HORTICULTURAL NOTES.-REPLY TO REVIEW OF MARCH NO. 285 
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reading; and we hope the day is not far distant 
when such documents will be read with attention 
and prdfit. 
“ But especially let us encourage agricultural 
schools 'in private hands; for, in the language of 
Judge Buel, our country needs them.” And we 
have the fullest assurance of their final success. I 
had noted down some further remarks in regard to 
this subject, after reading the observations of “ Re¬ 
viewer” upon which we started, but for the present 
forbear. A. R. D. 
UacketVs Town , N. /., July 10th, 1846. 
HORTICULTURAL NOTES. 
Isabella Grapes. —My gardener had permission 
to prune one of my vines in his own way. It had 
been spur-pruned in February, one eye left at each 
joint, and the laterals broken off in June. Early in 
July he shortened the bearing branches two eyes 
beyond the last bunch of fruit. The grapes ad¬ 
vanced rapidly in their growth, and for two or three 
weeks were the best looking in the garden. They 
then became stationary, and those treated in ano¬ 
ther manner became much larger, and of a health¬ 
ier aspect. It would seem, therefore, that stopping, 
at any rate short stopping, is not the best mode of 
treating this vine. 
A friend of mine has a most magnificent young 
Isabella vine in the city, which he has not pruned 
at all, since he shortened it in early spring. My 
own vines have been treated as follows :—Winter- 
pruning on the spur system (too much bearing 
wood left, I suspect), one eye only left to each 
joint, the laterals carefully and repeatedly broken 
off, and (against my wishes) some shortening dur¬ 
ing the summer, and only one bunch left on a 
branch. The comparative result is this. My 
friend has most fruit; mine is the handsomest and 
most perfect. 
One of my neighbors pruned some old vines last 
year, very severely cutting off large masses of 
old wood. This year he has left the vines entirely 
untouched ; the yield is very large, and a great deal 
of the fruit is good—much of it inferior. A single 
vine, from which he removed the laterals at one 
joint from their origin, has turned out the best. 
My conclusion is this—the Isabella requires 
severe winter pruning, if the spur system is adopt¬ 
ed, but one eye should be left. 
Manures. —I gave two of my vines a rich top¬ 
dressing of half-rotted stable manure, late in June. 
About one-third of the fruit became mildewed, and 
the whole of it was otherwise inferior to the rest of 
the crop. My friend manures freely, with the 
same manure, in the autumn—his fruit is not 
mildewed. Too rich stable manure is not the 
only cause of mildew in the grape. I see it where 
there is a want of free circulation of air. 
Insects. —I met with the brownish-yellow beetle, 
one inch long, in the leaves, on which it appears to 
feed; but their depredations have not been exten¬ 
sive enough to do harm. The rose-bug consumed 
the leaves two years since, leaving only the net¬ 
work of vessels remaining. I have not seen them 
since. The turtle-bug is beginning to show itself, 
hut they do more harm to the squashes than to the 
grapes. I find under the grape leaves a small 
white fly, and a general appearance like down, 
which, when looked at with a glass, is seen to be 
animated. The foliage becomes rusty, and the 
fruit of course is more or less injured. Will some 
of your correspondents make known a remedy ? 
Would stripping offthe old bark, and washing with 
soap suds in the spring, destroy them ? 
At the extremity of the branches of the vines, 
myriads of small black ants are often seen. I am 
always reminded of old Hays and his posse of 
police officers, when I see these sentries. Are 
they after other insects ? If so, what insects, and 
what harm will they do ? I have seen also a 
small black fly, and another insect, resembling a 
flea, but am not aware that they have done any 
injury. More on this subject hereafter. 
An Amateur Gardener 
REPLY TO REVIEW OF MARCH NO. . 
Your June No. came by an accidental oppor¬ 
tunity to-day, from the office, and I set myself at 
once to answer Reviewer. The information he 
desires I will cheerfully give, to the extent of my 
abilities. 
The people of the North are greatly mistaken if 
they think the soil of Mississippi to be inexhausti¬ 
ble. A portion of it is as rich as the lands on the 
banks of the Nile; and a portion as poor as the 
poorest lands in New Jersey, where the black-jack 
runners kill themselves searching for food for the 
tree. Our soils vary exceedingly, no country more 
so; the lands lying on the Mississippi are a rich 
alluvial, with a heavy vegetable mould on the sur¬ 
face, and containing much siliceous matter, but in 
very minute particles; the subsoil is clay, and a 
very rich earth, having much the characteristics of 
loam and also of marl. I speak more especially of 
Warren County, directly west of me, the county 
seat of which is Vicksburgh. Vegetables will 
grow most luxuriantly in it, and it is an excellent 
top-dressing to land; it possesses the peculiarities 
of apparently getting neither wet nor dry—it is very 
valuable. Farther back, lands are not so rich, 
when level, are generally good, say as far as 25 to 
40 miles on a line ; some level lands are now poor 
in the woods, cold, whitish clay; some hilly lands 
are the richest. To know the country it must be 
seen. My pen, though “ free,” lacks a head to 
guide it, to give a faithful description. Much of 
our lands, if fresh and under good cultivation, will 
produce say 30 bushels of corn ; but if plowed, as 
is very usual, two or three inches deep, the sun 
causing rapid decomposition and rapid evaporation, 
with real rains, not showers, they soon deteriorate. 
I can show a plantation, now worn out, that pro¬ 
duced 15 years ago 8 bales of cotton per hand, 
under a thriftless course of culture. When I say 
that “ the subsoil possesses all the requisites of a 
good soil,” having stated previously that the soil 
was worn out—I meant that the salts existed in 
sufficient quantity to form a good soil, by proper 
attention. And this attention should be deep and 
fine tilth, a bountiful supply of vegetable matter, 
and protection from the sun. 
As to returning to the earth more than we take 
away, I will tell you what can be done. The last 
