1865.j 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
379 
being the highest during the holidays. Each 
spike averages 20 florets or single flowers, so 
that at some seasons the flowers of a single root 
of this common bulb produce $2 at wholesale. 
Cultivating the Bulbs. —Our mode is very 
simple. After the ground has been well ma¬ 
nured and spaded, or plowed, lines are struck 
out one foot apart; the small bulbs or “ sets ” 
(see fig. 1,) are then planted six inches apart, 
and at least four inches below the surface ; this 
we consider of great importance, as it tends to 
solidify the neck of the bulb, and thereby pre¬ 
vent the disposition to decay. Our time of 
planting here is about the 1st of June, but as 
they do not begin to grow for nearly four weeks 
after planting, it is necessary to hoe and rake 
the ground once or twice before they come up, 
to prevent the growth of weeds which would 
otherwise quickly choke them up in their feeble 
state. The bulbs are matured by the end of 
October, the tops are then cut off (but not too 
close,) and the roots at once placed in a warm 
and dry place. 
PRODUcroG Flowers. —To secure a continu¬ 
ous bloom of the Tuberose, the first roots 
should be started in January, in a temperature 
not less than 65°, and if kept regularly not be¬ 
low that temperature, they will flower in May. 
Those which are wanted to flower out doors, 
and which are of most interest to general read¬ 
ers, should be started in a Green-house, Hot-bed, 
or warm room, not sooner than the 1st of May, 
and planted out in the flower borders three or 
four weeks after; thus treated, they will begin 
to bloom in August, and continue in bloom for 
two or three months. In warmer sections of 
the country there is no necessity for this for¬ 
warding treatment, as there the dry bulb plant¬ 
ed out in May will flower freely during the 
autumn months.-^For a later succession of 
flowers, say for the months of November, De¬ 
cember, and January, the bulbs should be kept 
dry and planted by the first or middle of August; 
these of course, must be grown in the Hot-house 
or Green-house, as the Tuberose is a plant re¬ 
quiring at all times a high temperature. The 
beauty and fragrance of this flower well repay 
the little care required to produce it. 
Uotes on Grapes and Grape Culture. 
“ What, more about grapes ? ” says the reader 
who has no interest in the culture of the vine. 
Yes, for the reason that it is now one of the 
leading horticultural topics. The vine growers 
have their grape shows and grape conventions, 
and we should not be much surprised if they 
started a grape journal, but whether they do or 
not, we must have our share of grape talk. Those 
who do not come in contact with grape people, 
are little aware of the great amount of capital 
already in vines, and of the perhaps still greater 
amount about being invested there, especially in 
the Western States. Individuals are about to 
plant their acres, and companies with abundant 
capital, their scores of acres. Land in localities 
known to be favorable to the vine, sells at great 
prices, and men known to be good vineyardists, 
are engaged by companies at liberal salaries. If 
we add to all this activity in planting vines, the 
large amount of capital engaged in raising and 
selling them, it will be seen there is no one plant 
which is of more pecuniary interest just now 
than the grape vine, nor one concerning which 
people are so anxious for facts. “ Facts are 
just what I have been looking for,” suggests the 
reader, “ I have read all the reports of the grape 
discussions, all the grape notes, books and ca¬ 
talogues, and the only ‘ fact’ I arrive at, is that 
it is all a precious muddle.” We admit that 
there is some truth in this view, but we regard 
matters more hopefully. Chaos always precedes 
order, and every science accumulates first a dis¬ 
jointed mass of materials before any general 
laws are found by which to arrange them. So in 
grape culture we are accumulating varieties and 
bits of information, bye-and-bye we shall have 
a sweeping away of the rubbish and a clearer 
knowledge of general laws. Then grape dis¬ 
cussions are useful and amusing withal. One 
grower comes several hundred miles to assert 
that there is no grape like the Tweedledum; 
another comes as far from the opposite direction 
to declare the merits of the Tweedledee, while 
the growers around in the State where the Con¬ 
vention is held, are sure that the old Thingumbob 
is the best sort. All of these talks have settled 
just one thing, and as flir as we can see only 
one: that there is no one grape yet known that 
is suited to every locality. A very little bread 
for so much sack, truly, but still it is one point 
fixed, and perhaps by another year we may be 
able to set another stake. Meanwhile let us go 
on discussing the matter, especially in State, 
County and Town Societies, and learn to give 
more value to our own experience and that of 
our neighbors, than we do to that of those who 
dwell in far distant localities. 
The past season has explained the caution, 
that we must be slow in making up our final 
judgment upon varieties, as it has shown us 
that some of them are likely to recede from the 
high position accorded them, while others have 
developed new claims to popularity. It must 
be recollected that grape culture with us is still 
in its infancy, and notwithstanding the remark¬ 
able progress it already presents, it is only the 
vigor and growth of the youth, and not the 
steady and settled character of manhood. But 
few of our finer grapes have had a fair trial. 
How many have had ten years’ experience with 
them—yet it was nearly a half century be¬ 
fore the verdict.was made up for the Isabella. 
Our new sorts are all on young vines as yet, 
and we all know what a difference the age of 
the vine makes in the character of the fruit. 
Then in the desire of propagators to meet the 
demand for any variety wortliy of trial, every 
available bud is coaxed to make a vine, and 
many poor “knitting needles” are sent out, and 
these slender specimens are forced into fruit at 
the earliest possible moment, and then, if the 
first product of the vine, which that year, and 
probably the next, ought not to have borne a 
bunch, is not up to the description, the varietj' 
loses in the estimation of the grower. 
There is one point upon which our "Western 
friends are exercised; some go so far as to say 
that no variety which requires for its healthy 
development to be grown under glass the first 
year, should be recommended for general cul¬ 
ture. We cannot agree with this view. The 
object of the grower is, to procure the strongest 
possible well ripened cane at the close of the 
first season’s growth. If this can be done in the 
open ground, all the better. If by mulching 
the young vines, let him mulch, or if by shad¬ 
ing them, let him shade. So if by controlling 
the atmospheric changes by means of glass 
structures he can secure a healthy grow'th, let 
him do it, for he only accomplishes by legiti¬ 
mate horticultural appliances what the out-door 
grower trusts a favorable season to do for him. 
That a variety is a slow grower and delicate 
when 3 mung, is not in itself an argument against 
it, any more than the fact that young turkej’s 
will die if allowed to run in the wet grass, is a 
reason why we should not raise them. 
Grafting the Grape Vine.' 
In September 1863, we gave an extract from 
Fuller’s Grape Culturist, containing its instruc¬ 
tions for grafting the vine. We have had nu¬ 
merous requests to republish the article, but can 
only comply so far as to give the principal 
points, which will be all that is necessary to 
enable one to perform the operation. The prop¬ 
er season for putting in grafts, is the fall or early 
winter, at any time before the ground is frozen. 
The stock has the soil removed from around it, 
and is cut off at the depth of four or six inches 
below the surface. The cion is a piece of well- 
ripened wood, of the previous summer’s growth, 
and consists of one eye or bud and about four 
inches of wood. This is prepared and inserted 
in the stock in the same way that ordinary 
cleft grafting is done. Tie a piece of string or 
bass around the top of the stock, and then fill 
in earth enough to cover the junction and the 
graft up to the bud. In the article above al¬ 
luded to, it is recommended to wrap the junc¬ 
tion with waxed cloth, as in grafting trees. 
Experience has shown that this is not only un¬ 
necessary, but often injurious, and that success 
is much more certain if the stock be simplj^ 
tied and covered with earth. A flower pot, 
small box, or other convenient utensil, is then 
to be inverted over the graft, and earth filled in 
around, but not upon it. About six inches of 
straw is put over the pot or box, and a mound 
of earth made over all. Treated in this way, 
the graft is protected from the action of frost 
and the union takes place slowlj'. The object 
of the flower pot or box is to enable one to 
uncover the graft in spring without danger of 
injuring the bud. The uncovering should not 
be done until hard frosts are over. Grafts insert¬ 
ed in this way grow with surprising rapidity 
and vigor, and the method affords a very easy 
method of replacing an indifferent or worthless 
variety of grape by a good one, and of impart¬ 
ing greater vigor to a slow growing sort, by giv¬ 
ing it a stock of stronger roots. If carefullj’’ 
performed, the risk of fiiilure is very small. 
