49° 



Garden and Forest. 



[October 8, 1890. 



Cultural Department. 



Vineyard Notes. 



ONE who has a vineyard is always sure of a surprise. After 

 setting it down very positively that a certain variety has 

 certain specific qualities, he is mortified to find that the next 

 year reverses all his experience. 



So it is that in 1890 I am quite confounded ahout several 

 Grapes. Ulster and Vergennes are to be marked up, while 

 Lindley goes down once more. Lady is where it was, the 

 earliest and best; but so poor a bearer as to be useless. Hayes 

 is up another notch, and behaves regularly so well that it seems 

 to deserve the foremost place among delicious, prolific and 

 handsome early white Grapes. Then Diamond, a little later, is 

 first-rate. No disease touches it except anthracnose on the 

 vine. The bunches and berries are both large and fine. It is 

 handsome, prolific, healthy and an acquisition not easily over- 

 praised. Niagara rotted last year, but this year is grand 

 enough to make up. It is not so good a Grape as Diamond 

 or as Hayes, but larger in bunch, and will outbear any Grape 

 unless it be Worden. Empire State is a failure here in all ways. 

 It is not of high quality nor always prolific, and shrivels on the 

 stem after picking. Duchess is fine, but this year failed to 

 fertilize well. Prentiss is good for nothing. Jessica is half 

 seeds, a small bunch, a tepid flavor. Golden Gem is a spicy 

 little affair, but very small. It grows about like Jessica, 

 and a vine grower would get rich on one as soon as on 

 the other. Purity is a really fine, very early Grape, ripening 

 just after Lady. It is handsome and healthy, with a large 

 berry and large bunch. Grein's No. 7 is worthless, a very 

 small berry, without quality and half seeds. Grein's Golden is 

 the handsomest of white Grapes, but has an odd acid flavor. 

 Pocklington is a late white Grape that is admirable when fully 

 ripe. It needs a favorable season. I should place it after 

 Hayes, Diamond and Niagara. But when it ripens it will make 

 with them a splendid quartette. Martha, when thinned in 

 bunches, is a really fine white Grape for everybody. Eldorado 

 is an ideal in quality and bears fairly well, but the bunches are 

 imperfect. The general reports from it are of the same charac- 

 ter. This completes the list of white Grapes of prominence 

 except those grown mostly for wine. 



Of red Grapes, Brighton fairly heads the list. It is a marvel 

 in quality, a seedling of Iona, which it resembles, very early, 

 ripening, however, all along through September. Enormously 

 prolific, if grown with other Grapes; but if .grown alone, it 

 often fails to fertilize its flowers. Gaertner is another red of 

 superior quality. It is noble in bunch, berry and quality, 

 ripening with Hayes just after the earliest Grapes. Salem is 

 better known, but is not quite so good as Gaertner. Lindley and 

 Massasoitare much alike; they often fail to fertilize under the 

 best conditions. In quality they are of the highest, but are 

 too doubtful to be generally planted. Massasoit is the most 

 subject to black rot of all Grapes in my collection. Ulster is 

 a really good Grape, but was sent out so over-forced that the 

 spindling vines damaged its reputation. Vergennes is doing 

 better with me each year. Rogers' 30, a pale red, has been 

 one of my favorites ; but for two years it has failed to fertilize. 

 Goethe, another Rogers of the pale red sort, is superb in qual- 

 ity if you can ripen it. Iona is perhaps best of all Grapes, but 

 is seldom seen in the vineyard, because too tender. Goethe and 

 Iona are best treated as pets on the south side of the house. 

 Poughkeepsie Red is a solid bunched Delaware ; it may be 

 valuable in some localities. Agawam has come to me from 

 reliable growers in two forms, and I think there really are two 

 Agawams settled on the market. The earlier one is very fine, 

 ripening with Gaertner; the late one is neither prolific nor 

 good. Jefferson is food for the gods, but I cannot ripen it well 

 in this section. Woodruff Red is a second-quality Grape, but 

 perfectly healthy, with splendid foliage, a rampant grower, and 

 the bunches are of compact, medium size. It is a good run- 

 away Grape, where people do little in the way of culture and 

 are not over nice about quality. Diana should be grown for 

 a late red, ripening about with Woodruff. The bunch is very 

 fine, and the vine both hardy and prolific. Walter completes 

 my list of noticeable red Grapes, and is very fine. It looks like a 

 large Delaware bunch, and bears well and is hardy. 



Of the black Grapes, Worden, by all odds, heads the list. It 

 is a Concord in all a Concord's good qualities, and leaves out 

 the bad ones. It is fit to eat as soon as colored, two weeks 

 ahead of Concord. Herbert, in my judgment, is the best later 

 black. Barry and Wilder are fine. Moore's Early has once or 

 twice given me a good crop, and it is so early as to be very 

 valuable when you get fruit ; but it is tricky. August Giant is 

 worthy of mention as a large grape of good quality, a little 

 later than Concord, and an extraordinary grower. 



Our list, except for experiment, may be greatly shortened. 

 Take Hayes, Diamond, Niagara for white ; Brighton, Gaert- 

 ner and Delaware for red ; Worden and Herbert for black, and 

 then pet Iona and Goethe, and you have ten as good as you need. 



There should be a much more liberal planting of Grapes for 

 home use. When only one vine is planted, take Worden. 

 For two, Worden and Niagara. 



Clinton, N. Y. 



E. P. Powell. 



Timely Hints for Fruit Growers. 



THOSE persons who are making preparations to plant new 

 fruit gardens or to add to their old ones during the present 

 autumn should remember that there are many old trees which 

 have lost their vigor, and bear reduced crops, with poorer 

 quality. In some cases a more satisfactory result may be 

 obtained by restoring the old trees than by planting new ones, 

 giving immediate and larger crops than the young trees, 

 which require years to come into bearing. There are two 

 means by which old trees may be restored — pruning and 

 enriching cultivation. The pruning must be moderate and 

 judiciously applied, taking out all dead limbs if present, and 

 giving mellow cultivation in connection with manuring, either 

 broadcast over the orchard or in broad circles around the 

 trees as far from the trunk as the height of the tree. Heavy 

 top-dressing with manure will accomplish much even on 

 grass land without cultivation. We have known this treat- 

 ment, applied to trees which had many dead twigs and 

 branches and had nearly ceased bearing, to restore them to 

 strong and healthy growth, affording crops of fruit, the speci- 

 mens as large and fine as those growing on young trees. An 

 essential requisite for such success is in undertaking no more 

 than can be accomplished, and not spreading the enriching 

 process over much ground. 



Apple-trees require less frequent renewal than some other 

 fruit-trees, and under the best management will grow and bear 

 well in the more eastern states for fifty years or more, and half 

 that period at the west ; sometimes they have lived to seventy 

 or eighty years. Those which stand in the corners of culti- 

 vated gardens, where they receive all the requirements for 

 good culture, generally outlive all others. 



A moderate amount of pruning, especially of dead limbs, 

 may be performed in autumn, but if the trees receive much 

 cutting it makes them more tender for the time, and the work 

 should be left till early spring. 



It is often desired to increase and extend old orchards which 

 give fruit for family use, and when this is the case a careful 

 selection of varieties is better than a larger indiscriminate 

 number. A succession, which will afford fruit for the table or 

 for cooking during every day in the year, will be. especially 

 valuable. As the earliest fruit continues for a short time only, 

 fewer trees will be required ; autumn varieties keep longer, 

 and larger quantities will be needed ; while long-keeping 

 winter apples, to supply a period of as many months as the 

 early sorts do for summer, should constitute two-thirds or 

 three-fourths of the whole planting. 



The same care must be given in providing a well-prepared 

 piece of ground for other fruits. With Peach-trees clean and 

 mellow cultivation is more important than with most other 

 fruits ; while Cherries will endure short grass and moderate 

 fertility. Plums generally do better with rich, cultivated land, 

 and are stunted in grass or in a hard soil and thick crust. A top- 

 dressing with manure on soils where the leaf-blight prevails 

 often prolongs the season of growth ; and vigor imparted to 

 Peach-trees early in the season is the best remedy for the curl 

 of the leaf. 



As a summary, therefore, or general directions, there are 

 two points to be well borne in mind in planting fruit-trees, 

 whether in autumn or in spring, namely, well prepared, en- 

 riched and well cultivated land ; and then only as many trees 

 set out as can receive the best attention — selecting those which 

 will afford as nearly a regular succession as practical. Pro- 

 ductive varieties will be more profitable in supplying the 

 family than thin and uncertain bearers ; and it will cost no 

 more to set such as are of delicious quality than those thatare 

 unfit to eat. And the importance of good cultivation must be 

 constantly and at all times remembered, and the great superi- 

 ority borne in mind of such fruit as comes from well treated 

 trees. A single tree, under the best treatment, may give 

 handsome, juicy, delicious specimens, fit to grace the finest 

 table, and gratify the most refined appetite, and be incompar- 

 ably better than the product of a dozen neglected trees with 

 their scabby, distorted, insect-bitten specimens and poor flavor. 

 Plant moderately, therefore, and give the most thorough cul- 

 ture, as the cheapest way to obtain full and satisfactory returns: 



— The Country Gentleman. 



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