284 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURISf i 



ductive and veiy good. I can see no 

 reason why it should not be a good and 

 profitable fruit for general use, unless 

 its trailing habit of growth should be 

 objectionable. 

 Delaware, Ohio. 



FROM J. H. HALE. 



The common wild Dewberry has 

 always been to me the most delicious 

 of all the blackberry family, and in the 

 hopes of finding one worth cultivation, 

 I have bought, for testing, every new 

 sort that has been offered for some 

 years past ; but the Lucretia is the 

 fii-st and only one that has ever given 

 promise of being valuable, not only as 

 a delicious family berry, but also for 

 market, especially here in New Eng- 

 land where the valuable early market 

 varieties are not hardy enough to stand 

 our winters. The trailing habit of the 

 Lucretia renders it a very easy plant 

 to protect through the winter, as it is 

 not quite hardy here. It is wonder- 

 fully prolific of extremely lai'ge berries, 

 of jet black color, rather soft for a 

 blackberry and in quality far superior 

 to any other cultivated blackberry or 

 dewberry I have ever tested. I have 

 lots of faith in it, but it has not been 

 tested long enough here in the East to 

 warrant any one planting it very ex- 

 tensively till we know more about it. 

 Two or three other sorts having been 

 sent out as Lucretia for a year or two 

 past, I fear that the opinions in regai-d 

 to it will be likely to be rather mixed 

 for a few years to come. 

 South Glastonbury, Conn. 



KEEPING GRAPES. 



A lady who has for several years 

 kept a considerable quantity of grapes 

 through the winter, makes the following 

 note in reference to it : — 



Grapes should be picked and allowed 

 to stand three or four days, then sorted 

 and put into small-sized or eight-quart 



baskets, and hung up in a cool, dry 

 cellar. Thin-skinned varieties, such as 

 Brighton, Concord, and Rogers' 44, or 

 Herbert, should be eaten before Christ- 

 mas. Rogers' 4, 9, and 15, respectively 

 Wilder, Lindley, and Agawam, and 

 also Salem, are all good keepers. 

 Wilder, Agawam, and Salem we ate 

 the last of May, in I88i.— Vick's 

 Magazine. 



SLANTING GEAPE TRELLIS^ 



FROM PETER FULLER, V.AKAGER MOLSOSS' BAKKT,. 

 MEAFORD. 



We had mosc beautiful grapes this' 

 fall, Rogers' 3 and 4, the best I have 

 ever grown, but only good and thor- 

 oughly ripe on my low trellises. 



Where the land can be spared for it, 

 I am sure this is the best plan : Drive 

 some cedar stakes along the back of 

 the vines, and nail on a scantling ; set 

 some posts, three feet high, about 

 eleven feet back to the north, and 

 board it up ; nail some strips from the 

 scantling to top of the boarding, on 

 which train your wood. I never have 

 to lay my vines down at all, and they 

 never suffer in the winter. 



Have any other of our readers tried 

 this inclined trellis ] 



SEED POTATOES. 



Shall we plant our potatoes whole or 

 cut them into pieces as our fathers did ] 

 That's the question. Doctor Sturte- 

 vant has been trying some experiments 

 at the New York Agricultural Experi- 

 ment Station and sums up the results 

 as follows : — It would seem from these 

 data that even on very fertile soil, the 

 stored nutriment in the potato tuber 

 furnishes a more congenial food for the 

 growing plant than fertilizing elements 

 contained in the soil ; and that upon 

 poor soils at least, an advantage may 

 be gained by planting whole tubers or 

 large sections. 



