THE GENESEE EARMER. 



251 



man gardeners ; that English writers have long 

 spoken of it in terms of at least partial commenda- 

 tion ; that the French have long experimented up- 

 on it, and that it seems to be proved that it does 

 add materially to the size, and does hasten the 

 iiiitturity of the fruit. Mr. Barry thought that, as 

 ;i whole, it did not improve the quality of the 

 iir.ipe, while the obstruction of the return of the 

 s:;;) from the leaves to the roots, was an injury to 

 ilic roots. The grape vine will bear this girdling 

 with mure impunity than any other plant, because 

 it makes n-^vv roots so easily. The whole of this is 

 a very interesting matter, and well worthy of the 

 attention and the experiments of members. 



Mr. TowNSEND again spoke, hoping that mem- 

 bers would experiment and give us their results at 

 tlie September meeting. Could not quite agree 

 with Mr, Barry as to injury to the roots. Let us 

 take the case of an Isabella vine, trained and 

 pruned according to the renewal system, and there 

 are in fact two vines taking sap from the root and 

 giving it an outlet through the leaves: The only loss 

 to the root is from the obstruction (not stojjpage) 

 of the flow of part of the sap of one of these vines, 

 and the consequent extra developement of the fruit. 

 As to the branches, wlien vines are pruned accord- 

 ing to the renewal system, the part ligated is only 

 that which will l)e removed next year any way, 

 while the vine that is to bear fruit next year is nut 

 interfered with at all. Upon this system the results 

 Ciin nt)t be otherwise than very nice. 



Judge Langworthy here put in this proviso : 

 that if the ligature or girdling be applied to the 

 main stem of the vine, Mr. Barry's idea of injury 

 to the root is undoubtedly correct; but if to new 

 growth or only a part of the vine, as spoken of by 

 Mr. TowNSEND, no bad ettect would probably ensue 

 to the root. He also said the hastening of the ma- 

 turity of the fruit would show most conspicuously 

 upon the Catawba grape, and if by girdling we can 

 gain a fortnight in time, do let us try it. Few of 

 us ever saw a ripe Catatcba grape in Monroe county, 

 and if the way is now opened for us to have ripe 

 Catawba grapes, do let us try it. 



Question No. 2 was: " The late frost: what has 

 ieen its effects upon the grape, both with reference 

 to the present and the next seasoa''s cropV 



Wherever the growing wood was much aifected, 

 the results upon the next season's crop are of course 

 disastrous ; because the new wood which the vines 

 are compelled to make will hardly have time to 

 ripen up sufficiently to withstand the severity of 

 the winter, and to be nice bearing wood for the 

 next season's crop. 



As to the relative hardiness of the different va- 

 rieties of vines under this freeze, Mr. C. P. Bisseix 

 had found his Isabellas were hurt worse than any 

 others. Mr. S. H. Ainsworth and his neighbors 

 in Bloomfield had noticed that their Rebecca vines 

 were "all uninjured," while other sorts aroimd and 

 among the Rebeccas were more or less injured. 

 Mr. O. 0. Ross, of Penfield, said that among some 

 half-dozen varieties the Rebecca was the only one 



not injured. Other gentlemen had noticed tho 

 perfect hardiness of the Rebecca, and endeavored 

 to account for it by its ripening up its wood as fast 

 as it grows, and not leaving long succulent shouts 

 to be chilled by every depres.sion of the atmosphere, 

 or destroyed the first time the mercury sinks below 

 32 deg. 



Question 3 : '•'•Which are the best varieties of 

 Strawbei'ries for general jjroftable cultivation, ac- 

 cording to 2>i'csent erperience ; and whirh the most 

 l^rnfitalile and at the same time ino^t economical 

 mode of cultivation .?" 



Mr. H. N. Langwortiiy, of Ruchester, spoke of 

 the qualities which were needed to constitute the 

 best varieties. In this climate we want hardy 

 plants, to bear our winters without injni-y, and no 

 sort not perfectly hardy can be one of the best. 

 We want berries which are of good size and of fine 

 flavor; and if fur market, of an attractive color, 

 with the flesh of the berry hard and so firm as to 

 bear transportation to the mai'ket withoutbrnising. 

 We certainly want strong-growing plants, with a 

 stout stem and strong loot-»talks to keep up the 

 berries from the dirt. 



Several gentlemen spoke of the valuable qualities 

 possessed by this or that favorite variety, which 

 had succeeded admirably under their cultivation, 

 but all were united a9 to the value of the Large 

 Early Scarlet and Wilson''s Albany; while the 

 Hool'er and Triomphe de Gand were scarcely be- 

 hind them in estimation — the Hoolier adding to its 

 other good qualities that of being especially valua- 

 ble for preserving purposes. 



The various modes of garden and field-culture 

 were stated and commented upon, and the follow- 

 ing mode of mulching recommended : Spread clean 

 black muck over the whole surface of the bed, to 

 the depth of half an inch, in the fall. The altern- 

 ate freezing and thawing during the winter will dis- 

 integrate it as fine as white sand ; and being spread 

 over the whole surface, it serves as a mulch, pro- 

 tecting tlie bed from the cold. During the grow- 

 ing season it is an excellent fertilizer for tho plants. 

 There being no seeds in the muck to germinate, it 

 assists in keeping the bed clean from weeds; and 

 it is so pure, that if the ripe berries do touch it 

 they are not soiled as they are by contact with the 

 garden mold. 



During the discussion of question 3, Dr. Spence, 

 of Yates county, exhibited some stumps of stand- 

 ard pear trees which had been killed by what was 

 to hiin quite a mysterious disease, and asked the 

 opinion of members upon the subject. 



They were standard pear trees, five years old. 

 In the fall of 185S tlie leaves connnenced to assume 

 a red hue very prematurely. During the summer 

 of 1858, they had made a good strong growth — • 



