142 



AXn CARDEM.K'S .MOXrill.V 



VMay, 



set. The liartlott and F. Beauty have borne 

 two or three nice rrops, aiul the I'niit was exeep- 

 tionally fine. In the year 1^75 about one- 

 tifth of the orchard was seeded down to clover, 

 and as it become pretty well mixed with weeds, 

 the wliole was mown and placed around the 

 trees in the last mentioned one-fifth for a mulch. 

 In the Spring of 187G the clover came on finely 

 and made a large growth, and getting down 

 early, and the season at tiiat time l)eing ^iretty 

 dry, he concluded to leave it, thinking to keep 

 the ground cool and moist. The Bartlett and 

 F. Beauty were cropping pretty well at the time, 

 but he noticed instead of the trees in the clover 

 making a fine growth they grew but lightly, and 

 tlie leaves turned a sickly color like ripening up, 

 while the trees in the cultivated portion of the 

 orchard grew finely. By the middle of August 

 some of the trees in the clover portion showed 

 patches of bark on the stems and larger 

 branches, signs of dying, and turned black, 

 while those standing in the cultivated portion 

 showed no signs of the disease, and have not to 

 this time, but have kept growing right along, 

 and have borne a fine crop the past season, 1877. 

 I should have said the F. Beauty are the only 

 trees that suffered severely. The Beurre Bose 

 and Bartlett ripened up their leaves early, and 

 made but small growth. Now was this the fire 

 blight, and if so, why did not the F. Beauty in 

 the cultivated portion show it also ? Or did a 

 portion of them, in both the cultivated and the 

 sod, receive a slight freezing of the sap the pre- 

 vious Winter and those in the cultivated portion 

 grow out of it ; and those in the sod being 

 checked by being vobbed of some of the essen- 

 tials by the crop of clover, and being already 

 weakened by the blight and taxed or deprived 

 by the clover could not throw it off, consequent- 

 ly the disea.se already seated, and the tree weak- 

 ened, as before stated, gave way at that time ? 

 Now was this the frozen sap blight or wa-s it 

 something else ? Would farther say none of the 

 trees died fully, but are slowly recovering. 



Another, but still different case. Another 

 neighbor having a fine young orchard of Bartlett, 

 F. Beauty, B. Bose and Vicar about 8 or 10 

 years set, and the two former having borne a 

 couple of crops or so — the trees having stood in 

 sod for a few years, and not making satisfactory 

 growth — he decided to plow the orchard, wliich he 

 did in the Sjiring of 1877, and planted it to corn. 

 The trees started up and made a nice growth, 

 particularly the F. Beauty and Vicar. The 



fornur set a fair crop of fruit and carrioc! it 

 tlu-(>UL:h finely. Shortly after the first cold snaj), 

 say about Noveml)er '20th, the F. Beauty and 

 A'icar showed signs of dying in part or whole, 

 the larger branches became suddenly shriveled 

 and partly dry. Sometimes the whole head, and 

 again a part of the branches, and occasionally 

 the stem in part or whole gave way, and up to 

 this dat(! tlie disease continues to make itself 

 manifest; and while the larger l)ranclies and 

 main stem become dry in part or whole, the 

 ends of the branches are fresh and apparently 

 healthy. Now, if this was caused by freezing of 

 the sap, when was it frozen ? When it was first 

 <lis{-overed the freezing had been very light. Or 

 (lid tliey receive their check the Winter previ- 

 ous, and being weakened by the crop of fruit 

 and the dry weather, which prevailed at that 

 time, cause them to give way at that late date ; 

 and if so why did the Vicar die also, having no 

 fruit to tax it? Did the crop of corn take from 

 the trees what was essential to their lives, and 

 if so, why did not the Bartlett and B. Bose also 

 die ? Trees of the F. Beauty, which matured a 

 bushel or more of fine fruit in 1877, are in some 

 cases now entirely dead. 



OUTSIDE CRAPE BORDER. 



BY D. G. R., CANAKDAIGUA, N. Y. 



With your permission I will give a few prac- 

 tical remarks on outside grape borders which 

 will probably suit the enquirer on page 83. 

 Having the management of vineries which pro- 

 duced a fair crop of fruit but poor flavor, I 

 found the cause as I expected, i. c, insufficient 

 drainage and the roots almost all outside in a 

 temperature of 34° two feet below the surface, 

 and covered as you suggested. First, I drained 

 it properly and then added a few feet of inside 

 border. In the past season the result was no 

 shanking and a fair crop. This season they 

 have started strong and regular, look promising, 

 and are now in bloom (12th of March) ; while at 

 this date of the past year, under the same treat- 

 ment, a few shoots were nine inches long and 

 many not started. I presume the obvious suc- 

 cess is the result of drainage, and the inside bor- 

 der in which the roots have now grown consid- 

 erably. Temperature at the roots 73°, two feet 

 deep ; temperature of outside border 50°. For 

 forcing, from November to March, there 

 can be no doubt of the superiority of the inside 

 border practicalh'. 



An outside border may be of benefit when the 



