412 



FARMERS' REGISTER— PRUNING GRAPE VINES— FLOUR, &c. 



tunate recruits as having occasioned the injury, 

 and they were arrested; but nothing could be 

 proved against them. Persons were now employ- 

 ed to watch the Park at night, but still in the 

 morning, the bark was lying in great quantities 

 around the roots of the trees. At the same time 

 the elms in a grove at Camberwell, near London, 

 were also destroyed. This was ascribed to the 

 effect of gas escaped from pipes used for lighting 

 the road. Legal proceedings were commenced 

 against the company for the removal of the nui- 

 sance. In this state of things, William Sharpe 

 M'Lay, an eminent naturalist, profoundly ac- 

 quainted with the history of insects, was requested 

 Dy Lord Sidney to draw up a report on the state of 

 the elm trees, for the purpose of referring to the 

 Lords of the Treasury. He discovered it to be a 

 beetle, ( Hytensius destructor,) belonging to the 

 same genus as that which destroys the pines in 

 Germany. By ascertaining its habits he was ena- 

 bled to point out a remedy and the remainder of 

 the trees were preserved. 



PRUBTING THE ISABT3LLA GRAPE VIKE. 



From the New-England Farmer. 



Pruning the Vine. — " Well, neighbor, how does 

 your Isabella promise this season? Not a single 

 grape. Ah, how is that.'' We sent for Mr. M. 

 last fall — he pruned it so closely that the branches 

 looked like naked sticks, and now we have not a 

 grape to gratify our palate. 



" Close prunino- is too common in this country ; 

 in summer only tne unproductive shoots should be 

 taken out, and not these unless they produce too 

 much shade."---[A^eio York Farmer. 



The above appeared in Vol. XII, No. 10, and I 

 regret to see such pieces inserted in a standard pa- 

 per like yours without comment from the Editor. 

 If this sarcasm on pruning shall pass as deserved, 

 much injury will result to the cause you have 

 evidently at heart: I mean the successful culture 

 of native and other hardy vines. " Mr. M." 

 knew nothing of his business, or the vine had ex- 

 hausted itself in the previous year's bearing. Any 

 Isabella (and most other hardy vines) pruned ju- 

 diciously every year according to the age, vigor 

 and general growth of the plant, and depth and 

 strength of the soil, will, every year produce a 

 good crop, much superior to any thing from a vine 

 only slightly pruned in the summer. The reason 

 is obvious to any who have studied the nature of 

 the vine, and attended carefully to its cultivation 

 in this country. It should be divested of its sur- 

 plus branches in the summer, to admit the light 

 and air to ripen the wood as well as the fruit. An 

 experienced cultivator will be as particular in ex- 

 posing the branches which are to bear freight the 

 following season, as to any other part of cultiva- 

 tion. Grape vines have a constant tendency to 

 throw out lateral shoots, and if the branches which 

 are intended to furnish the next crop of fruit are 

 not divested of those as they appear, their strength 

 will be found exhausted ; and if any fruit appear, 

 its quality will be very inferior. 



As soon as the buds are developed in the spring 

 a vine stops bleeding; and in the spring we can 

 cut out all the wood which has perished during 

 the winter, of which there will be a quantity on 

 every vine native or exotic, and it cannot be ex- 



pected that the late growth should ripen suflicient- 

 ly to stand a severe frost. I prefer pruning in the 

 spring, because we can then make clean work, and 

 lay in only fine ripe wood; and by doing this 

 work a short time before the buds put forth, the 

 j)lant receives no injury from bleeding. Most 

 foreign vines will become acclimated and hardy 

 by a discriminating use of the knife. 



If you deem this communication worth inser- 

 tion, I may probably make more remarks on this 

 subject. 



Port Carbon, Pa. 



IJIPROVE]ME^'T IN aiAKIA'G FLOUR FOR EX- 

 PORTATIOX. 



From the BaUimore American. 



Some months ago we published a description of 

 an invention which had been practically applied 

 at the flour mill of Nathan Tyson, Esq. of this 

 city, for the purpose of keeping tlour sweet for a 

 length of time in warm climates. The process is 

 simple, but effective, and consists in passing the 

 flour, after it is manufactured, through a heated 

 chamber, the temperature of which is sufficient to 

 expel from it whatever natural moisture or damp- 

 ness it may contain, without any injury whatever 

 to the valuable properties of the flour, but on the 

 contrary imjjarting to it additional life, strength 

 and color. Several experiments have been made 

 with flour manufactured in this manner, in order 

 to prove its value, by submiting it to the test of 

 the action of hot climates in various parts of the 

 world. It has been carried on the long voyages 

 around Cape Horn, and Avas found sweet and sound 

 on arrival ; and in some instances, according to re- 

 cent advices, its peculiar qualities have secured a 

 very handsome profit to the exporter which ordi- 

 nary shipments could not have realized. We 

 have before us a letter from one of the most re- 

 spectable houses at Gibraltar, to which a small 

 parcel of this flour had been sent, as an experi- 

 ment, which contains the Ibllowing conclusive tes- 

 timony in regard to it. The letter says — " It is 

 now six months since the landing of your ship- 

 ment, which has this day been examined by the 

 contractors for the supply of the troops of the gar- 

 rison, and by them pronounced as sweet as though 

 just from the mill." A letter from a commercial 

 house in Port au Prince, also before us, cites the 

 opinion of a baker of that place who has had some 

 of the flour in his possession for eight months, that 

 " he had no doubt it would keep for a year and be 

 perfectly sweet." In addition to these evidences 

 in its favor, we would advert to the fact mentioned 

 in our weekly review of the markets, in another 

 part of to-day's paper, of the recent sales of con- 

 sideral)le parcels for export, at %1 per barrel. 



We are induced to notice this matter for the 

 purpose of making more generally known the 

 valuable invention of an industrious and enterpris- 

 ing citizen. It cannot but recommend itself 

 strongly to the attention of those who make ship- 

 ments to distant ports, or where a hot climate is to 

 be encountered; and we know of none who are 

 more immediately interested in it tha%the millers 

 of the West, who are obliged to send their flour to 

 the distant market and unfavorable climate of New 

 Orleans. To the latter class, it may be the means 

 of saving, annually, thousands of dollars. 



