362 



The Orape CiUturlst, 



HOW TO MAKE OILED SILK OR MUSLIN. 



My communication on the subject 

 of sending vines by mail lias elicited 

 queries as to where the oiled cloth 

 could be had, or how made. To the 

 former question I have no reply ; but 

 to the latter will state how we have 

 made a very good article. Once hav- 

 ing a hot bed prepared, and no glass 

 to cover it, I had to resort to muslin 

 as a substitute. The bed was sixteen 

 feet long and three and a half feet wide, 

 over which we fixed framework similar 

 to sash, stretched fine thin muslin over 

 it, which we gave a coat of boiled lin- 

 seed oil, and as soon as dry, gave it 

 another. This was suflicient, and bet- 

 ter plants and 3'oung vines than were 

 grown under it I never saw. The 

 muslin, or rather oilcloth, would not 



have been fit for another season's 

 service in that capacity ; but was just 

 the thing to pack plants in to send by 

 mail. 



The tough yellow paper used by drug- 

 gists for tying up goods and drugs, is 

 a first rate thing, with just one thin 

 coat of oil, for small packages, but not 

 strong enough for the larger packages. 



Any old worn-out silk or muslin will 

 make a good article for the purpose, 

 when oiled. 



A few years since I purchased an old 

 balloon, which came to grief in a storm, 

 which has come very handy,, and will 

 supply me for some time to come. 

 Yours truly, 



S. Miller. 



Bluffton, Mo., Nov. -20, 1809. « 



NEW THINGS TURN OUT TO BE OLD ONES. 



Friend Husmann : This season has 

 again proven to me the necessity of 

 trying every new grape before letting 

 it out. 



The Caroline, which a friend gave 

 me a few years since, looked so healthy 

 and bore such a strong resemblanee to 

 Concord, that we had hopes of some- 

 thing valuable. Now it has fruited, 

 and lo ! 'tis Concord itself. 



The Comfort, which I thought also 

 had a familiar look about it, turns out 

 Catawba, and is no Comfort at all. 



Then Wilmington, which I paid two 

 dollai'S for a few eyes, to a responsible 



party in the East, and felt sure that 

 this time I had it correct, turns out 

 just what my former Wilmingtons did, 

 simply Catawba. 



My impression now is that there 

 never was such a grape as the one 

 represented by that name. At least I 

 have never seen it, nor have I con 

 versed on the subject with any one 

 who had. It fruited in the East on 

 my place and did not color, so we 

 thought it Wilmington, and it only 

 needed a longer season to make it 

 succeed. Now we find it was only 

 Catawba. S. Miller. 



