3i6 Editors' Letter- Box. 



P. F. J., St. Louis. — We answered, in the October number of this magazine, 

 a query from another correspondent very similar to yours ; viz.. Does it pay 

 to remove and transplant grape-vines more than four years old ?, We repeat 

 here, that, as a general rule, it is bad policy to transplant a vine that is more than 

 two years old. A good vine raised from a single eye, transplanted at the end of 

 the season, after having had its roots shortened one-third, and suffered to remain 

 another year in the nursery, makes our ideal vine. 



When the Diana was less common than it is now, we bought so large vines, 

 four or five years old, hoping to get fruit very speedily. We took every possi- 

 ble precaution to insure success ; but four or five years had to pass before these 

 vines bore well. It is a noteworthy fact, that we took layers from these large 

 vines ; and from these la3'ers we got symmetrical plants that fruited abundantly 

 before the parent-vine could bear more than a half-dozen ragged clusters. 



X., New-York City. — You are rightly informed : peaches were once a stand- 

 ard crop in some parts of Massachusetts. We have seen them wasting on the 

 ground in many a large orchard, too abundant to sell or give away. 



For ten or twelve years, the peach-crop has been a failure, or rather the trees 

 all died long since ; and we have had to depend on foreign supplies. 



We have hopes of a better time coming still ; for trees set three years ago 

 by some of the persevering ones have come into bearing this season, and have 

 done well. 



P. J., Augusta, Me. — You say you are discouraged by the length of the 

 nursery-men's catalogues, and bewildered by the number of varieties of fruits 

 and flowers offered for sale ; and you ask, whether it is not about time to stop 

 the production of new kinds. Our answer is a very decided No. We have not 

 yet reached perfection in any variety of fruit ; and for a generation that has 

 produced the Dana's Hovey Pear, the La Constante and President Wilder 

 Strawberries, and the lona Grape, to stop its experiments, would be absurd, if it 

 were not impossible. 



Three-quarters of the varieties of pears, strawberries, and grapes, might, to be 

 sure, be blotted out of existence, and we should not lose by their disappearance; 

 but we tolerate them for the sake of the prizes included in the remainder of the 

 list. 



Lmquirer, Dorchester, Mass. — In reply to your question about Rogers's 19, 

 we can simply say that it is one of the earliest kinds we cultivate, of tolerable 

 quality ; but that with us, and with some other growers, we know it fails to set 

 a handsome, well-developed bunch. 



Mary Bridge, Rochester, N.Y. — The plant you describe is probably Val- 

 lota purpurea. It resembles an amaryllis, and requires similar treatment, but 

 should never be allowed to dry off so as to lose its leaves. In winter, keep it 

 moderately dry if it is not growing. It flowers in August and September. 



There are varieties which differ only in size, and brilliancy of flower. 



