1890. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



125 



vines under the conditions we have named. 

 Grapes do not rot on young vines that are 

 even fairly treated until they are overcrowd- 

 ed, then they commence to rot and continue 

 getiinj: worse from year to year until en- 

 tirely worthless. This is the history of the 

 disease as far as we have examined it. 



All American Grapes with foreign blood 

 are subject to rot, such as Concord, Catawba 

 and those usually classed as Labrusca with 

 large bunches as well as all hybrids and 

 crosses of hybrids, but the pure Labrusca 

 as the native Fox Grape, and the pure ^sti- 

 valis as the Norton, are not subject to rot. 

 From the crosses of these two species we 

 must look for Grapes free from rot. 



We have a few now as the Xorton, Cyn- 

 thiana, Jewel and Herman that are free 

 from rot, and can be grown by ordinary 

 methods but they are all improved by high 

 and thorough cultivation. 



From a letter received from a practical 

 Grape grower in New York we fear some of 

 our readers may not fully understand what 

 we have said in our fifth article. The cuts 

 in that article show clearly how every alter- 

 nate vine is trained up to the upper wire 

 from the lower one; consequently the fruit 

 spui-s are down at the lower wire, but the 

 next year following, the spurs should be 

 just below the upper wire and the lower 

 spurs cut entirely away as they are of no 

 further use. 



In some eases we train on the fan system 

 which is in effect very nearly the same as 

 we have given, except in all cases the arms 

 or renewal canes are started near the lower 

 wire, and spread out from that point each 

 way in the form of a curve, tied to the lower 

 and upper wire as most convenient. This 

 method, however, cannot be adopted when 

 vines are planted close together in the rows 

 as this paper recommends. 



COMMENTS BY READERS. 



A departinent to tchivh all are invited to send notes 

 of experience and obsen-ation concerning topics that 

 recently fiave been treated on m this joumai. Many 

 sxich contributions monthly are welcome. 



Heattng Greenhouses. The method of 

 creating a temporary draught shown and illus- 

 trated on page 74, while losing 90 per cent of 

 the heat, is not in harmonr with scientific prin- 

 ciples. The chimney will draw the smoke, when 

 fire is first started, with a will through the entire 

 flue, if the latter is built of uniform size through- 

 out. The attempt to crowd the smoke through 

 the round tile which is not one-half the size of 

 the brick Uue, cannot be done with success. On 

 the contrary, e.vperts tell us, that chimneys must 

 not l>e contracted, but rather expanded as they 

 approach the top, and greenhouse flues offer no 

 exceptions to this rule. A number of years ago, 

 two greenhouses, each 40 feet long and 16 feet 

 wide, were built by two neighbors, one— an 

 amateur— who used the best material and con- 

 structed the flues 80 feet in length, three bricks 

 high and covered with tile. It alwa.vs worked 

 to his satisfaction, and on the coldest mornings 

 the heat could be seen radiating from the top of 

 his chimney. The other house built by a niu^ery- 

 man was also a lean-to, with a similar flue, with 

 this exception, however, that the flue was de- 

 pressed to two bricks in height, instead of three, 

 and this size was continued for 20 feet to the 

 chimney. The draught was always sluggish. 

 One cold afternoon in January, frost commenced 

 to gather on the lower sash bar, and rum was 

 foreshadowed. Something must be done and 

 that right early. The amateur was consulted 

 and the result of the inter\new was immediatelv 

 put in practice. First a brick was removed 

 where the depressed flue began and a Ught of 

 glass was laid in its place. This showed the 

 smoke as filling the extra flue, but scarcely 

 moving toward the chimney; the top bricks were 

 removed as the work progressed and another 

 brick was added to the height, until the entire 

 flue was of one uniform size. Instead of the 

 last brick, the same light of glass was laid on in 

 order to note the result. The smoke instead of 

 being eight Inches thick and mortng at snails 

 space, now thinned down to a half inch at the 

 bottom and passed rapidly on to chimney. The 



gathering ice soon disappeared from the lower 

 glass and the working of that furnace was ever 

 afterwards declared perfect. —X IV. Adams, Afoss. 



That Vegetable Gkowers' Association. 

 This is certainly a society that would be appreci- 

 ated by the progressive gardener. Xow when 

 attending horticultural meetings he hears pomo- 

 logical, floral, and forestry matters expounded 

 by older members, until it gets to be tiresome to 

 many of the younger ones, and although they 

 may be deeply interested in knowing some im- 

 portant facts in other garden products, no time 

 is found to discuss an.v such points. The inquirer 

 will probabl.v be told to ask the Experiment 

 Stations. These Stations are doing a noble work 

 and it is appreciated, but some of the particular 

 points in the progressive gardener's line, they do 

 not experiment upon, or at least, do not report, 

 therefore he must spend perhaps years in experi- 

 menting for himself, where if there were a 

 society interested in these same particular lines, 

 to which he could go and hear such matters dis- 

 cussed, it might save him much labor and 

 expense. There are garden products that could 

 be grown in this state (r>hio) which are now 

 being shipped largely early in the season, from 

 the south. At least 8100.000 was taken out of 

 the state in 188;) for Tomatoes alone. It is true, 

 we could not save all this to the state, but cer- 

 tainly a portion of it by the intelligent handling 

 of an "artificial climate," Strawberries are 

 coming from. the south to our northern markets 

 in .January, and other garden truck soon follows. 

 Certainly this must be an eye-opener to the pro- 

 gressive gardener. If we do not study, and 

 learn the best process, to advance our climate, 

 by artificial heat, etc , we are going to get left 

 on early truck. We are indeed "in need of 

 more light, such light as is shed by free discus- 

 sions at meetings of people skilled in this par- 

 ticular branch of horticulture, "~iV,, Ohio. 



Beans and Corn. The remark of Mr. Powell 

 upon the tendencj' which ;many of his Bean 

 seedUngs showed to run to pods altogether and 

 produce no seed, reminds me of a somewhat 

 similar experience, years ago, with Indian Com. 

 My efforts were directed toward the production 

 of as many ears to the stalk as possible, quite 

 overlooking the necessity of pollen, or rather 

 supposing that Nature would keep up that end- 

 In five years, by selection onl.v, I produced an 

 average of eight long ears to the stalk, or cobs 

 rather, for most of the tassels at the top pro- 

 duced small shapeless kernels instead of pollen, 

 and the kernels on the ears were almost entirely 

 lacking for want of fertilization. 



Amaktllis Belladonna. I should hardly 

 give the advice as to this plant whieh I find on 

 page 94 of January issue I think that there are 

 ver.v many failures with it from the supposed 

 necessity of annual repotting. After the foliage 

 has died down the pot should be laid on its side 

 in a perfectly dry place, as hot as sunlight can 

 make it. Do not allow a drop of water to reach 

 the sod in which the bulb is until September 1st, 

 unless the flower bud should begin to push be- 

 fore that date. At that time give a little water 

 and, two days after, a good soaking. The flower 

 spike will push vigorously and the lovely flowers 

 will remain a long time in perfection. Do not be 

 alarmed about the tardiness of the leaves, the,v 

 will appear in due time and grow all winter, 

 drying off in May. By no means disturb the 

 bulb. It will increase by offsets and become 

 finer every year. When the pot is crowded, plant 

 ball of earth and all in a large pot. If the flowers 

 after a while are not quite as good as they were, 

 remove the soU above the bulbs and supply its 

 place with fresh. A top dressing of fine manure 

 is also helpful in such a case.— TT. E. EnOicott. 



Oriental Pears as Dwarfs. All the Pears 

 will grow on the Quince a few years, but the 

 structure of the wood is so dissimilar that the 

 elaborated iSap does not readily return to the 

 roots to properly nourish them, and consequentl.v 

 they are starved and the trees so worked make a 

 smaller growth each succeeding year until they 

 finally die. But where double worked they make 

 as good trees on the Quince as any Pear that I 

 know of. That the Bartlett and other sorts 

 should act in the same way when worked on Le 

 Conte or other Oriental Pears as a stock is more 

 than I can undei-stand. But if so, I would very 

 much like to know it for I planted out a large 

 lot of Le Contes last spring intending to let them 

 grow one or two years and then graft Bartlett 

 and other varieties on them. I believe the 

 Oriental Pears do well grafted on other varieties. 

 I have Garber and Kieffer growing on Mount 



Vernon and I do not see why they should not 

 do well when the operation is reversed. I see 

 Mr. Jeffery speaks of having Le Conte Pear trees 

 grown from cuttings. I know they are grown 

 from cuttings in the south where they can grow 

 many things in that wa.v that we cannot here. 

 I last year tried some Le Conte cuttings and all 

 faile.1 to grow. If they can be grown from 

 cuttings here would like to know it. I did suc- 

 ceed in getting some Marianna Plums to grow 

 from cuttings. 



Grafting English Walnuts. I think Mr. 

 Bowers will find that his English Walnuts that 

 he grafted on the Black Walnut will only grow a 

 few years making a smaller growth each suc- 

 ceeding year owing to the too great difference 

 between the cion and stock. I have seen the 

 same experiment tried before and it always re- 

 sulted in complete failure. 



Shiawassee BE-itrrv Apple. I saw this on 

 the Missouri Agricultural College farm, and 

 from the specimens seen conclude that it is all 

 Mr Lyon claims for it and should be more ex- 

 tensively grown. 



Ancient Briton Blackberrt. All the 

 evidence I can get indicates that this is a most 

 excellent Blackberry for the extreme northern 

 states, but with us, although a very fine berry, it 

 is not reliable in tlie matter of productiveness; 

 sometimes yielding good crops but oftener not. 

 It has been tried here and found unprofitable.— 

 E. A. Riehl lllinnU^. 



Grape Hot. Dr Stay man is quite positive he 

 has found the remedy for Grape rot, and alleges 

 that " the same result has followed here and else- 

 where, wherever vines were cut back to the 

 ground. I regret to have to say that this else- 

 where does not reach Atlantic county, X J, 

 where the same thing has been done without 

 these desirable results. When Moore's Early 

 first came out, a neighbor, Mr. J. O. Kansom, a 

 nurseryman, cut off at and below the ground, a 

 number of varieties of Grapes and grafted with 

 Moore's Early. Many grafts failed, but strong 

 suckers came up precisely as with Dr. Stayman. 

 These grew so well that he trained to stakes (our 

 usual method here), but when they fruited they 

 rotted just as badly as the older vines not cut off. 

 In the spring of ISSB I set out about 1,000 Moore's 

 Early. As vines were then high, and wishing to 

 propagate as fast as possible, I layered the first 

 summer's growth, and also the second, except 

 one cane to the hill. This fruited the third sum- 

 mer but the fruit nearly all rotted. I got but 

 fourteen baskets, and they were of very broken 

 clusters. Last summer, the fourth, I did not 

 get a basket fit for market. The Grapes were 

 set as the first crop, on land just cleared from 

 the forest, and no Grapes raised within half a- 

 mile to spread infectious matter. As bagging 

 makes them late, and also gives poor results, and 

 spraying is only an imperfect remedy, and both 

 too expensive to be warranted by the low mar- 

 ket prices, I am digging up my later settings of 

 layers, for why cumber the ground any longer 

 for a crop that does not even pay for the strings 

 to tie the vines up. The last two seasons have 

 been very rainy. New crops have paid well, but 

 Grapes worst of all —P. H. Brown. 



Buckwheat in Orchard. Buckwheat does 

 even more than your article claims. In this 

 southern cUmate it is one of the best things that 

 I ever struck. Last year I got a pound of the 

 Japanese variety and planted it the last week in 

 April. We were then just entering on what 

 proved to be an exceptionall.v long dry spell, but 

 the Buckwheat made a crop in six weeks without 

 a drop of rain My bees found it a veritable 

 Godsend. I made four good crops from this 

 small beginning, and could have made a fifth if 

 I had taken care of my last planting, but being 

 so near winter 1 let it go. On going over the 

 field I find some of it in bloom again, it having 

 grown from the di-opped seed. I beUeve with 

 judicious management we can make seven 

 crops a year from it in this mild climate, and it 

 is a good paying crop in every way you take it. 

 By turning under every second crop, you enrich 

 the soil in an effective and inexpensive way, and 

 you clear the land of cutworms and grubs, — C. 

 K. Maequarrie, Florida. 



Birds and Frctt. I think the pans of water 

 in berry patches to keep birds from eating fruit 

 as spoken of in Popular Gardening, useless, 

 for there were httle ditches of water all through 

 our garden, and a large trough near, last sum- 

 mer, and the birds could oidy be kept from the 

 berries with netting. They love the fruit. — Jlrs. 

 I. L. B., Ariz. 



