172 



TUE QARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[June, 



of a grape becomes a foxy red. Some grape- 

 growers of emiiieiu-e, in view of tlicse facts, 

 shade their vineries during the coloring process ; 

 but others, instead, keep the atmosphere as close 

 and moist as possible. The latter course de- 

 tracts from tlie flavor of the fruit. The best plan 

 is that which cunibines both practices. 



In summer-pruning grapes, care must bo 

 taken that the leaves from the stopped laterals 

 do notover-crowd or smother the larger leaves of 

 the original cane, on which all your hopes of 

 good sound wood for next season depend. All 

 the use for the leaves on the laterals is to afford 

 outlets for superabundant sap, which otherwise 

 would cause the next season's fruiting buds to 

 burst now. Always carefully guard the first 

 leaves. 



At the end of June some celery may be set out 

 for early crops, though for the main crop a 

 month later will be quite time enough. It was 

 once customary to plant in trenches dug six or 

 more inches below the surface ; but the poverty 

 of the soil usually at this depth more than de- 

 creases the balance of good points in its favor. 

 Some of our best growers now plant entirely on 

 the surface, and depend on drawing up the soil, 

 or the employment of boards or other artificial 

 methods of blanching. 



Cabbage and Brocoli may still be set out for 

 Fall crops, also requiring an abundance of man- 

 ure to insure much success. Lettuce, where 

 salads are in much request, may yet be sown. 

 The Curled Indian is a favorite Summer kind : 

 but the varieties of Cos, or Plain-leaved kinds, 

 are good. They take more trouble, having to be 

 tied up to blanch well. Many should not be 

 sown at a time, as they soon run to seed in hot 

 weather. 



Beans produce enormous crops in deeply 

 trenched soils, and are improved as much as 

 any crop by surface manuring. We hope this 

 method of fertilizing the soil will be extensively 

 adopted far garden crops this season. Those 

 who have not yet tried it will be surprised at 

 the economy and beneficial results of the prac- 

 tice. 



Peas for a Fall crop may be sown. It is, how- 

 ever, useless to try them, unless in a deeply- 

 trenched soil, and one that is comparatively cool 

 in the hottest weather overhead, or they will cer- 

 tainly mildew and prove worthless. In England, 

 where the atmosphere is much more humid than 

 ours, they nevertheless, have great difficulty in 

 getting Fall peas to get through free from mil- 



dew ; and to obviate these drying and mildewing 

 producing inlluenccs, they often plant them in 

 deep trenches, made as for celery, and are then 

 much more successful with them. 



Cucumbers for pickling may be sown lhi.s 

 month, and endive for Fall salad set out. Par- 

 sley for Winter use may be sown now in boxes 

 of rich soil, and set in a cool, .shady place till it 

 germinates. 



Asparagus-beds should not be cut off after the 

 stalks seem to come up weak, or there will be 

 but a poor crop the next season, and the beds 

 will " run out " in a few years. 



COMMUNICA TIONS. 



FRUIT AT THE NORTH. 



BY iXS. M. HAYES, DOVER, N. H. 



The season of 1875 can be classed as one of 

 the poorest in many respects for fruit north of 

 the 43d parallel of latitude. Frost continued 

 late in Spring, until May 18th, and in Autumn 

 the first was September 11th ; so with only 115 

 days without frost, much fruit failed to mature. 

 The temperature during the whole Summer was 

 low, only one day during the Summer (June 24) 

 did the thermometer get above 90°. Thus it will 

 be seen that the season in New Hampshire was 

 uiuisually cold, and yet roots of all kinds were 

 good. Corn ripened well, but alas for our 

 grapes, the biting frosts ruined them. The whole 

 season, from the first, the vines gave abundant 

 promise of a rich harvest in Autumn, and we 

 New Hampshire fruit growers felt encouraged, 

 thinking that for one year at least, our grapes 

 would be a paying crop, but an "Arctic wave " 

 swept over us, and Jack Frost in a single night 

 upset our calculations. Not even those early va- 

 rieties which come to us with such glowing rec- 

 ommendations of earliness " combined with har- 

 diness and productiveness, as just the grape any- 

 where south of Canada for the vineyardist," 

 ripened a single grape. None of those far- 

 famed varieties from Iowa Island seemed to do 

 much better than the old and tried kinds, Hart- 

 ford, Delaware and Concord. Neither did the 

 "American raisin grape," — the Walter — mature. 

 Thus far, after ten years' experience, I have 

 found nothing better than the Concord, and if 

 called to vote upon the best variety for general 

 cultivation, I should unhesitatingly vote with 

 the " Tribune philosopher," for the Concord, as the 



