horticultural JVotes, 255 



Horticnltnral ISTotes. 



'Xlie Trioinplie J>e Jodoiyin; I'enr. 



Dr. Swazey, of Louisiana, says that as a market fruit, it lacks color, as a desert 

 fruit quality, but accords to it great value for hardiness, productiveness, and large 

 size. In a specimen orchard of a hundred varieties of pears on quince, set out in 

 1854, there were but two trees that outgrew the Triomphe de Jodoigne, and not a 

 dozen that excelled it in productiveness — most of them were handsomer and nearly 

 all of them better. This was in our garden. Out in the big orchard, where we had 

 over five hundred varieties of the pear in bearing, the Triomphe de Jodoigne did not 

 equal, either in beauty or quality, one-fifth of them. Few excelled it in soundness, 

 productiveness, vigor or luxuriance of growth. Our experience has been on a 

 strong clay loam ; a light sandy soil may produce a different result. 



A. Wire Trellis best for RnspberrieS' 



For raspberry vines that require support there is no contrivance more simple, 

 durable, and cheap, than a single wire stretched along the line of the row, and 

 fastened to posts driven into the ground every thirty feet. No. 14 wire will be 

 found quite strong enough. This is the size manufactureil for use in Western vine- 

 yard.s, and for making grape trellises. No. 14 is preferred to a heavy wire. The 

 figures below give the cost to the writer of putting up nine lines of this sized wire on 

 as many rows of Philadelphia raspberries. These rows are seven feet apart and 460 

 feet long — a patch occupying not quite three-quarters of an acre. The wire was 

 bought at the factory, 20 per cent, off the retail price. A roll that measured when 

 drawn out a little more than 4,000 feet, cost $6.50. The chestnut stakes, six to 

 seven feet long, made from the tops and branches of trees felled last winter, were cut 

 and sharpened by an ax-man in one day, at the expense of SI. 50. It took two men 

 and a boy half a day to make the holes with a crowbar, drive the posts, and fasten 

 the wire. Outlay for this, $2.25 ; wire staples for fastening the line, 75 cents ; 

 total, $11. With an occasional rotting stake to be replaced, this support will last at 

 least five years, with a mere trifle to keep it in repair. Both for raspberries and 

 grapes stretched wire has been found better for tying than when single stakes are 

 used, and raspberries fastened to wires can be picked much faster than when the 

 vines are left without supports or tied to stakes. — N. Y. Tribmie. 



lilack Knot. 



The Gardener^s Mo?ithly in speaking of the black knot on plum and cherry trees, 

 says it should be cut out as fast as it appears, not as the black knot, but as a mere 

 sappy abrasure, green and spongy, above the bark. It is no use to cut it out after 

 a month old. This delay is probably the secret of many failures in removinf the 

 black knot. 



Meat front JBelow. 



The Scientific American says, that in the Garden of Plants in Paris, houses are 

 heated by water obtained from an artesian well 1800 feet deep, which at that depth 

 has a temperature of 82'^ Fahr., and warm water is carried in pipes under the soil, 

 and that a salad garden at Erfurt is heated in the same way. 



Hotv to take care of a T,atvn Mower. 



This is a question that is often asked by owners of lawn mowers, and it is not to 

 be wondered at when we consider that the general use of these machines is com- 

 paratively in its infancy in this country. There are a few simple rules necessary to 

 be followed in using lawn mowers, which we give as follows: 



First — The lawn should be kept free from stones and such other rubbish as would 

 tend to injure the knives. 



Second — The grass should be cut often, and never be allowed to get over four 

 inches in length (three is better), this makes the work of cutting easy, and avoids 

 straining or breaking the machine. 



