60 



THE POMOLOGIST. 



April and May 



Effects of Electricity on Wine. 



Some montlis ago a wine house was struck 

 by lightning in France. The electricity in 

 its descent to the eartli passed into the cellar 

 and burst several of the wine casks. It was 

 thought that the wine stored in the cellar was 

 improved by the electrical visitation which 

 led to some experiment, in the application of 

 electricity to wine, and which arc thus at- 

 tended to by the Boston Journal of Clmnistry^ 



M. Scouttetten was thus led to investigate 

 the action of electricity upon wines, and he 

 gives the results of his researches in a late 

 number of Comptea Randvs. His experi- 

 ments were made on a large scale, and with 

 various sources of electricy, and the conclu- 

 sion to whicli he comes is, that electricity 

 under whatever form applied (whether as a 

 regular current, or a succession of discharges 

 accompanied by sparks) improves wine, rcu- 

 doriag it mellow and mature. As to the 

 mode of action of this agent, he tliinks that 

 the bi-tartate of pottassa present in wine is 

 decomposed ; the potassa set free saturates 

 tlie acids of the wine, and the free tartaric 

 acid reactiug upon the fatty matters present 

 favors the formation of etliers wliich consti- 

 tute the bouguet of the wine. Moreover, a 

 small quantity of water is decomposed, and 

 the oxygen thereof reacts upon some of the 

 constituents of tlie wine, thus forming new 

 compounds which are peculiar to old wines." 



Grafting the Grape. 



Jay Terrell, of Cleveland, Ohio, gives 

 through the Ohio Farmer the following ad- 

 vice on grafting the grape : 



" Don't graft those grape vines yet, put 

 the cions in tlie cellar or other cool place 

 until the iii-st flow of sap is past, or until the 

 vine lias well started. Then dig down 

 beside the vine, cut off a root four inches 

 below ground large enough to graft into, cut 

 the graft witli two or three eyes and cleft 

 graft the same as you would in grafting 

 apples and pears ; wind it tirnily with cotton 

 twine, brace it up with a stick and fill up 

 the hole, leaving the upper eye just above 

 ground, and my word for it, nine out of ten 

 thus grafted will make as good a growth as 

 any vine planted out two years. 



Don't put was around the graft, as it forms 

 a cup that will hold the sap, which sours and 

 kills the vine ; the bottom string is sufficient 

 and will decay and loosen as tlie vine ex- 

 pands witli its natural growth during the 

 season. If, as is claimed by some, the stalk 

 has an influence upon the graft, then you 

 may next season layer the vine, and another 

 year, when it has well formed roots, cut it 

 off from the old root, thus leaving it perma- 

 nently upon its own fc:)undatiou. 



Washington Territory boasts of an im- 

 mense cranberry marsli, yielding one hun- 

 dred thoii.saud bushels in a single crop. 



Fruits to the Manor Born. 



It is genenerally supposed that fruit trees 

 grow with the greatest vigor, and produce 

 the best crops on the soil where they origina 

 ted. There is some ground for this opinion, 

 but it is not universally true. 



If a quart of the best pear seed raised in 

 Albany, were planted in Rocliester or Cleve- 

 land, it would make no ditlerence in tlie 

 quality of the fruit. The character of the 

 plant is determined before the seed germin- 

 ates, not by the place in which it sjirings up. 

 If we bring an orange from Fk)rida and 

 plaut the seeds in New Jersey, tney will be- 

 come Florida oranges still. If we bring the 

 SL-ed of a choice grape from Canada, the pro- 

 duct will TL'semble the gra])es of that 1( icality. 

 And yet, it may be as well adapted to this 

 climate and soil as to that. 



Some persons are suspicious of foreign 

 trees; yet experience shows that many of 

 them are as healthy and productive as natives 

 The Flemish Beauty, though a foreigner, is 

 one of our hardiest pear.s; and so is Loui.se 

 Bonne de Jersey. The Seckle pear has finer 

 fruit at Rochester than at Philadelphia, its 

 njitive place. The Concord grape succeeds 

 better at the West and South than in its na- 

 tive New England. We will defy the Nor- 

 wegian hills to show finer Norway Spruces 

 than those which grow in this Yankee land. 

 Rural American. 



Thinning Out Grapes. 



Is the importance of tliinning out the fruit 

 of the vine duly considered by the majority 

 of cultivators? I thiulc not. From close 

 observation, and even sad experience, the 

 suliject, in my opinion, calls for much more 

 attention tliau is usually given. In young 

 vines this is particularly the case. Such vig- 

 orous and hardy constituted varieties as the 

 Concord may stand it, but even they will 

 eventually suffer. This fault is not only to 

 be found in the vineyards of the novice, but 

 can be seen almost everywhere, in charge of 

 tliose who know better. This, then, being 

 admitted, the next question is: How shall it 

 be remedied ? Sliall we prune it so much 

 shorter, so as not to leave more Wuod tlian 

 the vine can carry safely through, or leave 

 more wood, and then thin out the bunches ? 

 The latter, in my opinion, will be the best; 

 for, by the first plan, we get our fruit too 

 niueli crowded, and throw too much orce 

 into the young canes for the following year's 

 bearing. My impression is that when a vine 

 is pruned to what would seem about right, 

 the pinchiiig out of every third bunch, at 

 the first operation, pinching back, would be 

 the method. I would leave but two bunches 

 on cacli bearing shoot, and in some instances 

 it is better to leave but one. We all know 

 the forming of the seed of any plant is the 

 heaviest tax on tlie plant. This being the 

 case.do we not give considerable relief when 

 we diminish this tax oue-thrd? I think we 

 would be safe in counting on having the 

 same weight of fruit in the two bunches as 

 if three are left. S(nne years ago we grew 

 Concord bunches in this way, which tlie 

 committee who were to test them would not 

 admit to be that variety until they tested 

 them. Fur marketing table grapes this is 

 parlienlarly practicable. For instance, let 

 one man take Concords that will average 

 three-fourths of a pound to the bunch, and 

 another have them as usually grown, and 

 my word for it, the large bunches will com- 

 mand nearly double the price, not only 

 among the wealthy, but the masses. — Orape 

 Culturist. 



The tumble-dunj 

 the Smraba>us or 

 Egyptians. 



beetle is identical with 

 'sacred beetle" of the 



DEFERRED ARTICLES. 



If one wishes to learn selfishness, lot him 

 go apart, and stand by himself 



HoNET Vinegar. — One pint of strained 

 honey and two gallons of soft water. Let it 

 stand in a moderately warm place. In three 

 weeks it will be excellent vinegar. 



Instinct indiciites to bees and other insects 

 their enemies, and the wrong these may in- 

 tend, and shows them how they may be 

 repulsed or evaded. 



"If you listen by a hive about nine o'clock 

 (on a summer evening), you will hear an 

 oratorio sweeter than at Exeter Hall. Treble, 

 tenor, and bass are blended in richest har- 

 mony. Sometimes the sound is like the dis- 

 tant hum of a great city, and sometimes it is 

 like a peal of hallelujahs." — Rev. Wm. G. 

 Cotton. 



The entire economy of the hive seems to 

 emanate exclusively from the two most prom- 

 inent attributes of instinct — that of self-pres- 

 ervation, and that other more important axis 

 of the vast wheel of creation, the secured 

 perpetuation of the kind by the conservative 

 and absorbing love of the oftVpring. — Shuck- 

 ard. 



Horticulture in Common Schools. — 

 The Country OentUman says the culture of 

 flowers, the planting of ornamental trees, 

 with brief instructions as to their growth, 

 might be introduced into every school as a 

 recreative study — if the teachers have the 

 taste and knowledge necessary. It gives an 

 instance where a teacher, on his own motion, 

 interested his pupils in the culture of orna- 

 ment;d plants, with the happiest results. 



Vegetarlks in Cellars. — A gentleman 

 of Watertown, Mass., impressed with the 

 conviction that much sickness in families 

 results from storing vegetables in cellars 

 under dwellings, addressed an inquiry to the 

 State Board of Health, prominent members 

 of the medical profession, on the subject. 

 The response was to the effect that decaying 

 vegetable matter throws off' exhalations of a 

 poisonous character, which taint the air in 

 the dwelling; that these invite attacks of au 

 epidemic character, and one especially pro- 

 ductive of fevers. The practice, therefore, 

 of storing the produce of the tiirm or garden 

 iu cellars, is always attended with danger to 

 the occupants of the dwelling, and ought not 

 to be continued, as portions of stored vege- 

 tables are most certain to undergo the pro- 

 cess of decomposition during our long win- 

 ters. 



Artificial Pasturage for Honey. — R. 



Miller, of Rochelle, II!., gives the American 

 Bee Journal his experience in artificial pas- 

 turage for bees : 



" My apiary contains forty-five stands of 

 bees, old and young, and I have taken two 

 thousand three hundred and thirty-nine 

 pounds of .surplus honey. All this is the 

 product of bees gathering on artificicd panture. 

 I live on a very new place, six miles fnmi 

 any timber, and there is no white clover 

 except what I have sown. I have sown 

 white clover, alsike, and melilot. Of all these 

 the melilot produces the most honey, and the 

 best. My bees gathered honey from it this 

 fall up to the fifth of October. "l sowed tliree 

 acres for my bees, and also some Imckwheat. 



The above stated yield was the prodnct 

 entirely of artificial pasturage. M_y bees are 

 all h}'l)rids, and lU}' houey was all box honey. 

 Of my two best stands. No. 5 gave one hun- 

 dred and seventeen pounds, and No. 26 gave 

 one hundred and eleven pound.s. This, I 

 tliink, is doing pretty well for a new begin- 

 ner. My hives are all numbered, the honey 

 all weighed, and each liive credited with the 

 amount taken from it." 



