WINTER MEETING AT LEBANON. 231 



I tie the fruiting- vines to stakes, and they look well when in 

 t)lootfi, and taste well when the fruit is ripe. Large and handsome cur- 

 rants and gooseberries did tolerably well. Downing, Houghton and 

 Orange are my gooseberries. Of currants I have only Red Dutch and 

 "White Grape. Crop ordinary. 



PLUMS. 



With the exception of Wild Goose and Golden Beauty, the Turk 

 •(curculio) took the field and all these latter failed. But a tree of Lom- 

 bard on a neighbor's place has a full crop of fruit, the finest I have 

 seen for years. 



Wild Goose is of but little use here, as we don't use them. Golden 

 Beauty must be thinned out or it will be small. The curculio stings it, 

 but I never found a worm in one. They are very late in ripening, are 

 too hard for the curculio when they attack them 



My list of plums that might bear next year comprises about twenty 

 varieties. 



CHERRIES. 



Bauman May, Elton, Bene Hortense, May Duke, Gov. Wood and 

 Napoleon, all bore a fine crop — Napoleon the most profitable of them 

 all ; five bushels from one tree. 



Grapes were, with the exception of a few varieties, nearly a fail- 

 ure. Marsella, Dr. Wiley, Cynthiana and Norton were about the only 

 ones that matured a crop. The pressure of work at the time the 

 bunches should have been sacked is where the failure is chargeable. 



That sacking is necessary here is not only owing to the danger of 

 rot, but to protect from birds, insects and a species of curculio. An 

 apiary of seventy colonies of bees within a hundred yards of my vine- 

 yard is no little tax on my grapes. The birds, yellow-jackets and 

 wasps are the pioneers, cut open the berries and the bees follow. I 

 have seen three bees come out of the hull of one large grape. 



If I could be there at Lebanon during the session, it would be a 

 great pleasure to me, but the going and coming is where the trouble 

 lies. In summer, when not too far off, it may be possible that I can be 

 with you sometime, if spared a few years longer. But if absent in 

 body, I am with you in spirit. 



DISCUSSION. 



Mr. Robards — I don't like to do away with all the red raspberries. 

 Many customers call for them every season. 



Mr. Ambrose — Mr. Miller speaks of the Snyder as the best black- 

 berry. In Yernon county we could not do without the Kittatinny. 



