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There are thousands of gentlemen in the South possessed of ample means, that are not realizing 5 per cent, on the capital invested (many losing money by cotton culture), that would, if fully convinced of the profits to be derived from the cultivation of this grape enter extensively into planting, culture and manufacture of the products of this vine. That it will pay a larger divi dend on the investment of capital and labor than any other known agricultur al product, is an inoontestible fact that 1 shall endeavor to prove by statistics and figures that cannot fail to convince any candid and disinterested mind. As an illustration I propose to give the cost of a vineyard of 20 acres for ten years, and its resultant profit. In pre paring the following specifications I have drawn on the published state ments (to a certain extent) of J. Van Buren, Dr. Wyche, A. I. lhitner and others, well known contributors to Southern, agricultural journals. In the Southern States millions of acres of land, suitable for the produc tion of Scuppernong grapes, can be obtained for five dollars (or less) per acre. Sandy loam soils, of medium fertility ;iml inclining to be moist, (not wet) are considered best adapted for the full development of the vine and fruit of this remarkable grape. The soil should contain phosphoric acid, lime and potash. If deficient in these pro perties they should be artificially ap plied. Soils that will produce twenty five bushels of com per acre, are • con sidered sufficiently fertile to produce large crops of this grape. In locating a Scuppernong , v ineyard a moderate level soil will he found preferable. The ground should contain vegetable hu mus : if jjpficient the land should be sown in peas the season previous to planting, to be turned under about tlie time the peas come into blossom ; and if practicable, scatter broadcast from ten to twenty bushels of caustic lime to the acre. In a week or ten days sow a second crop of peas, aud about the middle of October turn under again with a Brindley, or some other good two horse plow. The soil will now he in a good condition to prepare for planting, which may be done from the first of December until the first of April. (The writer has successfully planted the Scuppernong as late as the first of May.) The land should he prepared with a team of two mules, horses or oxen and a good turning plow (Brindly’s will do,) This should he followed with a good subsoil plow drawn by a team of tw r o mules (the writer prefers the Murphee souhsoil to any other that he has ever seen); the land should he evenly broken at least one foot and cross harrowed; the more thorough and even the soil Ls pulver ized, the better. The land will then be ready for staking, first determining the distance at which the vines shall be planted. The old system of planting the Scup pernong is from 20x22 to 40x40 and trained on arbors about seven feetabove ground, requiring from fifteen to twen ty years to cover the arbors and obtain a full crop of grapes. Few men are willing to wait the third of a life-time to realize the full development of any agricultural product. Time being money iu this progressive age of brain and muscle, the writer cast about for some quicker method of realizing the full benefit to be derived from the culture of this prolific grape, and is indebted to Mr. Kidd, of Atlanta, for the princi ple features of the following innova tion on the old arbor system. After the soil has been thoroughly prepared, as above directed, the land is stalked oft’ ten by fifteen feet. In order that the rows shall be straight each way, it BANNER OF THE SOUTH AND PLANTERS’ JOURNAL. is neoessaiT that two lines shall be Iran at right angles fora base: say j one on the north and the other on the ! west. Then prepare a line CO yards 1 long (or as long aa can be strained i level), fasten each end to a strong stake 18 inches above ground; the stake i should be about four feet long and sharjiened to a point at the lower end ; and flat on top. Next fasten red tags j to the line at every ten feet, stretch the | line tight on the side of the field you i wish the rows to run; have small stakes ; (narrow strips of shingles will answer), stick one at each tag, then one more at J each stake; carry 60 yards, or as far as , ; your line will stretch level. Then strain < your line and drive the stakes again,! i setting a small stake at every tag. Now take another line and fasten tags at every fifteen feet. Commence at the two outside stakes on the base line: j drive your stakes with your line stretch-1 ed; then set the small stakes at every | j tag; move forward to the next stakes, j \ ten feet and repeat the same across the | plot and your land will be staked at j ! perfect right angles ten by fifteen feet, j i Now excavate holes at each stake about J : three feet in diameter, and from nine to ! j twelve inches deep. Iu the center of j the hole dig six inches deeper, and in seit a stake eleven and a-lialf feet long. Fill the holes two-thirds full with leaf mold, inverted sods, or old well com posted manure. Leached ashes, old leather, bones, ■slag from iron furnaces, may all be used to advantage. In fill ing, one side of the hole should be j filled up, leaving the other side sloping ; out from the stake at an angle of from 65 to 45°. Good healthy layered I vines of one year’s growth, cut back to two buds, and the bruised roots re moved by an upward cut with a sharp pruning knife, and the long roots short ened into twelve inches should be planted. In planting the crown of the vine should be placed at the stake and level with the surface of the land ; the roots evenly spread out and lightly cov ered with surface soil; a handful of good superphosphate scattered or mixed with the filling soil, will give the vine a vigorous and healthy start. If the vines are planted during the Winter, the filling should be lightest at the stake to allow the water to run off. Jlf planted in the Spring the soil I should be left slightly dishing or slop ingto the centre. But one cane (or stem) , should be allowed to grow, all others jto be nibbed off fir pinched off. The ! cane is to 1 • t mined vertical o the stalk. As near as practicable leave one lateral shoot on each side of the cane at any two feet or at 24, C, 8, and 10 feet. The next Winter or Spring these side or lateral shoots are to be trained horizontal to the trellis con : structed in the following mode: posts ]of durable timber should be set firmly at seven and a half feet or half way be- j tween each vine and one strong post j ten feet from the outside vine at both ! ends on each row; the outside post of each row should be tennoned in a j I sleeper five feet long, CxC or oxß and j | braced ; the sleeper buried two feet | under ground. The whole strain of the trellis bears on these outside posts, consequently requiring greater strength and firmness. No 12 wire is then j secured to the outside posts and run j through staples of wire, or a small hole | bored through each post and strained i tight at each outside post. The posts ■ should be tenanted a half foot above ; ground and the wire run at 2,4, C, 8 ; and ten feet. The latteral shoots are j then trained right and left to the wires j and secured with bear grass or other i soft material. The tendrils will soon i grasp the wires audVue arms be secure- i [ ly fastened to the trellis. In four years, j with favorable growth, the trellis will ‘ present a solid wall of vines filled with luscious golden grapes and yielding a larger amount of fruit than can be ob tained by the old.arbor system in twen ty years. Then set stakes ten * feet above ground, three feet from the main trellis on each side and three feet apart in the row, (this will leave four feet space between the rows of stakes) then train laterals from various arms to these stakes. These will be filled in two years thus giving three times the bearing surface that can be obtained under the old arbor system and yielding three times the quantity of fruit in six years ordinavially produced by the old plan in twenty years. The ad vantages claimed for this process of training arc—first, athreefold yield(this vine cannot be overloaded like other grape vines;) second, more uniform rijiCning of the fruit; thus the grapes will fie richer in sacherine qualities, consequently will make wine of supe rior qualitiy; third, the wine and fruit secures the full benefit of light, air and heat, causing more vigorous growth of vine and earlier maturity, of fruit; fourth, quicker facility for gathering the grapes. About the middle of May the young vines should be mulched with any material that will not be blown away, pine straw, spent tan bark, saw dust, straw or chaff The object is to counteract the effect of thought and the extreme heat of summer. By this procedure the vines if healthy and well rooted cannot fall to make vigor j oas growth". Previous to staking out the vineyard open drains should be constructed to cany off the water from | long continued rains and heavy thun der storms. These drains to be laid off with a spirit level with a fall of not less than one inch in ten feet. After the arbors are filled tlipre will have' to be an annual shortening in of the shoots sufficient to keep them from lapping or becoming matted, and if the canes be bome too thick they must be cut back to the main arms. Fiom the Nashville Banner. Storms. OBSERVATIONS ON THEIR RISE AND I'llOG- ItESS AN INTERESTING STATEMENT. The Meteorological Committee, ap pointed at the request of the chief sig nal officer of the United States, by the Nashville Board of Trade, composed of Judge James Whitworth, K. T. Kirkpatrick, Dr. W. W. Berry, M. S. Coekrill and E. D. Hicks’ held a meet ing a few days since and heard the re marks of Mr. W. D. Gentry, Manager of the Pacific and Atlantic Telegraph Company, and also Secretary of the Nashville Board of Trade, on the sub ject of meteorological observations. As the remarks of Mr. Gentry develop ed some useful information, and con tain some hints which may prove valuable to science, we present them below: Mr. Gentry said: While in Cincin nati, at the office of the Western Union Telegraph, I had at my command all the circuits of the Western Union Telegraph Company connecting in Cincinnati, from every direction. Cin cinnati is a central point in the tele graph system of the country, and I could communicate directly with many points in the South, also with Washing ton, Baltimore, New York, Buffalo, Cleveland, Chicago and all points west to St. Louis. While so situated, my attention was called to the fact that the approach of a storm in the direction of Cincinnati could he accurately traced aud the honr indicated with great cer tainty when it would pass a given point. All storms come from the west during the greater portion of the year; there being only about four months in the year that storms do not originate j and come from that direction. In the summer months, storms are j not general in their character. They originate anywhere, and only extend ] over a small portion of country, some-! times twenty-five miles, and some times fifty and one hundred miles. As to the distances over which storms pass during the summer months, 1 noticed that a storm coming up during the months from October to May at St. Louis, at 8 o’clock in the evening, would reach Cincinnati at 2 or 8 o’clock in the morning, and that there is no difference in the rapidity of snow and rain storms. After long seasons of rain or cloudy weather I noticed that clear weather would come in the same way. Commencing at St. Louis, the clouds would gradually disappear, and the wave of light spread toward the east. I found that not only storms during eight months of the year come from the west, but that the general coui-se and extent of territory from north to south, indicated that there does exist meteorological divisions, anil over which these storms passed, of which there are three—one north of a line running from the northwest through Chicago, Cleveland,’ Beading, Pennsylvania, Trenton, New Jersey, and converging at a point in the ocean southeast of Philadelphia. This we will call the Northern Meteorological Division. Another division, extend ing north as far as the lino indicated, and soutli along a line running from the west through a point betweei. Cairo and Memphis to Bowling Green, Ken tucky, Petersburg, Virginia, Cape Charles or Fortress Monroe, to a point in the ocean cast of Albemarle Sound. This division is fan-shapped. We will call it the Middle Meteorological Divisions. The third, or Southern Di vision, makes the line just described its northern bundary. I have never had an opportunity of observing the work ingot! southern wires to any great ex tent, and do not know how far south this division extends, but I presume that it is about the shape of the Middle Division, and extends as far south, in this longitude, as Decatur, Alabama. I have observed the difference many times between the weather in the dis ferent meteorological divisions. I ob served to-day that in the middle divi sion the weather is cold and cloudy. It has been snowing nearly all day (now 8 o'clock.) The cars coming from Lou,- isvillc had snow on them this? morn ing, and we learn that the cold rain and snow extend as far south as Bowl ing Green. Here, and as far north as Franklin, Ky., we have beautiful bright weather, the sun is shining, and is not cold. While in New York, working the wires to Washington, I have repeatedly noticed like occurrences. The snow or rain stonn at New York would extend no farther south than about Trenton, N. J., and while clear in New York and as far south as Trenton, the weather would be wet and stormy at Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washing ton. The observations have clearly proven to me the existence of tlie meteorological divisions described to you; while I believe that if competent persons are placed at central points to observe, the exact boundary lines will be located more accurately than 1 have been able to do with my limited time and opportunity. 1 have observed that the most disas trous tornadoes or wind-storms- occur on either side, within seventy-five miles of the line separating the Middle from the Southern Meteorological Division. These tornadoes are gene rally local, in width from one-half to two and a half miles, aud passing fre quently over not more than twelve miles of country. They frequently occur in tlie neighborhood of the line, and sweep down houses, barns, fences, trees, and everything else in tlie way, often killing ( r crippling every living thing in the way You remember the great disaster at Cave City, Kentucky, caused by one of these storms last season. In traveling through Southern Kentucky you frequently see. the path way of these dangerous wind-storms through the forests, with the trees torn up by the roots and laid as flat as the ax of the woodman could lay them. I have also observed that directly after a general storm of rain, snow or wind, in either the Middle or Southern Divi sion, that the reports from steamers passing oast of our coast, published iu i New York, Charleston or Savannah | papers, would contain accounts off storms oft’ Cape Ilatteras, and as the i storms in all the divisions sceui to converge at a point east of Cape Hat j ! ter.vs, I have concluded that the great 1 and continual commotion of the wind 1 and water of Cape Hatteras is caused |by the currents of air from each mc | teorologieal division converging there, j A telegraph operator, with ordinary ! perceptive faculties, can, by working a wire, detect the presence or absence of atmospheric electricity, aiid with proper instruments can measure the amount of that electricity in the air. During great electric storms, called the Aurora Borealis, of which we have had many this season, telegraph wires can be worked without battery. My opinion is that the weather has a great deal to do with the amount of atmos pheric electricity, and that a little at tention in that direction will discover to us information of great importance to science. The telegraph can afford the means. It is tlie most reliable barometer ever used. The United States Government has a desire, and a very laudable one, too, to develop undiscovered facts in re gard to these matters. We are called upon to co-operate with the agent sent hero by the Government to take oh nervations, and to commnicate any facts known to us. This should be done. With a view to this end I desire to make two suggestions. One of the objects of the Government is to aid connne.ee on the northern lakes. In my judgment this can be done by es tablishing a signal station in the north ern meteorological division as far in the northwest as possible. A station at St. Paul how would be able to in form points cast of-an approaching storm in that division, but a station farther to the northwest would be of more advantage in giVing more time to vessels to reach harbor. The other suggestion I have to oiler is the em ployment oft he telegraph and thorough ly practical telegraphers to make ob servations. Place a telegrapher in the telegraph center of the United States, where he can instantly reach every point, test wires for atmospheric changes. He would be able to note and report changes sooner than such knowledge could be obtained in any other way. Besides being able to re port the approach of storms, or any change in the weather, long before it would take place, the telegrapher would be able to make other observa tions valuable to science, and perhaps discover facts that would revolutionize meteorology. The Fate or the Imreachkrs —lt is worth the people’s while to mark the fate that has already visited the chief conspira tors in tlie matter of impeaching President Johnson. Ashley, who originated and proposed the infamous act. in tlie House, has been repudiated by his then con stituents, and is now a wandering lecturer for tlie sale of corner lots in Montana. Senator Drake, who stood up in his place aud assailed President Johnson with a de gree of brutality that would have been disgraceful to any other body, lias been buried in tlie political revolution that 1 as swept over Missouri. Senator Yates, who came into Ibe Senate trembling under the weight of his last debauch, to vote for con viction, though he had heard nothing of the trial, will soon sink into obscurity by the action of liis own-party friends in the Legislature of Illinois. Williams, of Ore gon, who w-as most bitter and vindictive in the persecution of the President, lias : already been repudiated by the people of i his State. Senator Howard, of Michigan, i who went to the Capitol on a stretcher in | order to vote for tlie conviction of the I President, is on the high way to that po litical oblivion from which lie will never | return. Senator Conness, another of the i President's accusers, has been consigned i to private life by the people of California, and has left that Stale to beettme a kind of 1 police-court lawyer in New York. Sena ! toi-Frelingbuysen, of New Jersey, has been i mustered out of political service through a verdict of tlie people of his State. Mor gan, of New York, has shared the same fate, and Pomeroy,‘of Kansas, will enter his political tomb when he leaves the Sen ate in 1876. Morton finds himself in op position to the will of tlie people of Indiana, with a prospective order of dis missal staring him in tie Tace, Willey, of West Virginia, goes into political re tiremont alter the fourth of March next, and the whole band of impeachers is fast going "Down to the vde dust from whence they sprung. Unwept, unhonortd and unsung.” « 3