AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
115 
must be partially filled with a compost made 
from exciting manures, and before using 
should be thoroughly decayed and frequent¬ 
ly turned over in the heap, so as to be well 
incorporated. On this compost an inch or 
two of earth may be thrown, after which 
scatter the seed thinly, but let it compass the 
entire width of the trench. On the top of 
the seed, I throw coarse gray sand, such as 
is used in making mortar. Sand remains 
perfectly friable, and does not oppose the 
shooting stem of the young plants, when 
vegetation takes place in the ensuing spring, 
and it also prevents for a time the growth of 
weeds, thereby permitting the seedlings to 
get the start of foul stuff, which, with a little 
attention, they will maintain throughout the 
season. The object of this peculiar cultiva¬ 
tion, is to force the seedlings into an aver¬ 
age growth of two feet the first summer, and 
by the first of August, they are all in fine 
budding condition, still growing rapidly ; the 
bark springs from the knife, and affords ready 
admission to the bud, which, if carefully in¬ 
serted will not lose five per cent. I have a 
field of plum seedlings, budded the past sea¬ 
son, which will average two and a half feet 
in hight, and scarcely a bud exhibits symp¬ 
toms of decay. The subsequent culture is 
exceedingly simple. The budded trees are 
permitted to form their first season’s growth 
in the seed bed. Many of them will attain 
the altitude of six and seven feet. They are 
then transplanted into the nursery rows, 
where they may remain one or two years ; 
all will, by the expiration of that time, be fit 
for sale. If it were not for adopting this 
plan, my trees would cost half a dollar each, 
to grow for market.—I. R.,inN. V. Horti¬ 
cultural Review. 
A NEW WASH EOR TREES. 
Noticing an allusion to the washing of 
trees with lye, by Dr. Underwood, in your 
paper of December 1st, I was reminded of 
the propriety of again noticing a wash for 
apple trees which I have used with satisfac¬ 
tion for the past three years.- Two years 
ago, I incidentally spoke of it in this journal, 
and though out of season now, I venture to 
again call attention to it, hoping that some 
one else may test it. 
Procure soap-stone dust, at the workers of 
soap-stone, sift it to get out the stones, if 
you choose, mix it up to the consistence of 
paint, with soap-suds, and add a very little 
slaked lime, and if you wish to give it an 
agreeable tint, stir in a very little yellow 
ochre. Apply this mixture with a brush to 
your young apple trees in the early part of 
the summer, and it will prevent the growth 
of moss, will keep the trunks cool, (which 
lye does not) and will give them a handsome, 
neat and healthy appearance. 
Lye is dangerous, and requires much ex¬ 
perience. Lime is too stiff, and closes the 
pores of the bark. But the soap-stone dust 
incorporates with the bark, and in the win¬ 
ter season presents a handsome buff color, 
which can not be rubbed off. There is not 
the least danger, I think, in the use of this 
wash, or its incorporation into the bark, a 
the soap-stone dust is mostly composed of 
clay, and the lime and ochre found, in some 
form, in the soil. Besides, my trees are 
healthy, and this fact is better than theory. 
Perhaps this dust mixed with some other 
substances, would be found beneficial—for 
Instance, with guano, for pear trees.—D. W. 
L., in N. E. Farmer. 
GRAPE VINE ROOTS VS. CUTTINGS, 
I notice in the September number of your 
periodical, extracts from and comments upon 
a forthcoming work on the grape, called the 
“Vinedresser’s Guide.” I observe the author 
prefers the use of cuttings in forming a 
vineyard, and seems to think scarcely a 
year is gained by planting well rooted vines 
in their stead. I may say such is not the 
experience of the most extensive cultivators 
of the grape on the Atlantic seaboard. I 
and others in this vicinity find that not only 
a greater saving of time than a single year 
is obtained, when well rooted plants, three 
or four years old, are used in the formation 
of a vineyard—but that the vineyard when 
formed is far more valuable, from its being 
less subject to injury from rotting or mildew, 
than those made directly from cuttings. We 
have noticed the fact, and the theory we 
have adopted is confirmed by experience. 
Where cuttings are planted to form the vine¬ 
yard, the roots usually start too near the 
surface of the ground, where they are under 
the influence of heat and moisture. The 
growth is rapid, increased by every shower 
in the spring; the sap vessels are large, and 
when the vineyard is old enough to bear, 
the month of June presents an abundant 
foliage and great promise of fruit. The 
drouth coming on in July, the roots being 
mostly located near the surface, are de¬ 
prived of the proper supply of nourishment, 
and soon the rotting commences, which I 
am informed is far more serious in Ohio and 
the States adjacent, where their vineyards 
are formed directly from cuttings, than in 
the Atlantic States. The roots also, from 
their nearness to the surface, are far more 
liable to injury from the frosts of winter. 
W T hen you have well rooted plants you can 
set them at any depth that experience teach¬ 
es to be the most appropriate to the different 
kinds of soil, and thus secure a proper 
growth of roots for the support of the vine. 
It is more than eight years since most of 
those who are interested in forming vine¬ 
yards in this and neighboring States, have 
abandoned the plan recommended so highly 
in the “ Vinedresser’s Guide,” and our ex¬ 
perience leads us to believe a certain and 
more abundant crop of excellent fruit can 
be obtained by the mode which we have 
adopted. Yours, very truly, 
R. T. Underhill, M. D. 
Croton Point Vineyards, > 
Sept. 27, 1855. $ 
Commercial Register. 
Breathes there a man with soul so dead, 
who never to himself hath said, I will a fami¬ 
ly paper take, both for my own and chil¬ 
dren’s sake! If such there be, let him re¬ 
pent, and have the paper to him sent. 
VINE CULTURE. 
So much has been done and written on the 
vine since the days of Noah to the present 
time, that the subject may well seem ex¬ 
hausted ; yet in the present exigencies of 
this useful fruit, the experience of any one 
who has successfully cultivated it in any 
new or peculiar manner may not be unwel¬ 
come. 
I will first state what I have done, then 
my reasons for so doing. 
I have vines planted along each side of a 
span-roofed vinery, six feet apart; these are 
trained in main permanent stems from the 
soil to the ridge ; horizontal canes are car¬ 
ried from the main stems every 18 inches ; 
these are six feet each in length, and inter¬ 
lace each other from the neighboring vines. 
Each vine bears fruit every alternate year 
only on the horizontal six-feet canes, which 
are then cut off close to the main stem ; the 
following season this vine makes wood only 
while its next neighbor bears the crop. In 
this manner I have the house constantly 
well cropped with fruit, although each vine 
only bears a crop every alternate year. 
Now for my reasons. 
Every one with his eyes open must have 
observed that fruit trees in general, such as* 
the pear and apple, will bear without ex¬ 
haustion heavy crops every alternate year, 
and many of them naturally fall into this 
habit; while a good crop of superior fruit 
every year off the same tree is not to be ex¬ 
pected. If the pear or apple, why not the 
vine! In fact, the same thing has been ob¬ 
served of the vine ; for a bad crop, if the 
plant is in a healthy condition, is generally 
followed by a good one, and vice versa. 
Moreover, a fruit-bearing spur of the vine, 
and even the young wood generally of a pre¬ 
viously cropped vine, does not ripen so soon 
or so well as another vine in the same house 
which has no fruit on it demanding supplies. 
Now, what has been observed as beneficial 
for a crop of fruit incidentally, why not ren¬ 
der permanent and regular 1 ? This I have 
done with the very best results ; and in the 
vinery to which I have here alluded, there is 
no flue or heating apparatus, all the heat ob¬ 
tained being from a neighboring vinery, to 
which this is attached, by opening the door 
and end sashes between the two. At pres¬ 
ent the wood of the non-bearing plants is 
strong and well ripened, while much of that 
on the fruit-bearing ones is raw and green. 
Besides the advantages here detailed, it may 
be observed that this system includes others 
acknowledged by intelligent growers; these 
are, long rods and horizontal training. 
I intend, in another season, to have per¬ 
manent rods along the ridge of this house, 
and to adopt dependant training—that is, 
from ridge to eaves—instead of the horizon¬ 
tal, as at present. 
In another lean-to vinery, I have prepared 
to carry out the alternate system of crop¬ 
ping by vines planted at the back wall of the 
house ; these, by long canes led down the 
rafters, I intend to crop alternately with the 
vines in front, by long canes led up the rafter 
from them.—M. D., in London Florist. 
