Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1872-02-01
Planting Grape Vtnes.
From the journal of Cbcaniafrv

IL IS surprising that SO many families
in the country are willing to live year:
after year without cultivating a single
grape vine about their dwellings. They
are compelled to purchase the delicious
fruit for the table, or not taste it during
the season. There is q common impress.
sion that to cultivate grapes perfectly
vast amount of knowledge and tact
Is required. To many, the simple trim.
ming OF vine is mystery, more diff.
cult to comprehend than the hardest
problem of Euclid. This il an errone-
Gus view, and ought not to prevail. ANY
person of common intelligence can
learn in one hour howto trim and nour-
lsh vines, and If instruction cannot be
obtained OF some experienced cultiva-
tor, there are books filed with cuts and
illustrations which make everything
plain: Three vines of as many different
varieties, planted in some sandy nook,
or by the side of buildings, 10 as to
obtain shelter, will, if properly cared
for, furnish many bushel Of delicious
grapes every year. Select q Concord, q
Delaware, and an Adirondack. make
the ground mellow and rich by the use
of the spade, and by employing old ma
nure, finely, ground bones, and ashes,
and set out the plants. In three years
the rich clusters will appear, and in
four years the product viii be abundant.
1t Is we'll to have vines planted 20 that
the waste liquids from the dwelling can
be used in fertilization. If there 10 any
food the vine specially loves, it is the
soapy liquids which accumulate on
washing days in families. ! Vines
drenched every week with these LIQUIDS
will flourish astonishingly, and extend
themselves 80 as to cover large build.
ings, every branch bearing fruit We
say to our readers everywhere, plant
vines
CULTIVATION, ETC
For the first two or three years after
setting the trees should be we'll cult
waited. After they commence bearing
they ought to be MANFRED more or less
cvc1y year, according to the strength
of the soil, and plowed once or twice
for each crop of fruit they bear. This
should be done early in the season. and
when the fruit is on the trees. To
avoid injury to the fruit BY the curcu.
Ito, or fruit worm, it is absolutely
necessary to pasture the orchard with
hogs sufficient to eat up all the fallen
fruit, or else to gather up all such fruit
by hand and in some way destroy the
worms in it. :.
Some persons grow peaches for one
purpose and some for another; I grow
them principally for market. I Aud it
pays best to have first-olass fruit. I
am also well satisfied, both from obser.
vatlon and investigation, that if peach
crop in this country was divided into
three classee to wit, first, second and
tlirtl-rate fruit, the. comparative value
per bushel in themarket would be about
So for the first class 81 for the second.
and 33 cents for the third. But for the
purposes of stilling, or feeding hogs,
the difference would not be 90 great.
Large ffult, If we'll matured, ie the best
class for market. If the fruit on q
peach tree is not to thinly set, it can
be made to yield about as many
bushels of large peaches az of small
ler ones. A peach tree standing
on thin soil and thickly set with
fruit, and which, without manure, cul-
ture, or thinning of the fruit, will yield
three bushels of third-rate fruit. worth
in I'LL 81; with manure aud cultivation
1t will yield three bushels Of second.
rate fruit, worth in all 50: and the adj
ditional labor of properly thinning the
fruit, when the size of quail's eggs, it
will yield three bushels Of first -class
fruit, worth in all SO. It costs as much
to gather and sell bushel of second or
tl,r.l-rate fruit as it does first-class,
The difference between the prices of
the second and third-rate fruit will pay
largely for the manure and cultivation.
As ono good hand can thin the
fruit on dozen trees in q day,
and, as the Offence between the prices
Of the first and second-rate fruit is 50
per bushel, or Sc on the product OF one
tree, or S72 on the product of twelve
trees, it shows the enormous profit of
s72 for ono days work thinning fruit.
Yct but few Of our peach growers thin
their fruit. This estimate is merely to
show the great necessity for thinning
fruit. Although nine out of every ten
persons who may try it, may fall short
of the profits shown by this calcu.a-
ton, yet they will be we'll rewarded for
their labor if they realize 81 per day
for thinning their fruit, which is loss
than onc-tcnth of the amount est
mated