MISCELLANEOUS PAPEBS. 389 



long, or 6 feet after they are set. Prune grapes to one bud with the 

 bearing wood so arranged that the fruit will set within one foot of the 

 ground, and extending to the top of the stake. 



I commenced spraying about the time the buds began to swell, 

 with the Bordeaux mixture, and continued spraying as needed during 

 the season ; practiced summer pruning, and thinned vines that were 

 overloaded ; gave thorough culture, but used no fertilizer, and by 

 practicing these few necessary methods produced grapes that yielded 

 from five to seven tons per acre, leaving the vines in a fine, healthy 

 condition, with thoroughly matured wood. 



I will commence pruning the same vines as soon as the leaves 

 have fallen, getting everything in readiness during this fall and winter 

 with the expection of reaping another bountiful crop the coming season, 

 as grapes seldom fail on the southern slope of the Ozarks. 



A. 0. Skinner, West Plains, Mo. 



How I Raise Damson Plums. 



This was the subject of a paper recently read before the Columbus, 

 C, Horticultural Society, by F. Riebel. He said that no fruit was more 

 generally neglected and none responded more liberally to cultivation 

 and care, or g-ive greater profit. I have, he says, over 600 plum-trees, 

 and over 100 Damsons are in bearing and now loaded with fruit. I 

 planted all these in good rich clay soil, well drained. Low wet soil 

 will grow no good plums of any kind, and a sandy soil harbor too many 

 insects. The curculio is fostered by all soils of light texture. Clay 

 holds more moisture than any other soil, and the plum needs much 

 moisture. Cultivation is an all-important factor in raising plums. 

 Failure in this respect means a failure of crop. I culiivate my plum- 

 trees oftener and better than corn. I run the cultivator up to the first 

 of July, and soon after I apply a mulch of coarse manure, or straw 

 that is partly rotten, for the purpose of retaining the moisture in the 

 soil to mature the crop, and also to mature the fruit-spurs and the buds 

 of the following season. In the fall of the year, however, I apply a 

 light coat of barnyard manure, and in the spring I sow a quart of salt 

 per tree, as far as the branches extend. 



