368 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



\ December, 



Fruit and Vegetable Gardening, 



COMMUNICA TIONS. 



THE BRIGHTON CRAPE. 



BY A. C. L., MADISON, IND. 



You remember last season after testing 

 quite a number of grapes, you pronounced the 

 Brighton the best of all. Every one, who, relying 

 on your taste, planted largely of the Brighton 

 last spring, in my humble estimation, Avill have 

 reason to be grateful to you for an opinion, that 

 lacked nothing of decision. To-day after test- 

 ing the " Brighton" with the " Lady," "Martha," 

 "Allen White," "Hybrid" and others, T would 

 give the premium to the "Brighton." In the 

 estimation of some it may be too sweet, but its 

 flavor would compensate for that. 



The Muscat Hamburg of the grapery, has 

 three distinct flavors, but that of the Brighton, is 

 equal to all of them combined. Its flavor re- 

 minds me of the old-fashioned peach preserves 

 that my grandmother made some forty-five years 

 ago. 



Many thanks, sir, for your opinion of the 

 Brighton grape, and for your free expression. 

 You have done the lover of good grapes a fiivor, 

 the magnitude of which, time alone can demon- 

 strate. 



[The opinion given was after testing a large 

 number on one grower's ground near Geneva, 

 N. Y. It would not be fair to assume that it 

 would behave so well everywhere, and it is, 

 therefore, well to know that it bears the same 

 character at Madison. — Ed. G. M.] 



SWAMP MUCK. 



BY GEN. WM. H. NOBLE, BRIDGEPORT, CONN. 



A late Monthly says, in eflect, that getting 

 the richness of swamp muck into crop food costs 

 a good deal more tiian it comes to. A loss is 

 claimed of $5,000 per acre on a three foot depth 

 of mould. 



'"Tis pity if 'tis true." Nature thus would 

 seem to liave wasted long years in storing their 

 food beyond the reach of the pinched harvests. 

 She is not apt thus to hide her riches from man's 

 patient search. Has she set a puzzle which no 

 delt Avit has yet worked out? Is there no way 



yet found to delve into this richness, and cheaply 

 turn its store to swell the puny crop? Or must 

 they, like that hungry fellow in the myth of 

 yore, starve in sight of piles of choice food? 

 Nature does not dump gold into our laps, nor 

 does it float in running brooks. Food is not 

 showered like manna in our paths. But to all 

 her store helps are found to bright and faithful 

 search. 



Let's talk this up a little, brother. I have 

 studied some over this hope of the harvests. In 

 a kindred journal I have had a good deal to say 

 about the promise of the muck-bed to worn out 

 soils. 



I have not put forth in the Monthly this re- 

 source of the garden, because it seemed rather 

 the property of the farm. But the cost and loss 

 lately set down by you, and other disheartening 

 search after these massive lodes and placers of 

 richness, prompt me to ofl'er hope of better 

 handling, or cheaper assay, to mine or pan out 

 its wealth. 



But really the first thing in order should be, 

 for him who dumped these dollars into a muck 

 bed, to show up the methods and cyphering 

 which foot so big a loss. Men of skill and 

 science report lots of better luck in field and 

 laboratory. I have abiding faith that their story 

 of more hopeful tests will not cheat the longings 

 of the hungry. Either that $5,000 loss per acre 

 came of blundering trials or the sanguine tales 

 and figures of big profit, easily had from the 

 muck -bed, are a delusion 'and a snare. All 

 agree that the value is there. I say if it cannot 

 be put into crops without such cost, the lirains 

 of our day have got but little ahead of the cave- 

 dwellers. Let's see how this is. 



WHAT IS SWAMP MUCK? 



It is as needful and wise in debate to define 

 your terms as to catch the hare before you snuff 

 the savory stew. Half the world's disputes are 

 over Avords, not things; over the "outward and 

 visible" shadoAV, instead of the "inward and 

 spiritual " substance. 



I mean by swamp much, that black store of 

 vegetable decay found in low down and water 

 logged places, bog swamps, peat beds and hol- 

 lows that catch and hold the upland waste. Of 



