144 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[April, 
dered as certain as mra can be of anything. 
There are not probably one thousand bearing 
vines in our county not covered this winter. I 
have never seen my method of taking the arms 
from the ground at an angle up to the first wire, 
and then along it, recommended in any books 
on grape culture, or in any of the Agricultural 
or Horticultural papers; but I 
have trained over three thousand 
vines in this way for three years. 
The accompanying drawings 
on the preceding page will show 
it much better that I can in 
words. Figure 1 represents a 
vine with two arms, as I would 
train all vines planted at a greater 
distance in the row than four 
feet. Figure 2 shows vines with 
a single arm, trained as I do my 
Delawares last planted, four feet 
apart in the row. To those who 
think that vines can not be suc- 
cessfully trained by the arm and 
spur system, I would say, that 
I can show them a vineyard of 
about six thousand vines, all 
trained in this way. Some of 
them have been in bearing three 
years, and none have failed to 
produce good crops each year. 
I tried upright wires, but have 
discarded them, and now use 
three No. 12 wires — the first one 
foot from the ground, the second 
fifteen inches above that ; to this 
the shoots are tied as soon as 
possible ; they will then readily 
go to the upper wire, which is 
within one or two inches of the 
top of the posts. 31}' posts are 
five and a half feet in length, 
and are set in the ground eigh- 
teen inches, so that my trellis is 
just four feet high. In making 
my trellis now, I set a post, four 
inches square, once in every one 
hundred feet, and two inch white 
oak stakes, of the same length 
as the posts, once in twelve feet. 
These have about twenty inches 
of their lower ends coated with 
coal tar ; they are driven into 
the ground eighteen inches, and 
the wir§ fastened to them by staples, as to the 
posts. The first and last posts of a row need to 
be longer, to be set deeper for bracing when no 
lath is used at the bottom. The stakes of this 
size will, last as long as the posts, and make 
equally as good a trellis. As one post will 
make four of these stakes, it is quite a saving 
with us, where white oak timber is very costly. 
•-« -^-^Bw »-» . 
The Judas-tree. — (Cercis Canadensis.) 
The Judas-tree or Red-bud, as it is sometimes 
called, is a native tree that should not be over- 
looked. Its very oddity should commend it, for 
in early spring, before it unfolds its leaves, it 
robes itself, trunk aud limbs, in a sheet of pink. 
The small pea-shaped flowers appear in the 
greatest profusion, in small clusters upon the 
trunk and limbs, and give the tree a most strik- 
ing appearance. The rounded leaves come a 
little later, and the flowers are succeeded by flat, 
many-seeded pods. The tree is found wild from 
New York, South and West. The largest spe- 
cimen we have seen was on the ground now 
occupied by. Central Park. It was as large 
and much the shape of a good sized apple tree. 
The engraving will give a good idea of the size 
aud shape of the flowers and leaves. The 
European species, Cercis Siliquastrum, is some- 
times seen in cultivation. It has larger flowers 
than our own, and according to tradition, is the 
tree upon which Judas hanged himself— whence 
Judas-tree — (Cercis Canadensis.) 
the common name. The flowers of this have 
an agreeable acid taste, and in some parts of 
Europe they are used in salads or made into 
fritters. The flowers of our own species are 
also sour, and might be similarly employed. 
The wood of both species is hard, variegated in 
color and takes a high polish. The trees are 
not only ornamental in flower, but their foliage is 
of a pleasing shade of green. The Japan species, 
Cercis Japonica, is a valuable introduction. It 
blooms when but a mere shrub, and is complete- 
ly covered with bright, rose-colored flowers, and 
is one of our most ornamental early flowering 
shrubs. It is perfectly hardy in the vicinity 
New York. All three of the species may be 
had at any of our larger nurseries, and they 
are readily propagated by sowing the seeds. 
Nut Bearing Trees— Grafting 1 , Etc. 
A request for the experience of those who 
have attempted to graft nut-bearing trees lias 
brought out several letters — some to the effect 
that all their attempts have failed, while others 
state that they may be grafted as easily as other 
trees. Mr. E. L. Allyn, New London County, 
Conn., having some Pig-nut seedlings, says : 
" I let them grow four or five years, and kept 
them trimmed as I would apple trees. They 
were from an inch to an inch and a half in di- 
ameter. About the 20th of April I cut the trees 
close to the ground, except oue, which was left 
about four feet high, and grafted 
them from the " Shagbark." The 
wood was of the previous year's 
growth, set in the same manner, 
and at the same time that I graft. 
my apple trees. My Walnut ci- 
ons nearly all grew, and most of 
them very thriftily. The larger 
trees bore at four or five years 
from the graft, the fruit being 
equal, if not superior, to that of 
the old tree. These trees are 
now from 25 to 30 feet high, 
some 7 or 8 inches in diameter, 
and have borne nearly half a 
bushel of fine nuts apiece in a 
season. Ihe cions were cut at 
the time tlxey were inserted." 
"G. M. C.," Bucks County, 
Penu., writes us : " There is no 
more difficulty in grafting chest- 
nuts than cherries; indeed, of 
the two, I think I have been the 
most successful with the chest- 
nut. I have trees which I think 
have not been grafted more than 
five years, and which have now 
borne two )'ears. A neighbor 
has one which bore the second 
year ; these, of course, are very 
thrifty. Much depends on get- 
ting grafts from early bearing 
trees ; but because the trees grow 
wild in our forests it will not do 
to set them out and expect them 
to do well without any further 
care; they will appreciate a 
good soil, and good mulching ; 
in many situations, the latter 
seems indispensable while the 
trees are small." — "A subscri- 
ber," Havre de Grace, Maryland, 
and W. Marble, Middlesburg, 
Mass., give similar accounts of 
their success with the chestnut. 
Judging from all these reports, 
the conditions of success seem to be the use 
of young stock, and recently cut cions. 
How to Help the Growth of Ever- 
greens. — We frequently see Evergreens in a 
languishing condition. If alive, they make no 
wood, and the bottom limbs show signs of de- 
ca}'. The trouble is frequently in the character 
of the soil, which is too dry and gravelly. Al- 
most all the evergreens prefer a moist, loamy 
soil, or even a muck or peat, like that upon the 
mountains where they grow. The dryness of 
soil may be entirely relieved by trenching and 
working in peat or muck. We have seen ever- 
greens making a luxuriant growth upon a pure 
gravel bed treated in this way. Peat that had 
been exposed to the atmosphere for one season 
was thoroughly incorporated with the soil, the 
ground being covered to the depth of six inches 
before the trenching began. This is somewhat 
expensive, but much cheaper than unthrifty 
trees about the dwelling. The soil should be 
kept cultivated around all hedges and ever- 
greens several years after planting, and when 
well established, enrich with old manure. 
