secretary's budget. 323 



to that raised from matured wood. The practice was abandoned, and 

 since then but very little difference has been found in the supposed 

 hardiness of one kind more than another. Florists are now learning 

 the same lesson over again in the case of the verbena and carnation. 

 They are coming to the conclusion that the susceptibility of these 

 plants in modern times, to various diseases the}'' were exempt from 

 years ago, comes from weakened vital power through continuous pro- 

 pagation from immature or green wood. All the facts tend to confirm 

 this view, and though we do not suppose there would be any great in- 

 jury result from one generation of grape propagation from green wood, 

 it is dangerous to follow it through several. — Ed. G. M.] 



Grape rot is proved to be a purely local mfection, caused by the 

 growth of a parasitic fungus, and not a disease pervading the circula- 

 tory system of tbe plant. The fungus has been identified, and its life 

 history traced; clusters of grapes protected by enclosure in bags of 

 paper or of cloth remain undiseased, while all the unprotected clus- 

 ters upon the same vine will rot ; individual berries, upon perfectly 

 protected clusters, have been successfully inoculated with the disase. 

 Those to which the spore of the Phoma was introduced rotted ; the 

 aremaining berries of the cluster were unaffected. — Gard. Monthly. 



worden grape. 



We have raised this grape for many years, and have found it uni- 

 iormly at least a week to ten days earlier than the Concord, the slight 

 variation here mentioned resulting from hot weather succeeding cool, 

 and vice versa. The Prairie Farmer gives the experience of W. K. 

 Mun3on,of Grand Rapids, who had in his five-acre vineyard an acre 

 each of Worden and Delaware, two acres of Concord, and the remain- 

 der of Martha and Brighton. He said that the one acre of Worden 

 has paid as much each year as all the rest of the vineyard. He had 

 found it ten days to two weeks earlier than the Concord, with a better 

 bunch, and larger and better berries. It sold for eight cents a pound, 

 Concords four and a half cents. He began picking September 8th, 

 Ooncord September 22d. 



TRAINING THE GRAPEVINE. 



Prof. L. H. Bailey, discussing in the Philadelphia Press methods 

 of traning grapevines, says: "Most vineyardists alon*? the older por- 

 tions of the favored east shore of Lake Michigan have given up all 

 elaborate methods of training. The vines are pruned as soon as the 

 wood thaws out in the spring, and the canes are then twisted around 



