220 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
FIXING THE ATTENTION. 
What is commonly called abstraction in 
study, is■. nothing more than having the at¬ 
tention so completely occupied with the sub¬ 
ject in hand, that the mind takes notice of 
nothing without itself. One of the greatest 
minds which this or any other country ever 
produced, has been known to be so en¬ 
grossed in thinking on a particular subject, 
that his horse had waded through the corner 
of a pond ; yet, though the water covered 
the saddle, he was wholly insensible to the 
cause of his being wet. I mention this, not 
to recommend such an abstraction, but to 
show that he who has his attention fixed, 
and the power of fixing it when he pleases, 
will be successful in study. 
Why does the boy who has a large sunt 
upon his slate, scowl, and rub out, and begin 
again, and grow discouraged ? Because he 
has not learned to govern his attention. He 
was going on well, when some new thought 
floated into Shis mind, or some new object 
caught his eye, and he lost the train of cal¬ 
culation. Why has the Latin or Greek word 
so puzzled you to remember, that you had 
to look it out in your dictionary ten or a 
dozen times ? And why do you not look at it 
as at a stranger, whose name you ought to 
know, but which you can not recall?- Be¬ 
cause you have not yet acquired fully the 
power of fixing your attention. That word 
would havfe been remembered long since, if 
it had not passed as a shadow before your 
mind, when you looked at it. A celebrated 
authoress, who states that she reserves all 
her V s to be dotted, and her t's to be crossed 
on some sick-day, might have given a more 
philosophical reason; and that is that she 
could not bear to have her attention inter¬ 
rupted a single moment, when writing with 
the most success. [Student’s Manual. 
HINTS ON GRAPE GROWING. 
hy a gardener in the country. 
The house having been erected according 
to our previous directions, and everything 
connected with the ventilation, &c., put into 
working order, we will leave the heating of 
it for a future chapter, and proceed with 
making the borders to receive the plants. 
The best time for planting is in the month of 
April, or early in May; they then have 
their season before them, and, if proper at¬ 
tention is given them, will fairly establish 
themselves the first year. Sometime in the 
winter previous, some strong one-year-old 
vines should be selected ; these should have 
well ripened wood three feet long, and as 
thick as a quill—if stouter so much the bet¬ 
ter. Mind the plants have been propagated 
from single eyes, and are not from layers or 
long cuttings, such being comparatively 
worthless. When received, cut each back 
to three eyes, or buds; they will look a lit¬ 
tle stumpy, but never mind that. You may 
now keep them in a cold pit, or anywhere 
away from sharp frost. Toward the end of 
March they will require to be gently started 
into growth, and indeed at that time you 
vvill perceive the buds are beginning to 
swell of themselves. Get a portion of the 
soil prepared for the border, put into a dry 
place, and a sufficient number of pots, two 
or three inches larger than the size they are 
in. Next take the plants out of their pots 
and shake the old soil completely from them; 
the roots will be found matted or coiled re¬ 
peatedly round the pots, particularly if the 
plants are what they should be. These must 
be uncoiled and set at liberty before putting 
them in their new pots, into which spread 
the roots and fill in between them with the 
new soil. By the time for planting them 
arrives they will have commenced making 
fresh roots, and uncoiling them will enable 
the roots to strike freely into the border 
when planted out, which they would not do 
so well if the roots had not been set at lib¬ 
erty. A pit or common dung frame will be 
the best place for them after potting, where 
a little bottom heat can be given ; This will 
soon start the roots into active growth, and 
the buds will break strongly. Failing this, 
place them in the house where they are to 
be planted; they will require disbudding 
when they break, leaving the best shoot, 
which should be carefully tied to a support as 
it advances, and the plants should be kept 
near the glass. Of course in whatever kind 
of house they are grown in, air will be re¬ 
quired, almost daily, to keep them from 
drawing, as the slower they grow the 8 
stronger will the rods ultimately become, 
and this should be remembered day by day 
as the vines progress. 
Having put the plants required to fill the 
house in order, our next attention must be 
directed to making the border. This should 
always, if possible, be done a month or six 
weeks before planting the vines, for as we 
have an inveterate dislike to treading arti¬ 
ficial borders to make them firm, thattime will 
be only sufficient to allow the fresh materials 
of which it is made to get somewhat into 
place before the vines are turned out. March, 
hr early in April, is in our opinion the best 
time to fill in the border, especially if the 
compost has been put together in the pre¬ 
vious autumn. One thing carefully attend to, 
which is, not to attempt anything with the 
border except in the driest weather, and 
only when the compost itself is in a dry 
state ; very much of the future condition of 
the border, and consequently the welfare of 
the vines, will depend on this. In my last 
paper I directed that a few inches of broken 
stones should be laid over the bottom of the 
border; over these lay a fresh turf two or 
three inches thick, with the grass down¬ 
wards. If it is difficult to procure turf, dry 
straw, three or four inches thick, and laid 
close together, may be substituted; the 
object is to prevent the finer portions of the 
border from being washed among the rubble 
stones, and helping to choke up the drainage. 
The border should then be filled up with the 
compost recommended in a former chapter; 
do not break it down any finer, but merely 
level it as carried on, and have a sufficient 
number of boards for men to walk on during 
the work ; but, as noticed above, on no ac¬ 
count tread it, but allow for it to settle 
down to two feet—the depth we recom¬ 
mended. The border must, when first filled, 
be a foot or eighteen inches higher; this 
will not be too much, and the mould will re¬ 
tain its porosity much longer when left to 
settle down of itself than when artificially 
made firm by treading ; nor yet will the 
vines start away so freely in the latter case. 
As the vines are intended to be planted in¬ 
side the house, a four and a half-inch brick 
wall must be run up two feet six inches 
from the front of the house, and as high as 
the level of the floor. If the border has 
been flagged at the bottom, as advised, the 
air drains, which will be carried to this 
point., must be left with a clear opening, to 
insure a free circulation. The portion of 
border inside the house will be filled with 
compost at the same time as the outside; 
the vines will be planted in this inside bor¬ 
der, and as the front is still merely sup¬ 
ported by posts, they offer no obstruction to 
the free growth of the roots, which can pass 
uninterruptedly underneath, and, in fact, the 
inside is merely a continuation of the out¬ 
side border carried within the house to re¬ 
ceive the vines—a plan far preferable to 
having a brick wall with arches for the 
roots to find their way through as best they 
can, and, what is still better, it is much less 
expensive. [London Florist. 
INTERESTING TO OUR SUBSCRIBERS. 
A CHANCE TO FILL YOUR LIBRARIES WITH VALU¬ 
ABLE BOOKS 
WITHOUT EXPENSE. 
Three numbers more will bring us to the 
commencement of a New Year, and although 
our volume does not begin at that time, it is 
a favorable season for enlisting new subscri¬ 
bers, and, as heretofore, we shall look for 
large accessions. Many of our present sub¬ 
scribers have promised us clubs of five, ten 
and twenty at that time. While our 
agents here and there can do something, our 
great reliance is upon the individual exer¬ 
tions of those who have read the American 
Agriculturist for a season, and can testify as 
to its merits. Every person can influence 
one or more of his friends and neighbors to 
subscribe; but as this takes some time and 
effort, we are willing to remunerate such 
effort, and we therefore make the following 
offer of premiums for obtaining new subscri¬ 
bers. 
N. B.—The books offered are not “old 
stock,” but are the latest editions of stan¬ 
dard works, fresh from the hands of the pub¬ 
lishers, and they will be delivered free 
OF POSTAGE OR OTHER EXPENSE. 
The premiums will.be paid as fast as 
the subscriptions are received at any time 
before the first of January next. 
Subscriptions may begin at any time. 
It will be seen that this offer does 
away with all uncertain competition—every 
one will be thus paid for whatever success¬ 
ful effort he may make, if it be only the pro¬ 
curing of one new subscriber. 
j PREMIUM NO. i. 
To every person forwarding us one new sub¬ 
scriber, with $2, we will send, post paid, any 
TWO copies of the following books in the 
first division: 
First Division. —1, The American Kitchen 
Gardener ; 2, W’ilson on the Culture of Flax; 
3, Dana’s Prize Essay on Manures ; 4, Ele¬ 
ments of Agriculture, by Skinner; 5, Top- 
ham’s Chemistry Made Easy; 6, Leibig’s 
Agricultural Chemistry; 7, Leibig’s Animal 
J Chemistry: 8, The Horse, by Richardson ; 
19, Horse’s Foot, and Howto Keep it Sound, 
by Miles ; 10, Milburne’s Cow : Dairy, Hus¬ 
bandry, and Cattle Breeding; 11, Knowl- 
son’s Cattle Doctor ; 12, Richardson on the 
Hog ; 13, Domestic Fowls, by Richardson ; 
14, the Poultry Breeder : 15, The American 
Fowl Breeder; 16, The Hive and Honey 
Bee, by Richardson ; 17, Phelp’s Bee Keep¬ 
er’s Chart; 18, Every Lady her own Flower 
Gardener; 19, Richardson on Dogs; 20, 
Johnston’s Catechism, by Norton. 
Or one copy of any of the following: 
Second Division. —1, Bridgeman’s Kitchen 
Gardener’s Instructor ; 2, Schenck’S Garden¬ 
er’s Text Book ; 3, Hoare on the vine ; 4, 
Bridgeman’s Fruit Cultivator’s Manual; 5, 
Chorlton’s Cold Grapery ; 6, Buchanan on 
Grape Culture ; 7, Pardee on the Strawber¬ 
ry; 8, Cole’s American Fruit Book ; 9, Ele¬ 
ments of Agriculture, by Skinner ; 10, Da¬ 
vis’s Text Book of Agriculture ; 11, Norton’s 
Scientific Agriculture; 12, The American 
Veterinarian, by Cole ; 13, American Pocket 
