8Y4 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



PACKING GKAPES. 



Last fall 1 instituted a series of experitnents to 

 ascertain tiie best nietliod of keejjing Isabella 

 grapes throu^'h the winter. They were all packed 

 in boxes, one foot sqnai*e and six inches deep, ad- 

 iiiittinii; tliree layers of clusters, and kept in a cool, 

 dry cellar; in fact, so cool during the winter that 

 water standing in a pail would freeze half an inch 

 tiiick. I am satisfied that the nearer the freezing 



{Kiiut grapes, and in fact all other fruits, can be 

 cept without actually freezing, the longer and bet- 

 ter they will keep. 



Box No. 1 was packed with alternate layers of 

 grapes and fresh grape leaves ; box No. 2 with alter- 

 nate layers and colored sheet wadding; box No. 8 

 with alternate layers of newspapers and grapes. 

 Now for results. No. 1 kept fresh until about the 

 last of December, the fruit seemingly improving in 

 flavor, and greenish clusters ripening up, when the 

 leaves and steins of the fruit began to mold quite 

 budly. No. 2 kept tolerably well until about the 

 middle of December, when I found the cotton 

 sticking to the grapes where they came in contact. 

 No. 3 kei)t tlie best of the three by all odds. By 

 changing the papers and repacking, I ke[)t grapes 

 until the 15tli of March, perfectly plump and fresh, 

 and most of the stems fresh and green. I know 

 not how much longer they would have kept, had I 

 not used up the last of them at that time. — S. 

 Mitchell, Steuben county, N. Y. 



Disappearance of the Vine Disease. — The 

 Frencli journal Les Ifondes says: 



" Dr. Tklephk, of Bordeaux, has been the first 

 to remark, that since the appearance of oidium, 

 the large kinds of edible fungi, and especially the 

 bnleti, have disappeared from those localities w^here 

 the vine has been diseased. This observation was 

 made known i'l 1853 to the Linnean Society of 

 Bordeaux, and it has been remarked that since the 

 minute cryptogams (such as Erysiphe oidium on 

 the vine, Botryois on the potato, and Ustilago 

 carbo on tiie maize) have been attacking and de- 

 errDving these necessaries of life, so tave the large 

 kinds of mushrooms been comparatively rare. 

 15 at .since the autumn of 1802, the Agarics and 

 Boleii have rea[)peared in great quantities about 

 15or<leaux, and the markets of this large town 

 liave been encumbered with them. From this fact 

 Dr. Desmaktis considers himself justified in fore- 

 telling the final disappearance before long of the 

 vine disease." 



Longevity of Apple Tkees at the "West. — 

 Observations appear to indicate that young orch- 

 ards have to be renewed every twenty-five 

 years in the Western States, W. 0. Flags, of Ill- 

 inois, says that the oldest apple trees he has seen 

 in that State are not over sixty years of age, and 

 they were in a declining or dying condition. Of 

 three hundred trees planted forty years ago, only 

 about forty per cent, are now living. Of these 

 the grafted trees endured as well aa the seedlings. 

 The longest lived and healthiest were Pryor's Red, 

 Kirkbridge White and Newtown Pippin. 



CULTIVATING AND MANTTRING PEAR TEEEa 



At a late meeting of the New York Farmers' 

 Club, in answer to an inquiry, Dr. Ward, of New 

 ark, N. J., who is one of the most extensive pear 

 growers in the United States, said he treated his 

 trees as follows : 



" 1 subsoil the land deeply in the place for the 

 rows, and dig deep, large holes, and in the bottom 

 place sods and rich mold and soil to the depth of 

 a foot or more, packed solid. On this I place the 

 roots, carefully tilling in loam and compost, and 

 over that, soil from the adjoining surface. I have 

 used various kinds of fertilizers, in difl'erent ways, 

 aud now prefer fresh barnyard manure ])laced 

 around the trees in November, at the rate of two 

 or three wheelbarrow loads to a tree, so as to give 

 a thick covering several feet around the tree. The 

 rains falling upon this carry fertility to the roots, 

 as the manure prevents the ground from freezing, 

 except in extremely cold weather. In the spring 

 the manure acts as a mulch and keeps the ground 

 loose without labor, as I do not dig the ground. 

 When the manure is pretty much dissipated I 

 cover the whole surface with salt hay, which re- 

 mains till I am ready to manure in autumn, when 

 it is raked ofi" and saved to use again." 



The Crow a Pine Planter. — J. Thomson, of 

 Leeds, says, in the Gardeners^ Chronicle, that " In 

 one ot the pine-clad straths of the Highlands of 

 Scotland I Lave frequently seen great numbers of 

 crows pass over my head, carrying in their bills to 

 a neighboricg hill something resembling a potato. 

 I first thought that they did actually carry potatoes 

 there for convenience of eating them, but on closer 

 observation I saw them dig a hole in the ground 

 with their beaks, and then deposit what appeared 

 to be a potato, but which, on examination, proved 

 to be cones from fir trees. For what purpose they 

 planted them there I am unable to say, but the re- 

 sult was that in a few years young firs began to 

 spring up in all directions. A beginning thus being 

 made, the hill was planted and enclosed, and it is 

 now covered with a beautiful and thriving planta- 

 tion of firs." 



. m I fc ■ 



A New Tea Plant. — J. P. Veeder, of Albany, 

 N. Y., stated to the Farmers' Institute Club that 

 last summer he was among some bushes that had 

 been out a day or two, when he thought that he 

 detected the odor of tea, and upon looking for 

 what produced it, discovered that it was the leaves 

 of the common sumac. He gathered some of the 

 leaves and cured them as tea leaves are cured, and 

 made a decoction and invited several good judges 

 of tea to taste and give their opinion. They pro- 

 nounced it a very good quality of China tea, much 

 resembling that known as Oolong! 



