HORTICULTURAL REPOSITORY. 



eed as before. They require no farther trouble, unless 

 some that may be blown down are to be put up again. 

 The borders are now well dressed by digging and raking, 

 but no manure, nor has any been put on for ten years 

 or more. They are also kept perfectly clean through 

 the summer, by frequent hoeing and raking : no ve- 

 getables are allowed to grow on the borders at any 

 time. 



This mode of raising gVapes differs from the ordinary 

 in these particulars : 



1st. Trimming or pruning: this is usually done in 

 February or March. Here we never cut a vine later 

 than November ; were this done in the spring, they 

 would either bleed to death or be so much weakened 

 as to bear no fruit. In general, we are too sparing of 

 the knife, leaving too many eyes or buds, by which you 

 get too much wood and too little fruit ; and there is a 

 mistake, which all writers that I have seen have fallen 

 into, that " vines bear their fruit on the wood that was 

 produced the preceding year." This is not the case, 

 for the fruit is invariably on the wood of the present 

 year. 



2d. The next difference is laying down and covering 

 the vines all winter. In our northern climate, this is 

 absolutely necessary : it may not be so farther south, 

 yet it is worth a trial with a few vines. Prune in Oc- 

 tober, lay them down and cover in November or De- 

 cember, and take them up in March. One season will 

 test the utility or futility of the practice. 



3d. Another difference is leaving the vine its full 

 length and training it as high as possible. This I have 

 never seen except in my own garden ; but it is the prac- 

 tice in some parts of Italy, where the vines run over the 

 poplar and elm trees. 



4th. Most people plant their vines in sheltered and 

 warm places : this is following the English mode, 

 where the climate requires it. Here my vines that 

 are most exposed, bear equally if not better than 

 others. 



5th. No manure has been used for many years. Its 

 use gives wood, not fruit. 



The greater part of the grapes are the sweet water ; 

 these are the best bearers, and pleasantest for the table. 

 The miller grape answers well for a variety, and is a 

 good bearer. I have tried the red and black Hamburg, 

 but they do not succeed so well. I am now trying to 

 raise the Madeira grape, having received a few cut- 

 tings, which came from that island, last spring, all of 

 wliich are growing and shall have a fair trial. 



The borders on which the grapes are cultivated are 

 six feet wide, and the vines in the centre. 

 With respect, I am 



Your humble servant, 



William Wilson. 

 Qkrmont, Marsh, 1821. 



Mr. Editor, — The following description of Father- 

 land Farm, which is situated in Byfield, Essex county, 

 Mass. and owned by Gorham Parsons, Esq., was writ- 

 ten nearly two years since, by a young gentleman of 

 this city, formerly of Mass., and published in the Chris- 

 tian Enquirer. I think it worthy a place in your Re- 

 pository ;^and as the gentleman above alluded to has an 

 extensive acquaintance in Mass., and as we on all 

 hands are willing to acknowledge that agriculture is 

 better attended to in Mass. than in any other state in tha 

 Union, a description of some farm in that state, in 

 each number of your Repository, would in my humble 

 opinion, benefit the cause in this quarter ; and if from 

 the same pen, would be interesting to readers of every 

 description. Yours, &c. Arator. 



ART. 2. — Description of Fatherland Farm. 

 At the first Falls on the river Parker, is a large man- 

 ufactory, at which you have a view of the Mansion 

 House and buildings, and as you pass onward the fences 

 on both sides the street attract the admiration of all ; they 

 are of granite, seven feet high and three wide at top, 

 faced on both sides, and at proper distances are gates 

 hung to granite posts, which are hammered. On the 

 right is the Mansion House, (in front of which is a yard, 

 half circle, filled with trees and shrubbery,) built two 

 stories high, in a plain neat style, connected with which 

 is the Farm House, and under that, probably the best 

 dairy cellar in the county. Near the house, "is a build- 

 ing containing a number of rooms ; one for an office, 

 one for seeds, and in one, boilers are set in brick to 

 prepare the vegetables for the stock : the vegetables 

 being contained in a fine cellar under the building. On 

 this building is a belfry, and a bell which calls the workr 

 men to meals from the most distant parts of the farm ; 

 and back of this is a poultry yard, with houses for their 

 accommodation. There are also two large barns, 

 coach houses, sheds, piggery, &c. the whole neatly 

 clapboarded and painted. The cattle and implements 

 of husbandry, are, as would be expected, of the first or- 

 der, and therefore need no description. South of the 

 house, the ground descends very much, — 'tis there 

 that nature and art are combined, and we see a garden 

 that for situation and early productions is decidedly 

 first in this part of the country. 



" Tell me not, 



Ye who in love with wealth your days consume, 



Pent up in city stench, and smoke and filth, 



O tell me not of aught magnificent 



Or fair as this, in all your public walks." 



" Search all your gardens round, 



Ye shall not find, e'en at your boasted Vaux, 



A haunt so neat, so elegant as this." 

 You descend about ten stairs to the first plat, and 

 after crossing that, is another four (eet lower, and an- 

 other below that : the garden is divided lengthwise by 



