DOMESTIC NOTICES. 



seriously, the effects of this beetle upon my 

 trees, before I found out its practice of eating 

 the young leaves, was very pernicious. At least 

 one tree in ten was destroyed ; and those they 

 did not destroy, they rendered spare and gaunt 

 in their forms. Wm. R. Manly. Newport, 

 Herkimer Co., N. ¥., Feb., 1852.— Ca/<. 



The Fruit. — We regret to learn from Mr. 

 Ernst that most of the fruit, cherries, peach- 

 es, apples and pears, which had escaped the 

 extreme cold of the past winter, have been 

 carried away by the recent and unexpected 

 visitations of Jack Frost. The warm weather 

 immediately previous to the recent cold had 

 tempted most of tlie fruit trees and flowers into 

 leaf, and the buds of fruit had swollen so that 

 frost, having a fair chance, has captured the en- 

 tire lot. We shall have to give up for another 

 year, hope of fruit. The loss of two successive 

 seasons will prove a loss severely to be felt bj' 

 farmers and horticulturists, and must be esti- 

 mated at several millions of dollars. We have 

 accounts from a great many sections of the east 

 and west, and all have suflered severely. In 

 some places, entire orchards of fruits, which 

 have just come into bearing, have been destroy- 

 ed. — Cin. Gazette. 



Statistics of Vineyards. — In accordance 

 with a resolution of the Horticultural Society 

 of Cincinnati, passed at its last session, calling 

 on the President and Council to report on the 

 extent of the interest at this time engaged in 

 the wine business in the neighborhood of Cin- 

 cinnati, we submit the following report: 



Of the number of acres now under cultiva- 

 tion in vines, we are not, as yet, prepared to 

 give an exact account, as the entire statistics of 

 the county have not been fully made out since 

 1845. In that year there were eighty-three 

 vineyards, covering an area of three hundred 

 and fifty acres. In that year alone one hundred 

 acres were prepared and planted, and the num- 

 ber of acres brought under cultivation has been 

 steadily and rapidly increasing every year since. 

 The great number of new vineyards commenc- 

 ed since 1845, some of which embrace twenty, 

 five to thirty acres, with the annual enlargement 

 of those previously planted, will swell the ag- 

 gregate amount to not less than twelve hundred 

 acres. From the statistics already in our pos- 

 session, we can safely say that this is within the 

 actual amount. 



The labor bestowed upon this culture in the 

 preparation of the ground, planting and dress- 

 ing, and making the wine, gives employment to 

 at least six hundred efficient laborers, at an an- 

 nual cost of $120,000, producing when in a 

 bearing state, in moderately favorable seasons, 

 about 240,000 gallons of wine, estimated at 

 about the same number of dollars Beside the 



Itivators and wine dressers, employment is 

 given to wood coopers, equal to the mak- 

 ' 8,000 barrels, estimated at $8,000. 



A considei-able portion of this crop now falls 

 into the hands of the wine coopers, and is con- 

 verted into sparkling wine or champaign, there- 

 by more than doubling its market price. The 

 value of sparkling wine prepared in this county 

 in 1851, as near as we can arrive at an estimate, 

 amounts to not less than $75,000. The dealing 

 in these wines also forms a considerable item in 

 the transactions of the wine merchants. 



As most of those engaged in the culture of 

 the vine have families to support, as well as oth- 

 ers engaged in the business, it may, without ex- 

 aggeration, be calculated that the wine interest 

 in Hamilton county, affords subsistence, direct- 

 ly, or indirectly, to at least 2,000 industrious 

 and sober jjeople — a drunken vine-dresser we 

 have never m^t with. S. Mosher, Pres. Hort. 

 Soc. Cincinnati, March 15, 1852. 



Black Knot on Plum Trees. — There has 

 been much speculation and research for the 

 cause of the black knot on plum trees. Some 

 persons have supposed it caused by an insect. 

 Some years ago I opened the knot and examin- 

 ed it, but did not discover any appearance of 

 an insect, nor the eggs of one. So far as I 

 know, it has not been satisfactorily learned what 

 cau.ses the knot. 



The gardens of my adjoining neighbors are 

 full of plum trees. All the trees are filled with 

 the black knot, so as to appear as if a flock of 

 small birds had lighted on the branches. Some 

 years ago, I advised the owners to cut off the 

 knots so soon as they appeared, or they would 

 lose the trees — they thought best to leave them 

 to the course of nature. The second and third 

 set of their trees are now in the condition I have 

 described, while my trees are free from knots. 

 I have always looked for knots when in the gar- 

 den, and when one appeared, I cut it off at any 

 season, whether it was loaded with fruit or not. 

 The trees soon put out other shoots, which fill- 

 ed out the place of the limb cut off, and my 

 trees are in full size, as if no limb had been cut 

 off, and there is not a knot to be seen on them. 

 From this treatment, I am of o])inion, tliat if a 

 knot is suffered to remain on a limb, the disease 

 soon spreads, like a canker, and fills the whole 

 tree, as it has the trees of my neighbors. It is 

 a misconception, that when a tree is set, it does 

 not require furtlier treatment. D. Tomlinson. 

 Cultivator. ■ 



Osage Orange Hedge. — My laltitude is 41° 

 35' north. The past winter has been one of 

 intense severity. The plant above has been 

 represented as semi-hardy, and some anxiety 

 as to its efficiency as a hedge plant in this lati- 

 tude, manifested. My hedge is now in its fourth 

 spring, (if spring it can be called,) — quite a 

 proportion of the last season's growth reached 

 four feet in height. Its length is some three 

 hundred feet. Not a plant shows any 

 cation of injury, from any cause whate 



