304 



THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY 



[October, 



SCRAPS AND QUERIES. 



Amelia Peach. — We learn from Mr. Charles 

 Black, Hightstown, New Jersey, that this southern 

 peach has done remarkably well with him this 

 season. Though not a good year for peaches 

 generally, this one has had the branches almost 

 breaking down by the weight of fruit. He also 

 speaks very highly of the Thurber, another south- 

 ern variety. This is a very peculiar kind. It has 

 a greenish yellow look on the outside, but when 

 broken open presents the beautiful pink flesh, so 

 lovely in a ripe watermelon. 



Martin's Amber Wheat. — "J. L. D.," Blooms- 

 burg, Pa., sends a head of this wheat, which con- 

 tained fifty-one very full and plump grains. 



English Gooseberries from Seed. — A cor- 

 respondent inquires whether English gooseberries, 

 anything like the originals, could be raised from 

 seed — and whether such plants would be likely to 

 mildew less than plants from cuttings. Very good 

 kinds could certainly be had in this way^and we 

 do think that they would be more free from mil- 

 dew — for it has been found with almost every- 

 thing, that a seedling plant is constitutionally 

 better able to resist disease than one continually 

 raised from cuttings or grafts. 



Fruits in Kansas. — A correspondent, under 

 date of August 6th, from Chanute, Kan., writes, "I 

 have been in Kansas five years, three years where 

 I now am, and have in that time raised five good 

 crops of strawberries and got about as much again, 

 per quart, as I could get in the Ohio valley. I 

 have on my grounds all of the leading varieties, old 

 and new, including James Vick's Jersey Queen, 

 Manchester, etc. Peaches seldom fail here — 

 Mountain Rose, Troth's and Cole's Early, are now 

 ripe. Last season they ripened the 29th of July. 

 I have been keeping a record of their ripening, for 

 the last two years, and hope at some future time to 

 give a few hints on Peaches in Kansas. My Lady 

 Grape is now ripe, as hardy as the Concord, as 

 productive, and much better." 



[Our correspondent is a very enthusiastic culti- 

 vator of fruits, and has raised a variety of straw- 

 berry so well adapted to his part of that State, 

 that we shall not be surprised to hear of its making 

 a splendid record one of these days. — Ed. G. M.] 



A Prolific Grape Vine. — Under date of Aug. 

 22d, Mr. Lorin Blodget, Philadelphia, writes: "I 

 have a remarkable grape vine, a Lindley, or 

 Rogers' Hybrid, No. 9, planted in 1866. Grapes 



are now ripening on it a distance of thirty feet east 

 of the root or stem, and eighty-five feet west sixty- 

 five feet horizontal, and about thirty feet elevation. 

 It covers a trellis thirty feet high on the east end 

 of the house ; also a slope twenty by fifteen feet on 

 the eastern roof, then runs fifty-five feet along a 

 north wall, and rises ten feet to the fourth-story 

 roof, full of grapes throughout, and especially 

 loaded on the trellis running thirty-five feet east, 

 down the garden. I estimate its crop at 400 to 

 500 pounds, and all are very large and fine, al- 

 though the Rogers Hybrid bunches are not usually 

 symmetrical." 



[It is a fact, made more apparent as the years 

 go by, that the shade and shelter of city yards are 

 more favorable to the grape than open fields or 

 vineyards. There is a valuable lesson here, from 

 which extensive grape-growers might profit. Suc- 

 cessful, however, as city yards are in grape grow- 

 ing, the case of Mr. Blodgett is one of exceptional 

 interest.— Ed. G. M.] 



Cabbage Wor.m. — "B.," Colora, Md., writes: 

 " My attention has been called this season to a 

 grub of very small proportions infesting the young 

 cabbage plants, or ground where the seed have 

 been planted, and destroying them when two 

 inches high, more or less, by eating the roots. The 

 plants are growing all right until they have devel- 

 oped four to six leaves, when the mischief begins 

 and the majority of the plants drop over as when a 

 plant " damps off ; " but when pulled up the roots 

 are completely girdled or entirely eaten off, but 

 the worm that does the mischief is hard to find. 

 The result here is that late cabbage plants are 

 scarce. The flea beetle has been charged with 

 this wholesale destruction but we can get ahead of 

 it with a little Paris green. It is after the danger 

 from the black skippers is about over that the 

 other enemy commences. It did not trouble 

 early cabbage but has done its work during the 

 past six weeks. Is there a remedy ? " 



[We have no knowledge, from the description, of 

 what this root insect can be. The matter is 

 worthy of further investigation. — Ed. G. M.] 



Precocity of Peaches. — Mr. Lorin Blodget, 

 Philadelphia, says: "My peaches are likely to 

 fail in a year or two. They are ripening in August, 

 when not due until late in September. The de- 

 licious • Miss Percival ' is very fine, but ripens too 

 soon. I fear Mr. Rutter's work is true, and that I 

 cannot cure the yellows by fertilization." 



[This brief item is an interesting contribution to 

 an idea fast gaining ground with intelhgent peach 



