272 To make Fruit Trees thrifty.— jWJ dew or Blight in the Grape. Vol. X. 



To make Fruit Trees Thrifty. 



In the month of Marcli, wash them as 

 high as a man can reach with one quart 

 whale oil soap, diluted in fifteen gallons of 

 water; and if in April there are caterpil- 

 lars, give them another dose; then put round 

 the roots of the apple and pear trees, two or 

 three shovels of charcoal or anthracite ashes; 

 to the peach, plum and nectarine trees, 1 

 have tried various experiments, yet have 

 hitherto been most pleased with tobacco 

 stems, which are purchased at two cents 

 per bushel. Half a peck of stems around 

 each tree is sufficient. The roots are first 

 laid bare; the tobacco is then placed over 

 them and covered with soil. To this three 

 or four shovels full of anthracite ashes may 

 be added with advantage. The past sprintr 

 I have tried on all, save peach and necta"^ 

 rine trees — which were so diseased with 

 worms that I ordered them cut up — an ap- 

 plication of warm (not hot) coal tar from 

 the gas house. We first removed the earth 

 from the roots, picked out the worms, and 

 then, with a painter's brush, covered the 

 trunk of the tree eight inches up from the 

 roots. After this the soil was immediately 

 replaced around the tree. The effect was 

 astonishing. In May we applied half a pint 

 of guano as a top-dressing to each tree, and 

 thriftier trees, fuller of fruit, and with a 

 deeper, richer, green foliage, cannot be 

 seen. I mean to treat all my peaches this 

 way, as the cheapest and best manner of 

 protecting them. Two peach trees I gave 

 up last fall as past hope of saving. On 

 these I tried an experiment of putting to 

 each fifteen gallons of urine, neutralized 

 with a peck of plaster of Paris. The trees 

 are now living, and the leaves are green; 

 but whether they will thrive well remains 

 to be seen. I think, however, the dose will 

 efl'ect a cure; and if so, it is worth knowino- 



R. L. Colt. 



Patterson, N. J., June 5tli, 1845. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Mildew or Blight in the Grape. 



Mr. Editor, — In your February No. I 

 notice a communication on the above sub- 

 ject, signed "T.," and among your editorial 

 remarks you say you would be glad if the 

 author of that communication, or some one 

 else, would give more extended information 

 in the premises. In the hope that your very 

 reasonable request would be attended to, so 

 that you might publish the information in 

 your succeeding No., I refrained from giving 

 you my views on the subject. Such informa- 

 tion, however, was not published, and pro- 

 bably not furnished, and therefore I feel 



called upon to give a ?ew of my own ideas, 

 which may perhaps be of some service. 



The blight or mildew, is the operation of 

 fungi, and the cause of the fungi is a sur- 

 plus of carbonic acid gas; which carbonic 

 acid gas would not exist as such, were there 

 a sufficient supply of potash. 



The grape-vine needs a large quantity of 

 potash. Dr. Lee, a scientific gentleman of 

 New York, says, that "a sugar maple, a 

 grape-vine, &n apple-tree, and a potatoe 

 plant, need a soil that abounds in potash.'''' 

 In the appendix of Dr. Liebig's great work 

 on Agricultural Chemistry, second Ameri- 

 can edition, by J. W.Webster, you will find 

 that while speaking of the mode of manur- 

 ing grape-vines, they say, " Under ordinary 

 circumstances, a manure containing potash 

 must be used, otherwise .the fertility of a 

 soil will decrease. This is done in all wine 

 countries." Again, they say, "One thou- 

 sand parts of the pruned branches contain 

 fifty-six to sixty parts of carbonate, or thirty- 

 eight to forty parts of pure potash." 



We may now easily account for the fact 

 mentioned by your correspondent, that "old 

 vines are much more subject to mildew than 

 young." They have exhausted the potash 

 from the soil, and when their leaves absorb 

 carbonic acid, the plant has no potash with 

 which to form a healthy salt by union with 

 it; and the diseased plant invites the fungi. 

 A humid summer is favourable for the gene- 

 ration of carbonic acid, and hence the rea- 

 son why "T." found his young vines at- 

 tacked during such a season. " T." is cor- 

 rect when he says " the soap-suds is always 

 beneficial, and can be used freely." The 

 reason is, soap-suds contain potash. I should 

 recommend very strongly the use of wood- 

 ashes about grape-vines, particularly in "cold 

 graperies," where the vital power of the 

 plant is not so strong, and consequently it 

 has not the ability to expel the cause of the 

 disease. 



Yours, &c., Chemico. 



Wilkesbarre, March 26th, 184G. 



The cultivation of the grape vine for the 

 making of wine, has received great atten- 

 tion for some years past in the neighbour- 

 hood of Cincinnati, and many new vine- 

 yards are yearly fbrmed for that purpose, as 

 it is found to yield a handsome profit for the 

 investment. We expect in a few years to 

 see the cultivation of the grape under glass 

 extensively carried on, as we have no doubt 

 our fine climate and clear sunny weather in 

 the months of February and March, will 

 prove highly favourable to that object.— 

 Magazine of Horticulture. 



