166 



THE CANADIAN H0ETICULTUBI6T. 



Hence I have nothing to say of its wine 

 qualities, but Bacchus is a fair table 

 grape. 



As I close this article, I can but 

 invite the grape-lover to the new feast 

 of grapes so amply provided for him. 

 Certainly they claim a fair trial, and if 

 they have won their high esteem, in 

 the face of a taste educated by so many 

 years of excellent kinds, they are a step 

 in the onward, creditable to their 

 originator, and one that no grape-grower 

 can neglect. — S. J. Parker, M.D., in 

 the Country Gentleman. 



THE ONTARIO POTATOE. 



This potato originated with H. H. 

 Doolittle, the originator of the Doolittle 

 raspberry. We have tested it thorough- 

 ly, and find it all he claims below. He 

 says : " The smoothness or shallowness 

 of eyes is the first striking peculiarity. 

 Its shape is flat and oblong. Never 

 grows together or knots up or deforms. 

 Its skin and flesh are white, cooks dry, 

 but avoids the fault of all shelling off 

 and falling to pieces when boiled, and 

 its quality such that the usual expres- 

 sion is, "The best I ever ate." In 

 size, it reaches to IJ pounds, but the 

 largest are never deformed. 



As to earliness, one testifies to plant- 

 ing " 17th day of May, and commenced 

 eating dry ripe potatoes from them the 

 3rd of July and a good yield." One 

 calls them two weeks and another ten 

 days earlier than the Rose. One's 

 enthusiasm may lead him to mistake 

 the effects of blight or some local cause 

 in ripening a hill or a rod square sev- 

 eral days in advance But my own 

 testimony is that having planted this 

 seedling for four years alongside of the 

 Early Rose and Extra Early Vermont, 

 the whole plat of the Ontario shows a 

 general earlier deadening of the tops, 

 so as to be noticed from a distance. 



"With this earliness it combines the 



best keeping qualities for summer use. 

 Many think that this heaviness and 

 solidity as an old potato is sufficient to 

 commend its universal growth. 



Yield. — From the tiny seed five years 

 ago it has grown yearly in size and 

 yield till this year on one-fourth of an 

 acre of ordinary soil, without manure 

 this year or last, or fertilizei'S of any 

 kind, there were ninety-five bushels, 

 taking about thirteen hills to make a 

 bushel — showing a native vigor and 

 capacity of yield unsurpassed in late 

 years. — Green's Fruit Grower. 



TREES IN CITIES. 



An interesting paper has been recently 

 read by Dr. Phene at Edinburgh on the 

 benefits to be derived from planting 

 trees in cities. Among the beneficial 

 results to be attained are, he stated, the 

 relief to the optic nerve through the eye 

 resting on objects of a green color. Just 

 that which is efiected by the use of green 

 or blue glasses in strengthening and 

 sustaining the power of sight is attained, 

 or, at any rate much aided, by the 

 presence of green in nature ; and in 

 streets the only method to produce this 

 result is by planting trees. It was 

 pointed out by the author that wherever 

 opportunity exists nature provides green 

 and blue (the latter being the same color 

 minus the presence of the yellow) and 

 that the absence of color produces snow 

 blindness, and in tropical calms, where 

 the ocean presents only a white reflected 

 light from a uniform glassy surface, 

 reduced optical power soon follows a 

 long continuance of the absence of blue 

 color, which becomes immediately appa- 

 rent on motion of the waves. So in the 

 streets, to the occupants of houses 

 having a northern aspect, the glare of 

 the reflected light is injurious ; but the 

 effect would be much modified by the 

 coolness to the eye, produced by the 

 green trees. In ancient surgery, persons 



