210 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
July, 
profitably spent in manuring and cultivating an 
acre of grapes for market. 
The land having been brought into good con¬ 
dition by one season’s previous tillage, the vines 
may be set out, if for wine-making, five or six 
feet apart in the row, and the rows about the 
same distance asunder. This will take about 
100 vines to the acre. Good, strong, yearling 
plants are better than cuttings. Train the vines 
to a temporary stake, the first year, keeping 
down all but one good cane. The vines de¬ 
signed for fruit-raising,should be set ten or twelve 
feet apart in the row, and the rows eight to ten 
feet wide. For the first two years, some kind 
of hoed crop may be grown between the rows, 
which will go far towards paying the interest 
on the land before it bears a crop ®f grapes. 
The stakes for the wine-producing vines should 
be about seven feet long, and be driven into the 
ground a foot and a half. They may be of ce¬ 
dar, chestnut, or locust, or other durable wood. 
The trellis for the fruit-growers may be made of 
cedar posts eight or ten feet apart, about six feet 
high above ground, and with four lines of No. 
12 wire stretched from post to post. The wire 
may be fastened to staples, or a slight cut may 
be made with a saw in the post, and the wire 
drawn around it and fastened with a twist. Gal¬ 
vanized wire is the best, but common wire may 
be kept from rust by painting, or by tarring it. 
For the latter, heat the wire in the bundle, and 
put on the tar while it is warm. 
As to the best mode of pruning for such a 
vineyard, we need not speak at length. The 
vines for wine will undoubtedly be best pruned 
more or less according to the common German 
method, as practised at the West. Those de¬ 
signed for fruit, will be trained on the spur or 
long cane system. In either case, the principle 
will be followed, of taking the fruit from wood 
of the preceding year’s growth. Each year, the 
ground is to be plowed in the Spring, and cul¬ 
tivated several times through the Summer, keep¬ 
ing down all weeds. For this purpose, it will 
be needful to use the hoe somewhat, but the 
more the work can be done by liorse-power, the 
cheaper it will be. After the fruit begins to 
color, cultivation ceases, and all treading the 
ground between the vines is to be forbidden. In 
the month of June, when the fruit is well set, 
the vineyardist should go through the rows, and 
pinch off from one-third to one-half of the clus¬ 
ters, leaving only the best to mature. This is 
especially needful in the case of that raised for 
dessert. There will be less fruit, but it will ri¬ 
pen earlier, the clusters and berries will be 
larger, sweeter, and higher flavored, and will 
command a higher price in market. This is Dr. 
Underhill’s method, and it is by this, in great 
part, that he has gained his reputation. And to 
this, we must add, that he who wishes to com¬ 
mand the market and his own price in it, should 
allow no fruit to go from his vineyard except 
the ripest, and best in every particular. Every 
cluster should be examined, the unripe and de¬ 
fective berries cut out, and then they should be 
nicely packed in clean, new baskets. 
The above is the ordinary routine of grape 
culture when pursued with an eye to the great¬ 
est profit. A gentleman, living near Reading, 
Pa., gives the following estimate of the cost and 
income of an acre of vineyard in his vicinity: 
The whole expense, including cost of land, out- 
Fide enclosure, vines, trellis work, and all labor, is. $642 00 
Cost of wine press, shedding, casks, etc. . 200 00 
Making the whole capital invested.$842 00 
The average yield is about 640 gallons of wine, 
worth at the press 80 cts., or.$512 00 
Tire yearly expense. 80 00 
Leaving a clear annual profit of.$432 00 
Mr. Buchanan, of Cincinnati, after giving the 
estimates of others, subjoins his own, making 
full allowance for losses by rot, fermentation, 
frost, and various wastes : 
Cost of vineyard per acre, say $250 ; interest per 
annum.$15 00 
Cost of attending, per acre.. 60 00 
Cost of making the wine. 25 00 
$100 00 
Probable average annual product, 200 gallons 
wine, say at $1.. 200 00 
Supposed profit per acre.$100 00 
But should the wine bring only 75 cents per 
gallon, it would still leave a profit of $50 per 
acre, which is large enough, and more likely to 
be the sum realized throughout the country.” 
Dr. Underhill estimates the cost of establish¬ 
ing a vineyard, at about $400 per acre, and, 
when properly made, as being worth, as a per¬ 
manent investment, from $1,200 to $1,500 to the 
acre. 
We give these several estimates, that the un¬ 
informed reader may form some general idea of 
the profitableness of the business. Of course, 
the profits will vary according to the price of 
land and labor, distance from market, variable 
seasons, etc. The best peach orchards of New- 
Jersey and Delaware, average a yearly profit of 
from $75 to $100 an acre; but then, they last 
only six or seven years, are subject to many dis¬ 
eases, the crop is liable to be cut off by frost; 
and in very productive years the market is apt 
to be overstocked, and the fruit being very per¬ 
ishable, has to be sold at any price. But a vine¬ 
yard, well managed, lasts a life-time, and in¬ 
creases in productiveness just when the peach 
orchard is beginning to fail. The crop is less 
liable to suffer from frost or disease, and the 
market is in no danger of being glutted with 
either grapes or wine. 
It seems desirable, on many accounts, to com¬ 
bine the growing of grapes for fruit and for 
wine in one plantation. The fruit yields the 
speediest return, while the profits are greatest 
on the wine, and it can be sold all the year 
round. The smallest clusters of the entire vine¬ 
yard can be used for wine-making, the largest 
being reserved for sale as fruit. 
There are several other items which might 
well be considered here, but they must now be 
deferred. In particular, as to the varieties of 
grapes best for wine and for fruit in different lo¬ 
calities, our readers are referred to an article 
on Grapes in the April No. of the Agriculturist. 
A Grape Worth Watching. 
At the annual meeting of the Newburg Hor¬ 
ticultural Society, last Summer, a new native 
grape was exhibited by Mr. Woodward, of 
Mortonville, Orange Co., which attracted much 
attention. It was styled the “Skunnymunk 
Grape,” from the mountain on which it was 
discovered. It was said to ripen before the 15th 
of September, and to be perfectly hardy even in 
seasons where peach tree blossoms were de¬ 
stroyed by the cold of Winter. A writer in the 
Country Gentleman describes it as follows: 
“ Bunches well formed, compact; berries all of 
one size; shoulder on one side quite long, simi¬ 
lar to the Delaware; the color a coal black, 
skin quite thin, flesh white, with red colored 
vines, and no toughness of pulp discoverable. 
Sweet, juicy, aromatic, it somewhat resembles 
the Concord in flavor, but I think is in every re¬ 
spect better. The clusters are larger, weighing 
full a pound.” 
Another spectator who got a taste of it, speaks 
of it in high terms. He says it is of the Labrus- 
ca class, ripens ten days earlier than the Con¬ 
cord, often the last week of August or first of 
September. He was told by those who had seen 
it for several years, that it was hardy, free from 
disease, and an abundant and regular bearer. 
If it ripens as early as this, it will be valuable 
for districts where the Isabella and Catawba do 
not succeed. From all we can learn about it 
from private sources, we judge it will rank in 
quality with the Concord and Logan, and be 
desirable for its fine appearance and earliness. 
A Glimpse of a French. Vineyard. 
A young friend now traveling in la belle France , 
sends us an occasional letter which is so appro¬ 
priate to the columns of this journal that we de¬ 
sire to share it with our readers. Here are a 
few passages from one of them: 
The immense plains near Orleans, and indeed 
along a large part of the Orleans and Poitier’s 
road from Paris to Bordelais, are devoted large¬ 
ly to grain and vine-growing. Much of the soil 
around Orleans is low and seems to need drain¬ 
ing, though it is far from being marshy. The 
department of Loire, in which the town is situ¬ 
ated, has, besides its grain-fields nearly 75,000 
acres planted with vines, furnishing a yearly 
average of 1,200,000 hectolitres of wine. (A 
hectolitre is about 23 English gallons.) These, 
however, are not the best wines of France. 
.I was cordially received by M. D-—•, 
at his vineyard, near Ox-leans. The species 
of vine most raised here is the Auvanat. The 
Isabella and Catawba of Ameiica, are known 
here, but, as might be expected, do not 
thrive as well as their own native gi-apes. In 
answer to my inquiries as to his method of es¬ 
tablishing a vineyard, M. D., said: “ In the 
Fall, we make our cuttings by taking off the 
shoots at the junction of the present year’s 
growth with the last. At this point is a “ laton” 
or ring, from which roots readily start. These 
twigs are cut into proper lengths, tied up in bun¬ 
dles and buried in dry soil a foot deep. In the 
Spring, they are found calloused ovei-, and young 
fibers are ready to start. They are then planted in 
holes about eight inches deep, made by a sharp 
iron punch, the rows being three feet apart. 
The first year, they are allowed to grow as they 
please. In the Fall of the second year, they are 
cut back to thi-ee buds from the ground; and 
they are treated in the same way for two years 
more, the object being to form a strong stump 
about four inches high and two niches thick, 
from which fruiting canes can always after be 
trained at pleasure. The fourth Summer, one 
strong shoot is grown, keeping down all others, 
from which fruit is taken the following yeai\ 
If several shoots start from the stump during 
this fifth smnmer, all are broken out except the 
one nearest the ground. The cane is cut off in 
the Fall at from three to four feet from the root. 
We aim to get our fruit as near the ground as 
possible. And to aid in this, in the Spring, just 
before the buds start, we bend over the cane 
into a circle, so as to make the extremity al¬ 
most touch the ground. This checks the too 
rapid rush of the sap to the upper buds, and 
causes the lower ones to fill out as plump as the 
higher. In May and June, the canes are tied 
permanently to their stakes with willow twigs; 
the stakes being only about four feet above the 
ground. In France, stakes are a great item of 
expense. One servant man and his wife can 
tend a vineyard of six acres, except in grape har¬ 
vest, and the time of fall trimming, when lai-ge 
forces have to be employed.”.... Some 
