28 



THE GENESEE FAEMER. 



weather to great cold. It may be that the skill 

 of the cultivator can never provide adequate 

 means to counterbalance or materially modify these 

 vicissitudes of climate; and if so, we shall be com- 

 pelled to regard the peach as a precarious fruit 

 in this section. This point, however, we are 

 not prepared to admit; but, on the contrary, 

 firmly believe that the intelligence and enterjirise 

 of our fruit growers will provide means for the 

 mitigation of these climatic influences, even if they 

 should continue as during the two past winters. 

 It may be well, perhaps, for amateurs to undertake 

 to grow peach trees on walls or trellises, where 

 they can more conveniently afford them protection 

 during their dormant state, Numerous examples 

 that have come under our observation fully justify 

 us in the conclusion that the peach, grown in this 

 way, will yield regular crops. 



The interest in tlie cultivation of the Grape con- 

 tinues unabated, and the great claims which this 

 fruit has, for extensive culture, are becoming fully 

 recognized. Never did fruit-growers take in hand 

 anything which promised more munificent results. 

 Our country, from end to end, with few exceptions, 

 is well adapted to the perfect growth of the various 

 sorts of this most delicous of all fruits. The grape 

 is the fruit for the million. The smallest space of 

 land will allow of its culture ; and every village 

 and even city house may have a vine, trained up 

 its sunny side. With little care, the surplus crop 

 may be preserved fresh during the whole winter, 

 or cheaply manufactured into a pure beverage, to 

 take the place of the noxious compounds, every- 

 where vended as imported wines. 



The vineyard, in the Middle and "Western, as well 

 as throughout the Southern States, is destined to 

 become one of the most important of agricultural 

 interests. During the past year, the value of some 

 of the more prominent of the new hardy grapes has 

 been fully confirmed, and we have no doubt that, 

 in a few years, the varieties which are now largely 

 in cultivation will be superseded by better and 

 more profitable sorts. Of the characteristics of 

 these new sorts, we do not now propose to speak, 

 as this information has been laid before our readers, 

 in our past volumes, and everything of interest 

 will be brought to notice in future. 



"We wUl take this occasion to caution our readers 

 against an imposition which is being practiced by 

 some unprincipled scoundrels, by taking wild vines 

 from the woods, or other worthless sorts, and pack- 

 ing them nicely, and labelling with the names of 

 some of the valuable new kinds, and offering them 

 tor sale, in this manner, about the country. The 

 vines, being large and strong, are temptingly offered, 



even at high rates, and the purchaser may antici- 

 pate in blissful ignorance, until his first crop of 

 fruit, when he will learn to his sorrow the innocent 

 part he has played in the game. 



Of the diseases and enemies of fruit trees, there 

 is little that is new to be said. Fruit-growers are 

 constantly showing that most of these evils can, by 

 skill and attention, be either wholly averted, or 

 their effects so modified as to give little cause for 

 serious apprehension. Even the curculio, about 

 whose mischievous habits so much has been said 

 and written, it has been shown may be kept under 

 control by the well-known practice of jarring, so 

 that any one who is well situated for soil and mar- 

 ket, need not hesitate to engage extensively in the 

 cultivation of Plums. The use of sulphur for the 

 mildew or fungus, which is produced on various 

 fruits, promises to prove an eflicient practice. This 

 operation is one which probably will be fully tested 

 during the ensuing summer, and we would hero 

 recommend all fruit-growers, who have had to deal 

 with this disease, to have at hand next season, so 

 as to apply at the first warning, either the dry 

 flowers of sulphur, or the preparations which we 

 recommended in the last volume, and which we 

 will here again refer to: 



If one pound of flowers of sulphur, and an equal 

 measure of quick lime, are boiled for ten minutes' 

 in a glazed earthen-pot, with five pints of water, 

 hyposulphite of lime is formed, which is very solu- 

 ble. It should be constantly stirred while boiling. 

 It is then allowed to settle, and the clear liquid is, 

 when cool, ready for use, after being mixed with 

 one' hundred parts of water. The vines are syr- 

 inged with this water This is effectual, economi- 

 cal, and easily applied on a large scale. 



This hyposulphite of lime may easily be obtained 

 by leaching the refuse lime of the gas-works. The 

 hyposulphite is very soluble, and the less water 

 used for the purpose the better, in order to avoid 

 dissolving other substances. It should afterward 

 be largely diluted with water, and applied with the 

 syringe, as before recommendied. 



If seven pounds of sulphur and one pound of 

 lime are boiled in water for several hours, pentasul- 

 phuret of calcium is formed. This substance con- 

 tains about eighty per cent, of sulphur, and is quite 

 soluble in water. "We have never seen it recom- 

 mended for mildew, but think it eminently worthy 

 of trial. It is the sulphur, and not the lime, that 

 is the effective agent ; and the less of the latter in 

 proportion to the former the better. The penta- 

 sulphuret of calcium contains more than ten times 

 as much sulphur, in proportion to the lime, as the 

 hyposulphite of lime. It approximates closely to 

 a solution of sulphur. 



Never beg fruit, or anything else you can produce 

 by the expenditure of a little time or labor. It is 

 as reasonable to expect a man to give away the 

 products of his wheat field, as of his orchard or 

 fruit garden. 



