Editors^ Letter- Box. 57 



Malus. — Would it not be better to scrape the apple-trees when they have 

 been tarred to keep off the canker-worm ? — Certainly ; but it would have been 

 better still not to have put the tar on the tree at all, but in a strip of canvas or 

 tarred paper, which could be taken off at your convenience. 



Florist, Elyria. — What shall I do with my tuberoses that I wish to have 

 bloom in the autumn in the house ? — Put them in pots with suitable soil, and 

 plunge them. If it should be very dry, they may need watering occasionally. 



Farmer. — What do you regard as the best time to cut herdsgrass and red- 

 top ? — When it is in bloom ; but, as haying cannot all be done in a single week, 

 it is better to begin early to secure the crop. There is more loss sustained by 

 allowing the grass to stand too long than by cutting it too early. 



Subscriber. — Can good wine be made from grapes grown at the North ? — 

 We very much doubt it. What are or have been called native wines are fixed- 

 up stuff, — grape-juice and water sweetened, not wine. The lona is doubtless 

 the best wine-grape grown in this country ; but it is very doubtful if it will ripen 

 sufficiently at the North to render it profitable for that purpose. 



R., Worcester. — Can salt be used to advantage on an asparagus-bed ? — It is 

 the popular belief that salt is beneficial to this crop ; but we very much doubt 

 it. We have seen a bed where so much salt had been applied, that not a single 

 weed grew in the entire field, and the soil was red, as though burned ; but the 

 asparagus was only of ordinary size. Salt will not kill this plant as it will many 

 others ; but, unless some positive good comes from its use besides the killing of 

 weeds, it is hardly profitable or best to apply it. 



Warsaw Horticultural Society. — Through the kindness of the secre- 

 tary, Mr. N. W. Bliss, we are in receipt of the printed report of the April meet- 

 ing of this society. 



Essays on tree-planting and on native wines were read, and valuable discus- 

 sions upon grafting and orchard-culture followed. This society meets at the 

 members' houses. 



We clip the following note from the report : — • 



" The secretary read also a letter from the publishers of ' The American 

 Journal of Horticulture ' (J. E. Tilton and Co., Boston), announcing a fact of 

 special importance to its Western readers ; to wit, ' that they have secured Dr. 

 John A. Warder of Cincinnati for its Western Editor.' This should at once 

 double its Western subscription-list ; for all Western fruit-growers know that 

 Dr. Warder is second to no man in the whole country in matters pertaining to 

 horticulture." 



We congratulate the society on the wide field of usefulness before it. With 

 officers and members who are all working-men, having the true interests of the 

 society at heart, the future is bright with promise. The more such societies we 

 have, the better. 



