DOMESTIC NOTICES. 



choosing a clear windy day for the purpose. 

 I cut off the stalk an inch above the surface 

 of the ground. After the roots are taken 

 up, carry them to an airy loft or out-build- 

 ing, where they will be secure from frost for 

 several days. Here allow them to stand 

 quite separately, till the particles of soil that 

 may adhere to them appear perfectly dry; 

 better still if the the roots are turned over 

 once, so as to become ripe and dry on all 

 sides. Then take them into a dry cellar that 

 will keep potatoes well, and lay them in a 

 single tier on a floor, or on shelves, covering 

 the roots lightly with dry tan. 



3. Manuring Fruit Trees. — This is the 

 season for the amateur to look over his fruit 

 trees — especially those which have failed to 

 produce good crops for want of nourishment 

 in the soil. Carefully open a trench at the 

 very ends of the roots — throw out a third 

 of the poorest of the soil, and replace it with 

 a mixture of manure and ashes. I use a cart 

 load of barn-yard manure — no matter if it 

 is fresh — to a bushel of ashes, and I find it 

 never to fail in bringing up the tree. If I 

 wait till spring before I apply this stimulus 

 — I find it to do just half as much good as 

 if I put it in the soil in October and Novem- 

 ber. It is quite surprising how old fruit 

 trees can be brought to by this simple dress- 

 ing — barn-yard manure and ashes, applied 

 in the fall of the year. Some persons are 

 too indolent to do it, but I think I can prove 

 to them that it will "pay." On one side 

 you have an enfeebled tree; it bears a peck 

 of poor fruit, half of which is not fit to take 

 to the table. It costs you nothing per an- 

 num — profit about equal to cost. On the 

 other side you have the same tree — you give 

 it two cart loads of manure — two bushels 

 of leached ashes — once in three years, cost 

 one dollar — and receive two bushels of fine 

 fruit per annum, for three years, — value, 

 three dollars a year, nine dollars — profit 

 eight dollars! Very respectfully yours, A. 

 T. Chester Co., Pa., Sept. 1851. 



Rot in Grapes — Dear Sir : As many 



cultivators of the native grapes suffer from 

 the "rot" — a disease that makes its ap- 

 pearance by a small discolored spot on the 

 berries, that frequently spreads till it des- 

 troys the whole bunch, and sometimes great- 

 ly injures the entire crop, I beg leave to say 

 that this disease is capable of being kept un- 

 der by careful hand-picking. 



Having been more or less troubled by the 

 the appearance of this disease in my vine- 

 yard for several summers past, I ventured 

 to attempt to eradicate it by the following 

 means. As soon as the rot season commen- 

 ced — say the first of July, I employed a 

 man to go carefully over the vines, and with 

 a small pair of scissors, cut out every bunch 

 that was in the least degree affected. These 

 grapes were taken and buried in a lime heap 

 — where I got them out of the way, and will 

 I trust, turn them into compost. The man 

 spent a morning every week in going over 

 mj'- vineyard of two acres, and the cost of 

 his time so employed is exactly six dollars 

 and fifty cents. Per contra — I have few or 

 no bunches with the rot in my vineyard — on 

 the other hand, I have an excellent crop of 

 fine grapes — while my neighbors, who have 

 only trusted to providence and the season, 

 are much afflicted with the rot. If you 

 think this experiment of any value, the fore- 

 going is at your service. An Ohio Reader. 



Dr. Comstock's Aquarium. — Dear Sir: 

 In my description of Dr. Comstock's aqua- 

 rium, I forgot to mention that the box 

 should be placed in the ground, as it would 

 otherwise burst by freezing, and be destroy- 

 ed. The Doctor covers his in the fall with 

 boards, to prevent injury by excess of wa- 

 ter and frost. Yours, A. S. Monson. Neiv- 

 Haven, Sept. 12, 1851. 



Fruit Culture in the United States. 

 — Our cotemporary, Mr. Barrt, of the 

 Genesee Farmer, who has been spending the 

 summer abroad, from whence he has writ- 

 ten the best letters that have appeared in 

 the agricultural journals, on the matters re- 

 lating to the Exhibition, has given his read- 



