320 Editors^ Letter- Box. 



R. wishes us to tell him what hybrid grapes are. — If R. will examine a grape- 

 flower, he will find it consists of the embryo grape surrounded by five stamens, 

 each consisting of a slender filament with an anther at the extremity. These 

 anthers are filled with a fertilizing dust called pollen. To vivify the seed, it 

 is necessary that some of this dust should fall on the pistil, which is situated 

 at the apex of the young grape. Thence it descends to the embryo seed. Now, 

 if we remove the anthers from a grape-blossom, and dust the pistil with pollen 

 from another variety of grape, every seed may be expected to produce a new 

 variety resembling both its parents ; and in this way we are enabled to produce 

 a kind combining the desirable qualities of two distinct sorts : and grapes so 

 produced are called hybrids. 



I HAVE in my garden a large number of old currant-bushes, which are in a 

 tangled condition, and give only inferior fruit. Is it possible to renovate them ? 

 — Old currant-bushes may be much improved by severely pruning early in 

 spring, thinning out the wood, and shortening that retained, taking care to pre- 

 serve as much as possible of the new wood, which may easily be known by its 

 lighter color. Give a good dressing of manure, and cultivate thoroughly around 

 them. But old bushes can never be made young again ; and therefore you 

 should immediately begin a new plantation, and as soon as it bears, destroy the 

 old one. 



Should grass ever be allowed to grow among fruit-trees 1 — Formerly, the 

 invariable principle was, that grass should never be allowed in a fruit-garden ; 

 but it is now found that it may be used to advantage, for a time, as a means of 

 checking excessive vigor ; and that blackberries and other plants, which, in rich 

 cultivated soil make a rank growth, and are subject to be winter-killed, when 

 in grass, ripen their wood so as to pass safely tlirough the winter. 



G. R. — Do you advise training currants in tree-form, or allowing the suckers 

 to grow and form bushes, as is recommended by some .'' — If you want large and 

 handsome fruit, and neat plants and grounds, you must train your currants to 

 single stems. Undoubtedly, a currant-bush will last longer when continually re- 

 newed by suckers ; and possibly it may bear a larger quantity of fruit, but it will 

 be of inferior quality : and proper pruning and cultivation is impossible in a 

 mass of close-growing branches such as an old bush forms. So we say, Make 

 currant trees rather than bushes, even if you have to renew your plantation 

 oftener. 



I. C, Chelsea. — Spirea grandiflora is the same as Exocharda grandifiora. 

 It is a charming shrub, perfectly hardy, but not very common. The large white 

 flowers are particularly elegant. 



