AMERICAN' AGRICULTURIST. 
jeaijiteir to iutjnrate tljo Jfarmtr, X\t flatter, anJr %e (Sartater* 
AGRICULTURE IS THE MOST HEALTHY, THE MOST USEFUL, AND THE MOST NOBLE EMPLOYMENT OF' MAN. -WASHINGTON. 
PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY ALLEN & CO., 189 WATER ST, 
NEW-YOKK, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 1854. [NEW SERIES.-NO. eo. 
VOL. XIII.—NO. 8.] 
Jar prospectus, Serins, Set., 
ES^SEE LAST PAGE. .^3 
THE COLD VINERY OF WILLIAM VIAL. ESQ. 
While at Providence, attending the Rhode- 
Island State Fair, it was our privilege to 
visit this very promising vinery. Mr. Yial 
is one of the most successful amateur culti¬ 
vators in the city, and showed us, in his 
well cultivated grounds, how much of the 
useful and beautiful may be realized, from a 
few square rods of ground. Every foot of 
soil was turned to good account, but the 
special attraction of the garden was the cold 
vinery. This was placed against the back 
wall of the garden, nearly fronting the south. 
It is a lean to, about 45 feet long by 15 in 
breadth, and is stocked with 15 varieties of 
grapes. The vines were three years from 
planting, and were well filled with very fair, 
handsome bunches of grapes ; though many 
had already been gathered for the exhibi- 
bition and for the table. 
About a dozen cultivators met in this glass 
house, to test the quality, in succession, of 
fifteen varieties of foreign grapes. We liked 
this feature of our entertainment very much, 
as it gave us not only a feast for the eye and 
the palate, and introduced us to gentlemen 
whose acquaintance we shall be happy to 
renew, but it helped us to a better knowledge 
of some of the finest grapes for the cold 
vinery. The comparative merits of these 
grapes can only be ascertained by eating 
them fresh from the vine, with the names 
before you. While all were pronounced 
very good, not so much in courtesy to our 
host as in justice to the fruit, the Austrian 
Muscat received the unanimous suffrage of 
the party, as the best of the collection. 
This is a white grape, and has the rich spicy 
flavor of the Frontignan, in still higher per¬ 
fection. It is to us a new grape, and we 
were unable to learn any thing of its origin 
or history. Next to this, we put the Black 
Frontignan, and after that the White Malva- 
sia—a beautiful fruit both to the eye and the 
taste. The Black Hamburgs, of course, 
were among the collection, and maintained 
their well established reputation. 
As a demonstration of what a business 
man in the city may do with a little time and 
money, this vinery is a valuable experiment 
for the public. The whole cost of border, 
frame, glass, &c., was not far from four hun¬ 
dred dollars, and the whole labor of attend¬ 
ing it, with the exception of four days’ work 
by a gardener, had "been performed by him¬ 
self, in the brief intervals of business. 
In the preparation of the border, which 
was about thirty feet wide, attention was 
first paid to drainage. Then a little of al¬ 
most every thing available, as a fertilizer, 
was put in, and thoroughly mixed. Bones, 
oyster shells, the sweepings of shoemakers’ 
shops, wastes from the tannery, street ma¬ 
nure, ashes, soot, old plastering, cinders 
from burnt buildings, fish, stable-manure, 
weeds, chip dirt, rags, leaves, loam, and 
muck, may all enter profitably into the grape 
border. This is a matter of prime import¬ 
ance, as the grape is a gross feeder. 
A vinery, of course, can be built much 
cheaper than this, but four hundred dollars 
is not a very large outlay for a permanent 
structure in the garden, that will last an 
ordinary life-time. The fruit, too, if there 
is a surplus, always finds a ready market in 
the cities, and at high prices. A dollar a 
pound is no unusual price for these grapes, 
sold by the quantity. Vineries will pay well 
as a pecuniary investment for years to come. 
We are glad to see that these beautiful or¬ 
naments of the garden are rapidly multiply¬ 
ing in our cities and villages. 
FAIR OF THE HAMPSHIRE COUNTY AGRICUL¬ 
TURAL SOCIETY 
This fair came off at Amherst, Mass., Oc¬ 
tober 18th and 19th. As the seat of the op¬ 
erations of this Society is mainly in the val¬ 
ley of the Connecticut, we were prepared to 
see a good display of fine cattle, fruits, and 
vegetables. This Society is of recent origin, 
but is already well established, and is doing 
a good work in waking up the farming popu¬ 
lation to a better cultivation of their fat 
acres. 
We were too late to see the neat stock, on 
Wednesday, but had a fair view of the horse¬ 
flesh on Thursday morning. Probably ow¬ 
ing to the great New-England horse show at 
Brattleborough, held at the same time, there 
were not many stars present. But we saw 
some good looking draught-horses, that drew 
premiums, as well as big loads, and handled 
a cart-load of stones with as much ease as 
if they had had a pedigree going back to Bu¬ 
cephalus of Alexandrian fame. The show of 
colts was thought to be an improvement 
upon any former exhibition. 
The vegetables were exceedingly good, 
what there were of them ; but, in such a re¬ 
gion, there should have been ten times as 
many. The potatoes were magnificent. 
The harvest of this esculent is uncommonly 
good ; and why, in our city, we should be 
paying a dollar a bushel, while here in these 
towns they can be bought for forty to fifty 
cents, is a question for consumers to ponder. 
They can be sent to tide-water, at New- 
London, for seven cents a bushel. The finest 
specimens of the Marrow squash we have 
seen this year, were grown by Luke Sweet- 
ser, of Amherst. There were also fine sam¬ 
ples of the Valparaiso and the Croolc-neck. 
We have never met with finer butter than 
was displayed upon these tables. Several 
of the lots had that beautiful waxy appear¬ 
ance, which showed that the buttermilk was 
all worked out of it. The cheese, also, was 
very fine. 
The most striking feature of the fruit hall 
was the display of apples. There were 
nearly 350 plates; and here were samples of 
Spitzenbergs, Blue Pearmaines, Baldwins, 
Hubbardstons, and other fine varieties, that 
we have never seen surpassed. The next 
feature of the Show was, the total absence 
of pears. To one accustomed to the mag¬ 
nificent display of this fruit, at Hartford, a 
little lower down in this valley, the absence 
was marvelous. What freak of Pomona is 
it that has withheld this prince of fruits, 
from a region where the apple grows in its 
perfection? It is the common impression 
here that the pear will not thrive in this 
soil, and we saw trees that had been planted 
a dozen years or more, that manifestly jus¬ 
tified this opinion, if they were any measure 
of the best efforts of the soil. Upon inquiry 
we found that bone-dust or phosphate of 
lime, in any shape, had not been applied in 
their cultivation. This may be the one thing 
needful in the soil to fit it for producing this 
fruit. We trust cultivators will try it, and 
that we shall hereafter see, in their exhibi¬ 
tions, pears to rival their magnificent apples. 
The samples of grapes were far too few. 
The Isabella ripens well here, in most sea¬ 
sons. We think the Diana would uniformly 
mature. 
The address was delivered, in the church, 
by Rev. W. Clift, of Stonington. We have 
rarely seen a larger or more attentive audi¬ 
ence. The subject—“ The Economy of Sci¬ 
entific Agriculture ”—seemed appropriate to 
the place and the occasion, and was very 
well received. Some 350 sat down to 
the dinner, and after the eatables were dis¬ 
cussed, about two hours were spent in listen¬ 
ing to reports of the various committees, 
and to speeches from gentlemen present. 
One of the cheering indications of this occa¬ 
sion was, the presence of so many clergy¬ 
men from the neighboring parishes, entering 
heartily into the work of the Society, and 
