THE SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
133 
ger drink with which they in part teed the pea- 
santry in France, &c., who tend the vintage. I 
anticipate most agreeable results from the cul- 
tivation of our native Iruits, based on the trials 
1 have already made. 
The white wine 1 sent you, is from an Ame- 
rican grape acclimated to this section of the 
country many years ago. It is a redish color- 
ed grape, resembling the Catawba, exquisite for 
the table, a great bearer and hardy. 
As regards the cultivation of the grape and 
wine making, I have effected one most desira- 
ble object, viz: doing away altogether with that 
great expense of which so much has been wrote 
and said. The ground in which my vines 
stand and bear, produce me annually two other 
crops; say a crop of Irish potatoes, and alter 
they are matured and taken from the ground, 
another crop, the same year, of a variety of the 
red sweet potatoe, a most valuable variety for 
stock and most productive. My mode of sup- 
porting the vine is simple, efficient and econo- 
mical. The manure given to the Irish potatoe 
crop is ample lor the vines, and applied in the 
best possible way. The superiority of the 
grapes 1 produce, as regards quantity and qual- 
ity, has been often loudly remarked by our own 
citizens and foreigners. 
I have a splendid collection of the apple, all 
acclimated. The cider apple is perhaps the 
most beautiful tree of the kind you have seen, a 
most free grower and prolific, bearing annual 
full crops. It is the best apple to hang on the 
tree and the freest from rot I have ever seen. It 
cannot be surpassed in the Union. It is a na- 
tive of Alabama, produced from repeated plant- 
ing of seed and grafting and regrafting for the 
last twenty-five years, 
A vineyard at maturity, say the fourth year, 
would be good for from 500 to 750 gallons — the 
seventh for 1,000 gallons— the Scuppernong 
much more to the acre. 
My mode of planting and cultivating the 
grape, half the quantity per acre and the annual 
crop mentioned, please me better. Ground wdth 
us is plenty, and potaties are as essential to our 
comfort as wine. In fact, in every species of 
cultivation I am every day more convinced, 
that mixed cropping is the true mode of employ- 
ing soil and labor. In this way the expense 
and labor is singularly decreased in proportion 
to the product. 
By giving the vines room I insure heavy 
crops of grapes and rich fruit. I tend, prune, 
etc., with satisfaction ; the first wdth the plow 
and a little w'ith the hoe while making the pota- 
toe crops. The room enables me to gather the 
fruit with ease and readily. 
I employ the trellis in cultivating the grape. 
In all respects it is the best. Our native and 
such other grapes as I cultivate prefer it. This 
appendage to the vineyard costs me about ^5 
annually, per acre, including pruning. I eut 
down sassafras or cedar trees, say 9 to 10 inch- 
es diameter, into posts 8 feet, point the but end, 
put the small end in the ground, 10 feet distance, 
nail on the sides lathes about two inches square, 
just as split from the cypress log, and my trel- 
lis is done. My tying, the be.st I have ever 
found, is the bear grass, found readily in the 
woods profusely scattered in spots — shrunk over 
the fire, when green, it becomes a soft, pliable ly- 
ing. Thus you see, I am all economy, and no 
part of the “Indian’s gun,” cost more than it 
earae to,” 
Nutritive GLoaoities or Peas. — Peas con- 
tain a larger quantity of nutritive substance than 
almost any other vegetable. Liebig says they 
abound in vegetable caseine, the third constitu- 
ent of the vegetable food of animals, which is, in 
fact, vegetable cheese. Caseine is chiefly found 
in peas, beans, lentils and similar leguminous 
seeds. The following comparison of the ingre- 
dients of vegetable (caseine) and animal (milk) 
cheese, is taken from Liebig’s tables : 
lOOp'irts Vegetable Cheese. I 100 parte Animal Cheese. 
Carbon 54.138 | Carbon 54.825 
Hydrogen 7.156 | Hydrogen 7.153 
Nitrogen 15.672 \ Nitrogen 15. 628 
Oxygen, &c 23.034 | Oxygen, &c 22.394 
Oil the Cultivation of the Raspberry. 
From the Magazine of Horticulture. 
In our last number, we gave an article on the 
cultivation of the currant. It was the first of a 
series of papers we intend to offer upon the cul- 
tivation of all the Iruits of the garden, which 
have not been previously written upon by our- 
selves. We now proceed to treat upon the 
growth of the raspberry. 
The raspberry, like the strawberry and cur- 
rant, and other small fruits, the gooseberry ex- 
cepted, has been greatly neglected in its culti- 
vation. Though common in every garden, and 
everywhere esteemed, next to the straw'berry, 
for its rich and handsome fruit, yet few indi- 
viduals have attempted improved methods of 
growth, by which the size, beauty, excellence 
and productiveness of the berries may be in- 
creased to a much greater degree than they are 
generally seen in our gardens. 
The raspberry is as susceptible of improve- 
ment as the strawberry: yet, while in the latter 
we have the beautiful Keen’s seedling and our 
own variety, contrasting with such marked su- 
periority over the small and inferior berries of 
the older sorts, the same varieties of the rasp- 
berry are now cultivated that were common 
twenty or thirty years ago, and they are still 
deemed the most desirable sorts. The same at- 
tention bestowed on this fruit, that has been de- 
voted to the gooseberry, would undoubtedly have 
resulted in the production of varieties much su- 
perior to those at present grown. 
The raspberry, like the strawberry, is a na- 
tive of low and partially shady situations, grow- 
ing in boggy or soft black soils, w'hich allow its 
roots to strike deep, and throw up a free growth 
of its vigorous suckers. It is only in such 
situations, in their wild state, that the plants are 
found productive ; on light and thin soils, and 
in high and exposed situations, the growth of 
the suckers is limited, and the fruit scarcely 
ever attains any size. Nature thus teaches the 
proper mode which the cultivator should adopt 
in the growth of the plants; and it should be 
his object to follow her, rather than to divertand 
thwart her in the course she has pointed out for 
us to pursue. 
But how different is the cultivation of the 
raspberry from what we should infer from na- 
ture to be most conducive to its healthy growth. 
The plants are frequently set out in light and 
poor soils, crowded together, left untrimmed, 
choked up with a profuse growth of weak stems, 
and what little fruit they produce nearly dried 
up, from the arid situation in which they are 
placed. On the contrary, in cool, deep, and 
moist soils, in a sheltered amd partially shaded 
place, the plants throw up suckers to the height 
of six or eight feet, and produce a profusion of 
large, handsome, and well flavored berries. So 
well assured are the most eminent English cul- 
tivators of the raspberry, of its love of a cool 
and moist soil, that some writers have strenu- 
ously recommended the use of bog earth and 
rotten leaves, in the place of the richest loam. 
We are well assured that the many complaints 
which are made of the meagre produce of many 
raspberry plantations, may be attributed wholly 
to the light and droughty soils in which they 
are often planted. 
We would not here omit to menlion the pro- 
duction of seedlings for the purpose of securing 
new sorts. By hybridization of the kinds, and 
by selecting the finest and largest fruit, from 
which to save the seeds, we are certain new and 
superior varieties can be raised. 
To induce cultivators to give more attention 
to the raspberry, is the object of this article ; and 
to render our information the more useful, w’e 
shall treat of its growth under the following 
heads : Situation — Soil— Procuring Plants — 
Planting Out — Winter Treatment — Summer 
Treatment — Autumnal Dressings — Pruning — 
General Remarks — and Descriptions of the dif 
ferent varieties. 
Situation. — A cool aspect is of material 
consequence; and to secure this, the north side 
of a fence or trellis, which will form a screen 
from the sun, is the most favorable: on the 
north side of a shubbery, or row of fruit trees, 
is also a suitable place. If neither of these 
situations are to be had, an open spot in the gar- 
den may be chosen, always being careful to 
avoid the south or east side of a fence. A tem- 
porary shade may be effected in the open garden, 
by planting a row of running beans on the 
south side. Having selected a proper place, 
proceed to prepare the soil. 
Soil. — A good soil is the most important re- 
quisite. Having marked out the size of the 
bed, if the earth is not naturally very rich and 
deep, preparations should be made to trench it. 
First cover the surface with three or four inches 
of bog earth it to be procured, or, in its place, 
leaf soil, and if these are not conveniently to 
be had, good old rotten hot-bed manure, which 
has laid at least six or eight months : that from 
hot-beds made in April will do lor use in the fol- 
lowing October, and if a portion of the bed was 
leaves, it is so much the mure to be preferred. 
Having spread the manure upon the surface, it 
should then be trenched in two spades deep, or 
about eighteen inches, placing the manure at 
the bottom of the trench. Level the surface, 
and spade in an inch or two more of the same 
kind of manure, and after allowing a week for 
the bed to settle, it will be ready for planting. 
Procuring Plants. — The success of planting 
out depends considerably upon a judicious se- 
lection of plants. Suckers of all sizes are ge- 
nerally thrown up, and many cultivators would 
naturally select the largest: such, however, are 
not the best ; those of medium size, neither too 
large nor too small, have the finest roots, and 
spread more rapidly than the others. In select- 
ing, reference should be had to the roots rather 
than the tops. 
Planting out. — Having prepared the beds, 
and secured a sufficient number of plants, pre- 
parations may be made for setting out. A spade, 
a rake, and a garden hoe will be the proper im- 
plements to accomplish this. The bed being 
marked out, stretch the line across the bed, from 
east to west, at the djsfance of two feet from the 
walk: commence on either side of the line at 
one end, by taking out the earth the width and 
depth of the spade; place in the plant against 
the line, and throw the soil out of the second 
hole to fill up the first; in this way proceed un- 
til the whole bed is planted, treading the soil 
lightly around each plant ; with the rake smooth 
and level the whole, and the work is finished. 
The rows should be three feet apart, and the 
plant three feet apart in the rows. 
Winter Treatment. — On the approach of cold 
weather it will be necessary to protect the plants 
for the winter. The best method of doing this 
is simply to bend the branches down to the 
ground, and cover them with four or five inches 
of the soil. Some cultivators use leaves, and 
others coarse manure, but we believe nothing 
answers better than the common soil in which 
they grow.* 
Summer Treatment. — As soon as danger of 
cold weather is over, which is generally the 
first of April, the plants should be uncovered, 
and a stake placed to each, to which the stems 
should be securely tied : the first summer very 
little must be expected from the plantation, and 
only a few suckers will be thrown up from each 
plant ; but by the second year they will be 
more numerous, and produce considerable fruit. 
As soon as the plants are tied up, proceed to 
level the ground, and giye it a neat finish with 
the rake : the only after cuUure is to keep down 
the weeds, and the surface loose, by occasional 
hoeings. 
Autumnal Dressings. — Enriching the bed at 
time of planting is not sufficient to keep the 
plants in good condition. The beds should hav« 
a dressing of two or three inches of compost 
every autumn. This should be laid on in Oc- 
tober and lightly forked in, bearing in mind that 
a mixture of bog earth, or leaf soil and manure, 
is better for the plants than all manure. This 
will encourage the growth of the roots, and in 
'Not necessary in the Southern States — Ed. Cult. 
