SECRETARY'S PORTFOLIO. 413 



put a few pailfuls in an old barrel, mix in a pound of sulphur and a quart of 

 salt; let it stand until you want to apply it. When the flower has just fallen 

 off and the curculio begins his work, take a few quarts of the liquid, reduce it 

 with water to a moderate degree of strength, add to it a quantity of ashes, 

 making it about the consistency of cream, and, with a basin or broom, drench 

 the top of the tree. If not washed off by a shower,, one application will be 

 sufficient. If washed off, repeat the operation, two, three or four times, and 

 your trees, that have lost every specimen of fruit before, will come to the har- 

 vest loaded with plums. The other is to mix common tar with soap, boiling 

 it up in an old kettle, dissolve this in water and apply the liquid to the trees 

 with a garden syringe or in other ways. 



GRAPES. 



•Improving the Grape. — E. W. Bull says in New England Homestead: Let 

 me suggest the planting of seed of the Concord by those who have leisure and 

 desire to improve the grape. Select the best and ripest bunch, put it in a cool 

 aud dry place aud plant before the ground freezes in the open ground, or wash 

 out the seed and keep in moist soil until spring and plant them. The soil 

 should be made rich in phosphates and potash, and the seeds planted at least 

 one inch below the surface. When the plants are well up shade against the 

 hot sunshine until they get two or three rough leaves, when they are safe 

 from sunburn. The Concord is a good breeder and has given more good 

 varieties, both black and white, than any other grape. The seedlings can be 

 planted out at the end of the first season in rows three or four feet apart to 

 fruit. I have no doubt that prizes worth having await those who take this 

 course. 



Managing Seedlings. — D. S. Marvin says in regard to the management of 

 grape seedlings that the trouble in sowing out-of-doors is that the seeds sprout 

 so slowly that the seedlings have not time to mature sufficiently, or grow large 

 enough; of ten they do not grow until the second year. Some experts think 

 these latter the best. I can see no diffierence, except that they start earlier 

 and grow larger. The soil should be deeply spaded, well enriched and put in 

 the best condition. If a brush heap can be burned on new land, the soil be 

 pulverized, and the seed sown while the ground is yet warm, good results may 

 be exjjected. The seed should be sown in rows, and the ground kept well culti- 

 vated and free from weeds under all circumstances. But I have always got the 

 best results from starting the seed in a hot bed. Sometimes I have let the 

 plants remain therein all summer. I have always obtained the largest plants 

 in this way; but judging from past experience, I have made up my mind that 

 they are not so hardy as when sown a single seed in a pot sunk in the bed and 

 transferred to the open ground after warm weather sets in; or several seeds 

 may be sown in the pots, and when the vines are two inches high they are to 

 be repotted singly. The seedlings make a better growth if they are staked 

 and trained upright. In the fall they must be laid down and well covered, or 

 dug up, and given winter protection,. for they seldom ripen their wood so as to 

 be hardy enough to go through the winter unprotected. Like new-born babes 



