52 



JOTJENAL OP HOETICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENEB. 



C July 18, 1885. 



experience, for when I was at Bangor Castle, Co. Down, Ii'eland, 

 I commenced my old practice of syringing, as I have done in 

 England. I remember one morning, just as the Grapes began 

 to coloxir, going through the houses I observed, as I thought, an 

 appearance of mildew ; I called the young man who had chai'ge 

 , of them, and told him to smear the pipes over with an admix- 

 ture of black sulphur and milk, but to my surprise I saw the 

 discoloration continue. I then had the water with which they 

 had been syringed analysed, and was told it was chalky water; 

 this caused the bunches to have an appearance of mildew, but 

 otherwise they coloured very well, and when on the table in the 

 evening the defect was not discovered. The following year I 

 had the water brought more than two miles to syi-inge with, 

 but the same thing occm-red again ; and from firrtiier inquiry, 

 I was informed that no water coiJd be obtained in the county 

 of Down without an admixture of chalk ; and there, from sheer 

 necessity, I was obhged to discontinue my favourite practice of 

 syringing the Vines whilst fruiting. I must say that many-years 

 experience indorses the statement that where the syringe can 

 be applied, it is followed by the Vines being more healthy, and 

 consequently the Grapes in eveiy respect better and free from 

 that horrid pest red spider. I cannot leave this subject without 

 making a fm-ther obseiwatiou on Mr. WUls's recommendation, 

 and to me very remarkable — namely, using the syringe when 

 the Grapes are setting, not but that I perfectly agree with him 

 that it assists setting (but no one but an experienced Grape- 

 grower can say this). I leave off, not from being afraid, as just 

 said, of the berries setting, but from fear of causing discoloura- 

 tion. The yoimg Grapes when setting are very susceptible of 

 being injured. I believe, I will not say positively, if the 

 person who thins the Grapes shoiild at the time have a 

 nauseous breath, it will cause the rust ; the touch of the hand, 

 or the hair coming in contact with the berries, is also, in my 

 opinion, more or less injurious. Having seen the berries nicely 

 set, the bunches thinned, the syringe immediately commences 

 its work, and continues till I see the first appearance of colour. 



In respect to fertilisation, I wiU not disturb Mr. Wills in his 

 opinion, but this much I will say, I never missed setting a 

 Yine yet, neither Muscat nor any other ; therefore having done 

 well by nature having its coiu-se, I will not, for my part, 

 attempt to disturb her, and I feel very thankful she so kindly 

 favoirrs me with her assistance, and whilst she does so I will 

 in no wise interfere. 



In conclusion I wiU just state that I gi-ow and propagate oiar 

 own pot Vines, this year about 150, all from eyes, with the 

 exception of about thii-ty cut-doT^Ti ones, which are now ripening 

 their wood, to be ready to commence forcing with in October or 

 November. I am glad to see Mr. Wills is going to favour us 

 with his system of pot cultm'e, I shall read his articles I trust 

 with interest, but somehow I am vain enough to fancy if he 

 saw ours at Bush Hall, he would be pleased with them. I 

 have given a challenge to gi-ow six of my own Vines against 

 any six in the kingdom, placing them in the hands of some 

 good disinterested Vine-grower, and letting him have the fruit 

 for his trouble. — A. Whittle. 



APPLES— THE DEMOCRATIC FRUIT. 



" PoruLAii" is a word which is much despised, but may be made 

 respectable. In this country wealth is obliged to pay respect 

 to popular opinion, and of all fruits the Apple is the most de- 

 mocratic — the true democratic — for some democracy that we are 

 acquainted with sprung from the first Apple. This popular 

 favour of the Apple arises fi-om the nature of the tree and the 

 fruit. Any man who can gi-ow corn can raise Aj^ples. 



In evei-y soil, and under the most discoiu-aging circumstances, 

 the Apple tree lives and thrives. It can bear high or low 

 cultivation. It is not dyspeptic like the Peach, or apoplectic 

 Bke the Pear, or scrofulous like the Plum. Tlie Apple is 

 among the fruits like the cow among animals, like the camel, 

 and like aU good things, uncomely — for beaiity is only the 

 mask which covers ever^^;hing that is evil. In the beautiful, 

 evil has struck in and affects the whole vital organism, whDe in 

 homely women it is on the surface. 



Have you never seen the maiden who, in a whole family of 

 girls, remains unmarried, so homely that the lovers have all 

 passed by her, who was the nurse, the mother, the stoi-y-teUer, 

 to a generation of little ones — the Virgin Mary of the house- 

 hold — the mother of God to little souls, in teaching them the 

 better life — who was more fruitful in all except chUdreu, than 

 any of her kindred ? 



My perfect idea of woman is my dear old aunt Esther, who 

 wiU spend ages in heaven wondering how she ever got there, 

 and the angels will wonder why she was not always there. 

 Wliat such a one is to the household is the Apple among fruits. 

 Not the least among its excellences is its hardiness. 



We should as soon think of coddling om- forest trees as the 

 Apple tree. It will thrive in the stony lot too steep for the 

 plough, or grow in the meadow, and repay us for the more 

 .abundant nutrition. 



Wliere a Mullen stalk or a hill of corn will grow, the Apple 

 will continue to secure an existence. It can be plain or ornate, 

 always able to take care of itself — what I call democratic. It 

 is emphatically the people's tree. In Florida or Canada it is 

 equally at home, and equally good ; while on the Pacific slopes 

 it is portentous in size. Newton's Apple, which originated in 

 his brain the science of gi'avitation, had it grown in California 

 would have for ever put an end to his discoveries, and have 

 opened the heavens to his gaze. 



The health and longevity of the Apple tree are unsmi^assed. 

 Healthier than the Pear, no blight or disease affects it ; worms 

 and insects may lodge upon it, but unbuckhug its bark, it 

 exposes them to the wind and storm. An acre of Potatoes will 

 not produce as much as the same area in orchard, with five 

 times the labour. The grub only is a fonnid.able enemy, but 

 is so easily exterminated by a flexible wire, that if you have 

 borers you deserve to be bored. 



Fanners never think of nursing their orchards. And as for 

 longevity, I have a tree now growing on my farm at least five 

 hundred years old. Two ladies, now eighty years of age, say 

 that in their clrildhood it was called the old Apple tree. At 

 12 feet from the groimd it is 14 feet 10 inches in circumference ; 

 the fruit sweet and pleasant, though not large. I do not expect 

 to live to see my young trees reach that size. I cannot resist 

 a feeling of respect and awe when I stand in the presence of 

 this gigantic tree, which heard the cannonading of the revolu- 

 tion ; underneath whose branches Washington may have walked, 

 musing upon the great task to which he was devoted. 



The wood of the Apple tree has uses which we are not accus- 

 tomed to credit it with. 



For firewood it is equal to Hickory, and for cabinet work it 

 is imsurpassed in beauty by any other wood. My best bureau 

 is made of the Apple wood, and resembles Cherry. In Europe 

 the roads are bordered with Apple trees, and the fruit is fi'ee to 

 the public, except where wisps of 'straw fastened to a tree indi- 

 cate that the fruit is reserved for the owner, of the land. 



How adapted to such a use is the upright Apple tree ; planted 

 along our roads, there would be no temptation for those 

 juvenile saints to rob oirr orchards. Of all the contrivances to 

 prevent stealing this is the most certain and easy. 



The origin of the cultivated Apple is still uncertain; the 

 wnd-crab theory is unsettled, for no one has evidence that the 

 seed of the Crab Apple ever produced an improved fruit. No 

 Van Mens ever did for the Apple what has been accomplished 

 for the Pear. Although prob.able, the theory must remain 

 rmcertain untn, if by some horticrdtural Sunday school the 

 Crab Apple has been converted into a good Christian tree. 



No other fruit has such a range of ripening and of use. In 

 good cellars it is kept from JiJy to .July. Kinds so deUcate — and 

 as the General Grant of the Vine would say, " so refreshing," 

 even the Pear cannot rival, not even (he Peach can sui-pass. 



The various culinary uses of the Apple, its value in raising 

 and fattening stock, were touched by the reverend lecturer with 

 great humour, and for an hour he held the audience delighted 

 with his picture of coimtiy life, interposed with wit and 

 pathos, until he closed with, " And let me not omit to speak of 

 cider. Temperance has banished it from the table, but it is 

 creeping back again, not in its own old homely name, but 

 imder the guise of champagne. 



As a temperance man I cannot advise you to make cider, but 

 I can say that if you will make cider, I hope you will make 

 it good. 



I will not consume more of your time with those eloquent 

 periods with which I intended to close this addi-ess, for two 

 reasons — first, it is aheady too long, and second, because I do 

 not have them at hand. — (Beechek in Prairie Farmer.) 



Preserving Flowers bt Glycerine. — Mr. C. E. Tichbome 

 states, in the Artizan, that, being desirous of preserving a 

 vegetable Ivsus naturee for some time, he submerged it in 

 some weak glycerine, considering that that fluid would be less 



