216 
SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
ing to a distance for that which can be better obtained at 
home, and the particular evil of which he complains is 
really getting to be serious. We would rather have one 
Southern raised tree than two Northern trees of the same 
age and variety ; and the remarks of “Malic Acid” re- 
specting the superiority of our Southern Winter Apples, 
&c., are literally true. In a private note, our correspon- 
dent disclaims any illiberal or sectional prejudice, and we 
are sure he does not cherish any such feeling. He is, in 
all such matters, liKe ourselves: only actuated by a desire 
that the truth should be known, and that our people may 
be awakened to their own interests. We feel it to be our 
duty to publish his timely and vigorous caution, and 
could add much more on the subject, ourselves, were it 
necessary, — Eu, 
PRUNING FRUIT TREES. 
Editor Southern Cultivator — In reply to the in- 
quiries of Mr. Keon, we will give our own method of pro- 
ceeding with young fruit trees. We prefer in the first place, 
a young, thrifty, straight shoot or graft in prtference to 
one that has thrown out branches in the Nursery row, 
for the reason that we can get a good foundation in its 
straight trunk for a symetrical, well-formed tree if proper- 
ly managed. ^ 
After we have planted our tree, we head it down to 
about 3 feet in height, and should it throw out more 
shoots than we wish to retain to form a top to our liking, 
we rub or pull them off from time to time, and only retain 
such as are necessary to form the top. This is our plan 
of proceeding with apple and standard pear trees. 
As regards the heads of Peach trees becoming too thick 
or filled with spray from pursuing the shortening in sys- 
tem, we can assure all that this is the very thing in our 
hot Southern climate we wish and aim to accomplish ; 
instead of letting in the sun and air, our aim and efforts 
should be to exclude it — shade is what our fruits want. 
As the Peach only bears one crop on its wood and the 
growth of this year forms the fruit bearing wood for next 
year, and so on from year to year, it will at once be per- 
ceived that by the shortening-in method we force the tree to 
throw out shoots in the interior instead of at the ends of 
the limbs alone, as is the case when left to its own way 
We have never seen an instance where a Peach tree 
needed its branches thinned out, but when Apple and 
Pear trees have been transplanted from three to four years 
the smaller spray in the interior should be cut away, but 
never any large limbs, unless through previous neglect 
some should have grown so as to prove injurious or un- 
sightly. 
J. 7an Buren. 
■ Clarkesville, Georgia, 1859. 
Old Wines. — At a recent auction sale of the wines of 
a deceased Lord Justice in Scotland, eleven hundred doz 
en bottles of the choicest brands were disposed of at high 
rates. The best Port of the vintage of I82L sold for about 
S50 a dozen, the best Sherry sold for $62 a dozen. The 
highest price given was for Johannisbnrg of 1834 and 
1842. noted as “ Prince Metternich’s,” which lot brought 
$84 a dozen. 
Most of the' old Madeira wine for sale in this coun- 
try formerly belonged to families in Boston. The “ Judge 
Story” brands are $4 a bottle, Isaac D. Davis’s Eclipse” 
is $8 a bottle, ‘ Gov. Phillips, 1820” and “Edward 
Tuckerman, 1820, are $10 a bottle, “ Frances Amory” 
Madeira bottled in 1800 is sold at $12 a bottle ! 
[And a bottle of Axt’s Georgia Wine of 1856, (costing 
$1,) is probably better and purer than any of these- — 
Ed.] 
GRAPE CULTURE — WIRE TRELLISES, &c. 
An exchange paper says : — “The wire trellis is a kind 
of support that is growing in favor with vine dressers. A 
limited number of posts should be planted along the rows 
in the spring of the second year ; to these a single wire is 
attached by means of staples, or by sawing a notch into the 
edge of the post ; or it may be passed through holes 
bored through the post and secured at each end, where 
the post is also braced firmly. This first wire may be 
placed about a foot or eighteen inches from the ground ; 
the others may be put up at spaces of about a foot, or they 
may be omitted until the succeeding year. Some appliances 
have been invented for stretching the wires; but the 
simple arrangement of Mr. Charles Carpenter, (a very 
succcsTul vine dresser of Kelley’s Island, in Lake Erie,) 
is perhaps the best. He advises commencing two feet 
outside of the first vine in the row, and setting posts of 
any good, durable timber fifty feet apart. Those at the 
ends of the row should be set deeply and firmly. At 
twenty, forty and sixty inches from the ground, bore 
half- inch holes, and pass through them good annealed 
wire, about No. 8 or 9. When you have gone through a 
row, or as far as the wire will reach, make^it fast at an 
end post by driving into the hole from the outside a pin 
of hard wood, and leaving out several inches of wire to 
wind around the pin close to the post. It will never pull 
through, but it should be drawn tight at the opposite end, 
and secured in the same way. If at any time intermedi- 
ate supports are wanted, a stake three inches thick should 
be msed, having small notches cut obliquely downward 
with a hand saw to receive the wire, which may be fasten- 
ed with a single nail. This can be built for less than a 
wooden trellis, and is more durable and convenient ; and 
it may be stated that thorough annealing is a better pre- 
ventive of rust than paint or ordinary, galvanized wire. 
At the winter pruning, the shoots may be passed to the 
right and left of the stalk, at an angle of 30° or 40°, to 
wires of suitable height for their length; and the vine 
may be obliquely bent round the wire, and tied at the 
ends. It then never gets down, even though the ties 
should break ; for the fruit hangs on both sides of the 
wire. The new shoots should then be trained perpen- 
dicularly, and the whole plants thus freely exposed to the 
sun and air.” 
Zante Currants. — The Patent office is in receipt of a 
lengthy and interesting communication from Samuel B. 
Parsons, an experienced nurseryman, of Flushing New 
York, who is now traveling in Europe, concerning the 
Zante Currants. During his- tour, he visited the Ionian 
Islands, and acquaintad himself with the mode of cultiva- 
tion, climatic necessities, and the methpd of drying and 
packing this fruit; as well as the diseases incidental to 
the plants, and profits arising from its cultivation ; of all 
which he informs the Patent Office in detail. He also 
urges the importance of attempting the introduction of the 
fruit into this country. The agricultural department of 
the Patent Office did, how ever, introduce a great quantity 
of the vines last year, which were widely distributed in 
the Southern States and in California, and from which the 
happiest results are anticipated. — Star. 
[We have several vines of these Currants, or rather 
Grapes, growing ihrifcly at ‘^Vineland,’' and hope to 
gather fruit from them next year.— Ed. So. Cult.] 
