gard to the superior excellence of the Iona grape for table or for wine. No one can by words be made to realize the true value of this grape : only by eating the fruit in sufficient quantity to become acquainted with it, and by testing its wine by the side of the best wines of Europe, can a full knowledge of its surpassing excellence be gained. Secondly, it was unjust, because Dr. Grant had done more than any other man to introduce the Delaware into all parts of our country; thus giving grape-culture in America a helping hand, which it particularly needed at that time. This should have gained for him more consideration from those interested in vine-growing. The true value of the Iona is fast becoming known to our best vineyardists. Already such veteran grape-growers as Mr. John E. Mattier of Cincinnati, and Mr. William Griffith, late President of the Lakeshore Wine Company, are planting Iona vines by tens of thousands. Hundreds of men in all parts of our country are planting it alone, believing it to be our very best grape, as all must believe who give it a thorough trial. In five years, the wine from this grape will not only be known as the best we have in this country, but the best in the world.*

I have grown the Iona from the first season it was offered for sale (1864). The vines that I then procured have given me two crops of fruit. The second season after planting, they were suffered to bear from four to six clusters each. The fruit even on these young vines ripened perfectly and in good time; and although this was the season when the Catawba crop was so much injured by rot, and the Concord dropped its fruit badly, yet the Iona showed no sign of rot or mildew, nor did it drop its fruit. These vines passed safely through the following winter which killed so many young vines of other varieties, and in the spring set a large quantity of fruit, some of which was removed. The remainder (about two pounds to the vine) was ripe at the same time as the fruit on Delaware vines one year older if any difference, it was in favor of Iona. I made my first shipment of Delawares to the Chicago market Aug. 24. I have planted many hundred Iona vines since, some of which I expect to bear fruit this coming season; and can safely say that I have had no more trouble in growing Iona or Delaware than Clinton or Concord, and have never lost a vine of either, except under the same circumstances as destroyed all other kinds.

Our correspondent is enthusiastic, as his success may well cause him to be. We only hope the future may prove the truth of his prophecy. — EDS.

It is true that many young vines were lost in the winter of 1865 and '66; but in equal proportion were small vines of all other varieties lost even apple, pear, and cherry trees, that had come safely through the extreme cold of the winter of 1863 and '64, were killed. Is it, under such circumstances, just or reasonable to say, that, because vines of Iona and Delaware were killed this winter, they are not hardy; that they have not proved a success in Illinois, or in the West generally? There is yet another thing which has done much to bring about this belief that the Iona and Delaware are not hardy in the West. This is the extremely poor plants that have, in too many instances, been bought and planted. Thousands upon thousands of the most worthless plants have been and will continue to be sent out until people learn that extreme cheapness of vines for a vineyard is, like buying many other things because they are cheap, very bad economy in the end. This has done more than any other one thing to injure the reputation of these varieties; and it will continue until planters learn that ten good vines are better, and will bring in more money, than one hundred poor ones. Undoubtedly, in particular locations and situations, they will require peculiar treatment: for instance, a man planting a vineyard in the rich soil of the West would make a great mistake should he manure his ground as highly as is required in some parts of the Eastern States. In the West, all vines grow too rapidly: they do not make as solid wood, neither is it as perfectly ripened, as in localities where the growth is slow; and, of course, cannot withstand the same degree of cold. Knowing this, as all Western vine-growers do, it becomes necessary to prevent this rapid growth as much as possible by choosing ground for the vineyard not so rich as is the greater part of our land; and, to cause the canes to ripen, their ends are pinched off in August. This exceedingly rapid growth of the Iona and Delaware vines is confined to the first two or three years after planting.

A situation for a vineyard should be chosen where the vines will not be too much exposed to high winds, yet where there will be a free circulation of air through them. The surface of the ground should incline, so as to quickly run off all surface-water; for, when this water is retained, then the roots will surely freeze out in winter, even though they be of Concord or Clinton, The ground should be thoroughly underdrained; the soil

broken up by spade or subsoiler at least twenty inches deep (two feet will be better): but, if the subsoil is thrown to the surface, good soil must be brought from elsewhere to place around the roots of the newly-planted vines. The vines should be trained low, the arms not more than one foot from the ground: four feet is high enough for the trellis. So trained, the fruit has the benefit of heat thrown back from the ground in cool nights, and is thus kept at a more even temperature night and day. I have a vineyard of several thousand vines, all trained with arms and spurs. These vines have produced large and regular crops, year after year; and I know of no better method of training. If there are any perfect buds or perfectly ripe wood on the vine, it is that remaining after pruning.

The vines should not be suffered to ripen more than two or three clusters of fruit the second season after planting; and, unless very large, should not bear till the third year. The distance I would recommend for Delaware and Iona is four feet in the row, the rows six feet apart. The Iona may be planted six by six; but the Delaware, if planted at this distance, will set more fruit than it should ripen. I am satisfied, that, as a general thing, we plant all vines too far apart, and injure them by heavy bearing.

All vines must be covered with earth in winter. This is decidedly necessary. Even in warm winters, this covering will insure one-third more fruit, and the clusters will be much more perfect: a crop of fruit is thus made certain. This covering is very little trouble if the vines are trained with either double or single arms: but the arms should be taken directly from the ground; that is, started as low down as is possible, and not, as is shown in most books on grape-culture, taken from the two upper buds of a cane cut at one foot from the ground, started from near the surface. They should be trained at an angle until the lower bar or wire is reached, and then directly along it. When trained this way, they almost drop to the ground when untied from the trellis. The spurs being short, all are easily covered by plough or spade. In building trellis, use three wires, the first, one foot from the

ground; the second, fifteen inches from that; and the third, within an inch of the top of posts, which are four feet above the ground. I first built my trellis with upright wires, but soon had them removed.

WARSAW, HANCOCK COUNTY, ILL.

C. F. May.

GARDEN ARCHITECTURE, AND HINTS ON LANDSCAPE GARDENING.

ENTRANCE-ROAD.

THE entrance-road, with its wing-walls, in most cases the first unmistakable indication of proprietorship which strikes the visitor, demands much care in its treatment.

Fig. 14.

For entrance-sweeps of a plain character, the subjoined sketch shows a method of coping which may be practised with very good effect. It is a rude sort of crenellation, by no means lacking picturesqueness in execution, though not very effective as a sketch.

The two annexed cuts, Figs. 15 and 16, show two nearly similar methods

Fig. 15.

of treating an entrance-sweep wall. In the former, the curves are simple quadrants in the Roman manner, which can never give grace in combination, as may be seen in the cyma recta or cymatium of any Roman example. The Greeks, on the contrary, used invariably curves drawn by hand, of such extreme delicacy, that they cannot be imitated by any mathematical formula of projection. The Italian form of cymatium, which is of extreme grace, is also drawn by hand.

Fig. 16 shows the sweep treated in the Italian method, drawn, for convenience, by two portions of circles of unequal radius. The curve is easy, and what is termed "flowing."

Some prefer a hollow curve for the entrance-sweep; but it seems more natural that the walls or fence should conform to the track which either

Fig. 16.

wheeled vehicles or pedestrians would take on turning from the highway into private grounds. Besides, any thing that tends to increase the quantity of gravel which requires weeding is an objection. If on a very large scale, the portions of the road over which the traffic never passes might be turfed, and indeed planted, enclosed by a fence, or posts and chain; but it may be questioned whether there is strict propriety in supplementing the sweepwall, which is the real fence, by another outside it. This difficulty is greatly lessened if the entrance recess is angular, as there will then be at least a fair place to start the supplementary fence from; namely, a corner pier.

The first thing required of an approach-road is that it should be easy, and reasonably direct. People who are hurrying to catch a train have little leisure to admire the road for any thing but its suitability for purposes of locomotion. The curves should be fair and continuous, easy to be kept by the horses, and screening the house. The following example shows a short approach; but, short as it is, it admits of being done badly.

very

In Fig. 17, the curve is continuous, and the house is screened. In Fig. 18, the wheels would certainly follow the straighter course shown by the straight