420 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
Nos. 231, 264, 268, 272, 445, 558, 874 and 971 are all of the Alexander 
type, and are large, handsome, red apples, looking enough alike to 
be the same. They ripen about with the Duchess. The trees are 
tall, stout and fast growers. They bear often at four or five years. 
They will stand the most severe winter test, but are quite subject to 
blight. 
If I were writing without the experience of the winter of 1884-5 
and in the light only of the past five or six, others, Jater keepers, 
would be given a place with the best. Asitis, I am not sure of my 
choice, and, as in the past, Iam still looking in the future to know 
which are “My Four Best Russian Apples.” 
GRAPE TRELLISING.—T. V. Munson, of Texas, has done much for 
grape culture. His system of trellising is a minor item of his work, 
but avery important one. It has been the subject of comparative 
tests at the Oklahoma Experiment Station, and has proven so suc- 
cessful that Prof. Waugh unhesitatingly recommends it for general 
adoption. In this system the posts stand six feet out of the ground. 
At the top a crosspiece, two feet long, is nailed, and at each end of 
this awireisrun. A third wire is run through the middles of the 
posts eight inches below these two, so that the three wires setin a 
sort of a broad V shape, nearly six feet from the ground. This great 
height is an essential feature of the system and should not be mod- 
ified. On this trellis the grape vines spread out like they do where 
they grow wild in the woods. This furnishes a shade for the fruit, 
At the same time the fruit is so far above ground as to be safe from 
the intense reflected rays of the sun, which is apt to cause damage 
in the hot summers of the arid region. 
Once upon atime the writer of this paragraph was invited toa 
nursery celebrated for its large business in connection with the 
growing of water plants, or, as they are commonly called, aquatics. 
As the locality was far away from lakes or ponds, much curiosity 
was felt as to how the large quantity of plants was cared for. It 
was found that nearly everything was being raised in old kegs or 
barrels sunk deep into the earth, and where water could be led into 
them by a hose or other methods. The hint may be taken advant- 
age of by those who read of the beauty of aquatics, but do not have 
lakes or ponds of their own to grow them in. Old paint kegs or any 
vessels that will hold water can be buried partly in the earth, filled 
with water, and seeds sown, or young plants planted in mud placed 
at the bottom of the water. Many of the smaller kinds of water 
plants can be grown in this way without any serious difficulty. 
The vessels need not be water tight. 
Professor Webster, of the Ohio Experiment Station, has been 
making experiments to determine whether honey bees are injured 
by spraying fruit trees with the arsenites while they are in bloom. 
These tests seem to show conclusively that bees are killed in this 
way. Apart from the destruction of the bees and the consequent 
loss to the apiarist, this would seem to be a bad policy for the fruit 
grower, since the presence of bees is acknowledged to be of great 
value in securing a crop of fruit by their work in pollenizing the 
flowers.—Garden and Forest. 
oe, eo eo 
