PRACTICAL HINTS. 



29 



be repeated. Indeed it would be strange if 

 so small a proportion as one pint to a hogs- 

 head would render water sweet for a very long 

 time, particularly when impurities to a certain 

 extent are continually flowing in. 



Charles Robinson. 



New Haven, June 20, 1850. 



We confess ourselves a little puzzled about 

 the Zinfindal grape, and wan't to hear what 

 Dr. MuNSON will say. Mr. Parsons is re- 

 ported in the Proceedings -of the Fruit Grow- 



ers' Convention as stating that this variety 

 " succeeded perfectly well in the open air" — 

 and Dr. M. as saying that there was " no dif- 

 ficulty with it out of doors." We were so 

 much struck with these remarks at the time 

 the discussion was going on, that we conjec- 

 tured there must be some error about the va- 

 riety — when one of these gentlemen — we can- 

 not remember which — pointed out specimens 

 then on the exhibition tables — which were 

 certainly the true Zinfindal. Ed. 



PRACTICAL HINTS. 



BY AN OLD DIGGER. 



If you are going to water a favorite plant, 

 that is sufi"ering by drouth, don't take the 

 trouble to sprinkle three or four quarts of wa- 

 ter upon the top of the ground, over the roots, 

 every day. It is only "an aggrawation," as 

 Mr. Weller said, when he drank off a glass 

 of very small beer. The thing to be done 

 in such a case is, to take off the top soil near- 

 ly down to the roots — make a little trench or 

 ditch to prevent the water running away, and 

 then drench the roots with water. Put on as 

 much as the ground will readily swallow. 

 Then wait half an hour, till it is well settled, 

 and put the loose soil back again. To make 

 good thorough work of it, finish all by mulch- 

 ing the surface — that is, covering it with hay, 

 grass, litter of spent tan, or whatever refuse 

 of that sort you can lay your hands on. One 

 or two such waterings will carry a doubtful 

 subject through a six weeks' drouth, and will 

 cost you a vast deal less, both of labor and 

 water, than the daily sprinkling system, which 

 is the common practice. 



Almost every body, now-a-days, has a grape 

 vine — either Isabella or Catawba ; but not 

 one half of us ever get a good crop of grapes. 

 The difficulty, when the seasons are long 



enough, is pretty much all owing to the igno 

 ranee of pruning — for pruning is to a grape 

 vine what a pond is to young ducks, some- 

 thing not to be done without. The two great 

 mistakes, in pruning hardy grapes, is not cut- 

 ting away enough wood in the winter-pruning, 

 and cutting away too much in felie summer-prun- 

 ing. If you wish to have your vine thrive 

 and well open to the sun, prune it as clean in 

 February or IMarch as you please. If you 

 wish to stunt and diminish the size of your 

 crop of grapes by one half, delay summer- 

 pruning till they are as large as marrow-fat 

 peas, and then make slashing work of it. Of 

 course, in this way you will take off about a 

 third of all the young leaves and give a check 

 to the plant, like the jog on a rail-road 

 made by throwing a locomotive off the track. 

 But you have " let the sun in to the grapes," 

 and the grapes will thank you for it, by grow- 

 ing about half as fast and two thirds as large, 

 as they would have done if you had shorten- 

 ed the shoots ten days earlier and taken off 

 about half as much. The grape leaf likes the 

 hottest sun — but nature hangs the clusters of 

 fruit under the shade of the foliage, and if 

 you won't take the hint from her, she will set 



