To raise Grapes, manure the soil, and keep it soft and free from weeds. A gravelly or sandy soil and a south exposure are best. Transplant the vines in the early spring, or better in the fall. Prune them the first year, so as to have only two main branches, taking off all other shoots as fast as they come. In November, cut off all of these two branches except four eyes. The second year, in the spring, loosen the earth around the roots, and allow only two branches to grow, and every month take off all side shoots. When they are very strong, preserve only a part, and cut off the rest in the fall. In November, cut off all the two main stems except eight eyes. After the second year, no more pruning is needed, except to reduce the side shoots, for the purpose of increasing the fruit. All the pruning of grapes (except nipping side shoots) must be done when the sap is not running, or they will bleed to death. Train them on poles, or lattices, to expose them to the air and sun. Cover tender vines in the autumn. Grapes are propagated by cuttings, layers, and seeds. For cuttings, select in the autumn well-ripened wood of the former year, and take five joints for each. Bury them till April; then soak them for some hours, and set them out aslant, so that all the eyes but one shall be covered.
Apples, grapes, and such like fruit can be preserved in their natural state by packing them when dry and solid in dry sand or sawdust, putting alternate layers of fruit and cotton, sawdust or sand. Some sawdust gives a bad flavor to the fruit.
Modes of preserving Fruit-Trees.—Heaps of ashes or tanner’s bark around peach-trees prevent the attack of the worm. The yellows is a disease of peach-trees, which is spread by the pollen of the blossom. When a tree begins to turn yellow, take it away with all its roots, before it blossoms again, or it will infect other trees. Planting tansy around the roots of fruit-trees is a sure protection against worms, as it prevents the moth from depositing her egg. Equal quantities of salt and saltpetre, put around the trunk of a peach-tree, half a pound to a tree, improve the size and flavor of the fruit. Apply this about the first of April; and if any trees have worms already in them, put on half the quantity in addition in June. To young trees just set out, apply one ounce in April, and another in June, close to the stem. Sandy soil is best for peaches.
Apple-trees are preserved from insects by a wash of strong lye to the body and limbs, which, if old, should be first scraped. Caterpillars should be removed by cutting down their nests in a damp day. Boring a hole in a tree infested with worms, and filling it with sulphur, will often drive them off immediately.
The fire-blight or brûlure in pear-trees can be stopped by cutting off all the blighted branches. It is supposed by some to be owing to an excess of sap, which is remedied by diminishing the roots.
The curculio, which destroys plums and other stone-fruit, can be checked only by gathering up all the fruit that falls, (which contains their eggs,) and destroying it. The canker-worm can be checked by applying a bandage around the body of the tree, and every evening smearing it with fresh tar.
CHAPTER XXIII.
SEWING, CUTTING, AND FITTING.
The customs of the American people are more conformed to those principles of the Christian family state which demand protecting care for the weaker members, than those of any other nation. Nowhere is this fact more apparent than in the division of labor to the boys and girls of one family. The outdoor work, all that is most disagreeable, and the heaviest labor, is taken by the boys, while the indoor family-work is reserved for the girls. Of this indoor labor a part is sedentary, such as sewing, and a part is light labor, such as dish-washing, cooking, sweeping, dusting, and general care of the house. The laundry gives the hardest woman’s work; but this is not daily, nor so severe as the outdoor employments of men, while it can be so divided among several women, or be so regulated in various ways, as never to involve excessive labor. Young women wash and iron, as a daily business, six and eight hours a day, and yet continue healthful and cheerful. Such is the distinctive construction of woman’s form, that labor with the muscles of the arms and trunk, such as is demanded in washing and ironing, is peculiarly favorable to the perfect development and support of the most delicate and most important portion of her body.
But while the general arrangements of family labor have been conformed to the true Christian principle, there have been certain extremes in our customs which it is important to remedy. This is often exhibited in houses when the members of a family assemble in an evening, and the girls all have some useful employment of the hands, while the boys look on and do nothing.