YOIi. XXIX'. No. as. (_ 
WHOLE No. ia».1. i 
NEW YORK, AND ROCHESTER. N. Y, JUNE 20, 1874. 
PRICE srx CENTS. 
1*2.50 PER YEAR. 
[Entered acconlinR to Act or Congress, in the year 1874, by the Rural PublishiDK Company, in the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.] 
SUMMER PRUNING GRAPE VINES. t 
- f 
If any one has any doubts in regard to t 
the importance of summer pruning of his i 
grape vinos, he has only to take a look a! 
them at this time. From the oldstooks near 
the ground and from 1 lie smaller canes hun¬ 
dreds of tender shoots will be found where 
not one-tenth of the number should be per¬ 
mitted to grow. If all the shoots which ap¬ 
pear in spring are allowed to grow uncheck¬ 
ed, there will be a muss of small, weak canes 
upon the vines next fall, few, if any, of the 
number large enough or sufficiently well-de¬ 
veloped for hearing fruit. Next year, con¬ 
sequently, early summer is the time to com¬ 
mence breaking off, close to the main canes, 
all shoots not required for fruiting another 
year. 
This operation is fully as important as the 
regular annual pruning, and no vineyard in - 
this or any other country ever continued 
healthy and fruitful for any length of time 
unless this summer pruning was carefully 
attended to, no matter what anybody says 
to the contrary. Cultivated grape vines are 
not wild vines in the forests, and we expect 
more and better returns from them, there¬ 
fore we must treat them accordingly. Later 
in the season a little pinching off of the ends 
of vigorous shoots in order to chock their 
grow til, and direct the strength of the stock 
into those that are feeble, is also frequently 
necessary, and it is thus that the careful vin- 
yardist aids nature in bringing him bounti¬ 
ful crops. It is a waste of valuable mate¬ 
rials to grow cords of grape wood, which 
has to be pruned away in autumn, exhaust¬ 
ing the soil unnecessarily, when by judicious 
summer pinching or pruning the production 
of a superabundance of wood might be read¬ 
ily avoided. 
Theoretically, it may be all wrong to 
remove brandies and leaves in order to 
strengthen the growth and insure the health 
of any plant; but in practice it brings just 
these results, which cannot be secured by, 
any other known process. 
--- 
VINEYARD NOTES. 
The Croton Grape M ilde wing .—A corres¬ 
pondent of the Country Gentleman having 
stated the Croton to be subject to mildew, 
Mr. A. M. Underhill responds “ I wish 
to invite him, or any one else interested, to 
see the Croton and Irving growing to a high 
state of perfection at Vine Valley, upon the 
east shore of Canandaigua Lake, and to 
come about the middle of September, when 
they can see a Hue show of Croton and Irv¬ 
ing, (bunches of former often weighing a 
pound, and of latter a pound and a-half,) 
probably exceeding any tiling of the kind 
this side of California. S. W. UNDERHILL 
has several acres of those in full bearing at 
Vine Valley, and I have over 3,000 vines, part 
in bearing. I have never yet seen one of 
these vines affected with mildew in leaf or 
fruit. The Croton is a great grower usually. 
I measured the growth of new wood last 
year upon a vine of two years’ standing, and 
found about eighty feet.” 
The Origin of the Delaware Grape. —Mr. 
G. W. Campbell, by whom this grape was 
introduced to public notice, writes Mr. F. R. 
Elliott as follows concerning the origin of 
this grape :—“The Delaware grape was not 
grown from seed in Delaware, O. Rooted 
plants of it were brought by a Mr. Wayford 
from Hunterdon Co., New Jersey. Two of 
these were given to Mr. 11. Heath, who knew 
tho grove when he resided in New Jersey, 
forty yeni^ago. They then knew it as Ital¬ 
ian Wine Grape, and that it was there grown 
in the garden of an old Frenchman by the 
J.'aii(L ( irap (Gardening. 
LAYING OUT GROUNDS ABOUT A HOUSE. 
Cannot you give us some suggestions about 
laying out the grounds about our house ? 
s\t 
KAL.MIA I 
name of Samuel Provost. The Heath family 
have a tradition that it was brought from 
the gardens of the King of France by an ab¬ 
sconding gardener, who then gave it to Mr. 
Provost.” 
LATIFOLIA. 
We are on a farm not very far from a large 
city, have a fine villa residence, and the ca¬ 
pabilities of the surrounding grounds are 
manifold. We do not want you to cheat the 
landscape gardener by your suggestions, but 
FJL.A.JST FOR L. AYTNTGr OUT GROUNDS. 
we do not at present feel able to employ 
one ; but, il' you could print the outline of a 
plan, it would help to suggest to us where 
and how to plant what we are anxious to see 
growing. A Rural Reader. 
In response to our correspondent we give 
Ilia accompanying design. The object of this 
design is to have the grounds open to public 
view, and yet give opportunity for family 
enjoyment unobserved from the street—this, 
Mr. Elliott, the designer, says, without in¬ 
volving great expenditure or elaborateness. 
The entrance road and foot-path are on the 
side nearest town, and from whence comes 
tiie most travel. The house has a front main 
and a side, main entrance, avoiding the neces¬ 
sity of broad gravel walk directly in front, 
as the carriage landing is at the side door 
and the turn way beyond. In the grade a 
nearly level line is kept out from the house 
front near 300 feet, and from thenee to the 
public street the grade is rolling and de¬ 
scending. 
The outskirts are planted with masses of 
evergreen and deciduous trees and shrubs ; 
groups of trees are in front, while bordering 
the lawn proper are beds of flowers, and 
directly in front, at the point where tho 
grade changes from a nearly level to a rolling 
descent, are masses of shrubs, designed to 
■ grow sufficiently high to partially shield 
from a full view from the street the lawn 
I proper. 
On the lawn proper, at the left of the foot¬ 
path, a little piece of roekwork shrubbery 
and a rock fountain are designed, but may 
be left out without detriment, by merely 
increasing the size of tho beds next the foot¬ 
path. 
cJlarigultuipT. 
KALMIA LATIFOLIA. 
Tiie Kalmias, in landscape gardening, are 
1 highly esteemed and highly commended by 
those who knowhow to give them the proper 
I place in order to produce the proper effect. 
They require moist—not wet—cool places in 
the garden or about the house -immediately 
beneath the principal windows of a house, 
or beside a porch where they can be looked 
down upon when in bloom, are the best 
places in small gardens. In large places 
they look best planted in masses; but a single 
specimen in a small grass plot is not an un¬ 
pleasant object by any means. 
-♦♦♦- 
FLORICULTURAL NOTES. 
Marshal Niel Roses. —The, Horticulturist 
I says :—There is a greenhouse near Jamaica, 
L. I., 50 by 250 feet, entirely devoted to the 
culture of this single variety of roses. Its 
rafters and lights are loaded and hung with 
the abundant blossom?., making a sight un¬ 
equalled in attraction, and, perhaps, may be 
classed the finest single rose house in the 
United States. 
Seedling Wegrlias.— Kittatinn y W illiams 
of Montclair, N. J., has brought us specimens 
—twenty or more—of his seedling weigelas, 
which show a marked variation in habit of 
growth, color, and profuseness of bloom. 
Some of them arc well worth preserving and 
propagating judging by these branches aione. 
They have attracted much attention in our 
own office. 
Myosotts Imperatrice Elisabeth .—This ex¬ 
quisite Forget-me-not is recommended by 
The Florist as a charming plant, and one of 
' the very best for pot culture. 
