editor's table. 



It is obvious that Ms vines that bore his late crop, say in September, ripen their fruit, and 

 their wood, and let fall their leaves through the influence of autumnal cold. 



His chief improvement appears to be in ajiplying drought as a substitute for the cold of 

 winter, and in managing to have his vines in bearing every eight months, so as to prodiice 

 three crops of grapes in two years. This gain he effects without any injury to his vines, as 

 sufficient practical trials have already proved. 



With regard to the method of cultivation of these vines ; ten days before starting the 

 buds, the earth is warmed, and in three weeks the vines are ready to be set up. They were 

 started on the 15th of December, 1854, and bloomed in five weeks. The first swell of grapes 

 was four weeks after blooming ; four weeks later, the seeds are hardened, and, during this 

 most important vital process of the plant, there seems to be a suspension of growth of the 

 juicy portion of the fruit. In four weeks more the grapes ripen. In all, the time is about 

 sixteen weeks. On the 20th inst., the early grapes — ' Macready's Early White' — had been 

 ripe for some time, and the Black Hamburgh, Chasselas, and other late varieties, were nearly 

 ripe — some of the bunches being quite perfect and of high flavor. 



The vines, now loaded with ripe grapes, will be laid down to rest, and not be again 

 awakened iintil next August, when they will be set up for their next crop, which will be 

 ripe in January. 



They will next be started in April, and will ripen in September following, and then again 

 they will be started in December. Thus the three crops will be produced in twenty-four 

 months, or eight months for each crop." 



Remedy for the Apple Bark Louse. — The best remedy for this insect is, probably, the 

 following : Boil leaf tobacco in strong lye until it is reduced to a pulp, and mix it with soft 

 soap (made cold — not the jelly-like boiled soap), to make the mass about the consistence of 

 thin paint, which will not be washed from the tree by the first rain. The fibres of the 

 tobacco cause it to remain for some time. First trim the trees well, and apply the prepara- 

 tion, with a paint-brush, to every twig and limb, before the buds have much swelled in the 

 spring. One hundred and fifty large trees can be gone thoroughly over, by two men, in a 

 fortnight. These insects from neighboring vards will not attack trees thus treated. 



Bridgewater, March 24, 1856. 

 The Rhode Island Greening. — Mr. Editor : The Rhode Island Greening was a famous 

 apple here twenty years ago. Is this becoming an extinct variety ? Of late years, the 

 fruit is abundant, but it does not set well, and, by the time the apples are as large as a 

 walnut, the tree is bare ; or, perhaps, a peck where there should be a barrel, is found in 

 October ; and so for ten or fifteen years it has been. Trees ten and fifteen years old, succeed 

 no better than those of forty and fifty years. To make our greening-trees bear, must we 

 change the soil, or manure, or add manufactured manure ? Must we seek out a new stock, 

 on the theory that the old Rhode Island Greening stock has run out ? Or is the cause of 

 this defect to be sought for in the atmosphere ? is it in the climate ? I trust that some one of 

 your readers will give us the result of his experience with this formerly noble fruit. 



A SUBSCRIBEB. 



Homemade Wine. — Dr. Tliompson, of W^ihnington, Del., has furnished the editor of the 

 American Farmer with the following receipt for making domestic champagne, pronoimced 

 equal to any imported : — 



Dr. Thompson's Recipe for Making the Domestic Catawba and Isabella Wine. — The 

 Catawba is, I think, much the best. Select the ripest and cleanest Catawba grapes. Mash 

 and squeeze them up thoroughly — then strain the liquor through a fine sieve — then through 



