BOTH SIDES
OF THE
GRAPE QUESTION.
COMPRISING
I.
"AN ERSAY ON THE CULTURE OF THE NATIVE AND EXOTIC GRAPE."
BY WILLIAM SAUNDERS,
Of Germantowu, Pa.
II.
"PHYSIOGRAPHY IN ITS APPLICATION TO GRAPE CULTURE."
BY F. J. COPE,
Of Greensburg, Pa.
III.
"A CONTRIBUTION TO THE CLASSTFICATION OF TIE SPECIFS AND
VARIETIES OF THE GRAPE VINE, WITH HINTS ON CULTURE."
BY J. M. McM INN,
Of Williamsport, Pa
PHILADRLPHIA:
J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. A. M. SPANGLER.
NEW YORK:
C. Mi. SAXTON. BARKER & CO.
18 6 0.




Entered, according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1860,
BY A. M. SPANGLER.
In the Office of the Clerk of the District Court for the Eastern
District of Penusylvania.
KING & BAIRD, PR.NTERS.




NOTE BY THE PUBLISHER.
With the first issue of the "Farmer and Gardener" in September last, we offered a number of
premiums for Essays on various subjects. Among
them was a handsome one for the " Best Essay on
the Grape." For reasons which we cannot explain, there was little or no competition.  In
February last, we renewed the offer, with more
satisfactory results.  Seven ably written essays
were received, which, in accordance with our
previously published arrangements, were placed in
the hands of a Committee composed of Dr. J. K.
Eshleman, of Downingtown, Pa., Thomas 1M.
Harvey, of Jennerville, Pa., and Jos. H. Sattertllwaite, of Oxford Valley, Pa. The names of the
writers of the essays were, of course, withheld
from the Committee. After a careful examination,
the premium was awarded to the one presented by
William Saunders.
The freshness and novelty of the views contained in the essay prepared by F. J. Cope, and
the research displayed in the one presented by J.
M. M'Minn, induced the committee to suggest the
propriety of issuing the three essays in book form.
With this suggestion we have most cheerfully
complied, believing that the practical ideas of Mr.
Saunders, the new, and certainly most beautifully
presented theory of Mr. Cope, and the able " Contribution to the Classification of the Species and
Varieties of the Grape Vine," by Mr. M'Minn,
will,form no small addition to the horticultural
literature of the day.
A. M. SPANGLER.
Farmer and Gardener Office,
Philadelphia, May 15, 1860.
(3)








CULTURE
OF THE
NATIVE AND EXOTIC GRAPE.
There is, perhaps, no vegetable production that
has conduced so much to the gratification and
enjoyment of man as the Grape. Its rapidity of
growth and longevity-its great fertility, and the
varied purposes to. which its delicious fruit are
applicable, all combine to render it one of the
most valuable, as it is one of the most available,
fruit-producing plants which we possess.  The
facility with which it will grow, even under conditions not the most favorable, renders it available
where no other equally useful plant could be cultivated; thus those who have not more than a
square yard of ground may plant a grape, and
train its branches on the walls of their dwelling.
Of late years, the improvement of varieties, as well
as the cultivation of native grapes has received
great attention. Many new varieties of more or
less merit have been introduced, some have proved
to be very superior table grapes, and it is probable
that at no distant period a wine grape may be introduced of greater value than any of those at
present largely cultivated for this purpose.
(5)




6          PROPAGATION BY EYES.
The foreign grapes have also received marked
attention, and as the simplicity of their management becomes more generally understood, we may
expect to find at least a cold grapery as one of the
first accompaniments to all suburban residences,
and farmers will find that no improvement will
sooner give an appreciable realization than one of
these structures. The cost of glass houses suitable for their growth, from improved methods of
construction, can be kept to such economical
limits, that no one need be deterred from the
outlay, and no investment in fruit-growing will
sooner be repaid.
The general culture of the native grapes differs
so very materially, in many points, from that of
the foreign sorts, that they must be treated separately.
NATIVE GRAPES.
PROPAGATION.-By Eyes.-An eye, as here
understood, is a portion of a branch having only
one bud, and is one of the best methods of increasing both the native and the foreign grape.
Plants so produced are furnished with roots near
the surface of the soil, which is very important to
their future growth, as they will start stronger and
grow more luxuriantly when properly planted in
their permanent locations. The advantages of
having healthy roots near the surface, to start
with, is well-known.




METHOD OF PREPARING CUTTINGS.    7
It is necessary, however, to ensure success by
this method, that the cuttings be grown under
glass, (either a greenhouse or glazed frame,) where
the requisite moisture may most readily be maintained during the root-forming process. The most
convenient mode is to plant in shallow portable
boxes, or large flower pot saucers. The bottoms
should be perforated with holes to allow free
escape of water. A layer, two inches thick, of
broken oyster shells, bricks, or any similar material for drainage is first spread in the bottom, a
sprinkling of moss is then put over it to prevent
the soil from being washed down; four inches of
light sandy soil will be sufficient. The top half inch
may be clean washed sand; it requires to be
pressed quite firm. The eye-cuttings are inserted
in rows two inches apart and about one inch
apart in the row; if to be potted after rooting,
they may be set thicker. The mode of preparing
the eye and the depth it should be planted are
shown at Fig. 1.  This style  /91
of preparing the eye we have
found  perfectly  satisfactory,
and it is much more simple
than some modes which recommend splitting the shoot,
sharpening the points, &c.
Thus  prepared, the  box
may be set above the  fire
in the greenhouse; or, if in a frame, a portion




8        PROPER TIME FOR POTTING.
of fresh manure should first be put in, so as to
produce a slight heat. A depth of two feet will be
sufficient, and if made quite firm by tramping well
when filling, it will preserve warmth for several
weeks; two or three inches of soil should lie spread
on the surface, on which the boxes are set. During
cold nights, a covering of straw will be necessary,
but in bright days the sashes should be tilted both
at top and bottom, so that rotting may be prevented. The soil in which the eyes are inserted
must be watered with care; it is safer to keep it
rather dry than otherwise, as the eye is likely to
decay when kept constantly wet.
The first roots run a great distance before
showing lateral fibres. In this respect the native
grapes differ from most of the foreign sorts, as they
throw out more fibrous roots at once, and are in
consequence easier managed. With very choice
or new kinds, it is safest to pot them separately in
small pots when the roots are grown about one
inch; we frequently pot, even before roots are
formed, and prefer doing so just after the eyes
have well calloused over, but they require to be set
in warmth after potting, to start the roots more
effectually.
If not potted, they remain in the boxes until the
planting out season arrives, which is from middle
to end of May. Select soil that has been well
manured and deeply worked. Press the sides from
the box and carefully disintegrate the roots; set




PROPOGATING BY CUTTINGS.            9
out in rows two feet apart, allowing a foot from
plant to plant. Give a good watering in the rows
immediately when planted, and should the weather
prove dry and clear at the time, insert a few
branches of cedar or pine in front of the rows;
this additional care will be more than repaid in
the greater certainty of immediate healthy growth.
If carefully cultivated and kept clean during
summer, they will make good plants the first season, superior to a two year's growth from cuttings
set inthe open air, as usually practiced.
By Cuttings.-This is the usual way of increasing native grapes. A cutting is a piece of young
wood from four to six inches in length, and having
from two to four eyes or buds; perfectly matured
wood only should be chosen. It is prepared by
cutting a clean section close below the lowest bud,
and leaving a half inch of wood above the uppermost bud. This is a necessary precaution as it
prevents the bud from injury by the shrivelling
that results from exposure. A light sandy soil is
generally preferred for planting, but we have been
most successful in a soil of a rather adhesive
nature, probably in consequence of its preserving
moisture better in dry weather. To prepare a
strong soil it is advisable to throw it up in rough
ridges before winter, the frost will render it friable
by spring; the ridges are then levelled, and when
dry, turn it over with a digging fork, breaking all
lumps, and forming a level and finely pulverized




10        PROPAGATING BY SEED.
surface. By no means work or tramp such a soil
when wet. The cuttings are set in holes made
with a suitable stick, and the soil pressed firmly
about them with the feet. They will not root well
unless the soil is firm about them. If the summer
should prove very dry and parching, it will be
requisite either to water, or pinch back the shoots;
we prefer the last, and when the shoots have four
or five leaves we pinch all except two; this lessens
the evaporating surface and relieves the roots.
Where a supply of water is convenient, a heavy
soaking once a week, in the absence of rain, will
keep them vigorous.
The young plants are liable to be drawn out by
the winter frosts, especially on wet soils. A covering of manure, chips, tanbark, charcoal dust, or
sand will tend to preserve them from injury.
F'rom Seed.-New and improved varieties are
produced from seed. The seeds should be planted
as soon as gathered; if kept dry until spring many
of them will not vegetate until the following season. We have seeds sprouting now (February)
that were planted in October, 1858. They have
been in the greenhouse during the whole of that
time; plants from the same box having made a
growth of two feet last year.
A box or large flower pot should be filled with
soil and the seeds planted as they ripen. Keep in
a cool place; a slight freezing will do them no
harm, but rather be beneficial; place them in a




LAYERING.                1
greenhouse or frame early in spring, or if no such
conveniences are available, sow in drills, in the
open ground, the same as peas, and cover with half
an inch of sand. They should be frequently hoed
to keep down weeds and let air to the roots; a
slight mulching with short manure will tend to
preserve luxuriance during dry weather. They
should be protected the first winter by covering,
afterwards no such care will be essentially necessary. To get a fruiting cane as soon as possible,
cut them down to two buds at the winter pruning,
and train up one shoot only the following year,
which treatment will, in good soil, furnish a fruiting shoot the third season from planting the
seed.
By Layers.-Layering is a method of propagating, whereby roots are encouraged on a branch
previous to its removal from the parent tree, and
is usually adopted with plants that do not increase
readily from cuttings.
Although the grape cannot be classed among
difficult rooting plants, yet layering may be usefully practiced where strong rooted plants are
desired. A branch is laid on the surface of the
ground, pegged down, and covered with a couple
of inches of soil, or a shallow trench may be prepared, and the shoot laid so that the laterals, or
small branches may show above ground. Any
time during early summer will allow a plentiful
growth of roots. In the fall it is taken up and




12            GRAFTING-SOIL.
cut in pieces, taking notice that every piece has a
bud as well as roots.
By Grafting.-When it is desired to test new
varieties at the earliest possible period, it is accomplished by grafting the scion upon an old established stock. Vines of inferior sorts, if healthy,
may be grafted with superior; again, some grapes,
as the Delaware, do not root very readily from
cuttings; these can be grafted upon stocks of
easily increased vines as the Clinton, which makes
a very suitable stock. A good plant is in this way
made from each bud.
The operation of grafting the grape is exceedingly simple. The stock is cut over quite close to
the ground, and split down the centre, the scion is
prepared by cutting one end to a thin wedge, and
inserted in the split of the stock, the two barks
are placed in exact contact and tied with a small
twine of worsted; the soil is now drawn up so as to
completely cover the whole except the top bud of
the scion. The best time to graft the grape is
after the stock has commenced growth, but it has
been done as successfully in the month of- March.
When growth commences in spring, the sap flows
too freely from the wounded stock, destroying the
graft, but when the leaves are formed before cutting down, bleeding isnot so destructive.
Soil.-Calcareous and silicious soils are preferred for vineyard culture, but any good soil that
will grow corn will be suitable. Even clayey soils,




DRAINING AND TRENCHING.          13
if properly drained and cultivated, will grow
grapes. Draining, and the ameliorating effects of
culture will go far to compensate for defective
soil, and among the increasing variety of native
grapes there are robust kinds that will succeed,
perfectly, where others of more delicate constitution will fail. Thus the Concord will ripen fruit
in a soil where the Catawba would uselessly rot.
Of whatever nature the soil may be, it will be
much improved by deep working. Trenching with
the spade is the most effective mode, but in large
areas, the subsoil plough will do the work cheaper,
although not so thoroughly. The ground should
be ploughed twice over in opposite directions, the
subsoil plough following in each furrow of the
common plough both ways. This stirring of the
soil will render it permeable to the roots, and
admit a supp. y of air and moisture conducive to
their growth.
Where the subsoil is tenacious, draining will be
indispensable. The drains should be sufficiently
close together to dry the soil quickly, and at least
two and a half feet in depth, and where no natural
outlet can readily be secured, (which rarely happens,) a well may be dug, and the drains run into
it; if a sandy, gravelly, or shaly bottom is met, it
will absorb the drainage of several acres.
It has been strenuously advised, in the operation of trenching soil, not to bring any of the
subsoil to the surface; this is simply subsoiling




14        TREATMENT OF SUBSOIL.
and is only half doing a very important operation
in the fundamental preparation of soil for permanent crops. It is but of temporary benefit to stir
a strong subsoil unless something is put into it to
keep it open, and, (if we except the mere gravels
or sandy subsoils,) they are rich in the mineral ingredients required by crops, and the best means
of liberating these mineral bases is by exposure
to the decomposing influences of the atmosphere.
The deeper the roots can ramify in good soil, the
greater the crop, and it is only by enlarging the
depth that plants will grow luxuriantly in dry
seasons. The only way to attain this is to trench,
trench, trench, and gradually bring to the surface
a portion of the subsoil, that it may be enriched,
and in turn give place to another layer which will
undergo the same process. It is true, that in this
as in other cultural operations, a knowledge of the
subject is requisite to discriminate in the proper
trenching of various soils. No person who has
any knowledge of the relation that exists between
the soil and the roots of plants would turn eighteen
inches of a brick clay over upon a stratum of surface soil only four inches in thickness, and it is
worse than folly in those who have been the
victims of their own awkwardness, to condemn a
system which they do not understand.
Planting. —Whether the plants should be one
or two years old at planting, will depend very
much upon the treatment they have received. If




PLANTING —PROPER SIZE OF PLANTS. 15
they have been raised from eyes, and carefully cultivated as recommended, they will be much superior in one year to those raised from cuttings, as
usually seen, after the second year's growth.
There is nothing to be gained by setting out older
plants, unless all the roots are secured. A large
plant with few roots is but little better than a
cutting, and will require to be cut down to a few
buds. We prefer one year old plants, and prune
them down to two buds, when set out.
A vigorous start, enabling the plants to form a
good supply of roots previous to hot or dry
weather, is very important; a few shovelfuls of
light, rich soil, placed near the roots at planting,
will encourage the growth; mould from the woods,
mixed with rotten stable manure, will form a good
rooting medium.
All things considered, spring will generally be
found the most suitable season to plant. But if
the soil is thoroughly prepared, the end of October
will be a fitting time, and may be preferred on
high lands, as the roots will be well settled, and
closely surrounded by the moist earth, ready to
push at the first approach of growing weather.
When planted in the fall, they should be headed
down at once, and the soil drawn up so as to cover
the plant, removing it before growth in spring.
When the plants commence growth, rub off all
the buds except the strongest, and tie the shoot
securely as it lengthens. It is by far the best




16    TREATMENT OF YOUNG PLANTS.
treatment to allow every leaf and lateral shoot to
grow undisturbed the first summer; to encourage
and secure a healthy root foundation, therefore, no
summer trimming will be advantageous. Hoeing,
or cultivating occasionally during summer, will be
followed by increased growth, and a coating of
manure should be laid over the roots in the fall,
both as a protection to the plant, and a means of
enriching the soil. At the winter pruning, the
plants should be again cut down to three buds;
and here it may be as well to remark that we
prefer to prune grapes early in November, as we
have found the buds to shoot more vigorous in
spring when pruned shortly after the leaves have
fallen, than when the operation has been deferred
until February. This results from the continued
accumulation of sap in the plant during winter,
and as the greatest accumulation of matter is
found in the extreme buds and at the farthest
point of branches, it follows that, if pruning is
deferred until spring, much of the winter accumulated vigor is lost, and the buds that are retained
will make a feeble start and comparative late
growth. On the other hand, when pruning is
performed in November, the extent of branches
is reduced, and the buds that are left will swell
out and start vigorously when the growing period
arrives; a matter of much importance with grapes
like the Catawba, which require a long season for
perfection. Observation directed to this subject




PINCHING-TRAINING.             17
will lead to a conviction of its paramount importance.
The growth of the second year may be confined
to one or two shoots, conformable to the system
intended to be adopted in training, and the strength
of the plants. Weak plants should be confined to
one shoot, and as laterals appear, they should be
checked by pinching out their points, when they
have made two leaves. The leading or main
shoot, if growing very vigorously, should be similarly checked when grown about four feet. This
practice will cause full development of the lower
buds, and render them fruitful to the base.
The neatest training arrangement, where grapes
for table use only are desired, is the trellis. A
strong, permanent trellis is made by planting chesnut or cedar posts, and boring holes through them,
the holes being about fourteen inches apart, into
which wires are drawn; a board six or eight inches
wide is nailed on the top of the posts, keeping
them in place; this kind of trellis is simple in
construction, and easily repaired when necessary.
For trellis training, two shoots are brought up and
allowed to grow their full length, pinching out the
side laterals as before advised. If they show a
vigorous growth, the points may be pinched off
when about five feet long, in order to throw
strength into the lower eyes. No definite time
can be given when such pinching should be performed, further than will be dictated by the growth.
2




18      TRAINING-WINTER PRUNING.
At the winter pruning, these shoots are each
shortened to four or five feet in length, and tied
down horizontally, in opposite directions, to the
bottom wire. The buds will all form shoots, when
growth commences, and are tied up to the wires,
selecting the best, at distances from fifteen to
eighteen inches apart, removing all others. These
will probably all show fruit bunches. Allow each
alternate shoot to fruit, and remove it from the
others; the non-fruiting shoots are allowed to
extend, the laterals and points being pinched as
recommended for the previous year. At the
winter pruning, the shoots that fruited are cut
down to one or two buds, the other pruned to
six or eight feet lengths, according to strength of
shoot and height of trellis. This method of renewal provides a cane of young wood for fruiting,
alternating with a fruit-bearing shoot. In short,
the treatment is similar to that of a raspberry
bush; the canes being cut down after one years'
bearing. The only difference in the procedure is,
that, while the raspberry produces its new shoots
directly-from the crown of roots, the grape must
be trained at first with arms turned right and left
close to the ground, to form a base whence all the
future shoots arise, replacing each other in alternate succession.
The number of upright canes to each plant will
of course depend upon the distance apart that the




SUMMER TREATMENT-DISEASES.   19
vines are planted; at ten feet apart, six upright
shoots can be trained;
The summer treatment of bearing plants will
consist in thinning the bunches, not allowing more
than two bunches at most to remain on a shoot.
The shoots should be shortened to four joints or
leaves beyond the bunch, when the berries are as
large as peas, and all lateral and secondary
growths constantly pinched back to one joint
beyond their point of emission, until the end of
July, when no further removal of foliage should be
allowed. The extreme points of bunches should
be cut out early in the season, causing a more
uniform maturity of the bunch. This much for the
fruiting cane. The young shoots that are trained
up between the fruit-bearing branches should
have all their laterals trimmed to one or two leaves,
and kept at that during growth; when the shoot
reaches the top of the trellis take out the point to
strengthen the lower buds. Always commence at
the highest branches first, in summer pruning, as
they grow strongest, and by checking their growth
the lower and more feeble branches will be encouraged.
Diseases.-The grape properly cultivated is not
much subject to disease. Mildew on the leaves is
the most injurious, as it retards growth, and the
wood not being thoroughly matured in consequence,
it is liable to suffer from early frosts. Syringing
the leaves with soapsuds, or a mixture of lime and




20       ROT-KEEPING THE FRUIT.
sulphur water will prevent its appearance or
arrest its progress.
Rot.-This disease is frequently seen in the
Catawba, and proceeds from wet soil, where the
roots are cold. Its appearance will be noticed
after a soaking rain, if followed with warm weather
and bright sunshine. The remedy is to drain the
ground, which will warm the soil. A grape soil
should never be wet, neither should it everbecome
dry. Draining secures both conditions, and when
the soil is kept in that state, diseases seldom
occur.
Keeping the Fruit.-Various methods have been
resorted to, in order to keep the fruit during at
least, a portion of the winter months, and with
varying success. The grapes should be gathered
rather before being fully ripe than later; choosing
a dry day, collect them carefully and spread them
thinly on the floor of a dry, cool room. Before
storing, the branches must be carefully inspected
and all mouldy, rotten and imperfect berries removed. They may then be packed in clean dry
boxes, in layers of wadding alternating with layers
of grapes. They require to be kept as cool as possible without freezing, and damp must be excluded.
The wadding is sometimes substituted by bran or
oats, and baked saw dust has been used advantageously.  Some kinds, the Clinton for instance,
can be kept in drawers for many weeks in a cool
dry room, without any intervening material.




LIST OF NATIVE GRAPES.         21
Descriptive List of Native Grapes.-Catawba
and Isabella are old well-known kinds, and have
long stood as best for general planting, and when
thoroughly ripened, will compare favorably with the
best of newest varieties. The Catawba requires a
warm fall to ripen properly in open exposures in
the neighborhood of Philadelphia. Either of these
grapes, with the roots in favorable soil, and the
vines trained south side of a wall or close fence,
will acquire a perfection in ripening equal to any
hardy grape yet grown.
Diana.-This is understood to be a seedling
from the Catawba, and is like its parent in color
of fruit, although neither bunch nor berry are so
large. It ripens two weeks earlier, and is of a rich,
spicy flavor. A good grower, and valuable grape.
Delaware.-No grape has been ushered in with
so many eulogiums as this. Most persons who
have tested it are willing to admit that it is sweet,
and pleasant to eat. It grows with tolerable vigor,
and is not perhaps more subject to mildew than
some others, but it is small and insignificant both
in bunch and berry, and the seeds are large. It
is very prolific, and will ripen a great number of
bunches, although not any greater weight of fruit
than the Isabella. Wre may risk something in remarking that we consider it has been overrated.
Concord.-We unhesitatingly place this grape
in the first of the list for the million. It will grow
and bear abundantly where the Catawba and Isa



22        LIST OF NATIVE GRAPES.
bella will be destroyed by rot or mildew. It has a
rank and robust growth, ripens its shoots perfectly,
even under unfavorable conditions, consequently
will stand hard freezing without injury. It is remarkably productive and ripens early. Bunch
quite as large as Isabella, fruit luscious and somewhat buttery.
Hartford Prolific.-This is a good grape. Its
greatest merit being its earliness.  It is about
equal to Isabella in flavor, and is a good substitute
where the Isabella will not ripen.
Clara.-Although this is a seedling from a
foreign grape, it is classified by the Pennsylvania
Horticultural Society, among hardy varieties. It
has ripened well in the open air in sheltered positions, but as many of the foreign grapes will do so,
we would advise its general adoption with caution.
If it proves perfectly reliable, it will be an acquisition, as it is a white grape of excellent quality.
Rebecca.-A very fine white grape, but of weak
and slender growth, much liable to mildew, at least
when young. We are unwilling to discard it,
hoping that it will improve as the plants attain
age and vigor. Bunch and berry of only medium
size, when ripe very sweet and melting.
Clinton.-A remarkably vigorous growing plant,
fruit rather small and of secondary quality for table
use, but has very desirable keeping qualities, and
expected, by those who have experience, to be a
good wine grape.




EXOTIC GRAPES.              23
Maxatawny.-A white grape of recent introduction, which we perhaps cannot better describe than
as a white Isabella. Both bunch and berry, as
well as flavor, are remarkably similar to that
well-known variety.
Wilmington.-A white grape, which we learn
from what we consider reliable authority, to be of
best quality in every respect.
Bullitt or Taylor Grape.-We are inclined to
believe, from what we have learned that this is also
likely to be a reliable fruit, but cannot recommend it
from personal knowledge. It is of a white color.
This is not a tenth of the list of native grapes
that are now catalogued, but we consider that it
embraces those of most merit so far as they have
been sufficiently tested.
EXOTIC GRAPES.
The exotic grape is increased and propagated
similar to the native, and generally roots much
more easily. Having entered minutely into the
details of propagating in the former paper, it will
not be necessary to recapitulate what has already
been remarked on that point.
They are almost invariably raised from single
eyes, as they form the best plants, and where a few




24             COLD GRAPERIES.
only are desired, or where there is ample room,
the eyes may be placed singly in small pots at once,
saving the risk of removal from the cutting boxes
and economising labor. They will grow if merely
set in a warm greenhouse or frame, and will root
speedier if set on a slight bottom heat.
All attempts to cultivate exotic grapes in the
open air in this climate may be said to have proved
complete failures. Occasionally, in sheltered, and
otherwise peculiarly favored situations, partial success has been obtained. We have seen good fruit of
Hamburgs and others from walls in the open air;
but no permancy can be relied upon them for general culture, from their tendency to be attacked by
mildew both on the leaves and fruit, which prevents the young wood from maturing. The consequence is, that it will be destroyed during winter,
and even although protected from frost, a diseased,
weak growth ensues, which sooner or later ends in
complete dissolution.
It is therefore a necessity to provide glass structures to grow them to perfection. The great desideratum is to secure the means of keeping a moist
atmosphere, and to guard against sudden and extreme changes. A mere close shed with a glass
roof will secure these conditions, but a slight additional outlay in the way of greater permanency or
ornament, will b.e more than repaid in the increased
interest that will be taken in a sightly structure.




PLAN FOR BUILDING GRAPERY.         25
COLD GRAPERIES.
Span, or double-roofed houses are most economical for a cold grapery, as they cost less in comparison to their capacity. A degree of architectural
character may be given which will render a grapery
admissible in the most finished pleasure grounds.
Some persons prefer curved roofs. They cost a
little more than straight roofs, and many beautiful
graperies have been put up in that style, but do
not possess any important advantages over straight
roofs.
Of late years much has been done to reduce the
cost of glass structures. When finished with sliding sashes they are expensive; with the roof fixed,
and hinged ventilators, they can be put up at half
the cost of the framed sash roof, they look much
neater and are better adapted to the purposes of
fruit-growing, because they are lighter, and do not
throw so much shade in the interior; for, although
shade is at times necessary, there are seasons when
all the light than can be had is desirable, and in a
house with numerous heavy rafters, a permanent
shade is produced.
Building the House.-A good cold grapery may
be built as follows. Suppose it to be twenty-four
feet wide, double-roofed and of any length from
twenty to two hundred feet. Having first resolved
upon the ground level of the border (which will be




26     PLAN FOR BUILDING GRAPERY.
further alluded to), mark out the site and set
locust or cedar posts seven feet apart all round;
the house should be placed with end to south if
convenient, although it will answer equally well if
the end is placed to face any point from southeast
to southwest. The north end may be boarded unless the house is in a conspicuous position. The
posts are levelled at four feet from the ground surface, and a three inch by six inch sill laid on and
firmly spiked into them. Rafters three inch by five
inch are set up, one over each post; these are tied
together with cross ties in the ordinary mode of
roofing. The height at ridge, for a house of this
width and front elevation will be about twelve feet
from the level of sill. Cross pieces or bars made
of strips of inch board three inches wide, are let in
between the rafters edgeways, so that their upper
surface is level with surface of rafter; these cross
bars run the whole length of the house in parallel
rows about four inches apart. We now have a selfsupporting frame work and all that is necessary is
to cover it with glass. This is a simple operation;
sash bars one inch wide and one and a-half inch in
depth rebated for glazing, are laid on the roof, and
secured at such distance apart as may be suited
to the size of glass to be used. 10 X 12 glass is a
convenient size, so that the sash bars will require
to be twelve and a-half inches apart from centre to
centre; the rebate in the sash bar is half an inch
deep and quarter of an inch on each side, leaving




Plan of Cold Grapery. Fig. 2.




28            SOIL AND BORDER.
a stile half inch wide. Ventilators are provided at
top, hinged on the ridge. These should not be less
than two feet wide, and three feet in length, and
alternate on each side of roof so as to present a
ventilating capacity of three feet, the whole length
of the house. These ventilators are worked by upright rods from the interior. The following illustrations may render this description more intelligible.
F'g. 2, shows a portion of the roof, as also the
section of the house; a, a, a, are the posts upon
which the house rests, and b, b, b, are rafters; c, c,
are the cross pieces inserted between the rafters to
support the sash bars d, d, d, d, d, a full sized section of which is shown at Fig. 3.
e, is an inch board which the sash bars butt
against, and the glass laps over at the bottom.
This board projects to form an eave;f, is the position of ventilators and g is the cross tie. The glass
is bedded in putty, and none otherwise used; outside putty is a nuisance on a glass roof. All the
woodwork inside, except the sash bars, we prefer
to levae unplaned. We have found that an annual
coat of wash made of sulphur and lime, in proportions of one pound of the former to one peck of
the latter, on all inside wood-work, is an entire
preventive of insects and mildew. We therefore
prefer rough surfaces for this purpose.
To form a trellis under the roof, strong wire
staples, fourteen inches long, are inserted in par



SOIL AND BORDER.              29
allel rows, fourteen or sixteen inches apart, in the
rafters; No. 16 wire is then run through eyes,
drawn tightly and fastened at both ends.
Soil and Border.-It is customary in making a
border of soil for exotic grape growing, to excavate
the subsoil and remove it to a depth of at least
two feet, so as to secure that depth of good soil.
Instead of removing the subsoil, we prefer to
place the additional soil required on the surface,
thus forming a slightly raised terrace, which adds
to the beauty of the house, secures perfect drainage, and avoids the expense of removal of subsoil.
To prepare a border in the best manner, first surround it on all sides by a drain, then, if the subsoil
is clayey or wet, form cross drains, ten feet apart,
communicating at each end with the surrounding
drain first mentioned. The tops of these drains
need only be a few inches below the level of subsoil. Now commence at one end of the intended
border, and take out a trench three feet in width,
removing it to the opposite end; remove the good
surface soil only; a few inches of the subsoil may
go with it unless it is a strong clay. When this
trench is cleanly and evenly taken out, lay in the
bottom, six inches in thickness of oyster shells, for
drainage, spread regularly over the whole; over
these place a thin layer of strawy matter to prevent the soil falling amongst the drainage below.
Broken bricks, stone, or any similar material, may
take the place of shells, the object being to secure




30           SOIL AND BORDER.
good drainage below the border, and an inverted
sod is the best covering for the drainage where a
sufficient quantity can be procured. This being
arranged, mark off another space of three feet
width, and turn the soil of this trench over on the
prepared bottom; this opening is prepared with
drainage as before, and another trench marked off,
and so proceed until the whole has been similarly
treated. The additional soil required to bring the
border up to a depth of two and a half feet of
border, may be made up of good top soil, such as
is often found in the line of an old fence, or headland, enriched with one-fourth part of a good
rotted stable manure and one-fourth crushed
bones and charcoal rubbish. These ingredients
are to be well mixed previous to removal on the
border.
Before spreading this preparation, the original
soil on the border should receive a coating of
manure which is to be dug in, then add the pre.
pared soil; bringing the border, when finished,
about two feet higher than the original'surface.
This forms the floor of the house, and must be calculated upon, in setting the posts for the building.
With regard to the extent of border, we prefer
to make it all inside the house and six feet beyond,
on each side at first, adding to it in after years, if
such addition may be considered necessary. We
do not believe that very extensive borders are
requisite. We have seen some lately that are made




PILANTTNG.              31
inside the house only, and we consider it a most
desirable arrangement, as the soil is completely
under control, and can be watered or kept dry, as
occasion demands. When the roots have access
to outside borders there is much chance of danger
to the fruit when ripening. A heavy rain after
the fruit is colored will frequently retard its
ripening, make the fruit watery and less sweet,
and induce decay; the wood-maturing process is
also arrested, and a late growth encouraged, which
never thoroughly ripens, to the great injury of the
succeeding crop.
Outside borders should, therefore, be covered in
September by a good layer of manure; shutters or
glazed sashes would be a better protection, but
some means of throwing off heavy rains should be
adopted.
Planting.-The vines may be planted any time
from October to June. Usually, the border is
prepared in the fall and winter months; then the
best time would be about the middle of March.
The plants will not have commenced growth at
that time, and will be in good condition for setting
out. Good growths may be had from plants set
out as late as June, but they will then have made
growth and require more careful handling. To
ensure an early, vigorous start, mix a portion of
leaf mould and sand in the soil when planting.
The plants are generally raised in pots, and before
placing them in the border, carefully shake out all




32      TRANSPLANTING FROM POTS.
the soil from their roots, without damaging the
fibres; spread them out and cover with about three
inches of soil.  If the plants have made some
growth before removal, the roots must not be disturbed to any great extent, but the soil should be
well pressed around all sides of the ball of roots
so that when water is applied it will not escape
through the fresh soil without moistening the
roots, which is a likely occurrence if the plants
have been undisturbed in the pots for a couple of
years.
As to the age of the plants, whether those of
one or two year's growth are best, will depend
upon the treatment they have been subjected to.
Healthy plants of one year's growth are in general
to be preferred. There can be no objection to
older plants if they have been allowed plenty of
rooting space in large pots, but old plants with
cramped, stinted and decaying roots, are to be
avoided.  In all cases, the plants are to be cut
down to within three or four inches of the ground.
Occasionally, a few fruiting plants, that have been
prepared for that purpose in large pots, are planted
so as to secure a few bunches of fruit the first
season. These should not be considered as permanent, unless they are pruned down after fruiting,
so as to form a new shoot from the ground. If the
plants have commenced to grow before the ground
is ready for their reception, they should not be
planted until the end of April in the cold grapery,




MANAGEMENT OF GRAPERY.           33
otherwise the weather might be too cold for their
continued growth, and a check at planting would
seriously affect their future vigor.
Management of the House.-For the first few
weeks after the plants have pushed into growth,
the house should be kept rather close. At no
time during the period of active growth should
the lower ventilators be opened. Even the doors
should be kept carefully closed, to avoid currents
of air, which is one of the most certain causes of
mildew, and robs the air of its contained moisture,
which it is of the utmost importance to preserve.
The plants, and interior of the house should be
sprinkled with water through a syringe every bright
morning. The thermometer may indicate a temperature of 900 in the middle of the day, provided
the air is kept moist, and it will be sufficiently high
at 450 or 50~ in the morning. A lowering of temperature during darkness is necessary to the wellbeing of all plants. During the month of May the
night temperature will average higher than these
figures; and when all danger from night frosts has
passed, the ventilators may be left open a few
inches, shutting close in very cold and stormy
weather, and always endeavoring to get an advance.
of 20~ to 30~ of temperature during the day.
After the growths are sufficiently forward, select
the best shoot and tie it carefully to the trellis, and
rub all others off. It is perhaps better to merely
pinch the points out of the second best, in order that




34            PINCIIING SHOOTS.
a substitute may be had, should any accident befall
the main shoot, which is not probable if carefully
secured. Always tie loosely, so that the branches
mlay have space to swell out. When lateral, or side
shoots make their appearance, pinch out the extreme points of them immediately beyond the first
leaf, as soon as it is practicable to do so, the
earlier the better. Do not allow these laterals to
produce five or six leaves and then pinch off to
one, this is a waste of growth. The point is to
be taken out of the leading shoot in a similar manner when it has made a growth of eight feet. All
removal of leaves while plants are in active growth
has a tendency to reduce vigor; and to get strength
in the roots, the growth during the first year is frequently allowed to proceed undisturbed. It is a
safe practice, to attend to the points, and remove them as soon as a leaf is visible, or stop the
points of shoots. By merely removing a portion
not larger than a pin head, growth is not checked,
it is only directed into other courses, and the
leaves that are left will grow larger, and benefit
the plant more than a number of small laterals
leaves would have done; at the same time, the eye
at the base of the lateral is much strengthened,
and as this eye produces the future fruit-bearing
shoot, it is important that it receive all encouragempent to full developments.
The routine management during the first summer will, therefore, mainly consist in the observ



FALL PRUNING.             35
ance of these details. Keep a moist atmosphere
by frequently sprinkling the house, and syringe
every fine morning. Admit no bottom ventilation, and when the border becomes dry inside the
house, which it may, about the middle of summer,
give it a thorough soaking with rain-water, and
previous to doing so, sprinkle a dressing of guano
over the surface, which will assist growth.
By the middle of September, watering may be
discontinued. Itisnecessary that the border should
become dry, as well as a dryer atmosphere, in order
that the wood-ripening process may be facilitated,
for upon the thorough maturity of the wood all
future success depends.
Prune in November. All the canes that average three-fourths of an inch in diameter are to be
pruned back to lengths of eight feet; if stronger,
they may be left ten feet, and all that are much
weaker should be again cut close down to one or
two buds, to ensure a new and more vigorous cane.
About the middle of December the vines are bent
to a horizontal position, and protected by straw or
mats. A covering of manure is now spread over
the border, both inside and out, to keep frost from
the roots.  No further care is required during
winter; the house must be kept dry and airy, shutting up closely only in storms or frost.
Second Year. —One of the difficulties attending a cold grapery is, the liability to premature
excitements in spring, causing the buds to swell




36     COLD GRAPERY-SECOND YEAR.
and leaves to expand before all danger from frost
is passed. On this account many persons prefer
to have a furnace attached, so that a slight artificial heat may be given in cases of emergency.
Occasionally also in the fall, a slight fire is useful, especially if it is desired to keep the grapes
hanging late; they may be kept up to Christmas,
with a fire in frosty or damp weather. A furnace
and flue is, therefore, a useful attachment.  But
where there are no means of applying heat, (and
there are hundreds of graperies without it,) it is
important to prevent early growth. The atmosphere must be kept cool, and we have found
shading the glass a good method of retarding. The
vines should also retain their horizontal position
until the buds start at the lowest portion of the
stem. They are then tied up to the wires, allowing the tops to remain pendant in order to encourage more vigorous growth in the lower buds.
Syringe the vines regularly every fine morning,
and when growth has fairly commenced, give the
inside soil a good watering. It should be a constant aim to preserve a moist air; in very warm
days frequent sprinklings will be advantageous.
Rigidly exclude currents of dry air from passing through the house; rather shade the glass
slightly than be under the necessity of throwing
all the ventilation open, currents of cold air being
one of the most notable precursors of mildew.
The flower buds will expand about the middle




TEMPERATURE-VENTILATION.          37
of May; syringing must then be discontinued for a
time, for, although a light misty wetting will do no
harm even when the vines are in flower, yet it
must be carefully done; dashing water forcibly on
the flowers will do more harm than good.
The temperature may now range from 950 to
1000 in bright sunlight, to 60~ or 550 at night. It
is not proposed to aim at keeping it at these figures,
but this range will be safe. It is a good rule to
have the house rather dry at night; that is, no
heavy waterings or sprinkling should be given
towards evening, until the middle of June, when
danger from cold nights is not so likely to occur.
It is a sign that the night temperature has been
of the most agreeable character when the leaves
are ornamented with drops of water round their
edges. When the berries are formed, syringing
should again be resumed, and about the middle of
June allow an inch or two of the ventilation to
remain open during the night, except in extra
severe weather. This night ventilation we have
found to have a decided salutary effect on the
plants, enabling them to withstand sudden changes
without injury, and to that extent hardening them
against being mildewed, but only the top ventilators should be opened; we admit no bottom ventilation until the fruit is colored.
As soon as the bunches are well formed, they
will require thinning, one bunch is sufficient to a
shoot, and the whole crop must be- reduced with
4




38        THIINNING TIIE BUNCHES.
reference to the size of the plant. A cane threequarters of an inch in diameter may be allowed six
or eight bunches of about a pound each.  The
weight of fruit, rather than the number of bunches
must be the guide. When the berries attain the
size of peas they will require thinning. The shoulderq, or side divisions of the bunches are first
brought up to a horizontal position and tied to the
trellis; this spreads the bunch, and allows more
berries to be retained without crowding. The most
expeditious mode of tying up the shoulders is to
procure a quantity of very fine wire, cut it into desirable length, form a hook at one end to catch the
bunch, and fix in position by bending the opposite
end round the trellis. Proceed to thin the berries
with a pair of sharp pointed scissors, and it will be
found much easier to thin before the bunches become hard and compact. The number of berries
to be cut out will depend upon the kind of fruit, as
some set more numerously than others; small fruited
varieties do not require so severe thinning as the
larger berried sorts. Those who have not the requisite experience will find it necessary to go over
them several times during the summer, when they
will acquire a knowledge of the operation, that will
enable them to thin sufficiently at once in future.
It is important not to handle the fruit in thinning, hold the bunch steadily by the footstalk in
one hand, and carefully insert the scissors so as
not to injure the berries that are to be left.




CARE IN SUMMER PRUNING.          39
Crops are frequently injured by injudicious
summer pruning. Without a sufficiency of healthy
active foliage, the fruit will not ripen to perfection.
The reason for pinching out the point from a fruitbearing shoot one or two leaves beyond the bunch,
is to concentrate the growth so as to increase the
size of the fruit and develope more fully the buds
that are to produce future crops. When properly
performed, these advantages may be secured without injury to the present crops. This is done by
taking the extreme joint out of the shoot as soon
as it can be observed, and before the leaves attain
any size beyond the fruit. It is hurtful to the
plant and diminishes its vigor, to allow the shoots
to extend, and the laterals to grow for several
weeks, and then cut off a foot or more from their
lengths at one operation.
The general management of the house during
summer has already been treated, and need not
again be repeated in detail. The essential points
are, to preserve a moist atmosphere during the
early stage of growth, avoid currents of dry air,
and if any signs of mildew make their appearance
sprinkle flour of sulphur on the floor, especially
in positions where the sun will warm it, as it is
from the fumes generated when heated, that its
active influence is obtained.
The fruit will be superior in flavor, if the soil is
kept rather dry from the time it begins to color.
The berries will perhaps not grow so large, but




40                FORCING.
both fruit and wood will mature earlier and more
thoroughly, by withholding water from the soil at
this period.
When the vines are pruned in November, the
soil should be covered with manure, both as a protection to the roots during winter and to enrich
the border; cover with straw and lay them down
on the surface, to protect them from the frosts and
suns of winter.
Thus far is a brief detail of general routine
management. The crop will increase annually for
two or three years. The extent of training surface
in the house limits the crop. The various modes
of pruning will be more fully detailed in the
sequel.
Forcing Grapes.-These remarks have reference more particularly to the cold grapery, or a
house where sun heat only is admitted. To procure ripe fruit at an earlier period, resort must be
had to artificial heat, usually termed forcing.
The first consideration in arranging a forcing
house is a border for the roots. It is very evident
that only partial success will follow, if the roots
are placed in a lower temperature, relatively, than
that in which the branches are placed. It is not
necessary to discuss this matter to a great extent,
we will therefore, at once observe, that we have
come to the conclusion, (after a lengthened experience,) that the soil should all be within the glass
roof, no border outside. Extensive borders are




HEATING.                41
not an absolute necessity, either for cold graperies,
or those that are forced. Let the border, therefore,
be made wholly inside the house, well drained and
arranged as before recommended. With regard
to the modes of heating, there is no question but a
hot water apparatus is best. It does not follow,
however, that a hot air flue and common furnace
will not answer a good purpose, and for a small
single roofed house, not over thirty-five feet in
length, and twelve in breadth, a flue is least
expensive, costing about one-sixth of hot water
fixtures to heat such a sized house. When the
the house is sixty feet and upwards in length, hot
water will then be the most economical in the end,
as two furnaces would be required in it to force
grapes, even to ripen by the end of June. Water
being a good conductor, carries heat a long distance. Air is a bad conductor, and while the flue
is heated to a high degree near the furnace, it will
be comparatively cool forty feet from it. In the
one case there is an extensive surface radiating
heat at a low temperature; in the other, the greatest heat is confined to a limited surface, and is
therefore radiated at a much higher temperature.
Very slight forcing will be required the first
year. Plant about the 1st of March and keep the
temperature about 550 to 60~ during night, allowing an increase of 20~ to 25~ during the day. The
treatment of the plants during growth will be
similar to what has already been detailed. To
4*




43         CONDITION OF BORDER.
hasten the ripening of the wood, the soil should
gradually be brought to a state of comparative
dryness by the end of August, and this is one of
the great advantages of having the border under
control. It may appear that having the borders
thus isolated from rains, much labor would be required in watering; such is not the case. A
thorough watering once in six weeks, even during
the most active period of vegetation will be sufficient. The soil should be occasionally hoed up
loosely for the first two or three months, and by
the end of June a thin loose mulch of manure or
leaf mold will help to retain moisture, arresting
evaporation.
The grape is the easiest of all fruits to force,
although, as a matter of course, close attention is
required in keeping a suitable temperature in
severe seasons. To have ripe fruit by the middle
of May, forcing should be commenced by the middle of December. At least five months should be
allowed from the first application of beat until the
ripening of the fruit. The principal points of attention will consist in supplying a proper degree
of moisture in the atmosphere. The constant tendency of artificial heat is to abstract moisture, and
a regular condensation is also produced by the
cold glass surface, and the greater the difference
between the external and internal temperatures,
the more rapidly is atmospheric moisture consumed.
A most important but much neglected practice,




OUTSIDE COVERS.              43
auxiliary to retaining heat in glass structures
during the winter months, is that of outside covers.
Considering the palpable economy of such covers,
it does seem strange that they are not more generally used. We have ascertained from repeated
experiments, that a simple, close-fitting cover of
muslin, elevated a few inches above the roof so as
to enclose a stratum of air, will effect a saving of
15~ of heat. During high winds the saving is
somewhat reduced, but a heavier and closer covering would show a proportionate increase of
temperature. It is perhaps unnecessary to enter
into a minute description of this arrangement, as
any mechanic could readily apply it, but it is most
essential that the covering should not touch the
glass, as it would then afford very little protection.
Air must be admitted with caution when the
external temperature is below freezing; rather
allow the thermometer to indicate 95 or 1000 of
heat than admit a cutting frosty wind; with increased heat there must be increased moisture.
Great regularity in syringing the leaves will prevent the increase of insects, and an occasional
slight fumigation with tobacco will further tend to
cleanliness in this respect.
Growing Grapes in Pots.-At present the pot
culture of grapes is much agitated, and in some
quarters much advocated. As to its general utility, we do not expect much, but for a very early
crop the system  is good. We will briefly detail




44             POT CULTURE.
our mode of pot culture for the benefit of those
who may be inclined to adopt it. We have cut
ripe grapes from plants in fourteen months from
the planting of the eye, but prefer to grow the
plants two years before fruiting. The first year
the plants are grown in seven inch pots, but must
be grown under glass; a close fitting frame, deep
enough to contain the plants, will be suitable
during the first season, when watering and staking is all the attention required. When the foliage
falls, they are pruned down to two or three buds,
and kept in a shed or cellar, secured from frosts.
About the first of March they may be brought
into a greenhouse, or placed in a warm frame to
excite them into growth. When they have made
an inch or so of young wood, re-pot into twelveinch pots, shake some of the soil carefully from
the roots, and spread them out on the soil when
re-potting. A soil formed of rotted sods, mixed
with one-fourth of leaf mold, or rotted dung, will
be suitable, broken bones or small pieces of charcoal with the soil will tend to preserve its porosity.
The pots shouId have two inches of drainage, covered with a sprinkling of moss to render it more
effective. The treatment during summer should
be similar to that recommended for the cold
grapery so far as pertains to the atmosphere.
When growing freely, they will require close attention to watering; neglect in this respect will injuriously affect the growth. Whether they will be




POT CULTURE.              45
fruitful or not depends altogether upon their management this season. One stem only should be
retained, and when this has grown about a foot or
so, stop them at the sixth leaf, leaving all the
laterals, except the topmost, which should be
removed as soon as it can be distinguished; this
will cause the topmost bud to grow, and the check
occasioned by its removal will tend to develope
more fully the lower buds, and cause them to be
fruitful. After the topmost bud has again pushed
and formed two or three leaves, all the laterals
are shortened to two leaves.  Stop the leading
shoot a second time about nine buds or eyes from
the point where it was previously stopped. Afterwards, keep all the laterals shortened, but do not
remove them entirely until growth is completed.
We have seen canes thus prepared that have
shown twenty-five and thirty bunches of fruit in
lengths of seven feet, all of which are removed
except six or eight. This is all that the plant can
properly ripen.  As the canes ripen, gradually
reduce the waterings, and about the middle of
September have the whole matured. Then prune
out all laterals and cut the cane down to the point
where the second summer topping was performed.
Three or four weeks previous to forcing the plants,
lay the pots on their sides in some out of the way
place, lay the canes flat on the ground and cover
them over with three inches of soil, keeping the




46         SMALL INSIDE BORDERS.
soil moist, but not saturated, with water; this peculiar treatment we have not seen recommended, but
having practiced it, we have found that the wood
will imbibe moisture, the buds swell, and force into
leaf after being placed in heat, two or three weeks
sooner than when the canes are not thus rested;
it gives them some of the advantages that they receive from a winter's rest.
The plants being thus prepared, their future
management will be similar to that detailed for the
forcing house. After the fruit is set, they may receive a weekly watering of liquid manure, which
will increase the size of the berries, but all manurial applications should be stopped, when the fruit
changes color. In practising the method here detailed we have had the greatest success with grapes
in pots.
Small inside borders for early forcing.-The
principal object attained in pot culture of fruit
trees, is the entire control over the roots, and it is
a very great advantage in +.he early forcing of
plants to have the roots surrounded by the same
atmospherical temperature in which the branches
are placed; no plant can be kept in a healthy condition for any length of time when the branches
are stimulated in a high temperature and the roots
kept in a cold medium.
The principal objections to pot'culture are the
amount of labor involved in watering, potting, &c.,
and the inevitable failure that will result from even




INSIDE BORDERS.             47
slight neglect of these operations; and in a climate
so varied and intense as ours, the labor and constant watchfulness required, presents a serious
barrier to the extension of this mode of culture.
So far as complete isolation from external influences is of importance, all the conditions can be
secured by forming a small border inside the house,
and planting out the vines with a view to permanance.
This arrangement may be likened to the planting
of a number of vines in one large pot, instead of
one plant in a smaller space; for a border in this
condition is as much under the control of the cultivator as a pot, with the advantage of being less
influenced  by extremes.  We have had such
borders divided into spaces, so that the roots of
each plant was confined, but we found'no advantage from this mode. Strong growing vines can
be kept under control by judicious summer pruning, which abridges their root growth, without
injuriously affecting the growth of weaker varieties.
The following figure will show this arrangement.
The soil in the space a, has no communication
with the walls of the house, thus securing complete isolation from the external atmosphere. The
soil is placed upon a stratum of drainage, and in
order to more effectually surround the roots with
the atmosphere of the house, large sized draining
tiles, or open work brick flues should be placed
across the bottom of the border, through the




48              INSIDE BORDERS.
FORCING HOUsE.
drainage; these air-drains should be frequent and
left open at the ends, so that the air may permeate
the soil. This will keep the soil at a proper temperature, provided care be exercised in watering.
These drains are not an absolute necessity, as soil
is warm or cold just in proportion to its contained
moisture; so that a border continually soaked with
water, although drained in this manner, will be
colder than a more carefully watered border without such additions. The heating medium will be
placed at c in the section. The plants b are set
closely together; they are placed two feet apart,




DISEASES.                49
in rows three feet distant. This close planting
secures a heavy crop at once, and allows the cutting down of a cane occasionally, or each alternate
cane yearly, as may be desired.
In an economical point of view, the quantity of
fruit that may be grown by this arrangement is
much greater than can be secured by exclusive
pot culture, and for early forcing, all its advantages
are secured.
Diseases.-When a systematic course of culture,
such as we have attempted to describe, is fully
carried out, there will be no losses from disease.
It might be observed that what is termed rot, will
only occur when the roots are in a wet soil, or one
that is too rich. Mildew will also be seldom seen,
if at all, in the above system of culture. It is destroyed by sulphur, and, as we have already observed, washing the interior woodwork with a
solution of lime and sulphur is an excellent preventive both against mildew, and the attacks of
such insects as thrip and red spider. The causes
that produce mildew have not been thoroughly
defined. Extreme, or sudden changes of atmosphere,
are the commonly received reasons. We have long
considered that it originates from dry air acting
upon tender vegetable tissue; our cultural practice
is based upon this supposition, and, not to discuss
the subject further, it may be stated that when fully
carried out, we never have any mildew in graperies.
5




50               PRUNING.
Pruning.-When a seed is placed in a germinating medium, it sends a shoot upwards in the air,
and roots downwards in the earth. The seed contains within itself the nutriment necessary for this
process; but as soon as the young plant is thus
formed, its mode of existence is changed, and it
then depends upon the air and soil for its further
developement. The young roots absorb matter
from the earth which enters into the stem, and
from that to the leaves where it is decomposed by
the action of light. This elaborated sap is then
returned downwards, enlarging the stem, and passing into the roots, extending their formation.
Such, we are told, is the theory of vegetable
growth. It is considered that the carbonic acid
and other matter that is absorbed by the roots, is
of no value until it undergoes this decomposition
in the leaves; consequently, the increase in size of
the plant, the quantity of its secretions, and extension of roots, are all dependent upon the amount
of foliage. Any system of pruning, therefore, that
involves a removal of leaves, must also injure the
health and vigor of the plant. It is an axiom with
horticulturists that summer pruning weakens, while
winter pruning strengthens a tree. Hence, on
strong growing barren fruit trees, summer pruning
is practiced in order to check their vigor and
cause them to bear; while on the other hand an
old or sickly tree will generally start with renewed,
vigor if severely pruned in winter. These rules




SHORT AND ALTERNATE SPURRING.   51
should be kept in view while discussing systems of
pruning.
The short spurring system of pruning grape
vines is very simple and easily understood. A
single shoot is encouraged until it reaches the
desired length. The bearing shoots issue at intervals from this main shoot, and are cut down to
one or two eyes in the winter pruning. The summer pruning consists in pinching out the extremity
of every shoot one or two leaves beyond the fruit;
all lateral growths are also pinched back. Growth
is thus prevented from extending, and the vigor of
the plant is consequently concentrated into the
short fruit-bearing shoot. The leading shoot is
also stopped of its longitudinal growth to throw
more strength into the side branches. This is a
popular method of treating grapes under glass, but
not adapted to native varieties.
Alternate spurring is considered an improvement upon the above. In spur pruning, the shoots
are cut down to one or two buds, thus sacrificing
better developed buds nearer the extremity of the
branch. Alternate spurring proposes to remedy
this. Supposing the branch has ten buds or eyes,
and the sixth from the main stem appears most
fully developed, the branch is cut down to it. It
and the first bud, (the one nearest the main stem,)
are undisturbed, and the intermediate four buds
are cut out. When growth commences, these two
buds will form two shoots whose future treatment




52           RENEWAL SYSTEM.
is quite distinct. The extreme bud produces the
present crop, while the lower bud forms a shoot to
bear next year's produce, and the fruit that ap.
pears on it is removed. The summer treatment
of these shoots is simple. The bearing branch
should have its extreme point pinched out two or
three leaves beyond the bunch of fruit, and all
subsequent growths quickly checked. The lower
branch, which is not allowed to fruit, should
extend undisturbed until midsummer, when the
extreme point should be pinched off. As soon as
the fruit is gathered, the branch that produced it
is to be cut clean out, which will throw much
vigor in the maturing of the branch that is to
bear the future crop; this branch will in the
winter pruning, undergo the same treatment as its
predecessor —that is, pruned down to the best bud,
all others being removed except the lowermost, as
before.
The long cane renewal system has its chief
recommendation in the yearly production of a
long cane of young wood. The finest and earliest
fruit, it will have been observed, is always produced on such shoots. Any system of culture,
therefore, that produces these, we would pronounce
to be good; we therefore think much of the renewal mode. It is simply a more effectual carrying
out of the alternate spurring method; and is what
we have explained more fully in our previous
remarks on native grapes.




KEEPING GRAPES ON THE VINES.    53
Pruning on this method combines all the advantages of close spurring, while the greater amount
of healthy foliage retained, supports a healthy and
increasing root action. We prefer it to all other
modes of pruning.
Keeping Grapes on the Vines.-As remarked
when treating on the cold grapery, the fruit may
be kept several weeks or even months after ripening. Some kinds keep better than others. The
difference seems to depend upon the proportion of
sugar they respectively form; the sweetest grapes
keep best, the most acid, worst. The Muscats will
keep longer than the Black Hamburgh. Others
are late in ripening and hang well after maturity,
such as Prince Albert, Black Ferrar and Lady
Down's seedling.
The practical points of attention in keeping
grapes on the vines are first, to keep the house
and atmosphere dry; and secondly, to keep the
roots and soil dry. During damp weather it will
be necessary to open the ventilators and put on a
slight fire which will expel the damp. A slight
shading on the glass is also favorable. Much
depends on keeping the soil dry, and with regard
to this, the practice of making all the border under
glass, where it can be kept dry when required is
most useful. Covering outside borders with shutters so as to throw off rains will be essential and
absolutely necessary to preserve ripe fruit. At.
5*




54           KINDS TO PLANT.
tention to these points will enable the cultivator to
keep grapes for months.
Kinds to Plant.-For a cold grapery requiring
forty plants we would recommend the following
proportions.  Twelve  Black  Hamburgh, two
White Frontignac, two Black Frontignac, two
Golden Hamburgh, two Muscat of Alexandria,
six Victoria, two Chasselas Fontainebleau, one
White Gascoigne, two Black Prince, two West's
St. Peter's, two Muscat Hamburgh, two Malvasia,
one Black Ferrar, and two Lady Down's Seedling.
For the forcing house we would substitute, two
Chasselas Musque, two Bowood Muscat, and two
Muscat of Alexandria, for White  Gascoigne,
West's St. Peter's, Black Ferrar and Lady Down's
in the previous list.
For pot culture, Black Hamburgh, White Frontignac, Black Prince, Chasselas Fontainebleau,
Chasselas Musque, and Wilmot's Black Hamburgh will give most satisfaction.
In the foregoing brief essay on grape culture,
we have purposely refrained from entering into a
lengthened discussion of the theory of the subject,
or canvassing disputed points, believing that a
detail of successful practice would be more in
accordance with the requirements of the " Farmer
and Gardener."




IN ITS APPLICATION TO
GRAPE CULTUERE.
BY F. J. COPE.
IT may be deemed presumptuous, at the present
day, to assert, that our whole system of fruit culture is based upon incorrect principles, and is,
therefore, erroneous.
We should reason from what we know. Any
hypothesis deduced from false premises, cannot
long withstand the test of rational scrutiny.
In discussing the subject of vine culture, let us,
then, begin at the beginning.
When, on the "third day" of the Creation, the
Great Architect of the universe formed the " grass,
the herb-yielding seed, and the fruit-tree yielding
fruit after his kind," He saw that it "was good."
And on the "sixth day,",when all his labors were
finished, He pronounced " every thing that He had
made very good." From the vast vault of heaven,
spangled with the twinkling gems of night,-far,
far away into illimitable space, where unseen asteroids obey the laws of gravitation and attrac



56  VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL ORGANISMS.
tion, down through the air to the rugged earth,
one harmonious whole performs the legitimate
functions in its several parts. From the lowliest
Fucoid that grows in the sea, up to the stateliest
Cedars of Lebanon, or the Sequoia Gigantea upon
our own continent; —from the most minute, infinitesimal Infusoria, up to the most majestic Pachy.
derm, the hand of nature implanted no germs of
disease, although she provided ample stores of
remedial agents, to be used at another epoch, by
succeeding generations of her creatures.
There is a closer affinity between the animal and
vegetable organisms than most of us are willing to
admit. Discarding the untenable, though in many
respects plausible, "development theory" of Maillet and Lamarck, we must not run into the other
extreme, and deny that there is any similarity in
any portion of animal and vegetable physiology.
We know'that plants, as well as animals eat;
that they breathe, perspire, and are sensitive to
the touch. We know that they have sexes, and a
circulatory aparatus; that they sleep, although,
unlike the sluggard, the first rays of the morning
light awakens them, to join, it may be, although
their voices are inaudible to the human ear, the
songs of thanksgiving and praise that resound
from the feathered vocalists. They send their
messages of love through the ambient air that
they perfume with many odors, employing the
busy bee, which becomes the Cupid in the do



THE AUTHOR'S PLATFORM.          57
minions of Flora and Pomona, inviting willing
mates to connubial felicity, and thus they, too,
"multiply, replenish, and adorn the earth."
It is man alone that mars this glorious scene, by
his futile attempts to improve what the hand of
Deity had already made perfect.
I submit and defend these simple propositions:
First. We stimulate too freely.
Second. We prune too much, and
Third. The more we depart from the dictates
of nature, the more rapid will be the ravages of
disease, and the ultimate destruction of the cultivated fruits.
Von Martius, a learned German author, published several years ago, a history of the diseases of
the potato. From this work, I extract the following passages as applicable to my first proposition:
"However great the extent," says he, "to which
cultivation and civilization has improved the little
Peruvian exile, (the potato,) yet, like all other
things redeemed from barbarism, and removed
from the wild vigor of nature, a weakness of
constitution has been fastened upon it, and the
stimulus of too much culture is diminishing its
powers It has been discovered in this, as it has
been in all departments of breeding, whether in
the vegetable or animal kingdom, where the cultivation is artificial or overdone, that there is a
determined disposition to return to its original
and natural condition."




5 8      EFFECTS OF CULTIVATION.
Some pomologists, and many other people, too;
assert that the little sour crab is the type of the
whole genus Malus, from whence is derived all
the luscious varieties that we now have, and that
these varieties have been produced by cultivation.
If the "forbidden fruit," in the garden of Eden,
was really an apple, according to our definition of
the term, then it must, according to the pomologists and others aforesaid, have been a crab. We
may, or may not, consider it "pleasant to the
eyes," but surely none of us admit it to be "good
for food."
Cultivation never has, and in all probability
never will, effect any considerable change in the
austereness of the wild crab apple. Recent experiments with it have only resulted in diseasing
the tree, and rendering it short-lived. And what
has cultivation done for some of our oldest and
most favorite varieties? It is well known that the
Rambo, a native of Pennsylvania, is extensively
diseased; that with all the care we bestow upon it,
the tree is becoming more tender every year, and
the fruit' scabby, ill-shaped, and wormy. So with
the green and yellow Pippin, the Vandevere, and
many other sorts. The pear has fared very little
better; the cherry and the plum decidedly worse.
We have rendered the tissues of the latter so
extremely tender and delicate, that the superabundant juices have burst their avenues of circulation, and formed unsightly "black knots" upon




EFFECTS OF HIGH CULTIVATION.    59
the branches, in which the curculio now propagates its species.
The assertion that this disease of the plum is
caused by the curculio, is proven to be erroneous:
on the contrary, it is susceptible of demonstration,
that the insect deposits its larva in the excrescence after the latter has been formed, and there
finds congenial nourishment in the absence of
fruit, which is its natural food.
Nor have the Cereals escaped the baleful
effects of this undesigned raid upon their productive capacities. The Midge, the Hessian-fly, the
Army-worm, the Grub, and the Cut-worm, have
been invited to feast upon the banquet that is
annually spread by the cupidity of the "lord of
creation," himself a living example of the effeminacy produced by a false system of dietetic indulgence. One would naturally suppose that rational
man would have been admonished by the direful
effects of his cuisine refinements, to abstain from
applying to vegetable and animal life, which
constitute his food, the stimulating processes that
have been the bane of his own. The cutaneous
eruptions, dyspepsia, the caries in his teeth, the
baldness of his head, the loss of vitality in his hair;
in short, the enervation of all his physical powers,
might warn him to beware how he should use the
dominion that has been entrusted to his keeping:
but he looks not beyond the gratification of to-day,
and makes little provision for the generation -that




60          PREDACIOUS INSECTS.
is to succeed him. Literally, in this, "he takes no
heed for the morrow."
One of the lecturers at "Old Yale," recommends importation of some families of the Ichneumonidle, to extirpate the wheat Midge, without
reflecting that we may " get more than we bargain
for." Are we sure that the Ichneumon fly would
die out to accommodate us, just after it had performed the duty we had required of it? It may
alter its diet. Who knows what it would then be?
Two years ago I sought for the cocoon of the
"Peacock Butterfly," (Papilio pavonia,) for the
purpose of filling a void in my entomological collection. I found many of them; but in every
instance, the substance of the chrysalides had been
abstracted by some predacious insect. The strong,
rough fibres of the cocoon had been misplaced and
fixed by a glutinous substance, so that an aperture
about one-sixteenth of an inch in diameter was
formed, to admit the ingress of the insect, and the
egress of the new-born Ichneumonidan, which had
thus been provided with a snug habitation, and an
abundance of good fare. This winter I find the
cocoons all perfectly sound. Has the insect found
more congenial food? Was it driven to this system of foraging by some dire necessity? May not
the same causes produce the same effects in other
department of insect life?
Another lecturer at Yale College has asserted
that it is only since the destruction of our forests,




ENTOMOLOGICAL ERRORS.           61
in which the natural food of insects now injurious
to cultivated trees was formerly obtained, that
they have been induced to attack the latter. Is
not this an argument against the propriety and
expediency of importing the Ichneumon fly?
Great men, as well as common folks, sometimes
make great mistakes. Huber asserted, that the
neuter or Worker-bee, was nothing more nor less
than an "imperfect female!" That is mere conjecture, and will not answer in this matter of fact
age. God never made whole races of His creatures
mere abortions. He permits monstrosities occasionally, but never made so gross a mistake in the
organism of an entire class.
But it may be objected, that this is foreign to
the subject in hand. The general principles are
undoubtedly applicable. No system of culture,
whether of animals or vegetables, can be permanently successful, which overlooks or discards
them.
We may speak with great confidence of the
success attending particular methods of applying
various combinations of fertilizing substances. We
may describe minutely, the time and the mode of
pruning and training the vine, which produced
such present magnificent results; and after all, it
may be only the "killing of the goose that laid
the golden eggs." We should write, and work, and
think, not alone for the benefit of the present, but
for succeeding generations as well. We should be
6




62        AMERICAN GRAPE VINES.
contented with a moderate return from the bounteous bosom of the earth, for the little that we can
bestow upon it, or that nature requires form us.
Nature and art will harmonize only so long as no
violence is done to established laws. Production
will have its compensation. It demands no more;
it will take no less.
Persia has generally been supposed to be the
native country of the vine.  This supposition,
however, arose from the fact, that the earlier historians were totally unacquainted with the luxuriance of its growth over the entire American
continent.  In the several States of this Union,
from those on the south possessing a temperature
almost as hot as the tropics, away up to the farthermost limits of Maine, on our northern border,
the forests almost every where afford evidences of
its primeval growth. The adaptation of our soil
and climate, diversified as they are, to its healthful
development, is manifested in the gigantic proportions which it frequently attains. On the hills
north and south of the beautiful little valley in
which I live, they cover the tops of the tallest
trees, more than seventy feet high. Many of them
are four and five inches in diameter. One of them
is over seven.
On an adjoining farm, by the side of a little
brook that rolls its crystal waters through a
beautiful natural meadow covered with a virgin
sod that the plow had never disturbed, there stood,




MAMMOTH VTNE.                63
thirty years ago, a majestic elm. Out of the soil
between two of its mammoth roots, grew a vine,
(the Vitis testivalis,) that was then thirty-one
inches in circumference! I have sat beneath its
ample shade, to eat the evening meal, while the
odors of new-mown hay, mingled with the perfume
of the Vitis cordifolia in an adjoining grove, imparted a relish to the frugal repast, which no
culinary art could bestow. Such a vine was a fit
companion to embrace such a tree. There they
had both grown for ages, not a branch nor a twig
of either diseased; drawing abundant supplies of
nourishment from the earth and the air, and casta deep shadow in the noontide sun, forty feet in
diameter! Nature had abundantly furnished them
with food prepared from the debris of extinct organisms; for Byron has truthfully said,
"The dust we tread upon, was once alive."
Wild strawberries, (Fragaria Virginiana, and
F. Canadensis,) the raspberry, blackberry, wild
plum, wild cherry, black walnut, butter-nut, (Juglans cathartica vel Cinerea,) hickory-nut, (Juglans
squamosa, of Michaux,) and the hazel-nut, all grow
luxuriantly, and produce abundant crops of fruit,
in the same little vale. Are such facts as these,
and the lessons they are so well calculated to
teach, to remain for ever unheeded in our civilization?
There are living examples all around me, of how




64       now  NATURE PROPAGATES.
little nature requires at the hands of man, to make
the vine prolific, and keep it in robust health for
unknown ages. Drawing my lessons principally
from the volume she opens out before me, I draw
scantily from the pages of Bede, of Lombarde,
of Loudon, of Morier, of Hoare, of Marsh, of
Walter, of Bartram, or of any of the thousand
others whose dogmas are the vade mecum of our
culturists. Valuable as any of the suggestions
undoubtedly are, which some of them make, I
"pin my faith" exclusively upon neither of them,
believing, as I do, with our native poet, Street,
that
"Nature is man's teacher. She unfolds
Her treasures to his search, unseals his eye,
Illumes his mind, and purifies his heart;
An influence breathes from all the sights and sounds
Of her existence."
Nature never propagates by scions or cuttings;
she does, sometimes, by layers; more frequently
by sprouts; but generally by seeds. The latter
may be said to be the rule-the others merely
exceptions. I am convinced by experience and
observation, that no vine can very long maintain
its original vigor, which has been for a series of
years annually pruned in nursery style, and the
denuded branches thus obtained, forced into the
germs of a separate organization.
Oxygen is the great leveling agent of nature.
It reduces with equal facility, the hardest steel




MICROSCOPIC EXAMINATION.          65
and the softest tissues, into their original elements.
It is present every where to begin its labors of
decomposition, where moisture comes to its aid,
and the principle of life has been attacked. Its
ravages may be arrested; but the work it has done,
it has performed effectually, and is past reparation.
Let us reason about it.
No human eye, unaided by the microscope, can
detect the change that almost instantly occurs in
the sap of the vine when in active circulation,
after it has been separated from the parent stock.
Without the intelligent use of this instrument,
no one is qualified to assert, that healthy vines
have been grown from scions several days old, to
say nothing. of those which may be weeks and
months in a state of suspended functional activity.
Wre may be deceived by apparent healthfulness in
the vegetable economy, as we often are by the
hectic flush upon the cheek of the unfortunate
consumptive. The germs of disease are nevertheless there. The offspring may for awhile manifest
no symptoms of the delicacy and disease which
have been transmitted to it. But when surrounding circumstances favor their development, death
claims alike for his own, the tender vine that
clings for support to some stalwart tree, and the
hapless child that yields up the transient present
for a better and more enduring life. Oxygen
labors for both, living or dying.
The theory, for many years generally accepted,




66        OLD THEORY EXPLODED.
that plants took up that portion of their nourishment which they derive from the earth, exclusively
by means of little vessels termed spongioles, situated at the points of the small fibrous roots, has
been but recently exploded, although its incorrectness was susceptible of very easy demonstration.
It required only the authority of some great name
to give it credence; and in like manner, the public
judgment seems only to require the ipse dixit of
some pseudo savant to nullify it. And now the
arboriculturist wonders that he has been so long
deceived!  Is it not time that we should be
enlightened upon some other points in vegetable
physiology? Who, with a sufficient capacity to
comprehend the phenomena of plant-life, will devote his attention, his time and his talents to such
a pursuit? Are we to plod along, and stumble
upon facts only as they come in our way? Or
shall some one, availing himself of the fragments
of thought and opinion already evolved, analyze
the crude mass, and give us a reliable diagnosis?
I hope the "Farmer and Gardener" will be one
of the channels through which we will at length
reach such a desideratum.
The vine, in Europe, has a history. Here, in the
new world, the reliable data upon which it must be
based, are not yet collected and arranged. The interchange of opinion in this, as it is in every other
department of human knowledge, is desirable, if
not essential, to a correct understanding of the




THE VINE IN OLDEN TIME.          67
causes which lead to progress, to culmination, or
to decay.
Neither Caesar, Pliny, nor Tacitus, notice the
vine in their descriptions of Great Britain; but in
the commencement of the eighth century, we know
that some progress had been made in its cultivation; and in the latter part of the ninth, mention
is made of it in the laws of Alfred. During the
reign of the second Edward, excellent wine, we are
told, was made in England. William oi,ialmsbury, speaking of the vale of Gloucester, says:
"This district, too, exhibits a greater number of
vineyards than any other county in England,
yielding abundant crops, and of superior quality."
Again, speaking of the Isle of Ely, he says, the
soil "is covered with vines, which either trail on
the ground, or are trained on high, and supported
on poles." The vine grew so plentifully during
the time of Richard II., in Windsor Little Park,
that part of the wine made there was sold for the
king's profit.
Why vineyards should have so completely disappeared in that country, as is well-known at this
time, would be an interesting inquiry, and might
shed much light upon the mode of cultivation, to
which, in all probability, their abandonment may,
in a great degree, be attributable. The soil and
climate so favorable to them, then, are the same
now.
In a state of nature, the vine, ( Vitis vulpina, of




68      MICROSCOPIC DEVELOPEMENTS.
Bartram,) is more abundantly supplied with small
roots, than when highly cultivated. The texture
of the woody fibres more compact; the pores of
the vascular tissue not so well defined, but more
numerous, and the number of its medullary rays
greater, but less marked.  Cultivation has undoubtedly effected these changes, whether for the
"better or worse," remains, perhaps, to be determined. What share pruning has had, in this metamorphusls is, I think, easily demonstrable.
By the use of a powerful microscope, the mouths
of the pores may be seen all over the surface of
the roots. Through these, the aliment prepared
in the earth enters, and is taken up into the circulation, each pore conveying its proportion toward
the point where its other extremity terminates.
Now, when a branch of any considerable size is
cut off, the sap destined for its support and nourishment, must do one of three things-either go
back to the earth-be absorbed by other contiguous portions of the vine-or remain in the surcharged vessels, to undergo the chemical changes
which precede decomposition. Which is it?
I have lying before me, a longitudinal section of
a pruned (Isabella,) and another of an unpruned
one. I have, also, transverse sections of the same
vines, showing the enlarged pores on the side of
the pruned specimen, below the point where the
branch was cut off, and the incipient decay is
clearly visible by the use of the microscope. I




MODERN PRUNING.              69
am sorry that I am  not expert at drawing, to
enable me to illustrate this fact.  But such of
your readers as are sceptical upon the subject,
can readily satisfy themselves by instituting a
similar examination.
Here, then, commences the struggle between
nature and art. Will there always be recuperative energy enough in the former to triumph? I
think not. She may withstand many assaults, but
each time with diminished powers. Does it require any extraordinary prescience to see the final
result?
In this latitude-in good old Pennsylvaniawhere the soil and the climate seem peculiarly
adapted to the vine, the pruning is generally done
after the fashion of European models, and by Germans, almost every one of whom claims to know
how to dress "ein vein-garten," whether he comes
originally from the vine clad hills of the Rhine,
or the cold, barren wastes of Westphalia; and
whether the subject of his manipulations be transported from  Hamburgh, or be "to the manor
born," he cuts and slashes away, with as little
thought about the difference between an exotic
and an indigenous plant, as he is capable of giving
about the requirements of either, even in his own
"vaterland."  Save us from such empiricism as
this, spirit of Esculapius!
The healthiest and most prolific vines 1 have
ever seen, are those that have never been pruned




70     HOW TO GET HEALTHY VINES.
at all. But it is unsafe to cite particular cases to
sustain a general rule in vine culture. There are
so may circumstances to be duly weighed and
considered —those of exposure, consituents of soil,
situation, &c., &c., that what is applicable in one
instance, may not be so in another.
Now, friend Spangler, having given you "quantum sufficit" of "premonitory symptoms," here followeth my prescription. I give it with all becoming
humility and deference to the opinions of the great
doctors:
If you want healthy vines, such as your children,
your grand-children, and great-grand-children, as
well as yourself, may eat the fruit of, procure the
seeds of good healthy grapes that you think suitable to your locality. Plant them in a pot filled
with good garden soil. When two years old, set
them out where you wish them to remain. Train
them against the side of a house, facing the east
or southeast-against any other building-a wall,
along a trellis, or on a fence. Never cut off a large
branch. If any small ones show signs of weakness,
take them off in the fall. Pinch off any sprouts
that may arise, either from the root or the, main
stem, after the fruit has set. Let the leaves alone
-they will drop off time enough. Train up but
one main stem. Divide and spread the branches
annually in such a way as to give the whole the
benefit of air and light, as much as possible.
About every third year, remove the surface soil,




FERTILIZERS AND SEEDLINGS.'71
and replace it with a compost of lime and leafmould, in proportions of one-eighth of the former.
Well decayed saw-dust of deciduous trees, will do
in place of the mould.
I am inclined to think, that the whole theory of
fertilizing "lies in a nut-shell." Such substances
as have the power of absorbing, and imparting
moisture slowly, are the best. The vine requires
a liberal supply of this element, but it should be
imparted steadily and not excessively. Mulching
is almost indispensable, at any stage of its growth.
In the forests, this is supplied by the annual falling
of leaves. You will always find, that a wild vine
thrives the best, where the soil around it is thickly
covered with leaves.
It may be objected, that this seedling business
would be rather a slow process for this fast age;
and that if the parent is unsound, the seed also will
be more or less so. True, but in the first case,
it will be found to be the surest; and in the second,
the chances are in our favor. Think a little. Suppose every one in this country who wishes to enjoy
this delicious fruit, would plant seeds of the Franklin, the Delaware, the Clinton, Isabella, Catawba,
Concord, Diana, or any other so-called natives,
would there not be, in a few years, plenty of them
better than either of the originals?  Taking the
seeds of the best of these again, could we place a
limit to the ultimate improvement of which they
are susceptible? Friends of the vine every where,




'72          CONCLUDING HINTS.
try it. Encourage your little girls to try it. Let
them begin now. Don't be driven from your purpose by the clamor that may be raised against it.
Your children, if you are fortunate enough to have
any, will take delight in watching the development
of the young plant, trained by their young hands.
I know it. And oh! what a recompense it will be,
to partake with them, of these offerings of little
goddesses, no less sacred to you, than was Concordia to the ancient Romans, though the altars you
rear to your household deities are only raised,
unseen, but not unfelt, in your heart of hearts.
If you wish to have well-established varieties,
either native or foreign, I would recommend planting the eyes or buds, with a small portion of wood
attached. I think they grow more readily than
whole scions; they are hardier, and can be more
easily attended. Besides, they have less room for
disease, and you increase the chances of securing
a plant of a favorite variety. Treat them as
directed for seedlings.
Lastly; if you are in a hurry, trust to the
honesty of some well-known vender, and get
rooted plants of such kinds as you want. Plant
them and treat them as directed for seedlings —
and may their shadow never grow less, nor the
juice of the grapes they may yield, ever be perverted to inebriate another Lot.




A CONTRIBUTION
TO TRH
CLASSIFICATION OF SPECIES AND VARIETIES
TO THE
GRAPE VINE:
WITH A FEW HINTS ON CULTURE.
BY J. M. M'MINN, CIVIL ENGINEER.
The following remarks have been prepared
from notes and observations made during the last
twenty-five years, which period of my life has been
devoted to the active scenes and operations of
rural life, and separated in a great measure from
the advantages of scientific association, or recourse
to libraries. Whilst this attempt at classification
will embrace a large amount of practical observation, it will probably, not embody the settled
deductions of scientific research, and will therefore,
be susceptible of important changes and corrections. For this reason I have not attempted to
establish the number of species of grapes now
known, nor to settle either the identity of varieties,
or their origin; my reasons for this, are, that I am
fully sensible that in some instances at least, some
such decisions would not be admitted. I shall
7                (73)




'74        SPECIES AND VARIETIES.
present only what I conceive to be the correct
conclusions, of practical cultivators, and admitted
scientific authorities. If, therefore, mry attempts
at classification have not been entirely successfilf.
I am led to hope that this, almost the first effort
made in this direction in this country, may lead
others to follow in the path pointed out, and that
the result will be a full and complete classification
of species and varieties.
The learned Agassis says: —"Species exist in
nature in the same manner as any other natural
group; they are based upon well determined relations to individuals, to one another, and to the
world around them, and upon proportions, the
ornamentation, and the relations of their parts."
Varieties are produced by hybridizing, that is,
mixing the pollen of one species or variety, with
the pollen of another. This is very readily done in
the grape by the numerous insects which frequent the flowers of this plant. Burying their
feet and other organs in the pollen of the flowers
of one species, they carry it to another species,
and thus impregnate the organs of the latter. A
hybrid is the result, by reproduction of the seeds,
and new varieties are thus multiplied in almost
countless numbers. But varieties are never permanent. If they are the products of hybridization
they return to their original in the third or fourth
generation. Varieties are also produced temporarily by climate, soil and cultivation, but the




DERIVATION OF NAME.            75
specific identity is never permanently lost by
propagation by seed; the hybrid therefore, can
only be continued by grafting, layers, or by maintaining the wood and vessels of this artificial
variety.
The Grape belongs to the natural order Vitacce
of Jessien, and to the class Pentandria and order
Monogynia in the artificial system  of Linnaeus.
The flowers in the species found in the old world
are generally perfect, but in the American species,
they are seldom perfect, and frequently, the male
and female flowers are on different plants, hence
the early confusion in our books assigning some of
the American and Asiatic species to different
genera.
The name VITIS was adopted by Tourneforte,
and accepted by Linnaeus, (see Genera Plantarium,
1764, page 112,) and is now the established name
in botanical language for the grape vine throughout the world. Vitis is derived from the Celtic
Gwid, "the best of trees;" from  which comes
Gwin the name of wine in the same language,
o&vos, in Greek, Vinum  in Latin, Vigna Italian,
Vigne French.
The vine has probably engaged as much of
attention as any other object in the vegetable
world. It has been co-eval with civilization at all
times, and in all counties south of 50~ of north
latitude, and north of 300 from the equator. It
succeeds best in countries where the mean summer
temperature is between 67~ and 69~. Fabulous




76      CLASSIFICATION OF SPECIES.
history informs us that Bacchus and Osiris were
the first who instructed men in the cultivation of
the vine, and in drawing from it, its inspiring
virtues. Noah planted a vineyard and the spies
sent by Moses into the land of Canaan, started at
the ripening of the first grapes; and in many
places throughout the Sacred Volume, wine is
mentioned in connection with its use and abuse.
Many of the stories related by ancient writers in
regard to this fruit have been deemed fabulous.
It is stated in the Bible, that at the brook of
Eschol a cluster was cut down and borne into
camp by two men; but in modern times, we have
authority for asserting that bunches have been
found in the Valley of Hebron, so large that two
men could scarcely carry one of them. The
writings of Forster, Rosenmuller and Morden,
would seem to confirm these statements.
Scarcely a writer of ancient times, passed the
vine unnoticed, if nothing more than to extol the
virtues of its fruit; but no systematic classification
was attempted until modern times, when 170
species have been described, but owing to the
want of an unfailing standard or criterion of specific identity, many varieties have been classed as
species, and a careful revision ot the family leaves
but seventy distinct species. Although Europe is
now the great land of the vine, it does not furnish
a single native species.
India and Turkey furnish twenty-eight species
as follows:



FOREIGN VARIETIES.                 7 
VITIS BRACTEOLA, Wallich.   VITIS NOVEMFOLIA, Wall.
i CINNAMOMEA, Wall.       " OBTECTA, Wall.
" COSTATA, Wall.          "  PARVIFOLIA, Rox.
"  FLUMINICOLA, Steund.   "  PEDUNCULARIS, Wall.
S"  GRACILLUS, Wall.      "  POLYSTACHYA, Wall.
C" HEDERACEA, Wall.       "  PURANI, Hamill.
"  INDICA, LLnnleus.      "  RUBIFOLIA, Wall.
"  IRAWADYANA, Steund.    "  RUGOSA, Wall.
"  LAbTA, Wall.           "  SCABRIUSCULA, Wall.
"LANATA, Roxburg.            SEMICORDATA, Wall.
"  LATIFOLIA, ROX.        " TOMENTOSA, Heyn.
" MOLLISSIMA, Wall.       "  TRICOPHORA, Wall.' VINIFERA, Linn-eus.
The  Island  of Jamacia  furnishes  the  Vitis
Caribeea, De Candolle.
Silket yields the Vitis Mollis, Wall.
Africa produces
VITIS AFRICANUS, Sprengel.   VITIS ERYTHROIDES, Fresen.
VITIS HISPIDA, Eckl.
Nepal produces
VITIS ATROVIRIDIS, Wall.    VITIS GLANBULOSA, Wall.
" CAPREOLATA, Don.        " WALLICHII, Dec.
China produces
VITIS BRYONILgFOLIA, Bunge. VITIS FICIFOLIA, Bunge.
Japan produces
VITIS FLEXUOSA, Thunb.
Java produces
VITIS ACY3OSA, Blume.     VITIS JAVANICA. Sprengel.
HETEROPHYLIA, Thunb.    " SYLVESTRIS, Blum.
VITIS TRUNCATA, Thurnb.
The VITIS LACINIOSA (Lin.,) and the V. ORIENTALIS, (of Clem) are in dispute.
South America claims
VITIS BLANDA, Vahl.       VITIS SINUATA, Don.
" RUBRA, Desf.      7*   " TILI2EFOLIA, Willd.




' 8       NORTH-AMERICAN  VARIETIES.
These names are generally applied to the above
species, but their synonyms exceed three hundred
names, which will not be recited in this article.
We will now pass to the North American
species, and present their synonyms.
VITIS BIPINNATA, T & (.    VITIS BLANDA,   "
" AMPELOPSIS  BIPINNATA, " PROLIFICA,  4
Mich.                 " OBOVATA,  "' CISSU8 STANS, Persoon.   " LABRUSCOIDES, 
P PULLARIA, Le Conte.      " TENUIFOLIA, Le Conte.
ARBORBA, Willd             CIS8Us TENUIFOLIA."
" BIPINNATA, Elliott.    VITIS ESTIVALIS, Michaux.
" INCISA. Nuttall.            LABRUSCA Elliott.
" INDIyISA, Willdenow.        ARANEOSA, of authors.
ASTIVALIs, Elliott.   VITIS INTERMEDIA, Muhlenberg.
BRACTE.ALA, Raffinesque.   AESTIVALIS, Darlington,
AMPELOPSIS CORDATA, Michaux.    BICOLOR, Le Conte.
CIsSUS AMPELOPSIS, Persoon.    VITIS RIPARIA, Michaux.
VITIS VULPINA, Willdenow.       INCISA, Wallman.
CORDIFOLTA, Michaux.   VITIS ODORATISSIMA, Don.
CALLOSA, Raffinesque.     RIPARIA, Torrey & Gray.
VITIS HYEMALIS,            VITUS ROTUNDIFOLIA, Michaux.
LABRUSCA, Linnaeus.        VULPINA, Walter.
" LABRUSCOIDE8, Muhlenb'g.    VERRUCOSA, Michaux.
S 8YLVESTRIS, Bartram.        ACERIFOLIA, Rafflnesque
" OCCIDENTALIS,  4            ANGULATA      "9
VULPINA, Marshall.    VITIS PALMATA, Vahl.'l CANINA, Raffinesque.    " VIRGINIANA, Poir.
" RUGOSA,    "             " RUBRA, Desf.
FERRUGINEA,"                " CALIFORNICA, Benth.
" LATIFOLTA, "             " RUPRESTRIS, Scheele.
" LUTEOLA, Raffinesque.    " CARIBMEA, Swartz.
Of these four are "fox grapes," four " chicken
grapes," three "summRr grapes," four very small
acidulous grapes, and one very thick skinned sweet
grape.
The northern fox grape is the Vitis Labrusca,




NORTH-AMERICAN VARIETIES.         9
and is known by the common name of Schuylkill,
Alexander, Tasker. Venango, Wyoming, Susquehanna, Bald Eagle, Catawissa, Muncy, Luffborough,
Philadelphia, Poplar, Alleghany, and Dog grapes,
and rusty, white, red, purple, blue and black fox
grapes in Pennsylvania.
In New York they have Cattskill, Clifton,
Powell, Mazzie, Utica, Lake and rugose grapes,
and green, white, red and bland fox grape.
In Ohio they have Venango, Odd-leaf, River,
Prairie, and Ohio grapes, and white, blue and
black fox grapes.
In the south, they have Kentucky, Carolina,
Huling, Alleghany, Ozark, Rockhouse, Indian,
Sandhill, and purple plum grapes, and a host of
other local names.
Then in addition to the above are the hybrid
varieties, Catawba, Isabella, Concord, Diana, Garrigues, Hartford Prolific, Hudson, Hyde's Eliza,
Louisa, Marion, To Kalon, Wymar, Union Village,
Red Muncy, Raabe, Tokay, White Catawba, Mam.
moth Catawba, Clinton, Northern Muscadel, and
Muscadine, Cape, Spring Mills, Constantia, Winne,
Lyman, Charter Oak, Maxatawney, Rebecca,
WVeber's, Mary Ann, Cloanthe, Anna, Graham,
Miner's Seedling, Canby's August, Brickle, Kingsessing, Wright's Isabella, Ive's Seedling, Kel.
vington and Burton's Early Harvest.
And the following, although American Seedlings,
are believed to be from the Vitis vinifera:-Canadian Chief; Child's Superb, Jack grape, Segar




80      NORTH-AMERICAN VARIETIES.
box, Longworth's Ohio, Cassaday, Traminer, American Red Resling, Missouri, of Cincinnati, American
Madiera, and American Sweet Water.
"The Fox grape of the South" is the VITIS
rotundifolia of Mx., and is known by the names of
Muscadine, Scuppernong, Bullace, Bull, Bullit,
Roanoake, Old Virginia grapes, and red, white
and black Fox grape.
There is another "Fox grape" in the South
called the Vitis palmata, by Vahl, and VITIS
Virginiana by Poiret. It is a common grape in
Georgia, and presents many varieties. It is the
" Old Bland's grape," and its seedlings are Bland's
Virginia, Bland's pale red, Bland's Madeira, Red
Scuppernong, Norton's Seedling, Powell, Elsinburg, Smart's Elsinburg, Herbemont, Neal's grape,
Warrentown, Herbemont's Madeira, Lenoir, Missouri, Thurmond, Long's grape, Devereux and
Columbia.
The fourth "Fox grape" is the VITIS arenosa
found growing in Georgia and the Southwest. It
is called in that region "Fox grape."
The VITIs bicolor is the Summer grape of the
North, called by Darlington ~Estivalis, and by
Muhlenberg intermedia. Some of its varieties
are exceeding fine.  I planted a vine in my
father's yard which I found on the banks of the
Brandywine, in Chester Co., Pa., about twenty-five
years ago, and many persons prefer its fruit to the
Catawba which grows in the same yard. It is also
called fulva, sinuata, quinquilobia, heterophylla,




NORTH-AMERICAN VARIETIES.         81
triloba and nzedia. Among its common "names
Raccoon, Coral, Bear, Washita, White River,
Red River and White Summer. Several of the
finest cultivated varieties, are, perhaps seedlings,
or hybridized by this species, such as the Delaware,
Graham, Heath, Emily and Clara.
The summer grape of the South is V. astvalis
of Michx, and V. labrusca of Ell. It grows
abundantly in Georgia and South Carolina. The
fruit is as variable in size, taste and color as
in the bicolor. It is there generally called the
"Little Fox grape."
The winter grape of the North or the common
"Chicken" grape, is the V. vulpina of Marshall,
V. cordifolia of Will, in Gray's Botany of the
Northern United States, V. cordifolia of Pursh,
vzlpini of Muhlenberg, V. callosa and V. hyemalis of Raffinesque.  This grape is known by
the name of Chicken, Frost, Winter, Canada late,
Creeping, Dwarf, Ground, Blood of Missouri and
Shot grape. It is variable in size, color and flavor.
Several varieties are esteemed for drying for
domestic purposes, but it is generally unpalatable
and sour. Some varieties, however, are palatable.
The Southern Chicken grape is the V. bipinnata
in Torrey and Gray, V. arborea Will., V.pullaria
of Le Conte, ampelopsis bipinnata Michx,, cissus
stans of Pursh, and c. bipinnata of Ell. The
berries are small and generally similar to the
Northern varieties of the V. vulpina, Marsh, or
V. cordifolia of Darlington.




82      NORTH-AMERICAN VARIETIES.
The' Vitis odoratissimrum  of Don. is the V.
riparia of Michx, in Torrey and Gray.  Its
flowers emit a fragrance exactly like the mignonette which is delicious. It seldom perfects fruit.
The berries are black, small and very sour; but its
blossoms fill the air of our mountain valleys with
the most delightful perfume.
The Vitis riparia of Michx, in the South, is
known by the name of Pigeon grape, River grape,
and along the Mississippi, Vigne de battures.  1
have met with this grape in Pennsylvania, growing in the vicinity of the V. odoratissima, and
frequently compared them in all stages of their
growth, and found strong lines of distinction in
their botanical character.  The fruit is small,
black and very acidulous.
The Vitis tenuifolia, Will., produces a very
small sour grape, and is found in the swamps of
the extreme.South.
This Vitis Californica of Bent. is found around
Fort Reading in California, Sonora, Mexico, and
at San Diego. It is now the California grape in
cultivation, which yields the luscious and abundant
crops about which we hear so much from that la/d
of wealth and promise. Those grapes are varieties
of the V. vinifera, introduced into that country
by the Missionaries and traders from other countries. The California grapes under cultivation
are seedlings, and, perhaps, the original Madeira
and White Muscata.
The Vitis incisa of Nuttall is found growing




NORTH-AMERICAN VARIETIES.          83
wild on the eastern slope of the Rocky mountains,
from Arkansas to Texas, and as far west as the
head waters of Red river. The fruit is about the
size of a small pea, of a black, shining colour. It
has not received much notice.
The Vitis caribcea, Swartz, is found in California.
The fruit is about the size of a currant, and grows
profusely on the very long vines of that plant.
The Vitis rupestris of Scheele, is found in Arizonia, Texas and San Diego. The fruit is said to
be large, thin-skinned, juice saccharine, with welldeveloped vinous flavor.
Of the sixteen species found in the United States,
six of them produce varieties yielding fruit of superior excellence when properly cultivated.
The cultivation of the foreign grapes commenced
almost with the first settlement of the country.
In 1620, the " London Company" planted a vineyard in Virginia.
In 1632, Governor Winthrop planted a vineyard
on Governor's Island in Boston harbor.
In 1640, some French settlers planted vineyards
-in Delaware.
In 1650, the Dutch planted vineyards on the
Hudson.
In 1660, the French planted vineyards on the
Illinois river.
In 1683, William Penn planted a vineyard near
Philadelphia.
In 1697, the Jesuit Missionaries planted the
famous Vina Madre in California.




84      NORTH-AMERICAN VARIETIES.
In 1770, the Franciscan monks introduced the
same vine into Upper California.
In 1804, the Swiss planted vineyards at Vevay,
Indiana.
These foreign varieties were not adapted to the
climate, soil and atmospherical conditions of this
country-proved to be not remunerative, and were
ultimately pretty nearly abandoned, except in California, where they improved in productiveness and
character, and nothing can now exceed the California vineyards.  "The ordinary calculation is,
that an acre of land will produce a thousand gallons of wine annually. The crop is always abundant; it has never been known to fail." The
varieties cultivated here are all foreign, and are
called Alicante, White Muscatel and Madeira.
The varieties cultivated in the eastern States do
not succeed well in California and Oregon.
The varieties obtained from our native grapes
possess their high excellence only in limited localities. A "very best" grape in one locality may be
"poor" in another, as the following list will show.
In Massachusetts, the following are esteemed
"very best:"
DELAWARE,          DIANA,
CONCORD,           HARTFORD PROLIFIC.
REBECCA,           TO KALON.
New York.
HERBEMONT,         CLINTON,
CANBY'S AUGUST,    NORTON'S SEEDLING,
DIANA,             DELAWARE.




ADAPTATION TO SPECIAL LOCALITIES. 85
Pennsylvania.
CLARA,             WRIGHT'S ISABELLA,
DIANA,             CATAWBA;
CASSIDAY,          CONCORD.
Ohio.
CATAWBA,    DELAWARE,    CONCORD,
CLINTON,     DIANA,         SHAKER.
Virginia.
ISABELLA,          CATAWBA,
WARREN,            PAULINE,
BLAND'S VIRGINIA,  LENOIR.
Georgia.
ISABELLA,    LENOIR,        MISSOURI,
SCUPPERNONG, CATAWBA,       WARREN.
Missouri.
LITTLE OZARK,      WATERLOO,
OZARK SEEDLING,    SCUPPERNONG,
MISSOURI,          WARREN.
Since the grape is so readily hybridized, we may
expect the number of good varieties to be increased
every year, and careful experiment and study alone
can determine the merits of these varieties. We
may also anticipate an unreasonable anxiety to
discover "very superior kinds," and the frequent
announcements of new varieties of "extraordinary
superiority;" but due allowance must be made for
the fanciful imagination and the ambitions of
those who labor under the influence of the vine.
Grapes, superior to any now known, may, and
very likely will be produced, and the list of firstrate grapes greatly extended. From twenty-one




86       LUXEMBURG EXPERIMENTS
species in the old world, there are at least two
thousand three hundred varieties. At the commencement of the present century one thousand
four hundred varieties were collected and tested in
the Luxembourg nursery in France, to determine
the long disputed qualities of certain varieties.
The grape appears to be more strongly influenced
by different exposures, climate, soil, and other
local circumstances, than any other fruit. "As a
striking example of these effects, we may adduce
the slopes of the hills which grow the wines of
Montrachet. The insulated part towards the top
furnishes the wine called " Chevalier Montrachet,"
whieh is less esteemed, and sells at a much lower
price than the delicious wine grown on the middle
height, called " True Montrachet."  Beneath this
district, and in the surrounding plains, the vines
afford a far inferior article, called " Bastard Montrachet." The opposite side of the hill produces
very different wines.  Similar differences, in a
greater or less degree, are observable relatively
to the districts which grow the Pomard, Volnay,
Beaune, Nuits, Vongeot, Chambertin, Ramanee,
&c. Everywhere it is found that the reverse side
of the hill, the summit and the plain although
consisting of like soil, afford inferior wine to the
middle southern slope. "U Ure's Dictionary."
The principal part of the varieties tested in
Luxembourg nursery were from the Vitis vinifera,
and so gradually did they pass into one another,
that the best grape connoisseurs could not detect




METHODS OF PROPAGATING.         8E
the true varieties, and it seems to me to be a waste
of time to attempt the identity of varieties produced from seeds, by the character of the fruit, for
all our cultivated varieties being hybrids, every
plant obtained from seed will present a different
variety, although it may approach, very nearly to
some other variety.
METHODS OF PROPAGATING.
The best varieties can be propagated very
readily by "eyes," "cuttings," and "layers." In
February or March take the vines of last year's
growth and cut them into shoots about two inches
long, the bud or " eye" being in the middle. Use
a sharp knife and cut slanting, diverging from the
bud at both ends; have pots or boxes prepared
with two or three inches of charcoal, limestone, or
small stones in the bottom. Over this, place some
moss or hay, and then fill up with nice fine garden
mould. Plant the " eyes" uppermost in this mould,
but a very little below the surface; keep the pots
or boxes in a steady temperature of about 60~ and
the earth moist but not too wet. In about a month
the eyes will have thrown of" rotosand commenced
growing, and in a short time they can be removed
to other pots. By frequent repotting, several feet
of growth may be obtained in a single year. The
plants thus grown are the best for planting, being
the best rooted. It is also said they form shorter
joints, and produce better crops of fruit.
CUTTINGs.-The second plan is by "cuttings."
The best season to procure cuttings is in the fall




88   PREPARATION OF SOIL —CUTTINGS.
after the wood has fully matured, but before the:ntensity of winter sets in; but they will often
grow if taken off in February and March. The
" cuttings" should be of last year's growth, of well
ripened wood, and cut into lengths containing
three or four buds. If a small portion of the
preceding year's growth is obtained for the lower
end it is better. Cut off the lower end smoothly,
just under the bud and the upper end an inch or
two above the bud. Cut in a slanting manner on
the side opposite the bud to throw off the moisture.
If cut in the fall or winter, the cuttings should be
buried in a sheltered situation, where they will be
protected from the severity of the frosts, and
where they are to remain until the last of March
or the beginning of April.
As soon as the ground is in good working order
after the breaking up of winter, prepare your
ground for your cuttings. If in the situation where
they are to remain, a deep subsoiling and thorough
drainage must be prepared. Dig a trench two and
a half feet deep and fill it up one-half with limestone, old crockery, bricks, cinders, old bones,
leather and other rubbishthat accumulates around
the farm, blacksmith shop, machine shop, limekilns,
potteries or tan yard, and then fill up the trench
with good soil; a sandy texture is preferable. In
this, place your cuttings in a slanting position, the
lower end from six to ten inches deep, and the
upper end with the upper bud about two inches
above the surface. The ground on the surface




CUTTINGS-LAYERING.            89
should be pressed closely around the cutting, and
covered with leaves, litter or stones to prevent the
surface from becoming hard and compact. Care
must be taken to keep the ground moist by watering at least once a week. During the very warm
weather, the cuttings should be partly sheltered
from the severity of the sun's rays, and from the
drying winds.  If the cuttings are raised for
transplanting, pretty much the same rules must be
observed as given. When they are to remain permanently, they must in all cases be kept perfectly
clean of weeds and grass, and the soil must be
kept moist and free from baking.
The third mode of propagation is by "layers,"
a very expeditious mode of growing vines although
it is not regarded as the best.  One plan of
obtaining vines by this method is in March or
April to run the vine through the bottom of a box
or pot and let two or three buds come above the
top. Put in the bottom of the pot or box, some
leaves, and then fill it with rich garden mould, and
water every day. The success of this method depends on keeping the mould in the pots moist.
The plant should be separated from the vine in
September, and planted where it is to remain.
Another mode by layers is to bend the vine down
and fasten it there with a peg. Make a cut half
way through the under side of the shoot below
some of the buds, then cover the vines with fine
mould to the depth of three or four inches, and
8*




90        GRAFTING AND PRUNING.
cover the surface with leaves, straw or some mulch
to keep the ground moist. This operation may be
performed at any time up to the middle of July,
and is usually attended with success. The vines
should be separated in the following spring.
The grape is also propagated by grafting. Root
grafting is usually performed in very early spring,
before the sap moves. The other modes of grafting
are usually performed after the vine is in leaf.
I will not enter into a scientific disquisition on
grafting, but merely state that almost every mode
of grafting is successfully practised on the grape
vine, though more care is requisite than is usually
practiced on the pear or apple, owing to the
liability of the grape vine to " bleed." The best
time to perform the operation is when the sap is
not in active motion. By these means, the best
varieties of grapes may soon be increased to a
great extent, and there is no apology for encumbering the ground with poor and insipid varieties.
Vvery dwelling should posses a grape vine of the
best variety.
The modes of culture, pruning and management, are subjects of as much discussion as the
recognition of the varieties. Theory being often
founded on false deductions, fails in practice.
Science, not theory, and practical experiments
must be brought together, and men of science
should work more and theorize less, and not dignify mere theories with the name of horticultural
science. Vegetable physiology is but little under



FRENCH AND ITALIAN  VINEYARDS.   91
stood, and writers attempt an exposition of many
of the intricacies of phytology without even comprehending the simplest laws of vegetable life.
Many species of the grape vine differ materially
in their native growth, soil and climate. Some
are mere shrubs, whilst others clamber to the top
of the highest trees and cover an immense area.
Some delight in limestone soils whilst others grow
in the almost barren sands of the sea coast, and
others again flourish and perfect their fruit at the
foot of the glaciers, or along the shores of our
northern lakes, whilst still others delight in the
sultry miasmas of the swamps of Georgia and
Florida.
The vineyards of France are not objects of
much beauty.  "Before the foliage of the plants
has made its appearance, nothing but a field of
stakes about four feet high is visible."  "It looks
like currant bushes, or any low and leafless
shrubs," whilst in Italy the same varieties of vines
are trained to elms, poplars and maples and are
permitted to clamber to their tops and spread
from tree to tree crossing in all directions, and the
fruit too hangs in beautiful clusters and festoons,
and give to the Italian vineyards all the beauty
and taste described by travellers as they
"' Scent the new fragrance of the breathing rose
And quaff the pendant vintage as it grows."
Many of our American Tines are great ramblers.
I have seen varieties of the Fox grape on the north




92       VIGOR OF NATIVE GRAPES.
branch of the Susquehannfa, between Northumberland and Wilkesbarre, which covered the largest
trees, and the fruit yielded by them was large and
finer flavored than when raised in the same district
on vines from the cuttings under high cultivation
and close pruning. The Horticulturist describes a
grape vine at Burlington, N. J., which at three
feet from the ground measured six feet in circumference. In the rich valleys of the Ohio, the Fox
grape vine is often found from eight inches to a
foot in diameter, with vines one hundred and thirty
feet long, The Scuppernong grape, which was
once considered a foreigner, is said to grow most
luxuriantly on the Roanoake. A single vine is
said to have covered. the area of an acre. Mr.
Sawyer says: "The Scuppernong grape finds its
most genial soil in the sands of the north and south
banks of Currituck County and the Island of
Roanoake. Every man's dwelling is ornamented
with wide-spread vines, reaching in many cases
over an area of a quarter of an acre, these vines
have grown to over twelve inches in diameter, and
they have been standing for over a century. The
largest vines produce from fifty to one hundred
bushels of fruit annually. They grow in clusters
of six or eight, about the size of common marbles,
of a pale yellow color when ripe, and the most
juicy and luscious of all grapes."
The vines of France came from Persia through
Egypt, Greece, Italy and Spain. They were introduced into France about two centuries after




EFFECTS OF OVER PRUNMNG.        93
the Christian era. The vines never succeeded so
well in France as in Italy, and the high cultivation,
forcing, pruning and propagation by cuttings and
layera, have dwarfed it to a low bush, attaining
only a few feet in height.
But our American vines are generally stronger
in their growth, with larger and more entire
foliage than even the vines of Egypt or Italy.
Their organisms are adapted to the physicial conditions in which they are placed. The leaves are
their lungs, and their trunks are furnished with
peculiar tissues to convey the descending and
secreted fluids to their proper place, and the
whole and perfect plant is prepared to perform all
its functions. A part may be diverted from one
source and conveyed to another without sensibly
deranging the whole; but this can only be accomplished to a certain extent; beyond this,
destruction ensues. The grape vine in its native
soil and climate will not endure the changes that
have been accomplished in the foreign varieties,
through thousands of years of'time, and the
gradual migration through different countries,
climate and soil. Our vines will only endure a
moderate amount of pruning; the too free use of
the knife on them produces disease, and invariably
shortens their life. We have seen fine native vines
hopelessly ruined by theoretic pruning. It is necessary to keep out the dead wood and diseased
branches, and their form and growth may be controlled to a certain extent by attention, when they




94        PRUNING AND TRAINING.
are growing, by pinching off the buds, and protecting or removing the feeble shoots. Start the
branches near the ground, and train them over
trellises, but to attempt to confine their growth to
mere stakes will prove a failure on all our American species. During the first and second year,
early in the fall, the knife may be used pretty
freely. Some think it is best to cut the vines back
pretty closely, and not draw too severely on the
roots for sustenance for the wood; but even at this
period, circumstances should control the judgment, and a knowledge of the laws of vegetable
economy alone, can dictate the proper amount of
pruning necessary. In ridding our fence-rows and
hedges of briars and grape vines, we cut them
down, not to make them grow, but to destroy
them, and this operation oft repeated, seldom fails
to accomplish its object.
The wood of the grape vine is composed of
Carbon, Oxygen, Hydrogen and Nitrogen. Nothing
enters a plant by its roots but fluids, The gases
are destructive to vegetable life if absorbed by the
roots; but in solution they are food.  Roots do
not evolve oxygen nor nitrogen, these are derived
from the atmosphere alone; and the carbon that
enters the plant by the root is not decomposed until
it reaches the leaves. Hydrogen is not inhaled by
plants, but results from the decomposition of water
in the plants, therefore, it is necessary with the
grape vine, as with all other plants, to furnish to
the plant the most available means for carrying on




PROPER FERTILIZERS.           95
its great work of absorption, inhalation and elaboration. The earth must be placed in a condition
to allow the gases to escape, and the spongiolme to
absorb the fluids necessary for the food of the
plant. In addition to the above ingredients. the
grape vine contains a small portion of alkaline or
earthy salts, and these are absolutely necessary to
its health and growth. These are derived from
the soil, and taken up in a state of artificial solution.
Hence, manuring consists in supplying the soil
with any deficiencies that may exist, and in furnishing the solvent powers of acids and alkalies to
act on the soil, and also to supply the soil with the
ingredients to take up and hold large quantities of
water. Phosphoric acid, potash, ammonia, sulphur,
chlorine, lime and silex, are the principal ingredients requisite for these purposes for the grape
vine. But the grape vine is a greedy feeder, and
a superabundance of any of these may result in
harm. A thorough drainage or a loose subsoil is
absolutely necessary for the grape vine, but too
high manuring, whilst it may improve the quantity
and appearance of the fruit, will often impair its
flavor and produce disease, not only in the fruit
but in the vine. The grape vine delights in a loose,
sandy soil, and a warm exposure; the roots are
found near the surface, and delight to run along
the margin of a bank exposed to the sun, and but
slightly covered and protected from the frosts.
The causes of the rot appear to result from the
root being too deeply buried, too severe pruning,




96              CONCLUSION.
and a humid soil. Guano is an excellent manure for
the grape vine, and next to this is the manure from
the hog-pen and chicken-house. To promote the
growth of the vine, keep the ground well mulched;
but to ripen the fruit, the gases should be allowed
to escape freely and the surface exposed to the
sun. The ground should not be dug up so as to
injure the roots that are found near the surface
If the ground is continually disturbed to the depth
of the spade, so as to damage the roots, and in addition, is kept wet and covered, the fruit will very
likely rot.
It is impossible in an article of the limit prescribed, to enter into all the whys and wherefores
of the grape culture, for it is involved in almost
every question of Life with its Conditions, and embraces many of the intricacies of vegetable physiology and agricultural chemistry. I have, therefore
been compelled to closely prune my position, and
perhaps, in some instances, to leave my subject in
the dark, but, if I have advanced anything that will
contribute to the propagation of this most excellent
fruit, I have accomplished my object. I confidently anticipate the complete success of the
American grape, both as a table fruit and for
wine, and I think nothing now remains but to clear
away the rubbish, and adopt the best varieties;
reject the inferior ones, and give the best attention and care that the grape of the old world
has received since the primitive days of our
venerable ancestors.