I. AGRICULTUKE AND RURAL ECONOMY. 409 



being made to assume the condition of a siphon, the longer 

 end downward, thus producing a much greater flow of sap. 

 In one instance he took four vine plants, and trimmed them 

 so as to have one stem to each, arranging these vertically, 

 obliquely upward, horizontally, and obliquely downward. He 

 then cut off the limbs alike, and found that from the limb in- 

 clined downward more than three times as much fruit was 

 produced as from the others. 



In a more recent communication to Les Mbndes, Duchesne- 

 Thoureau maintains the continued success of the process, and 

 states that it has been introduced with great profit into many 

 parts of France, and that all that is necessary to accomplish 

 the result is to give to the branches the gentle declination 

 already referred to ; the only inconvenience likely to result 

 from the extended application of the method being to make 

 fruit too abundant, and thus measurably reduce the profits 

 of the cultivators. 



Duchesne-Thoureau advises that at least half the fruit buds 

 developed in the branches in this way should be destroyed, 

 so that the remainder may acquire a full development. 3 B, 

 September 25,1873,108. 



BARKING TEEES, FOR TAN, WITH STEAM. 



An apparatus, patented by Maitre, for the employment of 

 steam in peeling bark for tan (described in Dingier* s Journal 

 for 186*7), in regard to which very contradictory opinions 

 were expressed, has been tested at Wiesbaden, under super- 

 vision of the government, with the following results : The 

 quality of the leather corresponds to the amount of tannin in 

 the bark. The variation of the amount of tannin in the bark 

 at different seasons of the year is too small to be regarded 

 in tanning. The amount of tannin in bark removed by the 

 aid of steam in the spring from trees felled in winter showed 

 no loss, either in chemical analysis or by actual experiments 

 in tanning. The process, therefore, on these points, is not 

 objectionable. 14 (7, 1873, CCX., 394. 



HOOIBREUK METHOD OF FERTILIZING PLANTS. 



A process, invented by Hooibreuk, for facilitating the fer- 

 tilization of plants has lately been successfully tried, accord- 

 ing to Les Mondes, in the Botanical Gardens of Vienna. This 



S 



