This section is from "The Horticulturist, And Journal Of Rural Art And Rural Taste", by P. Barry, A. J. Downing, J. Jay Smith, Peter B. Mead, F. W. Woodward, Henry T. Williams. Also available from Amazon: Horticulturist and Journal of Rural Art and Rural Taste.
A correspondent at Meadville, Pa., writes us as follows:
"I have an old frame, seventeen feet long, facing the south, with the other three sides blank wall, glass thin and somewhat broken, in which I have a Black Hamburgh vine. Last year it produced seventy bunches; and by dusting the fruit and leaves liberally with sulphur, the crop ripened pretty well This year I thought I would experiment, to see how little culture would, answer. The top sash was dropped four inches on the 7th of April (when the vine was taken up), and nailed in its place. This, with a broken pane or two of glass, gave constant ventilation, The door was opened for a few days when the thermometer stood above 94° out of doors. The Grapes were thoroughly thinned on the 14th of June, and the floor and border dusted with sulphur for several weeks, beginning at soon as the Chapes were formed. The crop was one hundred and two bunches, of which all ripened perfectly sweet, fine, and black, except two bunches, which were eatable but not fully colored. I have been troubled before, in this house, with mildew, and think that the difficulty was, the sulphur was nut applied early enough, and the heat applied not sufficient I had a good deal of misgiving several times this year, that I would spoil the crop when I opened the door and found how hot it was, but in the end everything came out finely.
The bunches were moderate, none of them exceeding a pound; but the fruit huge, fine and fully black.
"I had but a moderate crop of Peaches this year. The varieties which produced best were the Yellow Rareripe, Tillotson, Morris White, and Large Early York. This last is certainly one of the best Peaches grown. Either the dry weather or the small crop made the quality very good.
"It is interesting to note the effect the dry season has had on different fruits. Broadside Apples are not as juicy and fine as usual Rambos on the contrary, are much larger than usual "We had no frost to kill even Tomatoes, until the 20th of October".
 
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