126 . Editor's Letter-Box. 



S. P., Belvidere, 111. — Lemons and oranges, from seed, will blossom and 

 bear fruit without budding or grafting ; but it is better to work them, for two rea- 

 sons : first, they cannot be depended on for good fruit, as they run into varieties 

 like apples and pears ; and second, the worked trees bear much sooner than the 

 natural. In short, the same principles apply to them as to apples and pears. 

 Budding while young is preferable to grafting. 



D. P., South Lyndeboro', N. H. — A good way to make a trellis for your 

 grape, vines, is to set posts ten to twelve feet apart, bracing the end posts. The 

 posts should be from five to six feet high, and three inches or more in diameter. 

 The proper size for the wire is No. 8, which measures thirteen feet, and costs 

 ten cents per pound, or No. lo, which measures twenty feet, and costs eleven 

 cents per pound. These prices are for small quantities. The lower wire may 

 be twenty inches from the ground, and the others the same distance apart, though 

 if they are placed closer, the vines will train themselves without assistance. 

 Coating the wires with coal-tar preserves them as well as galvanizing, and is 

 much cheaper. It must be repeated once in two years. The posts may be pre- 

 served by charring, or by boiling in gas tar. Thin tar is preferable to thick, as 

 being more penetrating. Crude petroleum would, no doubt, answer an excellent 

 purpose in preserving them. The arm system of training is preferred to the 

 fan. Whatever else you do, give the vines plenty of room, especially the strong, 

 growing kinds. 



T. R., Worcester, Mass. — Gooseberry bushes should be pruned so as to keep 

 the branches from resting on the ground. Houghton's Seedling is so spreading in 

 its habit that it is difficult to grow it as a bush, and the best way is to train it in 

 pyramidal form, with a leading shoot, which should be kept tied to a stake, and 

 with regular tiers of branches from the main stem. All kinds should be kept open 

 by pruning, cutting away the old wood and encouraging the new, which always 

 gives the best fruit. The only rot we have ever noticed is a kind of scald, ap- 

 parently produced by the heat of the sun. We know no way to prevent it, but 

 would advise planting the bushes in a cool, moist place. We do not think the 

 spiders or webs had anything to do with it. 



Protecting Strawberry Plants. — A correspondent of the Journal 

 asks how to keep the mulch, which he puts over his strawberry plants, from 

 "blowing away." Nothing is easier, if he uses the proper material. Dry leaves 

 one cannot keep still. The least breath of wind will scatter dry straw also. My 

 plan is to use old straw from a wheat, rye, or oat stack, or salt marsh hay. 

 These materials are usually wet at all times : but if he is compelled to use dry 

 straw at any time, he must wet it thoroughly before scattering it. This will 

 cause it to lay close, and the wind cannot blow it away, especially if it lays a day 

 or two to settle. Evergreen boughs, if convenient, are excellent for mulch, and 

 if put on in large limbs, no wind can move them. I never have any trouble by 

 wind blowing wet straw from my plants. . Woodman. 



Stanford, Ky. 



