i8o Notes and Gleanings. 



The following, which we take from the correspondence of " The Kansas 

 Farmer," is a very pleasant indication of the progress vine-culture has already 

 made in Kansas. The idea of alternating the Delaware with the Concord may 

 be a good one, and is at least worth trying : — 



" Mr. Poirier has the largest vineyard, I think, in the State, — nearly or quite 

 twenty acres. His vines are chiefly Catawba, Isabella, and Concord ; though he 

 has smaller quantities of more than fifteen other varieties. His experience of 

 this year somewhat modifies that expressed last year in the columns of 'The 

 Farmer.' He does not feel quite so well satisfied with the lona, but reserves 

 judgment for further observation and experience. The Delaware grows in 

 favor witli him : his vines are this year laden with fruit. He thinks, that by 

 planting the Delaware alternating in the row with some rapidly-growing vine 

 with heavy fohage, as the Concord, the shading it will receive thereby will prove 

 beneficial, and the result all that can be asked. 



•' I wo ■v.':' not like to venture my reputation for veracity on a statement of 

 the tons of grapes he calculates that his vines will ripen this year ; but there 

 are acres of vines laden with full, plump bunches. 



"Mr. Poirier informed me that he found his grapes increased in richness 

 with the age of the vines. He regards the Delaware as superior to any other 

 grape for wine : and a friend who accompanied me united with me in the opin- 

 ion, after testing several kinds of his wine, that the Delaware was far the best ; 

 which you will remember was also the report of the Wine Committee of the 

 Leavenworth-county Fair of 1867, where Mr. Poirier's Concord, Clinton, and 

 Catawba wines carried off the premiums from all competitors, and his Delaware 

 was adjudged the finest native wine ever tasted, not inferior to any foreign still 

 wine. His still Delaware, tasted by us to-day, is one year old, with as much 

 body as the best brown sherry, and a flavor superior. To us (and my friend is 

 an experienced dealer in liquors) Mr. Poirier's Catawba seemed the best Cataw- 

 ba we had ever tasted. He had other wines, but inferior in quality to the Ca- 

 tawba and Delaware : one made from the Taylor's Bullet Grape, which much 

 resembled the common sour wines of the Rhine." 



The theory of annual rings in respect to the formation of wood is at least 

 open to occasional misinterpretation, as appears irom the evidence of a stem of 

 Sequoia giganlca (the great tree of California), recently exhibited before the 

 Botanical Society of Edinburgh. In this specimen, it was remarked that from 

 five to ten apparent woody rings were visible on what is well known to be an 

 annual growth. Several of the known annual growths averaged, and in some 

 cases exceeded, half an inch in breadth ; while, in a piece of wood direct from 

 California, not less than twelve distinct prominent rings, or markings, were 

 visible over half an inch of surface. These trees, it was observed, are most 

 successfully transplanted in summer. 



Ord's Apple. — This, though an old apple, is nevertheless comparatively 

 unknown ; and yet as a dessert-fruit, in the months of February, March, April^ 

 and May, it is unrivalled, being as fresh, crisp, and juicy then as most other 



