Horticulture in Mississippi. 429 



whitewash with cow dung mixed. Will not tar and grease 

 destroy a fruit tree 1 I had some killed by it. 



The best labels for five or twenty years ? What kind is 

 best 1 I find paint on white pine or cedar is gone in this cli- 

 mate in three years. I am now trying zinc, with an ink made 

 with verdigris, sal ammoniac of each one part ; lampblack, 

 one half, and water ten, parts. Mix and write on zinc brightened 

 with pumice stone : this latter is my addition — the balance — 

 see page 382 Cultivator, new series. The question is, how 

 long will such labels last 1 I am also trying zinc labels with 

 black lead pencil. 



Have you ever tried soaking cucumber and melon seeds in 

 any steep to prevent the striped bug ? If not, try saltpetre and 

 soot, a teaspoon even full of the first to a teacup nearly full of 

 water, then pour in seed and soot in any quantity, stir Avell, 

 and let soak about eighteen to twenty hours. I have not had 

 a leaf eaten in three years, and I defy any one to have shewn 

 me a bug on my vines last or this year. 



Are there not some pears which seem to be too late for your 

 climate 7 The difficulty here is late winter pears and apples. 

 We can grow early summer and fall pears, but, so far, we 

 have none for the winter. I ate, on St. John's day, (24th of 

 June,) the Amire Joamiet, and saw a friend, on the 21st, who 

 had seen ripe pears before the 15th. If we can succeed in 

 procuring winter pears, we are very certain of a constant sup- 

 ply of fruit. Our season is six weeks to two months in ad- 

 vance of yours; as some evidence, I plucked yesterday an ear- 

 ly York peach, fully ripe : I saw one, on the 21st, that was 

 fully ripe, and the last on the tree, growing on hilly land : 

 mine is on flat land, and this season has been a constant del- 

 uge of rain. 



What do you think of a pear graft making six measured 

 feet before the 22d day of June ? I measured it myself I 

 saw, a week since, the stump of a peach tree, that (I) meas- 

 ured sixty-two inches in circumference : the spot on which it 

 grew was covered with cane in December, 1830, for I camped 

 within a few yards of it, for several weeks ; I think the land 

 was cleared in 1832 or '33 ; the tree was cut down winter of 

 1844 and '45, being in the way. 



Is budding the pear admissible I Wliy not as good as graft- 



