1882. 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



207 



rate doses, is usually a wonderful special fer- 

 tilizer for the Celery plant. 



Late Cabbage is often planted in gardens be- 

 tween rows of Potatoes, where it is an object to 

 save space. Some fancy that the Cabbage is 

 better preserved in this way from the Cabbage- 

 fly, which, they say, prefers the Potato , but on 

 this point we are not sure. We do not think the 

 Cabbbge does quite as well as when it has the 

 whole ground to itself ; but of course a double 

 crop could not be expected to be quite so fine. 



Among the new troubles in vegetable-growing 

 is the appearance of the Asparagus beetle, Crio- 

 seris asparagi. As in the case of the Potato 

 beetle, it is the larvae which does the most 



injury. 



«-•-» 



COMMUNICA TIONS. 



A NEW CRAPE-VINE— THE COCHIN- 

 CHINESE, TUBEROUS-ROOTED VINE. 



BY ARTHUR F. KNOBLOCH, THIBGDAUX, LA. 



From an article in the Cosmos of April 1st, 

 1882, I have translated a few extracts which you 

 will find below, and which you are at liberty to 

 print. 



Of all the grape-vines which, since the appear- 

 ance of the Phylloxera, have been brought to 

 the public notice, none has attracted the atten- 

 tion of grape-growers as much as the tuberous- 

 rooted vines which were brought from Soudan 

 by the late Mr. Lecard, on his return from his 

 travels in Central Africa. Unfortunately, the 

 seed, which were distributed somewhat late, 

 came up so imperfectly and made such slow 

 growth that it has been impossible, thus far, to 

 lest fully the merits of this interesting recent 

 introduction. 



Should the seed, still remaining in the hands 

 of the Lecard family, fail, when sown at a more 

 favorable season, to give a more satisfactory re- 

 sult than that obtained from the sowings of last 

 year, there is ground to fear that many years 

 may elapse before practical experiments can be 

 made with this new varietj' of the grave-vine, so 

 great is the difliculty of procuring a fresh sup- 

 ply of seed from the source whence Mr. Lecard 

 obtained his. 



In view of these facts, we are pleased to learn 

 that Vilmorin and Andrieux have, in an alto- 

 gether unexpected manner, just received, not 

 from Soudan, but from Cochin-China, a small 

 invoice of seeds precisely similar to those 



brought by Mr. Lecard. They doubtless belong 

 to the same botanical genus as the latter, and as 

 Cochin-China is easier of access than Soudan, 

 we feel confident that if, when tested, this new 

 vine should justify the expectations which have 

 been formed in reference to tuberous- rooted 

 vines, there will be little difficulty in obtaining, 

 at comparatively short notice and small cost, 

 enough seeds to test them on an extensive 

 scale. 



Mr. Martin, head-gardener of the government 

 at Saigon, and to whom is due the honor of the 

 first introduction of those seeds in France, in a 

 recent letter spoke thus of this vine : 



•' I strongly recommend this wild-growing 

 vine. It may prove a highly useful addition to 

 the vines cultivated in France. The vine is 

 tuberous-rooted. It loses its leaves, and its 

 stalks die every year, and each year new ones 

 spring from the tubers. One vine may yield 

 one hundred kilogrammes of grapes. This it 

 will not do as a general rule, but I have seen 

 vines which bore that quantity. I found bunches 

 which weighed four kilogrammes. This vine 

 grows in every section of Cochin-China. It 

 could, I think, be cultivated in France in the 

 same manner as the ordinary vine is trained in 

 some countries, that is either on trellises or 

 stakes." 



APPLE AS A STOCK FOR SECKEL PEAR. 



BY W. H. BURFORD, INDEPENDENCE, MISS. 



Perhaps it is not generally known that the 

 apple is good stock on which to work the Seckel 

 Pear. A tree on this place budded in 1860 

 (twenty-two years ago), three feet from the 

 ground, is healthy, and has not foiled of a cl-op 

 in the last seventeen years ; besides, the fruit is 

 larger than any of that variety I have seen on 

 the pear or quince, specimens often measuring 

 seven and a half inches round. A young tree, 

 budded at the ground on a one year old seedling 

 apple, has had but three seasons' growth, is ten 

 feet high, and well branched to within two feet 

 of the ground, and is now in bloom — one clus- 

 ter. 



Nurserymen know full well how diflScult 

 sometimes it is to get the Seckel started off' 

 thriftily either as a standard or a dwarf. It 

 would be interesting to know if there are other 

 varieties adapted to the apple. Some I have 

 tried are not. 



