoIS FAKMER. 



103 



rot apparent. Perhaps Mr. Dunlap's plants and 

 trees have a partiality for hiai, for 1 saw very 

 small apple trees bearing so much as to seem all 

 apples. In planting 1000 vines, he proposes the 

 following divisions: 100 Hartfocd Prolific, 200 

 Concord, 100 Delaware, 100 Diana, 200 Norton's 

 Virginia, 100 Oatawba, 100 Heibemont and 100 of 

 the new kinds on trial. He prefers the mulatto 

 to the black prairie soil. He thinks the Diana 

 has been overlooked, that the Delaware must be 

 one of the best for some parts of the State, and 

 with special manures, for all parts. Should Mead's 

 Seedling prove what it is claimed, it must be the 

 grape. This is so similar to the Catawba that 

 judges cannot tell the difference, and all tlie differ- 

 ence claimed is in the vines, which do not grow 

 from cuttings, and the fruit does not rot. He 

 thinks the Concord and Hartford desirable at pres- 

 ent ; that in time they mast give place to better 

 ones. In planting he would not trench, but would 

 sub-soil a foot deep ; set six feet by eight and train 

 on trellis. He thinks it important that only one 

 shoot should grow the first year, and it be tied to 

 a stake, particularly the Delaware. 



I have mentioned Mr. Buchanan's vinej'ard. He 

 says that after the first few years of planting, the 

 Oatawba does well ; when six or seven years old it 

 begins to rot ; hence it will take this length of 

 time at loast to try this new variety. Their suc- 

 cess is various in different vineyards. Mr. B. said 

 that last year some with fifty acres did not do as 

 well as he did with seven acres. Bear in mind that 

 all the vineyards around Cincinnati have been 

 trenched iwo feet deep. He has come to the con- 

 clusion, after many years of experience and obser- 

 vation, that they plant too thi'^kly and prune too 

 close. He thinks that the rot is caused from a sud- 

 den change from heat to cold ; that the vine takes 

 cold and becomes deseased. I believe a!l careful 

 observors have concluded that the rot follows a 

 change in the weather. The greates^t drawback 

 they have is a want of labor. Grapes need man- 

 ure, that from the stable is good, ashes are best. 

 Too much manure gives an unhealthy growth on 

 .sandstone soils ; lime is good ; here grapes rot less 

 than on limestone. If he were going to plaiit a 

 vineyard he would put two cuttings where he would 

 have the vine grow — he would trench or plow 

 twenty inches deep: if there is a gravel sub-soil, 

 common plowing will do. He is certain the roots 

 descend three or four feet at least.* All grapes rot 

 with them, but none so bad as the Catawba. — 

 Thinks Norton's Virginia will make a valuable red 

 wine, but a white wine such as the Catawba sells 

 best. When I told him the Virginia brought twice 

 the price of the Catawba at St. Louis, he said it is 

 because it is something new. He said that vines 

 having half a dozen bunches are just as likely to 

 rot as if they were lo:ided. Sulphur in a green- 

 house is a preventive — in the field it is useless. — 

 Volcanic regions are always good for grapes. Such 

 are the notes I took from Mr. Buchanan." 



We have observed that in all cases 

 when a grape vine has been allowed 

 to run under the eaves or cornice of a 

 honse or the coping of a wall, that the 

 fruit in such situations is always sound, 



and we have heard it whispered that 

 Mead's Seedling has been thus protec- 

 ted. The inference is that the heavy 

 dews which fall on the bunches of 

 grapes induce the rot. The immuni- 

 ty as above and in all cases when grape 

 vines run into the tops of trees that 

 ward of the dew, wouid appear to lend 

 some truth to the theory. Along the 

 lake shore where there is little or no 

 dew, the grape does not rot so much ; 

 while, on the contrary, in the south 

 part of the State, where dew falls like 

 a small shower, saturating the grass 

 and foliage of plants, the rot is the 

 most intense. We have suggested to 

 a grape grower near, Dr. Meeker, that 

 he make a shelter, say of a foot wide 

 or more, directly over his grape trellis, 

 with a view to protect them from the 

 falling dew, and thus test the theory. 



" Some of Mr. William's struck me as sound. He 

 says Norton's Virginia does well in that region, 

 and that it will make excellent port wine. After 

 long experience he has become opposed to the sys- 

 tem of pruning as established. He would let the 

 vine grow pretty much as nature designs, and that 

 there may bo shade for the fruit, in which case it 

 always is sweetest, and that there may be room for 

 the sap to circulate. He would, however, keep 

 the vines within certain bounds. During the Sum- 

 mer their German vine-dressers go through the 

 vineyard .-md tear down the laterals with harsh 

 jerks, and make quick woik. Of course many of 

 the eyes are injured. I believe they call this busi- 

 ness " kiteing. " Mr. W. had a bitter experience, 

 which I give. On this place he had a fine border 

 of Catawbas. It was the pride of the place. It 

 bore well ; he would have it do better. He set a 

 German to work at it ; he spent two days in getting 

 it right. Then there was great lamentation among 

 the women ; their arbor wus destroyed. This was 

 several years ago. The vines have not done any good 

 since. He says decidedly, a vine must be trt ated 

 in a uniform manner, or it will be ruined. It will 

 not do to make ii dwari vine run on a trellis, nor to 

 dwarf one which has been extended. As it has 

 been trained the first four years, so should it ever 

 afterwards be trained. "Train up a vine in the 

 way it should grow, and when it is old it should 

 not depart from it." Mr. W. gave an instance of 

 a German ;it Sandusky who pruned close, and 

 whose grapes were the only ones in that region 

 which rotted. The German said the ground was 

 too rich. Does it not seem that the richer the soil 

 is the more room in and out of the ground does 

 the vine require ? Does it not seem that in prun- 

 ing, particularly in the Summer when the sap is 



