338 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 391. 



or six years has this section of North Carolina come into 

 prominence as a fruit-growing country. The vaUie of a given 

 tract was previously measured by the number of turpentine 

 boxes it would cut, and by the amount of timber it would 

 yield to the acre. The land itself really had no value, and 

 after it was cleared, being considered unfit for cultivation, sold 

 for fifty cents an acre ; hence that portion of North Carolina 

 known as the Pine-barrens or sand-hills was, and still is, one 

 of the most barren and desolate regions of the state. Scarcely 

 cultivated at all, sparsely inhabited and robbed of the noble 

 Long-leaf Pine-trees, the face of the country presented a scene 

 of waste and ruin. There are extensive areas where the sur- 

 face is simply a bed of white sand, and yet this is the kind of 

 land that has been made to yield good crops, especially of 

 fruit and grapes. 



The mean temperature of this section for December, 

 January and February of last year was 40.8, and this mild tem- 

 perature, with the absence of untimely frosts, fogs and heavy 

 dews, are all conditions for successful grape-culture. Mil- 

 dew and black-rot are almost unknown in the North Carolina 

 belt. The soil in the south central portion of the state varies 

 in character. In Moore County sand predominates, but with 

 commercial fertilizers this land can be made exceedingly 

 productive. 



About ten or twelve years ago, as the story is told by the 

 natives of Moore County, a Swiss farmer began planting vines 

 near the town of Southern Pines. He had had some experi- 

 ence in grape-growing in the old country. He claimed that 

 the region was especially adapted to the raising of grapes, and 

 to show his faith he set out several acres into vineyard. The 

 vines flourished where the soil seemed poorest, and the fruit 

 was excellent in size, color and flavor. The effect of this 

 grower's success was to stimulate the grape-growing business 

 in his locality, and land quickly rose in value to ten dollars an 

 acre, and some of it now cannot be had for fifty dollars. About 

 Southern Pines alone there are 1,000 acres in vineyards, and 

 as many more in Peaches, Pears, berries, etc. Grapes from 

 this section arrive in northern markets in the latter part of 

 July, about one month before those from the Hudson River 

 district and the lakes of western New York, and large profits 

 have been realized. The prices last season did not go below 

 ten cents a pound. The New York grape-growers, who raise 

 Iheir fruit at a greater cost on land worth one hundred dollars 

 an acre, seldom receive more than three cents a pound. 



Many of the vineyards set out lately are owned by northern 

 people, who have been attracted by the profits of the industry. 

 The largest vineyard in Moore County is that of the Niagara 

 Grape and Fruit Company, which consists of 107 acres. At 

 this season of the year, when the vines are ready to be stripped 

 of their hanging clusters of fruit, such a vineyard, with the 

 long, straight rows stretching out for a mile, is a beautiful fea- 

 ture of the landscape. Only two varieties of grapes are grown 

 here to any extent — the Niagaras and Delawares, which are 

 the kinds that flourish best and bring the highest prices. 

 About twenty miles from Southern Pines is the Tokay Vine- 

 yard, with about a hundred acres in vines. Many varieties are 

 included, as Scuppernong, Meish, Flowers, and also Ives, 

 Delaware, Concord and others. Considerable quantities of 

 wine are made at the Tokay Vineyard, near Raleigh. In Wake 

 County there are five hundredacres of vineyard. The favorite 

 varieties here are Ives and Concord. 



Through many of the eastern counties of North Carolina 

 — Davie, Forsyth, Guilford, Alamance, Warren and Vance — 

 theScuppernongfamily thrives best. Here are vineyards unlike 

 any others. In the forest the Vitis rotundifolia grows wild. 

 When cultivated, the vines are trained on broad flat arbors. 

 An immense Scuppernong vine on an old homestead at 

 Manly has a trunk four or five inches in diameter, while the 

 branches spread over an area of an eighth of an acre. The 

 vine is said to be at least fifty years old. 



In preparing to plant a vineyard most of the land needs lo 

 be cleared of trees and stumps. This is usually done by con- 

 tract, the average expense being about eight dollars per acre. 

 It should then be cultivated in Cow Peas, a crop which in the 

 south serves the purpose of Clover in the north. Growers 

 prefer rooted plants to cuttings, especially with such varieties 

 as Delawares, which do not root readily. About 700 vines are 

 set to the acre in rows about six or eight feet apart. The 

 strong-growing varieties, such as Concord and Niagara, are 

 allowed eight or ten feet. The vineyard is kept cultivated 

 during the summer until about the middle of August, when 

 the land is planted in Cow Peas. The first summer after plant- 

 ing little work is necessary, except to keep the ground loose 

 and in good condition. The next thing is to provide the posts 

 and wire. The growers favor a trellis of two wires, the upper 



one about five and a half feet above the ground, and the lower 

 one about two feet below the upper wire. 



The items of expense in grape-growing, according to 

 statements of many practical growers, are about as follows : 

 Posts and wire, say, $24,00 an acre ; the cost of plowing, 

 planting and tying, $5.00 an acre ; the fertilizers for the first 

 year may amount to $10.00 an acre ; for the second and third 

 years about $5.00 an acre. Then there is the cost of picking, 

 packing and shipping, which averages twenty-five cents a 

 crate of twenty-four pounds ; the freight rate to New York is 

 about fifty-five cents a hundred ; the commissions are usually 

 five per cent. 



The vines begin bearing the second year, but it is not until 

 the third year that the crop is harvested. The vineyard will 

 then produce about two tons to the acre. The yield increases 

 during the next three or four years, when the vines reach their 

 maturity and full vigor. 



New York. L. J. Va7tce. 



Nelumbium speciosum in Egyptian Tombs. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — I have read, with much interest. Miss Vail's article, in 

 Garden and Forest (August 7th), entitled "The Collection 

 of Funeral Wreaths and Offerings in the Museum of Egyptian 

 Antiquities at Giseh." The article is a valuable one, and 

 presents in a striking way the results of archaeological inquiry 

 in the land of the Pliaraohs, so far as relates to the plants em- 

 ployed for funeral purposes. That Nelumbium speciosum, so 

 frequently represented in Egyptian sculpture and painting, has 

 disappeared from the Nile, is a proposition made, perhaps, a 

 hundred years ago ; but that it once grew in Egypt as a wild or 

 cultivated plant is not to be questioned. 



Miss Vail says in her paper that " it is strange that the Sacred 

 Lotus, the classical flower that Herodotus calls the Rose-like 

 Lily of the Nile, Nelumbium speciosum, has not been found" 

 in the catacombs. 



The purpose of this note is simply to call attention to the 

 fact that in the Abbott Collection of Egyptian Antiquities, now 

 the property of the New York Historical Society, and on exhi- 

 bition in the rooms of the society in the city of New York, 

 there are specimens of the leaves of Nelumbium speciosum, 

 obtained from Egyptian tombs, wonderfully well preserved 

 after the lapse of twenty or thirty centuries. „ . , ^ ^ 



Buffalo, N. Y. David F. Day. 



Recent Publications. 



The Flora of the Assyrian Monuments and Us Outcomes. 

 By E. Bonavia, M. D. Westminster : Archibald Constable 

 & Co. 



"From the real Assyrian flora," says the writer of this 

 book, an English army surgeon, "I have attempted to 

 creep up to their sacred flora and to interpret certain sym- 

 bols found woven in with this " ; and, he also tells us, his 

 interest in the subject was first excited by a study of the 

 most frequent emblem found on ancient Assyrian sculp- 

 tures, the "Sacred Tree," intimately connected with which 

 is another called the "Assyrian horns. " As a result he has 

 given us a mass of interesting information which could 

 hardly be acquired from other books without a vast deal of 

 trouble, and some equally interesting theories, in regard to 

 the development of artistic motives and of religious or 

 superstitious beliefs, which seem well founded. 



Among the plants which Dr. Bonavia has found clearly 

 presented upon the Assyrian sculptures, the Date Palm. 

 Phoenix dactylifera, is entitled to the first place. It is, of 

 course, always depicted in somewhat conventionalized 

 fashions, but, while these vary among themselves, they 

 always present the tree, with its leaves and its fruits and 

 the characteristic surface of its trunk, so that it cannot pos- 

 sibly be mistaken for anything else. Next in importance, 

 perhaps, comes the Vine, Vitis vinifera, which is even more 

 realistically portrayed in the shape and veining of its 

 leaves and the form of its grape-bunches, and in the way 

 in which they are set opposite one another on the stem. 

 The Pomegranate, PunicaGranatum,is likewise intelligently 

 portrayed, although, working in hard stone, the sculptor 

 was obliged greatly to exaggerate, relatively to the size he 

 bestows upon the plant as a whole, the dimensions of its 

 leaves and fruit in order to render them distinctly visible. 



