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CULTIVATION of the VINE. 



As ftakes are a neceflfary article, and as on fhe choice of 

 tliern depends very much their durablcnefs, I ihali men- 

 tion feme forts that are moil Hkely to lafl and do the greateft 

 fervice> Red cedar, locuft, mulberry, thrifty ehefnutj that 

 is free frosn worm holes, faflafras, or the heart of oak, the 

 heart of yellow pine, fuch as grow in New-Jerfey in dry 

 fandy grounds, I am, told will laft long in feme grounds. 

 The (lakes muft be about an inch and a quarter fquarc, and 

 not lefs, the biggeft end muft be fliarpened, they fiand 

 the firmer in the ground; if both ends were dij>pcd in 

 boiling tar, the head not above two inches, the lower end 

 fo deep as that the tar may appear above ground when the 

 ftake is drove down firm, this will greatly help to preferve 

 the fiakes from rotting; the bcfl way to fave your flakes 

 from being battered to pieces by driving is, to have a fpike, 

 with a long tapering focket, an inch and a half bore at top, 

 with a long taper point, well fteeled; the whole about 

 fourteen inches long, with a flaff fixed in the focket four 

 feet long, the whole Ihaped as in the margin: With this 

 the holes for the flakes are made a foot deep, and with a 

 ftroke or two of a mallet, the ftakes are firmly fixed, with- 

 out being fplit or battered. The ftakes flaould be fix feet 

 long, fo as to ftand five feet out of the ground, and fhould 

 be drove by a line and ftand ftrait. 



The Roman frame, w^hich fervcd inftead of efpalicrs in 



antient times was plain, cheap and frugal, fit for farmers, 

 and fuch as every farmer can find, on his own plantation, 

 without any other expence befides his own labour: This 

 ftiews the occonom-y and prudence of that great and v/ife 

 nation, whilft they were a commonwealth. It confiftcd 

 of ftrong ftakes or fmall pofts fixed well in the ground in 

 aftrait line fix feet high, and three rows of poles tied faft 

 to them one above another, and fifteen Inches apart, the 

 upper pole being four, five or fix feet from the ground, 

 according to the age of tRe vine, over the upper pole the 

 bearing branches were laid, looking toward the fouth, and 

 w^erefaftened to the pole jand this they called precipitating 



a vine, 



