GRAPES IN INDIANA. 277 The Vineyard. VINEYARD CALENDAR FOR MARCH. respecting his vineyard :— In the brief directions given last month, at Martinsville, Indiana, writes as follows almost everything was suggested that it will be necessary to have performed during this month of winds; and if the work have not been already performed, no time should now be lost in completing the preparations for spring there indicated. MR. EDITOR:-You desire me to write to you in relation to my grapes. I have but a small vineyard, containing 1,800 vines of the Catawba and Isabella; of which the former does exceedingly well, but the latter is too soft and delicate for our climate. My soil is a warm, deep, sandy loam, with a fair south and south-east exposure. My mode of training is the pyramidal style, which I derived from the Vine-dresser's Manual, by Theibaut de Berneaud. In the year 1849, my vines yielded 1,200 gallons of wine, which was the best wine. year I have had since my vines have been old enough to bear; they are now ten years of age. Last year I had no grapes at all. In the first place, the severe cold of the winter killed the most of the buds, and a frost on the 20th of May killed the balance of the young growth. Yet I have a fine prospect for Catawba grapes this season, if no further damage befall them. My grapes rot more or less every year, and the best preventive I have found is to keep the surface of the soil perfectly firm and level, so that all the surplus water can flow away; also to destroy the grass and Letter from F. A. Michaux. VAUREAL, near Pontoise, Oct. 27, 1852. Messrs. Buchanan and Longworth, use of stakes is absolutely necessary. It has resulted from my efforts, that lines of wire can be very usefully and cheaply substituted. If the wire is annealed, it will only rust the first year, and a little during the second; after that, none at all. It will then last from thirty to forty years, while wood will only last from ten to twenty years, according to quality. The employment of wire to sustain the low vines is of immense advantage. It accelerates the ripening of the grape, prevents disease, is infinitely more economical, is easily placed, etc. All these advantages, however, are set forth in the pamphlet which I have the honor to send you. Since publishing this pamphlet, I have carried my method to perfection. I now dispense with the reel there mentioned and represented in the plate. After the vintage, I detach the wire, lay it on the ground, and then, instead of using the reel, wind the wire of each line around a wooden roller, about eighteen inches long and from two to three inches thick, having as many of these rollers as there are ranges of vines. at Cincinnati, Ohio: SIRS-It is with much pleasure that I learn from Mr. Lea, that you are engaged in the culture of the vine in the neighborhood of Cincinnati, and that success crowns your efforts in that interesting branch of agriculture. In the village to which, since our great revolution of February, 1848, I have retired, the vine culture has been prac- My memorial above mentioned will exticed from time immemorial; but it is too plain everything relating to this new method near the range where too low a temperature of supporting vine shoots. It has been found is often an obstacle to good success. The so important and so advantageous, that wine which they make here almost always under the government of Louis Philippe, becomes bad. It is sour, and can be kept I publicly received a gold medal, by order only about three years. of the Minister of Agriculture and Commerce, as a recompense for my discovery. This medal I will send to you, in order, gentlemen, that you will offer it to the Horticultural Society of Cincinnati, to be deposited in their archives, if they are willing, to remain there as a testimony of my respect, and of the wishes I entertain for the prosperity of the vine culture in your state. I will also send some seed of a very beautiful kind of vine, the clusters of which are of a violet color. It is a very good table grape, When I came to this place, I owned some vineyards in the neighborhood. I found the culture of the vine (in which I had never before engaged) was attended with great cost, and that the heaviest of the expenses was that of stakes to support the shoots. To furnish an arpent (three-fourths of an acre) with them, cost from 750 to 1,000 francs, (from 150 to 200 dollars,) according to the quality of the wood-oak, or willow and poplar. For the half of France the and ripens a little later than the Chasselos. | Solon Robinson's last Plow. We in the -Mr. J. Lea has informed me that you cul- West cannot agree with Solon in thinking tivate, for making wine, a kind of grape the Isabella the best grape. which grows naturally in the woods, desig- The cultivation of grapes for the New nated, I think, by the name of Summer York market has become an important grape; that the wine you obtain from it is branch of agricultural industry. The largest vineyard in the state of New York is very good.* that of Dr. Underhill, to which we made a In this connection I should make a re-visit in the midst of the picking season. This mark. It is this: My father, who observed and studied the vegetation of your country, as a botanist, has said that all the wild vines that he observed were dioecious--that is to say, had separate sexual organs, the male and female flowers being always separate, and not, as is the case with the vines of Europe and Asia, united in the same flowers. If this is the case, you ought to have in your vineyards some stocks that never bear fruit. This disadvantage should be overcome by grafting. The graft of the vine should be inserted into the root, rather than into the wood of the stock. I shall be very happy, gentlemen, to hear of the continuance of your happy success. Your very humble servant, F. ANDRE MICHAUX. Messrs. MICHAUX, father and son, were in this country about the beginning of this century, and the botanist was struck with the male blossoms and the unfruitful vines that are frequently found in the woods; but a closer examination is needed to satisfy us that there is any vine of the opposite, or pistillate character. The wild grape is sometimes irregularly dioecious.-ED. Croton Point Vineyard. ALL have heard of the boasted success of Dr. Underhill, who now supplies the New York market with luscious grapes. The following account of his vineyard is taken from Mr. Michaux must have misunderstood Mr. Lea as to the Summer grape being the variety used in our vineyards; as it is well known the Catawba occupies the chief place.-ED. REVIEW. vineyard is two miles above Sing Sing, and abont thirty miles frem New York, upon a narrow point of land called Croton Point, Hudson from the eastern shore-the Tappan projecting about a a mile and a-half into the Sea below, and Haverstraw Bay above-the highest part of the land being near the western extremity, and elevated about fifty feet above the river; the base or neck adjoining the main land is scarcely above spring tides. The point in its widest part may be about two hundred rods; the central portion is quite level-soil, a sandy gravelly loam, with portions of clayey loam. The slopes, which in places are very steep, are quite gravelly. In fact one portion of the vineyard is upon ground from which 20,000 loads of gravel, (cutting down the brow of the hill eighteen feet,) have been carted away to fill up an adjoining swamp. The vines upon the slopes have a southeastern exposure; those upon the table land are considerably protected by a belt of forest trees along the north-western shore.One of the divisions upon the flat, with a soil apparently the most clayey, which was almost surrounded by forest and apple trees, gave the first ripe fruit, beating the warm hill-side by several days. Grapes can be grown below the Highlands upon any soil except one suitable for making brick; and if that was properly drained, particularly with cobble stones under each one of the vines, the stiffest clay need not be excepted. A vineyard must be well drained, or on very dry soil; and above the Highlands, only planted upon southern slopes. Lime, in some form, is indispensable; phosphate of lime, principally used in the form of bone-dust, being the best manure the doctor has ever applied. Guano he has found a great promoter of the rapid growth of wood, and according to his theory, too rapid. probability is, he used it too freely; if applied in smaller quantities, our opinion is, it The will be found the cheapest and best manure in the world for the vine-dresser. Upon putting down a young vineyard, the doctor applies twenty or thirty bushels of bone-dust. For manure, he makes a compost of swamp-muck, woods-mold, rich loam, sods, weeds, leaves, grape-cuttings, etc., with stable manure, urine, or yard drainings, and potash. He has applied large quantities of clay to his lighter soil-in one instance, five hundred loads to the acre; but this he thinks an excess. The flavor of the fruit is greatly improved when grown upon suitable soil; grapes grown upon wet, or rich bottom land, bear no comparison in point of excellence of flavor with those grown upon a dry gravel, or rocky knoll, well prepared and properly cultivated. In fact, it is the art of cultivation which has improved the Isabella grape, and made it so much sweeter and more delicate than it was when first known among us. It is now almost entirely free from musk; and for productiveness and good table qualities, it is yet unsuspassed in this latitude. The Catawba is more spicy, but neither so productive nor so hardy as the Isabella, nor is it quite so sweet. following with a subsoil plow, about the same depth. Upon land naturally dry enough not to require under-draining, this plan will save great expense; trenching with spades being a very laborious undertaking. Plants should be two to four years old when set, and the rows generally about five or six feet apart, the vines in the row the same distance apart-some of his plats have only 750 vines to the acre. In the Cincinnati vineyards 2,500 vines per acre are sometimes grown, the rows only four feet apart. Some of the doctor's rows are nine feet apart; but that he considers a waste of ground, the vines not requiring all the space, and nothing else can be profitably grown between them after they attain their full size. It is common in a young vineyard to plant corn, potatos, turnips, etc., for two or three years. From such crops he has made, with scarcely any more labor than would have been devoted to the vines, forty-eight bushels of corn or 100 bushels of potatos; and in other instances, twenty large loads of turnips; the bone manure materially benefiting the crops. Trellising may be commenced as soon as the vines are planted. At each end of the Dr. Underhill has experimented with a row, say one to two hundred yards apart, great many kinds of foreign and domestic a chestnut post, of eight inches diameter is grapes, until he has arrived at the conclu- planted, four feet in the ground, and six or sion that the Isabella is the only kind which seven above. The intermediate posts are can be cultivated in open vineyards profita- not quite so large, and not always so deeply bly and securely. In seasons like the pres- set. They are of the same durable timber, ent, it is true the Catawba comes to full per- and will last thirty years, or more probably. fection; but in about one year out of three They are set from eight to fifteen feet apart, this variety does not ripen perfectly. This supporting three lines of No. 11 wire, attachis a serious objection to the latter in our cli-ed by nails. The first wire is three to four mate, as he thinks unripe grapes are the most unhealthy, and fully ripe ones the most healthy of all the autumnal fruits. He has about thirty acres in vines, threefourths of which, we should judge, are Isabella; the remainder Catawba, Alexander, Norton's Seedlings or Lady Grape, Early Black or York Madeira, Croton Cluster, a new seedling which promises to be a good wine grape, and a few other experimental sorts. Nearly all the ground in these vineyards has been trenched from three to four feet deep; but of late Dr. U. has adopted a different practice in preparing his ground, which is much cheaper, and so far appears to answer nearly as good a purpose. He runs a turning plow, fourteen inches deep, feet above the ground, and the space above equally divided-some lines of posts being seven feet high. The cost of posts average about twenty cents each, and trellising an acre, $250 to $300. His first trellising was done with swamp cedar posts, not so large nor so long. Cultivation.-Light plows or cultivators which will stir the soil three to six inches deep, are used early in the spring, and kept going until the fruit is perfected; the rule being, if you wish to make good grapes, the more air and sunshine turned under and mixed with the soil, the better will be the crop, both in quantity and quality. It is no matter how much the surface roots are broken, and with this constant stirring of the soil, it matters but little how dry the season REVIEW OF THE REVIEW. is. In fact. grapes can stand a greater drought than any other crop, and are, perhaps, more easily injured by excessive wet seasons than other fruits, or products of the farm or garden. Spare the knife and spoil the grapes, may be adopted by all vine-dressers, as a standing rule. Dr. U. does not trim the leaves, to let in sun and light to perfect all the bunches set, but he trims the bunches; sacrificing during the months of June and July, from one-half to four-fifths of all then on the vines. This increases the size of those remaining, and greatly adds to their sweetness. Where grapes are grown for sale, with a view to the greatest profit, without reference to quality, this excessive pruning of bunches should not be adopted. It seems, however, to have been the purpose of Dr. Underhill for many years, to make his vineyard profitable by producing fruit of superior excellence, which would sell for a high price as soon as its reputation became well established in the New York market. In this he has been fully successful. His vineyards are so much more profitable than a 281 very handsome orchard of winter pippin apples, he regrets having planted it; and has in another case, demolished a number of fine large apple-trees on account of their proximity and injury to the vineyard. The only advantage possessed by this location of the Croton Point vineyard, over many other places in Westchester county, is in being nearly surrounded by water, which acts in some degree as a safeguard against frost. The gathering of grapes, either for wine or market, requires great skill and judgment, which can only be acquired by long practice. At first, only here and there can be found a bunch fully ripe, although to an unpracticed eye, all appear so. Bunches should be cut, not pulled, from the vines, and laid carefully in baskets, and carried by hand or on a spring cart to the sorting room. Beneficial as sunshine is for grapes on the vine, they should never be much exposed to it after they are gathered, particularly if fully ripe; and they never should be taken from the vines in a wet day nor while the dew is on. Miscellaneous. REVIEW OF THE REVIEW. MR. EDITOR:-My pen was called into re- | be so, and is manifested by the increasing quisition for you last month; but finding the number of serials devoted to rural affairs, field partly occupied by another, I have held back, hoping to see him fill the post with honor to himself and profit to us read ers. each disseminating valuable knowledge. Every horticultural show of plants, fruits, and flowers will improve the taste of some, and awaken in others, the hitherto dormant The opening year brought us in another spark in breasts which could not conceive welcome visitant from you; which we greet that simple flowers could contribute so much with pleasure and open with interest, well happiness. The inquirer then feels that assured that we shall not be disappointed in more knowledge of the cultivation of plants our search for instruction in some branch of is necessary; and horticultural information our favorite pursuit. We are well pleased is eagerly sought, where it can best be to learn from your pages, that the prospect found, in just such a serial as this of yours, before us is cheered by the increasing to keep the inquirer posted up in the curinterest shown by the friends and lovers of rent literature, and indicate the sources of fruits and flowers. This must and should standard information. Besides, your West |