239 



The object of tbese associations is certainly an important one, and it 

 is to be regretted tbat tbis Department bas not tbe means at its disposal 

 to send representatives from this country. No doubt many interesting 

 facts and much valuable information will be brought to light. 



Among the questions to be answered and discussed, a few of the 

 more important are as follows : 



What results are arrived at in the use of fertilizers in vineyanls ? 



What is the relation between the condition of the soil and the quality of the wines? 



What cause do the latest observations assign to the favorable results of " ringing'" vines ? 



When grape-cuttings have grown vigorously during the first year, ought they to be short- 

 ened in the following spring or not ? 



What are the results of American seed-culture ? 



Is it safe to conclude that the plant raised from a hardy grape-variety will also prove 

 Lardy ? 



Can a hardier and more vigorous variety be obtained by grafting European cuttings upon 

 American vines ? 



Does smoking the vines prove effectual against injuries caused by frost ? 



What are the latest obsei"vations regarding phylloxera vastatrix f 



Might they not be successfully opposed by their natural enemiest ? 



A SUPPLY OF WATER. — Mr. D. S. Curtiss, who has had experience in 

 utilizing the rain-water supply in Wisconsin, thus WTites : 



In your monthly report for January, 1875, I find the following : 



" Failure of water. — Colmnhia, Wis. : Water in the earth during the last five or six years 

 has been constantly, steadily settling, so that most of our wells have had to be deepened in 

 order to have water. What are we coming to ? A barren waste ? Or can we do something 

 to moisten our climate f " 



Now, with your permission I will show that the people of Columbia County, and all others 

 in the same belt of country, may have a reliable supply of the very best water, and at very 

 low cost. 



The results of rain-gauges, kept at different points throughout the Middle _ and middle 

 Western States, show that the average depth of rain-fall annually is 48 to 54 iuches, over 

 four feet, on the entire surface of that range of country; an immense quantity of water, 

 ■which would be totally destructive did it not speedily and regularly pass off in deep streams, 

 and by absorption and evaporation. 



About 74 gallons of water make one cubic foot ; and about SVcubic feet are contained in 

 one hogshead ; one cubic foot contains something- over four pailfuls of water. 



A hole in the ground 8 feet square and the same depth will hold 62 hogsheads of water. 

 A round cistern 4 feet in diameter and 6 feet deep will hold over 46 hogsheads ot water ; and 

 one 12 feet deep will hold 93 hogsheads of water. 



A more definite idea of the quantity of water that falls, annually, will be formed by con- 

 sidering that the quantity which falls on the roof of a building 30 by 40 feet in size, is about 

 400 hogsheads, and nearly 25,000 pailfuls. 



Many places in the State of Wisconsin the wells cost from $50 to $150, the greater price 

 in sections on the prairies where they have to dig through lime rock with drills. But good cis- 

 terns can be made for from §20 to $50 ; while less than one-fourth the labor and trouble will 

 be required to raise the water when wanted, than is required by those deep-drilled wells. 



The cistern at the barn, to water the stock, need not be very deep, but broader, to afford the 

 needed supply of water for the animals. 



But for purposes of the house and family the cistern should be deeper, in order to retain the 

 water at a colder temperature to be palatable for drinking ; 12 or 15 feet depth will keep the 

 rain sufficiently cool. A good way, and perhaps the best, is to make the house cistern about 

 6 feet in diameter, and 12 to 15 feet deep ; then put in a partition-wail across the middle, of 

 sO'ft, porous brick ; and allow the water from the eaves to run into one-half, and with the 

 pump draw out from the other half, a filtering crib or spac« being made in the partition-wall 

 near the bottom through which the water can pass from the portion into which it first falls to 

 the other. 



Let this course be pursued and there will be no water famine, as there has been no year in 

 the past two decades when there was not over three feet depth of rain and snow fall in all 

 of the region aboYe named. 



The INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION AT COLOGNE. — In reference to the 

 international horticultural exhibition to be held at Cologne, in Germany, 

 iu August next, the general programme of which was published in the 

 Monthly Eeport of this Department for April, the Department has re- 

 ceived a communication from Baron You Oppenheim, chairman of the 



