1880 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
1M9 
be any way—a sense or suspicion of eating sulphur 
"would be developed that would tend to greatly 
diminish the consumption of this excellent green 
food. Lime sprinkled upon the plants has proved 
of considerable value in some cases as our cor¬ 
respondence indicates. In those localities, or rather 
on that soil, where the crop has been ruined, it is 
suggested that the growth of lettuce be abandoned 
for a time, for there is no doubt but that the soil 
has become foul, so to speak, and an absence of 
the lettuce plant is essential to the eradication, by 
death by starvation , of the minute fungus spores. 
Have You a Strawberry Bed ? 
-<&■- 
This question is put to every reader who has the 
land, and especially to every farmer, who, having 
the land, is very apt to not have strawberries. 
Without taking space to inquire why the farmer, 
who of all others should have an abundance, so 
generally has no strawberries, we put in our plea 
for his family, and insist that he shall provide them 
with this excellent fruit—not only a few as a 
luxury, but an abundance. There is just one 
time to make a strawberry bed, and that time is 
now ! Under any circumstances a strawberry 
plant must grow a season before it will give a 
crop ; there is no way in which plants may be set 
this spring and give fruit the same season. If any 
"“nursery agent” offers such—don’t buy them. 
Much that has been said about strawberry culture 
has conveyed the impression that it is a great deal of 
trouble ; that runners have to be cut off and much 
care given otherwise, while in fact it is no more 
trouble to raise strawberries, than it is to grow car¬ 
rots. But the cost ? Is very little—nothing com¬ 
pared with the result in fruit. One can begin as 
small as he pleases; if he can not afford the outlay 
for a large bed, let him buy enough for a start and 
raise his own plants. It makes no difference where 
the farmer may be, if he gets the American Agricul¬ 
turist, he can have strawberry plants—the mail 
brings both. A dozen, or a hundred plants 
come by mail, and when one has even but a dozen 
plants, his strawberry future is provided for. “ It 
is the first step which costs” is a proverb. In this 
case “ itis the first step which tells.” While we have 
in view especially the family comfort, it may be well 
to consider that in most localities enough berries 
can be sold from the first crop to pay for the whole 
outlay—only don’t sell and let the family go 
without, but have enough for both demands. 
“ How many shall I plant?" will be one of the 
first questions to decide. An ordinary family should 
have at least 200 plants, and generally 400 will not 
be found teo many if the fruit is used freely. It 
is better to provide for an abundance. 
What kinds? —If restricted to one kind, we 
have no hesitation in saying, Charles Downing. If 
there are successful strawberry growers in the 
vicinity, find what does best with them and plant 
the same kind. But we do not advise planting all 
of one kind. If 400 plants are set there may safely 
be four kinds. Charles Downing, Monarch of the 
West, Champion, and Sharpless, would be a good 
selection, but it may be varied and not go amiss. 
How to Plant.— Select a good bit of soil, all the 
better if it was in potatoes last year, and if prac¬ 
ticable within sight of the house, and prepare it 
just as you would for a good crop of cabbages; 
this means an abundance of the best manure well 
worked in. Mark out the rows two feet apart, 
three if a cultivator is to be used, and set the 
plants one foot apart in the row, using a trowel to 
open the ground, and when the plant is put in, 
crowd the soil down firmly over the roots with 
both hands. Thereafter run the cultivator, hoe, 
or rake, often enough to make the soil mellow and 
keep down the weeds. The plants will by and by 
throw out runners; turn them into the row and let 
them take root. For the after treatment of the bed, 
consult “ Notes about Work ” at the proper season. 
Raising Plants. —If it is preferred to buy a few 
plants to start with and raise a stock to put out 
next year, set these two feet apart each way, and 
let runners form. Ashes are very useful to pro¬ 
mote a large growth of runners. Finally, plant 
strawberries—and be sure to do it this spring. 
That Grape Vine. 
Two years ago (1878), knowing that there must 
be few, if any, among our readers, who could not 
somewhere find a place for a grape vine, we insisted 
that one vine at least, should be planted, wherever 
there was a bit of soil, no matter if it were in the 
smallest of village or city back-yards. In a series 
of articles headed, “ One Grape Vine,” we gave 
minute directions for its planting, and showed how 
it would grow through the summer, and what 
should be done with it. That these articles led to 
the planting of a great many vines, our correspon¬ 
dence shows, and even now we have letters, asking 
advice as to that “ On& Grape Vine.” The greatest 
number of letters at the present season, are with re¬ 
gard to pruning and training, and they especially 
ask as to the treatment of old and neglected vines. 
Pruning ought to be done in the fall, or in the very 
early spring, long before the swelling of the buds 
shows that vegetation has started. If the vine is cut 
after root action has commenced, there is a flow of 
sap so copious, that it is popularly called “ bleed¬ 
ing.” While there is a great difference of opinion, 
as to the injury resulting from bleeding, we are 
confident that it can do no good, and it is better to 
avoid it. A grape vine is so tractable, that it 
Fig. 1.— A CANE. Fig. 2.— THE SAME IN GROWTH. 
may be perfectly adapted to a great many places, 
if we only direct it properly, and to do this, we 
must learn a few things about its growth, and work 
in accordance with them. If one clearly under¬ 
stands the manner in which the vine—every grape 
vine—grows, all mystery and difficulty will disap¬ 
pear. One important point—and one which many 
who see a vine daily fail to observe, is this : the fruit 
is always borne upon a shoot of the present year's 
growth. To understand this, let figure 1 represent 
a young vine, or a branch of 
an old one, large or small. 
This branch grew last season, 
and is just as it was left when 
the leaves dropped last fall, 
and as it will be before growth 
starts this spring. The vine 
is seen to be in sections or 
joints ; there is a hud, a piece 
of vine, longer or shorter, ac¬ 
cording to the variety, or the 
luxuriance of growth, then 
another bud, with a piece of 
vine, and so on, for the whole 
length. Observe that no two 
successive buds are upon the 
same side of the vine ; if bud 
No. 1 is on the right side, No. 
2 will be at the left side ; No. Fi 3 _ CUT BACK 
3 right, and so on alternating, 
for the whole length. Unless they have been re¬ 
moved, or accidently broken off, there will be 
opposite each bud, a tendril, or the remains of a 
stem which bore a cluster the season before. 
These points where the buds are placed, are 
properly joints, but we commonly give that name 
to the portion of vine between two buds, and speak 
of a variety as “ short-jointed ” or “ long-jointed.” 
The botanists name, for this point of the stem 
where the bud is placed, is node —a not difficult 
name and one that has a definite application. Every 
branch of vine a year old, or cane, as it is called, 
has its nodes, with a bud and a tendril or remains of 
a cluster at each, and these nodes are separated by 
longer or shorter joints or internodes. When growth 
starts in figure 1, the buds will swell, burst open, 
and a small, tender shoot will begin to lengthen. 
Examine this young growth; when but a few 
inches long it will be seen to have nodes and inter¬ 
nodes ; and at each node a leaf, opposite which is 
a tendril or a cluster of minute buds, which look 
like and are often taken for young grapes. 
If the cane (figure 1) is untouched, but allowed 
to grow just as it is, it will soon appear as in figure 
2. A shoot coming from each bud, the uppermost 
shoots, the tendency of the sap being towards 
these, will be the most vigorous and wjjl grow 
away rapidly, robbing those below of food. The 
lower shoots will in this case be smaller and 
weaker, and some of the lowest buds may not start 
at all. It will be seen that if a vine is left to itself 
year after year, the most vigorous shoots, those 
which bear the fruit, will be further and further 
away from the root, and the vine will become a 
tangled mass of weak stems. If instead of allowing 
the vine (figure 1) to have its own way, we cut it off 
where the cross line is placed, all the nutriment 
that would have gone to several shoots will go 
to the two that remain, and we shall have instead 
of a vine, like figure 2, one as in figure 3, where 
there are two strong shoots, bearing their fruit 
buds down where they are within reach and being 
better fed, both leaves and fruit, auc che shoot it¬ 
self, will be altogether larger, and more vigorous 
and healthy. If instead of cutting off figure 1, as 
here described, we bend it down and fasten it in a 
horizontal position before growth begins, we shall 
change the condition of things ; the shoots from a 
more equal distribu¬ 
tion of food—or sap 
— will start more 
alike; the uppermost 
can not rob the 
others. In practice, 
in making an arm in 
this way, all the buds 
are not allowed to 
grow, as they would 
be too much crowd¬ 
ed ; but this diagram 
is merely to illustrate 
the principle. Lot us 
now suppose that 
instead of cutting 
figure 1 back, as in 
figure 3, or bending 
it down as in figure 
4, we want our vine 
higher as soon as Eig. 5 .—shoots high up. 
the buds have started 
and have grown an inch or two, we rub or break off 
all hut the two or three topmost buds, as the case 
may be, and the shoots from these may be carried 
out horizontally, as in figure 5, or continued in an 
upright direction as we may prefer. These illustra¬ 
tions are sufficient to show how easily a vine may 
be controlled and placed where we wish it. Ob¬ 
serve that each shoot is but a repetition of the 
originial cane, and that each shoot, when ripe in 
the fall, will become a cane like figure 1. By fix¬ 
ing these points in the mind: that the growing 
vine is made up of a succession of joints, furnished 
at intervals with a leaf and opposite this a tendril 
or a cluster of grapes, and that these alternate, the 
matter becomes very simple. The management of 
the growing shoots must be left for another month. 
