THE GENESEE FARMER. 



217 



ound, to see if there was any breach By this time the 

 tern was completely covered. Nothing but caterpillars 

 iould be seen, and in some instances they were two or 

 hree deep. They would stick out their heads and look 

 wistfully at the nice green leaves above, and then take 

 mother smell at the black, sticky tar that intervened 

 »etween them and the object of their desires. At length 

 me, more bold than the rest, mouuted the breastworks ! 

 le progressed slowly for a few moments, and then seeing 

 hat he was not seconded, and finding the road very soft 

 o his feet and unpleasantly adhesive, he beat a retreat. 

 Jut ' retreats are always dangerous,' and 

 o he found it, for on attempting to ' tack' 

 ie ' shipped a sea' and foundered in the 

 ar. Seeing the iguoble end of their 

 eader, the rest raised the siege, and the 

 lext morning I found them by the hun- 

 Ireds bleaching in the summer's sun. So 

 lerish the enemies of all our fruits and 

 lowers ! " 



" To prevent the mildew on the goose- 

 berries, I dusted them with sulphur, and 

 hough they are principally the large 

 English kinds, which are always subject 

 o mildew in this country, they are as yet 

 ntirely free from it." 



" These raspberries are unaffected by 

 he drouth. They never looked better or 

 nore promising. No fruit requires less 

 abor — none more delicious or produc- 

 ive." 



" As soon as it rains, I intend to set 

 nit these young suckers. They can be 

 ransplanted as easily as cabbage plants, 

 *nd will bear fruit next season." 



" For market, the Hudson River Ant- 

 verp and Frauconia are said to be the 

 jest. Put for home use, there is nothing 

 mperior to Briuckle's Orange. It is 

 '•ery handsome, delicious and productive. 

 Iochstein made a very nice drawing of it for the Gene- 

 \ee larmer. But of course it does not show the beautiful 

 >range color of the fruit." 



" Sulphur is a cure for most forms of fungus or 

 mildew, if applied in time. The cracking of the pear is 

 undoubtedly caused by a fungus, and I have great hopes 

 [.hat it will check this great drawback to the culture of 

 the Virgalieu pear. The difficulty is to apply it so that 

 the fruit shall be dusted over with the sulphur. Syringing 

 the trees with a solution of sulphur is probably the best 

 method. By boiling for some time lime and excess of 

 julphur together in water, we get penta sulphuret of 

 calcium — a compound containing about eighty per cent, 

 of sulphur. If this is largely diluted with water, and the 

 trees are syringed with it, as the water evaporates the 

 sulphur will be left on the leaves and fruit. I have great 

 faith in this plan, and mean to try it thoroughly. I boiled 

 eight pounds of sulphur and one of lime for several 

 hours. I then poured off the clear liquid and added 

 another pound of lime to the sulphur left at the bottom 

 and boiled again." 



"As you say, sulphur and lime have often been used in 

 this way for syringing grapes in the vinery. There is f 

 however, this difference. The ordinary method of boiling 

 lime and sulphur gives hyposulphite of lime, containing 

 only one atom of sulphur to two of lime, whereas the 

 method I adopted gives a compound containing five of 

 sulphur and one of calcium, or ten times as much sulphur 

 in proportion to lime as the other. Sulphur is insoluble 



brinckle's orange raspberry. 

 J in water, and we have to adopt this method to render it 

 soluble." 



"Grapes are looking well, though the frost last night 

 nipped off many of the young shoots, and in some instan- 

 ces did much damage. The frost played many curious 

 freaks. One plant would be cut down, while another 

 standing close beside it would be entirely unharmed. 

 Some gardens escaped altogether, while others near by 

 suffered severely." 



"As to pruning grapes in summer, the principal thing 

 is to strip out the useless shoots and shorten in the 

 others to within two or three leaves of the fruit." 



" ' Strip off the leaves ? ' Never in this climate. Strip 

 off the useless shoots and shorten in the others, so that 

 the streugth of the vine may not be expended in forming 

 useless wood, but otherwise do not strip ofi* a single leaf." 



"Yes, a statement was published some time since iD 

 the Genesee Farmer that clay dust scattered on the vines 

 would prevent mildew. I know nothing about it perso- 

 nally. Sulphur I faiow dusted on the leaves and fruit as 

 soon as the first symptoms of mildew are seen, or before, 



