1880.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



869 



these there are two great classes— fresh and salt 

 muck. Fresh muck is of three kinds. 



1st. That made by the drift and decay borne 

 along by sluggibh runs into low down places. 

 This store comes from the woods and fields, and 

 from local growth of weeds and grasses. 



2d. That found in basins among the hills, 

 holding the wash from wood and tilled soils. 



8d. The great peat beds, from a few feet to 

 fathoms deep ; the growth through centuries of 

 Bphagnous moss and vegetable waste piled in 

 tiny layers of decay. 



The second class, the salt muck, comes of old 

 ocean's drift and scum through countless ages of 

 animal and vegetable growth and death. Its 

 richness is packed and stored in great salt 

 marshes of unfathomed mould, in deep inlets 

 filled by the rush of big tides and storms sweep- 

 ing inward, all that floats on its ceaseless surge 

 and mysterious currents. 



All these tribes cover vast areas. They yield 

 but little, as they lie, to the stock of human 

 wealth. But I believe their vast treasures stand 

 with open doors to the wit, skill and lift of the 

 tiller of the soil. Along the whole sweep of our 

 sea-girt shore, north and south, wherever the big 

 salty tides sweep into the upland rifts, and away 

 inland, beyond the ocean's breath, beside tiny 

 streams, in swamps without end or in vast dis 

 mal peat beds, nre garnered relics and ashes of 

 decayed vegetation awaiting a resurrection into 

 crops. 



Yet from the Monthly and other like guides 

 and pioneers in land culture, come doubt and 

 distrust, to dampen this hope of the harvest. 

 Why is this and how is this? Verily, I think 

 they sin against the light and agaii^st signal te^ts 

 nnd trials. Prof. Dana (not he of the rocks but 

 the chemist), long since in his ''Muck Manual" 

 figured up the hidden riches of the muck bed. 

 He states its wealth, assayed value, as equiva- 

 lent to the best stable manure. Prof Johnson, 

 of Salle, has followed up the same subject 

 with new figures and field tests. In my next I 

 will give some of their analyses and trials. 



THE CATAWBA CRAPE. 



BY A. C. L., MADISON, INDIANA. 



The impression has gone abroad that the 

 Catawba grape, like the old favorite, White 

 Doyenne pear, "has played out" in the West 

 unless grown in some favorite spot like imto 

 " Kelly's Itiland." But it is a mistake. As fijie 



Catawba grapes can be grown to-day in any 

 locality where the Concord will flourish. The 

 conditions are simply these— the fruit to be cul- 

 tivated at least ten feet from the ground. I have 

 one vine that is twenty years old that never faik 

 to give me a full crop of delicious fruit every 

 season, entirely free from rot. In another part 

 of the premises is a vine that has been culti- 

 vated for the past fifteen years, but has never 

 yet produced a perfect crop of grapes. Thia 

 season the vine was raised up ten feet from the 

 ground. The result has been as fine a lot of 

 grapes as any one could wish — no rot or mildew. 

 The Rev. Dr. Little, who is one of the oldest and 

 most intelligent horiculturists in this State, never 

 allows his vines to fruit near the earth. Some 

 of his vines extend over the top of his house. 

 He never has a failure. Is it not possible we 

 cultivate all of our grapes too near the earth ? 

 I have often observed the lower tier of vines on 

 a trellis almost entirely fail, while the tier above 

 was almost perfect. It is to be hoped that others 

 may be induced to try the tall cultivation and 

 report the result. 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



The Coe Grape. — This is well spoken of by 

 Prof. Budd, of Iowa. It ripens there ten days 

 before the Concord. 



Yeast Fungus for Destroying Insects. — Con- 

 siderable attention has of late been given to the 

 idea of destroying fungus by the use of yeast. 

 The fungus eaten or falling on the insect is be- 

 lieved to be destructive. Prof. Prentiss gives the 

 result of some experiments on aphides in the 

 August number of the American Naturalist, 

 which seem to indicate that it has no effect on 

 them. 



The Japan Persimmon. — This has been found 

 to fruit deliciously in Algeria and will be largely 

 planted. Algeria and California have similar 

 climates. 



California Pears.— A box from Mr. B. F. Fox, 

 containing some of his seedlings, not only con- 

 firms their excellence but shows how easy it is 

 to ship them east when proper packing is under- 

 stood, not one having the slightest bruise. It 

 was said by them of old time that California 

 pears were pretty but not good. One of these, 

 which proved to be the B. S. Fox, was equal in 

 flavor to any thing we have ever tasted. Deli- 



