408 



NEW ENGLAND FAEMER. 



Sept. 



THE YELLOW BELL FLOWER APPLE. 



The Yellow Bell Flower, or more 

 properly Belle Fleur, so called from 

 the beauty of the blossoms, is a large, 

 handsome and excellent winter apple, 

 very highly esteemed throughout the 

 United States. It thrives best in the 

 sandy soils of New Jersey, and is con- 

 sequently more abundant in the Phil- 

 adelphia and New York markets 

 than in Boston. The fruit orginated 

 in Burlington, New Jersey. The out- 

 line and description are from Cole. 

 Downing represents the apple as larg- 

 er and more irregular in shape, though 



his description and estimate of its merits are the 

 same as Cole's in other respects. 



"Very large ; long ovate-conical, irregular rib- 

 bed, mostly towards the eye ; smooth, lemon yel- 

 low, generally a blush in the sun ; stem long, slen- 

 der, in a narrow, deep cavity: calyx closed, in a 

 narrow, plaited basin ; flesh tender, juicy, of a rich, 

 sprightly, aromatic flavor. Latter part of Nov. to 

 Feb. Good grower, moderate and constant bearer." 



Mildew in the Grape.— The blight, or mildew, 

 is the operation o{ fun^i, and the cause of the fun- 

 gi is a surplus of carbonic acid, which gas would 

 not exist as such, were there a sufficient supply of 

 potash in the soil. 



The grape-vine needs a large quantity of potash. 

 In the appendix of Liebig's Agricultural Chemistry, 

 it is said : "Under ordinary circumstances, a ma- 

 nure containing potash must be used, otherwise the 

 fertility of a soil will decrease. This is done in all 

 wine countries." Again : "One thousand parts of 

 the pruned branches contain forty-six to sixty parts 

 of pure potash." 



We may now easily account for the fact men- 

 tioned 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 fungi. 



A humid summer is favorable for the generation 

 of carbonic acid, and hence the reason why "T." 

 found his young vines attacked during such a sea- 

 son, "T." is correct when he says, "the soap-suds 

 is always beneficial, and can be used freely." The 

 reason is, soap-suds contain potash. I should re- 

 commend very strongly the use of wood-ashes about 

 grape vines, particularly in cold graperies. 



Water for Calves.— Accident, 

 says a correspondent of the Ohio 

 Cullivator, recently taught me 

 what, till then, I did not know, viz. 

 "That calves, while fed on milk, 

 need free access to water ; I had 

 supposed the milk (consisting of 

 their entire food) was enough with- 

 out water. But in changing my 

 calves from one pasture to anoth- 

 er, they passed a water trough and 

 drank heartily. I acted on the 

 hint, and have since supplied them, 

 and find they need water as often 

 as older cattle. No day passed 

 without their using more or less." 



Black Ants. — A correspondent 

 asks the following question : "Will 

 you please ask your numerous 

 readers what remedy I can adopt 

 to destroy 'black ants ?' " As one 

 of the numerous readers of your 

 paper, allow me to answer the lady 

 friend : 



/ Take about a teaspoonful of 



common red lead, which can be 

 obtained at the painter's, and mix 

 it with a sufficient quantity of mo- 

 lasses to make a thin paste. This 



will catch a part, and disperse the balance of the 



trespassers. — Journal. 



SPIRIT OF THE AGRICULTURAL 

 PRESS. 



Rabbits. — In some localities, particularly at the 

 West, rabbits are quite destructive of young fruit 

 trees. Mr. John Hand, of the "Madison Nursery," 

 says, in a communication to the Wisconsin Fanner, 

 that sulphur mixed with any kind of oil and put on 

 a bit of lath inserted in the ground, near each tree, 

 and re-touched in January with a paint brush dipped 

 in the sulphur composition, will keep them away, 

 unless they are of a different species from any he is 

 acquainted with. 



Fish Oil and Fresh Manure. — A correspon- 

 dent of the Valley Farmer says that having read 

 that fish oil rubbed on the limbs of trees would 

 keep off the curculio, he besmeared several plums 

 and apricots with it. The depredations of the cur- 

 culio were not prevented at all, but his trees were 

 killed. The bark turned yellow where the oil was 

 applied, and the leaves wilted. He also cautions 

 tree-growers against the use of green manure. A 

 neighbor of his, a doctor, set out a choice collection 

 of pear trees. The doctress, being a great lover of 

 fine fruit, and wishing to hasten the production of 

 their pet trees, had a small coat of fresh manure 

 put about them, and nicely turned under, in the 

 doctor's absence. One after another of the trees 

 died ; and when the cause was ascertained, a terri- 

 ble storm disturbed the peace of the worthy doc- 

 tor's family. 



