The Red Cloud chief., 1880-01-01

TIE .currrRxoxG CRAZE.

As very little # this species II grapes
tPais rotnndyoit1) 10 known by your
Northern readers, some Of them may be
sufficiently curious ;o know more II is
p~eculiariiies. In common with AL the
other native varieties, I; L. dsyriO-zs
eofy2sfmss. or in oshrr words the pisiil-
late or fruitful plants have \ portion Il
perfect flowers and a portion II impsr-
feet flowers In the same cluster, while
siaminate plants have all the fowers
entirely destitute II = stigma and pis,il,
and are consequently all entirely barren.
This being the case. If what Use are
these latter plants9 They are no, need
cd for the fertilization of the fruit-bcar-
ing portion. n sufficient flowers are per-
feet IN produce an enormous crop II
fruit. aud IL make. no difference In the
quantity II fruit IL there l. not n stHrni.
nate plant within miles u them. This
!. the case with laJr4sca, oor,iifofta.
ripdrtG and rotaadItoiH. y. 0Stiraip |
have never examined critically. have
been cnliivating the rotundifolis class
for some thirty years or more, and
also have proved some forty or
fifty varieties Of the other classes
which are cultivated nj the North.
Some years since I abandoned all ex-
cept y. rotnndyoin, which / find to be-
the only one exempt from disease. I
now have quite a large variety under
cultivation, having raised n large num-
Der If seedlings from the seeds Of the
Scuppernong, which is a white or yell
lowish grape, with berries varying in
size from threc-fourths Of an inch To
aud a quarter inches in diameter,
the clusters varying from n Ia twenty
berries, and it is the only native grape
which carries the Muscat aroma. None
Of the varieties | have ever fail To pro-
duce good crops, and the vines are en-
tircly free from disease in vine, leaf and
fruit. The weight Of fruit on each vine
is beyond belief by those who have never
seen this class in full bearing. | have
this season had arbOrs crushed down
with the great weight Of the fruit on
them, although they were built Of good,
stout chestnut fence rails. Some grape |
growers complain that the clusters are
too small; this is not so; each vine is a
huge cluster in its entirety. In gather
ing them when ripe, they are shaken
down on To sheets made for the pur-
pose, instead Of being picked by hand
as is the ease with the cluster varieties;
and in 30 bushels Of the berries, which
are gathered entirely free from stems,
one will not find a rotten or imperfecs
berry. My vineyard, which is a small
one, has this year yielded four gallons
of must or juice per bushel Of fruit. l
have one vine, a Seeding from the
Scuppernong, raised by myself, which
will compare very favorably in quality
with the Black Hamburger, while the
berries are from one Ia one and u quar-
ter inches i'm diameter, of a black color,
speckled with russell. This class Of
grapes always blooms about the 18th of
June, and consequently the clusters are
never injured by frosts. The growth Of
the fruit is very rapid, the crop being
ripe by Sept. 18th. Could not this grape
he cultivated in your gr~ape-houses at
the North? II is killed To the ground
when the mercury gets to zero-does it
get rs low as that in your grape-houses?
Ii not, your summers are long enough
and warm enough to ripen the fruit. l
have one variety that ripens the last of
August. 1t is a fine, large black grape,
also a Seeding from the ScupPernong.
Vines Of this class are never pruncd,
aud rarely MANFRED or cultivated. The
roots running an inch or two below the
surface of the ground, cultivation is en-
tirely impracticable, and the leaves from
the vines furnish most of the manure
they get. Stable manure is death To the
vines, while they delight in lime and de-
cayed vegetable matter. Another Pc
~culiarity is that the vines can not be
p~ropagated from cuttings, rs are other
varieties, but only from layers, so that
it is a slow process TO increase them
j. Ian Buren, GdrkeSriiie, Ga, in
Country Gentleman.
CULTIVATE ORCHARDS.
In the cultivation of fruit trees IN the
West, il is often observed that trees con-
tinue to grow year after year, but do
not bear. Thus apple orchards will be-
come often fifteen years old before bear
ing, and, in fact, many of them never
bear good crops. Just how to obviate
this difficulty is a problem that has ex-
crcised the ingenuity Of our best Gull
tivators all over the West, and the
reason why no conclusions have been
arrived at by our best pomologists, and
that will be generally applicable, is that,
as a rule, the conditions necessary to
success are as varying As the localities,
soils and other minor integers surround
ing each orchard planted. Shall we
hen neglect to plant orchards? BY no
means. But, say many, there is no
money in fruit. The markets are glut-
ted except at certain seasons. True
enough, vet this should not prevent any
f,rp,a. fr,n, nlantpr an nroh,rl 90 l
the best site neal his house possible, or
if the situation is not adapted to fruit. |
make it so, as far as circumstances will
allow. 1t is true it is better that the
soil be dry to a good depth. 1t is true
that orchard trees of no kind will do
well on a soil in which the water stands
near the surface of the ground. 1t is as
true, however, that there are few farm
houses in the West, where, by proper
means, the drainage may not be accom-
plished to the depth of at least four
feet from the surface. This will do
well for all fruits except the pear, and
the cultivation of this fruit in the West
is o successful except in confined and
widely separated localities. The same
may be said of sweet cherries. Plums
are difficult of cultivation, principally
from the attacks of the c~urculio. The
Northwest is not, of course, adapted to
peaches; aside from these, however,
every farmer should have other fruits in
abundance, and to spare in good seasons,
and if carefully attended to, there will be
hardly a year without a fair supply of
fruit. There is one thing that too many
farmers forget in this connection. That
is, all the fruit gathered for family use
is worth just the price asked for it by
the village grocer. 1t is true that many
farmers who will not attend to their or
chard and vineyard do not have fruit,
and will not buy enough for a fair sup
ply. The objection made is, it costs too
much. They have set out trees, ex-
pecting them to take care of themselves
and bear annual crops. This trees will
not do for the best pomologists. Why
should they do it for the farmer? 9th
ers complain that it takes too much
time to care for them. The same COM
plant is made of the vegetable garden.