94 
May, 1890. 
/ ORC HPi RdI^ndC CURD EN \ 
grafts frequently and keep them entirely 
free from weeds. Go over them onee a 
week. — J. St atm ax. 
Grape GraHin". 
I notice in your February number that 
Mr. Samuel Miller says his grafting on the 
Fuller plan was not a success. I am an 
amateur in grape culture. I commenced in 
the Spring of '86. bought some vines from a 
local nurseryman and allowed him to select 
most of the varieties: among the vines were 
four Elviras which he recommended highly. 
They fruited in '88 and I was angry enough 
to pull them up at once but concluded I 
would try grafting in the fall. 1 had never 
grafted anything nor had I ever seen any 
one graft. I read up in Fuller's Grape Cul- 
turist and thought I would try my hand. 
I grafted three of the vines, one did not 
have a suitable stock I thought, two with 
Empire State and the other Moore's Dia- 
mond. One Empire State started in the 
Spring but gave it up. The other grew 
finely and made shoots 8 feet long. I 
thought I was very successful. I would 
ask Mr. Miller if two-thirds of his first grafts 
grew. I will givj you a few notes on my 
little vineyard. Empire State in vigor of 
growth surpasses Concord but in two sea- 
sons has not borne a pound, bunches are 
straggling with perhaps a dozen berries 
scattered about. Martha last year a fail- 
ure, year previous very good. Worden and 
Pocklington surpass Concord in bearing 
but not in growth. Moore’s Early is mag- 
nificent. I had bunches three times as large 
as they are generally pictured. Goethe, 
Agawam, Salem and Wilder all very good. 
Duchess, Brighton, Niagara and a few oth- 
ers have not borne yet. I have no trouble 
with grape rot. f bag all clusters when 
the berries are the size of buck shot or 
smaller. 
I have clusters of Concord, Worden and 
Pocklington often that weigh over one 
pound each. I have nearly 100 vines, 25 
different varieties. They are in the back of 
a town lot in this city on a stiff clay soil, 
perfectly flat, on the summit of the Ozark 
mountains, 1363 feet above sea level. No 
mildew last year, much as it rained and 
was cloudy. My vines are trained to a trel- 
lis with upright wires. I enjoy taking care 
of them and also cutting a bunch when I 
am grape hungry which is about all the 
time. — W. A. Chalfant, Greene Co. , Mo. 
Growing Grape* on House* and Tree*. 
Any one of an observing mind has prob- 
ably noticed that when a vine can take 
hold of a tree, it will grow more than twice 
as fast as when upon a trellis or stakes. It 
would thus seem that it is their nature to 
climb on trees, the chief reason therefor 
being that something is needed for the ten- 
drils to cling to as soon as they reach out 
for it, and this prevents the wind from 
swayiDg the young vine violently back and 
forth. I am led to say something more on 
this subject in addition to that of last 
month. 
That the fruit of the vine on trees is less 
liable to rot than when grown on open trel- 
lises only holds good to a certain extent, 
as I have seen them rot entirely even on 
trees, where they were well protected by 
the foliage above. 
Against walls of houses there is very lit- 
tle danger of rot or mildew and when there 
are eaves or projections under which the 
vine is growing, there will be none at all. 
There is scarcely a house or barn in the 
country that does not admit of a few vines 
being grown against them with a surety of 
abundant fruit. Along a balcony a few 
wires can be stretched from post to post, or 
if designed to put the vines against a solid 
wall or weather-boarding, the best plan will 
be to cut strips of soft leather a few inches 
long to lap around the vines, and then to 
nail them into the joists of the wall. 
They will succeed on either the East, 
South or West side and even on the North 
side they may do well if the roots of the 
vines are on the Eastern or Southern side 
of the building. I have seen a single vine 
cover the greater part of a good sized house, 
and bear hundreds of pounds of grapes in a 
season without an imperfect bunch; while 
nearly all the grapes on trellises in the 
neighborhood rotted badly the same season. 
Have no fear of the fruit getting too hot 
against a wall, as the foliage will protect it 
from the sun’s rays. As fine Isabellas as 
ever I ate were grown on the south side of 
a brick wall in a town. Some people object 
to the vines, fearing they will cause damp- 
ness in the walls and house; the reverse, 
however, is the case, for when well covered 
with foliage the walls are protected from 
rains. Another advantage is that it will 
keep a southern room much cooler in Sum- 
mer than if fully exposed to the sun's rays. 
I do not see why we cannot raise some of 
the exotic grapes on a South wall if the 
vines are laid down and covered in winter. 
Golden Chasselas grown in this way were 
the first foreign grapes I ever saw, but I 
hope to see them again if spared a few years 
longer. — S. Miller. 
••• 
Bees Sucking Grapes. 
I not long since read an article in the 
New York Tribune on the much discussed 
topic “Bees and Fruit.” I wish to give you 
my experience of the last four years with 
an apiary situated in the midst of grape 
vines. I have suffered not a little from the 
depredations of robins and sparrows during 
the ripening of the vintage. I have seen 
innumerable yellow wasps sucking the 
juice from damaged clusters. But I have 
seen^as I can recall, not a single instance, of 
an Italian bee helping himself to the juice 
of the grape, either entire or bird-pecked. I 
have been as much surprised at the fact as 
any of my readers can be. — A. B. Rich, Es- 
sex Co., N. J. 
A party in Mason county, Texas, reports 
that they have never been troubled with 
any disease of the grape there. A similar 
report comes from Lyons, Texas. 
Guarding; again*! Black-Hot. 
The season has arrived in which we 
should begin to combat the Black-rot of 
the grape. The methods consist in spray- 
ing the vines a number of times with a 
preparation of sulphate of copper and lime, 
known as the Bordeaux mixture. (See 
Black-rot Treatment in Fungi Department, 
page 104 of this number). This and other 
kindred grape diseases have been so fully 
treated by Prof. Scribner in past numbers 
of Orchard and Garden that it is sufficient 
here to refer our readers to back numbers 
for full information and we bring up this 
subject merely to call attention to the im- 
portant fact that to ensure success the first 
application must be made early. 
First noticed Black-rot on my vines 
(Hartford Prolific) when the berries were 
a little more than half grown. The attack 
appeared to be continuous, only checked by 
the applications and by the warm dry 
w eather which began about a fortnight be- 
fore the time of ripening. Previous to this 
the weather had been excessively wet. 1 
applied : 1 st. a simple solution of sulphate 
of copper, 1 lb. to 15 gallons of water ; 2nd. 
Bordeaux mixture ; 3d. Powdered lime 
scattered on the ground beneath the vines. 
The last was applied May 2, with the view’ 
of decomposing the old leaves, etc., on the 
ground, believing this kind of trash to be 
the home of the fungi [Quite correct.] The 
simple solution was applied once — May 2 — 
with fair results. Applied the Bordeaux 
mixture tAree times — June 10, 25, July 
10. Result : Loss did not exceed 5 per cent. 
The vines that were attacked worst were 
those having very heavy foliage. Light 
and warmth I consider preventives. I 
noticed that the vines which thoroughly 
ripened their wood of the previous year’s 
growth, suffered least. — H. D. Metcalf, M d. 
Black-rot appeared in my vineyard June 
13. I should say that there was only one 
period of attack which continued into July, 
but Bitter-rot and Gray-rot set in and de- 
stroyed the crop. The season was unusu- 
ally w et and rainy and generally cool. Rain- 
ed every day during the last week in June 
and there were thirteen days of continuous 
damp and rainy weather the last of July. 
The remedy I employed was the Bordeaux 
mixture prepared at Hammond's Slug Shot 
works from government formula. First 
application was made on June 15, and every 
week thereafter when the weather would 
admit of it. As to results, I lost the crop. 
I have 5,000 vines and this is the first crop 
I have lost since they came into bearing in 
1876. [In considering the results in this 
case we must note that the first application 
was not made until June 15, after the rav- 
ages of rot had already commenced. We 
are unacquainted with the nature or value 
of the preparation used — good or bad it was 
applied too late. This season try eau 
celeste which has so successfully prevented 
Brown-roc in the vineyards on Kelley’s 
Island, Middle Bass, etc.,] — F. Quick, N.Y. 
