The National tribune., 1883-03-29
RURAL TOPICS.
Some Practical Suggestions for Our
Agricultural Readers.
GROWING FOREIGN GRAPES UNDER GLASS.

GROWING FOREIGN GRAPES UNDER GLASS.
There is a very prevalent opinion that to
grow anything in glass house requires an
amount of skill which can only be aconi--soss. uy
long practice. This is cSSIllainly true if we in
cude 81 siu1s OF plants but it is not so strictly
accurate when only one class of plants are to be
treated. We have often remarked that We DO
not know of auy fruit Of equsl quality that is
SO easily produced as the Black Hamburger,
and other varieties Of foreign grape, IN glazed
structure. The skill required to manage
house for this purpose is not very difficult to
acquire and the first cost of the house need not
be heavy, depending, OF course upon Its size.
The cheapest style is what Is known as a lean
TO house In the cheapest form this is made
by having the front and back walls put to
geUher simI1r 10 buil9sssg common board
fence a 1gcK wall ten feet high and front
wall five feet IN height viii be good proper
tions for a house twelve feet in width. a light
sill spiked on top of these walls viii prepare
them for the roof. The rafters are formed out
OF inch-thick white pine boards, sawn into
strips three inches III width, using boards OF
sufficient length 20 reach from one wall plate
90 the other. These strips are turned on edge
and rebatea for glazing. They arc then fitted
and fastened 10 the walls, at such distance
apart as may be suited 10 the size Of glass to be
used Glass ten inches 10y twelve inches will
be found a good size placing the widest dimen-
sions between The rafters SO that the rafters or
sash bars VIII require TO be exactly twelve and
hall inches from center TO center. 1t VIII be
seen that these strips serve as ratterS ana sash
bars at the same time. These will be found
sufficiently strong. but ii viii tend TO stay the
roof and make it more fitted to resist weight
of snow, or heavy gusts Of wind, TO run
purlin either In center of roof, supported by an
upright every six or eight feet, or have 1t
nailed about four feet from top and braoed to
the inside wall. This viii stiffen the whole
structure considerably.
Ventilation is provided by sliding shutters
both in front and back walls. The roof is fixed
so that 30 part of il affords ventilation. A
house of the above dimensions and thirty feet
in length will yield from $50 pounds upwards
of grapes yearly. This is low estimate and
caa easily be realized.
The soil for grapes should be deeply worked
and drained, either naturally or artificially, to
prevent II from becoming too wet. The plants
may be planted inside, about three feet apart;
the roots viii have no obstruction to prevent
them from reaching the ground outside the
house. If the house has stone foundation,
the plants should be set outside and theirstems
taken into the house. To give satisfaction the
roots must have free access TO the soil outside
of the house. 1t is Just as easy to grow good
grapes as IT is TO grow good cabbages.
SOIL FOR GRAPES
11OSC WHO EOOQ cllIlAtt lOI
grape growing are disposed to believe that the
failures of Others owing TO bad soil, bad
treatment and q general ignorance of the proper
management Of the plant. If they happen TO
have grdyeily soil, they viii recommend that
IS being absolutely necessary: ii, on the other
hand, the soil is inclined TO be heavy OF even
clayey IN Its character, then strong soil is the
one thing Hec6fuI. Others viii broadly state
that failures result simply from want of care in
pruning, or from some other cause, which, as
like as not, is really non-essential. We have
seen good grapes produced On almost every con-
ceivable kind Of soil, and that, also, with but
little skill in regard to any of the numerous
manipulating processes which are often alluded
10 in the indefinite statement" proper care"
We have often stated that soil is altogether
secondary TO climate; that the great evil which
prevents uniform success is that of mildew on
the foliage.
If equally good plants of Concord and Iona
are set out side by side in the same kind of
soil. and II. Is found that about the end of sum-
meT, the Iona has lost most Of its foliage, while
the Concord has every leaf green and healthy,
il must be taken as evidence that something
more than the soil hiss influenced this disparity
of conditions.
a GRAPE TRELLIs.
At q late meeting Of the Massachusetts, Hor-
ticultural Society, John B. Moore described his
mode of making grape trellis as follows: /" For
trellises i use posts eight feet long, set three
feet in the ground, and the end posts braced.
Three hundred feet viii require twenty-five
posts and two Tor braces costing seven cents
each, delivered They are Of chestnut, not less
than four and half inches in diameter at the
smaller end. The setting VIII cost $l.32; six
teen pounds No. Il galvanized wire, eighty feet
70 the pound, Sl.44; stretching the wires, fifty
cents; making total of $4-94. This is the
cheapest method Of training grapes. If the
lines were only 100 feet long, they would cost
$1.65 besides the extra posts for bracing If
stakes were used, eighty-fOur would be required.
costing SIX cents each, and $50 for setting,
making 1854. The trellis would not only be
cheaper but would last longer If vines are
trained on stakes, they must be coilcd TO check
growth, and even then the flow of sap is not so
uniform"
PLANTING TREES ~ PASTURES
Prof Budd, Of the Iowa Agricultural College.
advocates the planting of trees in bluegrass
pastures, IN order TO shade aud shelter the sur
face of the field from sun and wind This he
proposes TO effect by planting the box elder
about twelve feet apart, and cultivating between
them for two or three years. planting corn, po-
tatOes, and other hoed crops. The land is then
70 be seeded with blue grass, but no stock larger
than hogs, calves or sheep should be admitted
until the trees attain some size Such blue
grass pasture OF forty or eighty acres will when
established, give more feed Of highly nutri-
tious character on open prairieS than double
the number of exposed acres We have no
faith whatever ia any measure which proposes
70 grow two crops field at the same time :
the box elder is probably the worst tree that
could beelnpi0yed; il lisa rampant roofing moist
ure-exhausting plaut, and planted so close as
advised would completely smother grasses of all
useful kinds.
The proper method 70 grow grasses is Just the
same as that used for any other crop. Plow the
land in the fail, harrow thoroughly when dry
enough for working IN spring, then sow the
grass seed and roll il in going at least twice
over it with the Keller if the surface is drv.
This consolidation viii assist vegetation. Do
not SOW any other crop with the grass seed. The
sooner the custom Of sowing clover and grass
seeds among grain crops is abandoned the bet
ter it viii be for the hay and pasture crops
SELECTING SEED CORN.
From some experiments made at the New
York Experiment Station, it was found that
the largest yield was from kernels taken from
the tips of the cars. Previous tests also tend
toward the same results. Flint, In his work OF
the grasses states that the xperiment of plant
ing seed tskcn from different parts of the car
has been repeatedly tried, and the result has
almost uniformly been better from that taken
near the tips One farmer within my knorYl-
edge followed mn his fo, fo,, ,,e.,O