COMMUNICATIONS—GRAPE CULTURE. 365 
limited, I must admit, to be implicitly relied upon in all cases, 
yet sufficiently important to justify further experiments. 
I have several lots in the city of Madison, located on lake 
Monona and sloping gradually to the south-south-west. The 
soil is a vegetable mould, interspersed with slight traces of the 
silicates and aluminum. Its inclined position and exposure to 
the full force of the solar rays render it extremely liable to 
drouth. In fact, in a period of two weeks without heavy rains, 
I have observed that any unmulched currant bushes, goose¬ 
berries, etc., will exhibit dry and friable leaves that prema¬ 
turely drop off. The soil is too destitute of moisture, except 
in very wet seasons, for strawberries, and as this delicious fruit 
cannot well be mulched, and the roots never penetrate much 
below the surface, I have seldom secured a good crop, and 
have nearly abandoned the attempt. 
In 1855 I set out five grape vines, more with a view to 
humor my weakness for the greatest possible number of vari¬ 
eties of shrubs , than from any hope of adding to the luxury 
of my table or profit to my pocket. I had had no experience, 
and, like most amateurs, believed there was a skill required, 
a mystery involved, too formidable to tempt my ambition to 
acquire the one or fathom the other. And when I had 
planted my Concord, Diana, Northern Muscadine, Marion 
Port and Sage’s Mammoth, I was content to let my vine¬ 
yard take care of itself. For two years I paid no attention to 
the new-comers, except to tie up the luxuriant shoots accord¬ 
ing to the most approved “book science.” The Concord bore 
abundantly the third year, while the other varieties scarcely 
paid ground rent. Still, the Concord having acquitted itself 
so well, at the expense of so little genius and attention in 
1859 I resolved on enlarging my vineyard, and prepared a 
piece of ground 100 feet by 50, by sub soiling with the spade 
two feet in depth, putting a thick layer of straw at the bot¬ 
tom, the top soil being first placed thereon and the sub-soil at 
the top. I gave a strong top-dressing of manure to this, and 
added all the old shoes and old boots and every old vegetable 
and animal substance recommended by the most erudite 
