Missouri. The yield of fruit is largely increased by drain ing, trenching and subsoiling. Massachusetts: Draining is useful. North Carolina: The products are greatly improved by proper stirring andculture of the euil. New York: Draining and subeoiling are of essential benefit, making the g,rowth more certain, and preventing inpiry trim dronght. Ohio: Very dry soils are vastly improved by trenching; draining is indiepeneable in stiff clays, and subsuiling favorable; good clean culture will always be attended by best crops. Pennsylvania: Under-draining is always attended with good results in tenacious soils. Soutu Caroline: Draining is absolutely necessary in clay soils; subsoilhag is useful in Mural, ous lands, but of no use in ailicions soiLs. Tennessee: Draining and deep cul ture, especially on poor soils, are of great benefit. Witi consiu: Deep cultnre is necessary in dry summers. What effect has elevation upon the health of the vine? Give results of observations, and opinions as to the pruner height above valleys. Arjransas: Other things being appropriate, we prefer loNv situations, becauee they are saeltered from heavy storms. Connecticut: No difference if the ground is dry in the valleys. Illinois: Elevated roll ing lands are decidedly the best. but elevation is eot so important wheu near large bodies of water; near email streams, or in valleys distant from water, an elevation of from one hundred and fifty to two hundred and fifty feet is rmich preferable; very liable to freeze in low grounds. Indiana: An elevated position is always the hest; grapes are healthier, with much less disposition to rot, even in -wet seasons. lows: An elevation of fifty to two hundred feet above streams bee proved best. Kentucky: There ia mo question but that elevated sites are to be preferred, where the air can circulate freely, and be protected from slight frosts. Kansas: Elevations of fifty to one hundred feet above valleys. with grounds sloping to the south, are the hest. Missouri: Elevations of from three hundred to ionr hundred feet above the water-level have proved the very best, for health and value of prodects. Minnesota: The best vines are thoee cultivated on elevations one hundred ti.vo hundred feet above the river. Massachusetts: Side hills (of no great elevation) with southern slopes are most favorable; northern slopes and low frosty hollows must be avoided here. North Carolina: The Seuppernong grape -doee best in low lands, brit other varieties succeed only on elevations; on the mountain sides, where we are exempt f du occasi onal I ate and early frosts, failure has never been ks own : in low valleys they are destro, ed by blight and lot. New York: Our best vineyards are on considerable elevations, from fifty to four hundred feet above the valley. On these high lands ere are oot subject to early frosts in autumn, and tbe viue be.althier generally than in law grounds. Ohio, Elevations are considered good, but opinions differ as to height; some prefer being within range of fog.s; fifty to three hnndred feet above creeks and em streams exempts from early fall frosts, and vine y-ards are generaby more healthy; where there are large e idles or water, elevation seems of but little consequence. P,•nnsylvanin: Elevatione of from two hnndred to four hundred feet are safer in early and late fronts, and both /he fruit aud the vines are superior to the production of low grounds. South Carolina: 'the best grape region is that above the f on the mountain slop -a; this is clearly indicated by the fact that a diseased grape leaf or ry has never been seen on them elevated lands. Tenn seeeee : We find decidedly the best grapes on elevated posi tions. Wisconsin: Elevations are subject to destructive wind-etorms.
lias any variety of the foreign grape proved remunera tive ill X ineyard culture? The returns uniformly express a negative answer to this qneation.
What is the effect of summerpruning. and what method of winter prnning is best? Arkaoaas: Judicious summer pruniog aesists in developing the !Suit; any system of reilewal i- gaud for winter pruning. Connecticut: Vines that are aliowed to ran all sunnnier without pruning riably yield large crops. Delaware: When eummer ing is judiciouely performed, it base tendency to increase the qnantity and quality of the fruit; and aleo Wilde to promote maturity of growth. Georgia: We find mer ',riming injurious. Illinois: All known methods of are more or less practieed. Summer prnning iS cossidered hurtful, according to its severity. Cases are cited of severe summer pruning causing the loes of half of the crop. lndi any : Summer pruningahon Id be limited; it is injurioas if eevere. All methoda of reuewal and spur inethode of winter pruning are practiced. I oWa: :Slimmer pruning is injurious, if it involves the removal of much of the foliage. A moderate pinching of the points of fruiting ehools checks growth and improves tbe fruit. The' renewal and other systems of winter pruning are practiced. Kentucky: On the whole, summer pruning is considered injurious, and should be abandoned. Kansas: se mmer pruning should be strictly confined to pinching out the points of shoots, and not removing them entirely. Miseourt: Summer pruning is practiced to a moderate extent. The winter pruning takes place in November.
All modes are practiced. Michigan • Summer pruning is deemed hurtful when carried to any considerable extent. The winter pruning is on the renewal system. Massachu setts' Very little summer pruning. Winter pruning on the spur system. North Carolina: Slimmer priining severely injeree, and sometimes knits the vine in this locality. New York: Summer pruning is injurious, except so far as to check the growth of rampant shoots, or remove superfluous wood. All sy,tems ot winter prun
ing are practiced, Mit the renewal mode is preferred. Ohio: Slimmer pruning is injurious as au unqualified system, hnt is favorable to the extent of removing super fluous buds, and checking over lnxuriant erowi h. Many systems of winter pruning are practiced, nut ihe renewal system is preferred. The sy:tem of horizontal arms with spurs has resulted in compare, ive failure. Pennsylvania: Moderate summer pinching is fall:liable to increase in the size of fruit, but is likely to increase the present at the expense of subsequent crops. Winter pi truing is varied. both the renewal and the spnr sysiem in varioua modifications being practiced. South Carolina: Summer pruning is not pramit•ed. The renewal system has been adopted in winter pruning. Tennessee: No summer prun ing done. Wisconsin: Summer pruning is fonnd to lie beneficial when done mith judgment. Winter priming is done in November.
What insects are most injurious to the vine, ar d what is the extent of the injnry: and what retried e,- have proved efficient? Arkansas: The leaf roller is somewhat troublesome on all varietiee, except the Scuppernong and Clinton. Connecticut: The thripe is sometimes veiy in jurioue. Delaware: A small curculio. is very destructive. Georgia: Nu trouble from insects. Illinois: The leaf folder. thrips, borer, and curenlio are occasionally f o• lid in vineyards Shaking ixiid hand-pickine are the only kuown remediee for the last named. Indiana: trisects ale not trouulesome, although rose bugs occasionally devastate the yonng trait bunches Iowa: The leaf roller and thrips are the principal insect enemies. The first named can he de,troyed by du.sting with hellebore powder. Kansas : The thripa is sometimea seen, but not to uny great extent. Missouri : The rose bug, thrips, and some other insects are to be seen, but not to any great extent. Minnesota: No injury from insects. Maeeachusetts: Rose bugs are troublesome. New Jersey: Rose bugs sometimes destroy the e, ops. North Carolina : The Scup pernong grape is exempt nom all insect enemies; other varietiee are sometimes injured. New 'York: The gi ape beetle, thrips, rose hug, and caterpillar appear. Whale-oil soap and dusting with lime are g od preventive, Ohio: A worm that eats its way from one berry to another does considerable injury. The thrips is most destructive upon thiu and smooth-leaved varieties They have beim pre vented by washing the vines wth a mixture of soft-eoap and supbur in the fall. after the decay of the foliage; also by finnigating with tobacco emoke on their tii,t appear ance. Lime and sulphur sprinkled on the leaves ure also effective. The rose ling, steel-blue beetle, end curculio are occasionally tronblesorne. Pennsylvania: Variona insects rnake their appearance, bnt none of them are very inj s. except the thrips in some dry seasons. Seuth C : The thrips is occasionally' troublesome. Tenn 410 ee o insects of any moment. Wisconsin: The thrips to a all extent According to the above reports, the most popu lar varieties for table use are, first, Concord; second, Delaware; and third, Catawba. Those in highest repute for wine, are first. Delaware; second. Concord; third, Catawba, and Scupper nong in the Southern States. The varieties principally grown are tbe Concord and Catawba, but the newer varieties are rapidly being dissem inated, and their representative merits will lie tested in a few years. On the must scale the Delaware shows the greatest uniform amount of sugar, next the Iona; the Catawba and Norton's, Virginia are also favorably mentioned in this respect. In regard to mildew and other leaf diseases, no variety appears to be entirely ex empt; Concord, Ives, Hartford Prolific, and Northern Muscadine appear to suffer the least, and it is probably owing to this exemption from SeVere leaf injury that these variQties are so prominent. Rot in the berry is almost as univer sal as leaf blights, nearly all the varieties being liable under certain conditions. If any excep tions are made they refer to the family of sum mer grapes, the cultivated varieties of which are the Elsinbprgh, Norton's Virginia, Lenoir, Cun ningham, Herbemont, etc. ; these appear to be noted for their freedom from rot. Old vines are also more generally liable to rot than those in young plantations. Shelter from dews and other atmospheric changes is considered advan tageous in modifying leaf diseases. It has long been observed that plants growing under the par tial protection of the overhanging eaves of a building, also those allowed to ramify unmolested on the branches of trees, are generallY exempt from injury. Covered trellises seem to exert a similar influence. The effects of soil with refer ence to rot in the berry seems to be very decided. Soils that retain water, as undrained clays, are very likely to rot the fruit of grapes, more espe cially when the plants are over four or five years old. Very rich bottom} lands are also conducive to this disease. Wet seasons are more fatal than dry on any soil, the primary cause appearing to be an excess of water in the soil. The chemical constitution of the soil does not seem to exert any very marked influence on the growth of the vine; clayey soils produce the richest fruit as also the earliest ripe; the latter, however, vineyard culture, a fact which should be con sidered by those who are still experimenting with foreign wine grapes east of the Rocky moun tains. The table given below will be found valuable as showing, at a glance, the status of viniculture in the several States of the Union.