DOMESTIC NOTICES. 



533 



watered has produced eighty pounds of grass, 

 while that left to itself produced only twenty 

 pounds. 



A friond in New- York informs us that he watered 

 ft pear tree two years ago with diluted gas liquor, 

 (about six gallons gas liquor to 20 gallons water,) 

 so as to thoroughly souk the soil about the roots 

 two or throe times in the course of the summer. 

 The tree was an '' outcast" Doyenne, and had 

 borne none but cracked jicars for years. Last sea- 

 son it bore a crop of tine smooth iVuit. Those who 

 repeat this must be carcl'ul not to use the gas liquor 

 too strong. 



Hybridizing the Grape. — I am very desirous 

 of crossing our native grape with the best foreign i 

 sorts, but I do not very well see how it can be done, 

 as the two do not come into bloom at the same 

 time. Will it do to keep the pollen of one till the | 

 other is in a tit state, or will it injure pollen to car- j 

 ry it some distance ? /. W.. Haltimore, Ap. 1848. i 



[Pollen may be kept for months without the least 

 injury, if sealed up in a dry pliial.or wrapped up in 

 sheet lead. If our friend wishes to fertilize the na- 

 tive grapes in the open ground, before the foreign 

 varieties out of doors are in bloom, he can do it by 

 procuring pollen from some vinery of foreign 

 grapes in his i.eighborhood, the blossoms of which 

 are fully expanded. It will not injure pollen in the 

 lea>t, to carry it a thousand miles. — Ed.] 



Trees for the Sea Coast.— Pray give me, if 

 you can. the names of two or three forest trees that 

 will grow quii ■ on the sea coast, where most of the 

 commonly phuited trees fail ? It must of course 

 be something that will stand sea wind and salt 

 spray. Yours, A Cape May Reader. 



[The two hardiest trees for such positions are 

 the Balm-of-Gilead poplar and tlio common Bat- 

 tonwood or Sycamore. The oriental plane tree, to 

 be had in the nurseries, is very slightly different 

 from our common liuttonwood, and is not attacked 

 by the Sycamore disi ase. The bust shrub for the 

 sea-side is the Sea Buckthorn, ^Hippophea Epam- 

 noides. — Ed.] .... 



Bauk-bound Trees. — Dear Sir — Can you or 

 any of your correspondents inform me how to treat 

 trees that have become bark-bound — i. e. the bark 

 on the trunk close and rigid, refusing to swell kind- 

 ly and in proportion to the growth of the upper part 

 of the tree ? I have a number of trees in this con- 

 dition, by which the trunks become mossy, and the 

 vigor of the tree impaired. Yours, &e., B. C, 

 Pittsburgh, Pa.. Ap. 2, 1848. 



[Scrape the bark with a dull knife, and then 

 scrub and wash it thoroughly with strong soap 

 suds. In most cases a repetition of this washing 

 twice or thrice in the season, will remedy the dilli- 

 culty. If, however, the case is a stubborn one, 

 bind straw round the trunk, after washing it, and 

 let it remain the whole season. — Ed.] 



AiMEE Vibert Rose. — I have seen no notice of 

 this very fine variety in your pages. I prefer it to 

 every other Noisette. Its (lowers are pure white 

 (the buds tinged with pink before expanding), and 

 are produced in continual succession all the season, 

 not tew and far between like some other Noisettes. 



I have a whole bed of it, and there is not a daydu- 

 ring the summer or fall that I cannot cut half a 

 dozen bociuets of this variety alone. It is also 

 quite hardy, and the foliage is of a tine deep green, 

 the plant neat and compact in its growth. Pray 

 recommend it. J. B. S., Phila., Ap. 10, 1848. 



[This we do most willingly, as it is not at all 

 overpraised by our correspondent. — Ed. 



Liquid Shellac for Wounds ik Tref:^. — This 

 is at once tlie neatest and most perfect of all appli- 

 cations to the wounds of fruit trees, that we have 

 ever used, and we are glad to tind it coming into 

 popular use. We first made it generally known in 

 our work on fruits, p. 3 , and we have not heard of 

 its being tried in a single instance when it did not 

 give entire satisfaction. Ihe followin<r is an ex- 

 tract from a letter received lately, bearing testimo- 

 ny in its favor : — 



" After trying half a dozen compositions 



or plaisters, highly commended in books or jour- 

 nals, for keeping the air from wounds in fruit trees 

 I perused your work and saw the recipe for making 

 liquid gum shellac for this jnupose. I immediate- 

 ly made a quart bottle full , by dissolvins a shil- 

 ling's worth of gum shellac in a quart of alcohol, 

 and as soon as it was ready for use, I applied it 

 largely in my orchard pruning. It is really a most 

 complete thing for the purpose, as it entirely shuts 

 out the air, and preserves the wood in a healthy, 

 sound state, so that the bark commences healing 

 over it at once. When you are trimming an or- 

 chard, and it is requisite to take ofT occasionally a 

 pretty stout branch, something to cover the wound 

 is very important — because if left bare a black de- 

 cayed spot soon begins, which is the first step to- 

 wards the rotting and decay of the whole trunk. 

 The superiority of the liquid shellac consists in the 

 thinness of the layer put on, the tenacity with 

 which it adheres in all weathers, and the neatness 

 of its appearance Then, too, it is always ready 

 when wanted, and if, by gradual evaporation, it 

 should need a little thinning in the bottle, a little 

 alcohol is added. In order to have it always 

 ready, I got a tolerably wide mouthed bottle, and, 

 boring a hole through the cork, passed the handle 

 of a small brush through the cork at such a point 

 that, when the cork is pres.sed in, the brush is near 

 the bottom of the bottle. The cork and handle are 

 then all of one piece, as it were, and while the li- 

 quid is prevented from drying up, the brush is 

 always ready and in good order. 



I now use the liquid shellac even for the small 

 wounds made upon pear and peach trees, shrubs, 

 etc., by cutting oH' branches of the size of your 

 thumb. I find they heal over much more rapidly 

 and smoothly than when left bare." Yours, truly, 

 J. S., Phila., April, 1J(48. 



Fruit Growing at the South. — Dear Sir : — 

 I see in almost every number, more or less from 

 your gifted correspondents on the subject of fruit- 

 culture at the North and West, and also many tests 

 of fruits suitable for those climates ; but nobody 

 says a word about what can be done in the " Sunny 

 South," in the way of raising the dilferent varieties 

 of fine fruits. This is to be regretted the more, as we 



