FIG. No 1.

Grape culture is so simple that every farmer should set a few square rods of land to vines. Select the sunniest spot in your garden, prepare the ground well by plowing deep, manure thoroughly, stake off the ground into rows eight feet apart, having the rows run north and south, take good, two year old vines and set them eight feet apart in the rows; in setting dig the holes eight inches deep and two feet across; set the vines at an angle of about 45°, so as to facilitate laying down to cover in the winter spread the roots out evenly and cover them with about an inch of finely pulverized earth, press this firmly about the roots, and fill up the hole with loose dirt; mulch, to protect the vines from drought and to secure a vigorous growth the first season; allow only one cane to grow the first year; keep this tied to the stake; at the fall pruning cut this cane back to three buds, as shown in figure one; cover with coarse manure, hay or dry earth in the winter. The second season all three of the buds left will be likely to start; when three or four leaves have formed, select the strongest cane and pinch off the others; keep this tied to the stake; in the fall cut this cane back to three or four feet, according to its strength, as shown in figure two; all the buds on these canes will send out shoots bearing fruit the next season in the form shown in figure three. At the fall pruning cut these shoots back to three buds. The next year a trellis will be required to support the vines. This is conveniently made by setting posts between the vines and tacking poles or strips of boards to them, having the lower one about eighteen inches from the ground, and the others a foot apart; four of these strips will make the trellises sufficiently high. A fruit bearing shoot will grow the next. season from each bud left on these spurs; in fall pruning, two of these shoots should be cut entirely away and the other cut back to two or three buds. The vineyard is now in full bearing, and by following up this system of pruning, cutting off all but one shoot on each spur, and cutting that back to two or FIG. NO. 2. three buds, the vines will be kept

FIG. NO.3.

men

strong and vigorous, with young, bearing wood. After each pruning the vines should be laid down and covered as tioned above. When it is necessary to bend them much, and to stake them down, it should be done before they are frozen, for then the vines are very brittle and apt to crack or break.

The grape for the farmer must be hardy, early, and prolific. The Concord has come to be the standard; the Worden ripens a few days earlier; the Delaware is unexcelled in quality of fruit; the Janesville ripens two weeks earlier than either of those mentioned, is extra hardy, but the fruit is of second quality; it is being extensively planted in the Northwest. Some of the Rogers Hybrids are very desirable in certain locations; the Wilder, Agawam and Lindlay are regarded as the best of these.

A sum, not to exceed fifty dollars will procure a liberal supply of plants of the varieties of fruit mentioned, and this small outlay of time and money will furnish a large amount of fresh fruit for daily consumption during the season and an abundance for preserving for winter use, saving many times that amount in other family necessaries, and adding much to the comfort of our homes.

Now, friends, will you do this, or will you still leave it to the professional grower to raise these fruits for the benefit and comfort of the cities and large towns, while you regale yourselves on pork and beans? Devote an acre of land to these fruits; plant and care for them properly, and blessings will follow. With this, and the addition of a few flowers, the farmer's home might become the Eden it was designed to be, and its comforts and attractions would tend to keep the boys on the farm and help to bring forward that "good time coming," when we shall become a happy and contented people.

RELATION OF SOIL TO TREE AND FRUIT GROWING.

J. C. PLUMB, MILTON.

Taking up this subject some years ago, as a possible solution of some of the problems of fruit growing in the northwest, I have found it a great and growing study, involving the fundamental principles of tree growth, the constitution cf soils, and the special geology of our state in their relation to fruit tree growing. I am led in these investigations to have enlarged views of the importance of the subject, not alone in reference to horticulture, but in its relation to agriculture at large, in its present status, and in its future development, and I find it not easy to confine my remarks to our branch of rural industry, as I am expected to do in the limits of this paper.

In former papers before this society I have dwelt largely upon the modifications which elevation and aspect might have upon our climate, and think I have never omitted soil formation as one of the conditions of success or failure in fruit growing; but I wish. now to give more prominence to this phase of the subject. Compared with other natural conditions of tree growth, soil formation stands prior to all others, as it lies at the foundation of vegetable growth. Prof. Morrow, in a recent paper at the Agricultural Institute of the Illinois State University, says on this point: "While air, heat and moisture are as essential to plant life as the soil, yet the last is the most important to the farmer, for only through it can he affect the former. Through the soil only can he affect the supply of moisture or hope to increase the effect of heat. The soil may be said to do three things for the plant: it furnishes it a home by supporting its roots; it prepares food, and may be compared to a vast laboratory silently and constantly preparing food for the plant; and it is a storehouse, taking up and holding food for the future needs of the plant." Add to these suggestive facts the important truth that our native soil has been brought to its present highly organized condition by the slow processes of nature through many ages of time; therefore its native resources should be well understood and carefully husbanded.

Fortunately for the purposes of agriculture and fruit growing, the soil is susceptible of great changes. It may be modified by the simplest forms of culture or application of manures, and may even be radically changed by drainage or by the addition of elements wanting to it, so as to make it susceptible of an entirely different range of production. Such cannot be said of climatic conditions, which may by art of man be only slightly modified, not essentially changed. And so of elevation and aspect; strong points in tree growing, modifying the extremes of climate and giving character to the woody structure. These should never be lost sight of by the fruit tree planter.

But we turn to soil formation as the starting point in tree growing, and as a first requisite, we should secure the best conditions of soil, either as nature hands it over to us or by our art reformed to meet our necessities. We have this fact impressed upon us by the variety and orderly distribution of our native wood growth. In them we find the lines of demarkation by "natural selection or "survival of the fittest," as plain as the geology is varied and orderly, so that the native vegetation is an unerring index of natuural conditions of soil, far more than climate. On this subject our State Geologist, in his last report, says: "The most reliable natural indications of the agricultural capabilities of a district are to be found in its native vegetation. The natural flora may be regarded as the result of nature's experiments in crop raising through the thousands of years that have elapsed since the region became covered with vegetation." He then proceeds to arrange the upland flora in nine groups, according to natural habits. For

our purpose I have not followed the elaborate subdivisions of our worthy geologist, as not necessary to our subject, but would here commend that portion of his report as a worthy contribution to an exceedingly interesting field of natural science, and presented in a manner new to scientific reports, yet as one of the most practical ways of studying native soils by any superficial method, and open to the most hasty traveler in a new country.

In example of this "natural selection" or adaptation we will for our purpose class our native upland wood growth in five general divisions, viz.: 1st. The Burr Oak group. 2d. The White Oak group. 3d. The Maple group. 4th. The Black Oak and Scrub Pine group. 5th. The Granite or Composite group.

The first division embraces the Burr Oak (Quercus macrocarpa), Black Oak (Q. tinctoria), the Poplars (tremuloides and grandidentata), the Pignut (Carya glabra), Red Cherry (prunus Pennsylvanica), Wild Plum (prunus Americana), Wild Crab (pyrus coronaria), Wild Grape (Vitis cordifolia), Red Raspberry (rubus strigosus), with the ever-prevailing Hazelnut (corylus Americana) and Sumac (Rhus). These are the prevailing natives of our prairie borders and light sandy loams with firm subsoil, which we denominate Burr Oak and Hazelbrush prairie lands. These are rich in all mineral elements, and in humus; the latter prevailing too much, oftentimes, for the best results in fruiting trees. But, as these lands are generally well drained by nature, they are quite successful as fruit lands. The exceptions being the richest prairie and the poorest sands. Of this general character, is about onehalf of that portion of the state known as southern Wisconsin, with occasional areas stretching up the Mississippi valley to the northwest. This group is embraced mainly in the Trenton, Lower Magnesian and Galena limestone formations. Soil, calcareous clay, rich in humus, and with more or less sand as a base. It is very largely boulder drift, aud independent of the underlying rock.

Division two, the White Oak group, embraces the White Oak (quercus alba), as the typical tree, with the Black Oak and Red Oak (quercus rubra), frequent, Hickory (carya alba), with the poplars and the native fruits named before, adding the wild Black Cap Raspberry and the Blackberry in the groves and ravines, where there is a large supply of humus. The underbrush is also largely made up of Hazelnut, Cornus, and other shrubbery plants. In the more humus soils the Basswood (Linden Americana), White Elm (Ulmus Americana), Red Elm (Ulmus fulva), White Ash (Fraxinus Americana), Black Cherry (prunus serotina), Black Walnut (Juglans nigra), Butternut (Juglans cinerea), with the native Thorns (Cratagus) and Ironwood (Ostrya Virginica), Hazelnut and several varieties of the Cornus family. The Maples here appear occasionally. The soil of this group is a firm, rich, light-colored clay, with firm subsoil, strongly impregnated with lime, and is

3-HOR- Soc.

found in all the limestone areas. The presence of White Oak in any situation is a sure indication of clay subsoil.

The upper strata of lime rock seem to produce a larger range of timber growth than the lower. Through the length of the state, the presence of all the native fruits in this group indicate its capacity, and may be considered an unerring guide to the adaptation of their congeners among our cultivated fruits. Our most successful orchards are with this group of native trees, for the soil is more uniform in character, not so "quick" and fast in producing luxuriant growth; but its strong mineral constituents produce the best native timber; hence we find long life and fruitfulness as nowhere else. The district embraces about one-third of the southern portion of the state, with an extension northwest and northeast through most of the limestone regions below the Niagara.

The third natural division may be called the Maple Group, of which the Sugar or Hard Maples (acer saccharinum), is the typical tree, with the Red Maple (acer rubrum); the White Elm (ulmus fulva), White Ash and Black Ash (Fraxinus sambucifolia), White Oak, and the Beach (Fagus), which latter requires also the special condition of atmospheric moisture to thrive. The native edible fruits of this district are the Highland Cranberry (virburnam), and the Thorns (cratœgus).

The soil in this class may be a marly clay, or a calcareous clay, but will be largely impregnated with lime. The soil possesses all the elements of tree growth and fruitage, but must be thoroughly. drained to secure durable wood for the climate.

The fourth, we have called the Black Oak and Scrub Pine group, these being the typical trees. It is characteristic of the lower or Potsdam sandstone formations. Here the black oak (Q. nigra) and the gray pine (pinus banksiana) are able to eke out a scanty subsistance, seldom attaining a height exceeding 30 feet, and that they are here, may be not so much from "natural selection" as from their power of endurance, as the gray pine is said to exist farther north than any other tree on this continent. With the admixture of clay in this soil, the white oak comes in. The admixture of calcareous drift from the east, bringing the oaks, elms, and other trees of that region, or the pines of larger growth, the white pines (P. strobus) and red pine, or Norway pine (P. resinosa).

The native fruit trees are not found in this district but rarely, and in their places we find an abundance of small fruits, beginning with the blueberry and cranberry on the low lands, and the strawberry and red raspberry on the dry lands, that have a surface mold to support them. Here, these fruits are at home, and without the gardener's care yield bountiful crops of finest flavored fruit.

The fifth, or composite district, is characterized by the general absence of calcareous drift; the soil being mostly formed from the