manipulated, so that it will hold water for twenty- 

 four hours, the roots will suffer, and mildew fol- 

 lows as surely as if the vine grew on low, soggy 

 grounds. 



The present season admirably illustrated the cor- 

 rectness of these remarks. East of the Alleghenies, 

 where the soil has been saturated with water, the 

 Grape never suffered so before. Mildew is "terri- 

 ble " there. Tender kinds, like lona, Delaware, 

 Eebecca, &:c,, are not "fit to be seen." On the 

 other hand, vines west of the Alleghenies never 

 made so perfect a show. The old Catawba, which 

 has been buried beneath reams of Catalogues for 

 many a year, is as good as ever : and the Delaware, 

 which has never given general satitsfaction in other 

 years, was, this year, wherever we saw it, from the 

 Alleghenies to the Mississippi, as well laden with 

 its delicious fruits as its best friends could desire. 

 When we consider that in this region the drought 

 has been so severe that cattle, in September, had to 

 be fed, through pasturiige being burned up — the 

 dryest time, we were told, on record — we shall 

 understand why the Grrapes have done so well. 



We are well satisfied that many of the theories 

 advanced to account for the failure or success of 

 vine growing are wide of the mark. The influence 

 of large bodies of water, shelter from winds, expo- 

 sure to sun, peculiarities of soil, mineral elements, 

 systems of pruning, manner of training, over-pro- 

 duction, style of*propagation, selection of varieties, 

 have not near as much to do with success as they 

 get credit for, A thoroughly well-drained spot, 

 where the water will pass away as fast as it falls, is 

 more important than all — the one thing needful, 

 without which the closest attention to all the other 

 points together will be of little avail. 



A word now as to under-draining. We do not 

 believe that the usual way of proceeding with tiles 

 will pay the ^ineyardist, because there are so many 

 localities where the soil is naturally adapted to vine 

 growing without this, that he who has to endure 

 the additional expense before he can grow G-rapes. 

 cannot compete with the other. It will be much 

 better in soils tiiat are likely to become water-sog- 

 ged, even temporarily, to surface drain, hy th.roiviug 

 the soil up into beds as we do for Asparagus, by 

 which the water will pass away readily as soon as it 

 falls, from the roots of the vine. 



These observations will, we trust, be the com- 

 mencement of a new era in vine growing in this 

 country. Instead of so much labor and expense in 

 trenching, subsoiling and underdrainingZ^e/^eci^/ithe 

 ground, to encourage the roots down and be rotted, 

 efforts will be made to prepare the earth all above 



the natural surface^ where the roots will be dry and 

 warm, and near the oxydizing agencies so necessary 

 to the proper preparation of plant food. We ex- 

 pect the usual objections about the plan not being 

 "according to Nature ; but we are willing to wait 

 and see. If "enterprising" men do not go and get the 

 plan patented, we expect to see it in general use. 



RECOLLECTIONS OF WESTERN TRAVEL. 



Starting a couple of weeks in advance of the time 

 appointed tor the meeting of the National Pomolo- 

 gical Society, in order that we might be among the 

 early birds who are favored with the best worms, we 

 left Philadelphia about the middle of August, and 

 took the cars of the Pennsylvania Central Railroad 

 for Pittsburg. The refreshing rains, spread over 

 the whole season, gave a glorious green color to 

 vegetation ; and, much as we love our own Penn- 

 sylvania, alwaj^s clothed as she is with beauty, and 

 the evidences of prosperity every where around 

 her, — and especially beautiful as she appears to the 

 traveller along this line of railroad, she never seem- 

 ed half so lovely as now. 



But of Pennsj-lvania we can speak any time. So 

 not delaying at Pittsburg longer than to breakfast, 

 we took the Cincinnati cars via Steubenville, and a 

 few hours soon brought us into northern-western 

 Virginia, across the narrow neck of which we have 

 to pass into the borders of Ohio. It^ is a beautiful 

 country, very much like Pennsylvania, but charac- 

 terized along the whole route by a thinness of in- 

 habitants, and a seeming want of enterprise of any 

 kind. Crossing the Ohio and entering Steuben- 

 ville, horticuhural matters strike one at once in 

 the gi-eat health and luxuriance of the peach and 

 apple trees, — but the partly parched vegetation, 

 showed we were approaching the dry zone of which 

 we had heard so much this season. Yet the fruit 

 trees did not seem to suffer so much, but were 

 bearing moderate crops of very fine fruit. The 

 cultivation of the peach, however, we found not 

 popular in this section of Oliio, — for notwithstand- 

 ing the healthy growth, and freedom from many of 

 the diseases of the east, we were told good crops 

 were the exception. 



The country from Steubenville to Cadiz Junction, 

 about thirty miles, is apparently very poor but 

 pretty, — as is indeed the whole of this route, which 

 is its redeeming feature, for the road and its man- 

 agement is but a third-class concern. If you are 

 privileged to travel under the protection of a 

 lady you may expect tolerable accommodations ; but 

 if you are unlucky enough to be only a gentleman, 



