216 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



Muslin Sashes. — Rufus Mason, of 

 Nebraska, says : Three years' experience 

 with muslin sashes where the thermometer 

 ranges from 20 degrees below zero to 70 

 degrees above, satisfies me of their supe- 

 riority. I make a square frame of Ij inch 

 stuff, with a single bar of the same size 

 down the middle, cover it with common, 

 heavy, unbleached muslin, paint it over 

 with two coats of boiled linseed oil, and 

 find it far better than glass. Have had 

 no freezing or scalding, but better colored 

 plants, more stocky, and better able to 

 withstand early transplanting. After the 

 hotbed is filled with manure, lay in the 

 soil so as to come within three inches of 

 the muslin, sloping exactly as it does. As 

 the season advances, the bed will settle 

 about as fast as the growth of the plants 

 require it. This plan prevents the plants 

 from becoming long-legged, which is the 

 main cause of the slow after-growth, and 

 in the cabbage family of so many plants 

 failing to make solid heads. — Michigan 

 Farmer. 



A Potato Experiment. — A writer in 

 the Rural New Yorker says as follows : 

 Last spring when planting my Beauty of 

 Hebron potatoes, I planted one row 

 through the piece as follows : I took 

 potatoes below medium size, cut off the 

 seed and stem ends, cut out all the eyes 

 but two ; planted them and gave them the 

 same care as the rest of the piece. The 

 " seed " for the rest was of the same sized 

 J)otatocs cut in two, and planted one piece 

 in a hill about eighteen inches apart in 

 the row. Now for the result : The first 

 row, containing seventy hills, gave one 

 hundred and ninety-five pounds ; one row 

 by the side of it with eighty-six hills gave 

 one hundred and forty- three pounds, a 

 difference in yield per hill of over fifty 

 per cent, in favor of the whole potatoes 

 with two eyes. This row could be dis- 

 tinguished from the rest as far as the 

 piece could be seen, until the dry weather 

 dried up the vines. The whole piece 

 yielded a splendid crop, as did a piece of 

 8nowflake in another part of the field. 



Queer Farming. — The latest novelty 

 in the "live stock" business is leech 

 farming, as carried out on a thirteen acre 

 tract near New York city. The tract is 



devoted to small ponds having clay bot- 

 toms, and are margined with peat. The 

 leeches form their gelatinous cocoons in 

 these peat margins, crawl into them at the 

 open end, and deposit their eggs during 

 the month of June. By September the 

 warmth of the sun hatches out the young, 

 varying in number from thirteen to 

 twenty-seven from each cocoon. During 

 the svimmer months the water in the pond 

 is kept at about three feet ; in winter the 

 depth is increased to prevent freezing the 

 leeches. Leeches are not expensive feed- 

 ers, a meal of fresh blood once in six 

 months being their only diet. The blood 

 is put in linen bags and suspended in the 

 water. The leeches attach themselves to 

 the bag and remain until gorged with the 

 blood, when they drop into the water. 

 The owner reports that his sales amount 

 to about 1,000 leeches per day, the most 

 of them going to the West and South. 

 He makes this new branch of farming 

 quite profitable. 



Keeping Grapes on the Vines. — I 

 have disco veered that by the use of strong 

 manilla paper bags, grapes may be kept 

 on the vines in splendid condition long 

 after the season for grapes out of doors 

 has gone by. Passing through the vines, 

 Oct. 31, three weeks after the frosts com- 

 pelled me to gather the crop, and after 

 the leaves had all fallen, I found a few 

 clusters protected by bags that had been 

 overlooked, beneath the leaves. Clusters 

 of the Lady grape were slightly faded, and 

 the quality not improved. The Brighton 

 appeared as fresh, bright and beautiful as 

 I ever saw it, with bloom undisturbed, 

 the color a dark rich maroon. I have 

 never eaten such rare specimens of this 

 fine grape, and yet the freezing had been 

 severe. They were the nearest approach 

 to a raisin I ever saw on vines. The 

 juices near the skin had condensed, and 

 there was a temptation to chew the skin 

 to secure the fine flavor. It would seem 

 that by the use of such stout paper bags 

 we may keep grapes on the vines several 

 weeks later than otherwise would be pos- 

 sible, and that we may enjoy ripe speci- 

 mens in this way, from varieties not 

 usually fully matured in this latitude. — 

 C. A. Green. 



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