November 



THE POMOLOGIST. 



158 



and llio entanglement aud confusion which 

 results from training the bearing as well as 

 the current growing cane to a, single stake, 

 avoided. 



Yim will pL'rceive I hat my little vinej-aril, 

 when iiuislu'd, with the viui'S in place, will 

 present somewliat the appeai'ai:ce ()f a row 

 of tents with both ends open. And the 

 vines growing along and at intervals of flVe 

 feet ou their sides, running north and south, 

 the vines will get the morning and eve.iing 

 sun, and a constant draught of air through 

 the center. The whole will also present 

 quite an unique appearance. 



Moorejield, Went Virginia. I. G. M\sk. 



The Dracut Amber. 



Editor AYesteisn Pomologist :— I take 

 the liberty of referring to au engraving in 

 the October number of your paper, accom- 

 panied by a recommendatory description of 

 the " Dracut Amber " grap;', by the origi- 

 nator, Mr. J. W. Manning, and also a 

 favorable account of it by the Superiuten- 

 tendent of the E.xperimeiital Gardens at 

 Washington. 



As these encomiums of that fruit tome 

 from such high authority, I can not let tlie 

 opportunity pass" to say that in my experi- 

 ence, this is one of the strongest instances of 

 of the diiference in fruits grown in an 

 Eastern and Western soil and climate. After 

 trying it fen- some six or seven years on my 

 premises in this State, I can say truly tliat 

 the Dracut Amber is utterly worthless. It 

 is a great grower, perfectly hardy, but I 

 never gathered from a vine seven years old, 

 one half pint of berries, and then they v/jic 

 so miserably foxy that I did get, that tliey 

 were not fit to eat. 



I cannot doubt of course, that in Dracut, 

 Ma.ssachusetts, and especially at Washington 

 City, where the atmosphere is always so 

 tranquil, pure and sweet, this is among the 

 most valuable grapes; but I do know that 

 at KuoxviUe, Iowa, the more a man might 

 have of them, the worse he would b^ olV. 

 MSTor can I by any means reeommead the 

 the Perkins, after a trial of ten years, for 

 two reasons. First, though a good grower 

 and hardy, it generally drops its fruit badly 

 before maturity ; and is also too extremely 

 foxy for any o-ie who does not like the 

 peculiar flavor and fragrance of a pure fox 

 grape. 



These are only instances to illu-itrate tlie 

 uucertainty in buying fruits grown in the 

 east, however highly recommended there, 

 until they have been fully tested in our own 

 Western soil and climate. 



These kinds may succeed better in Iowa' 

 in other localities where the soil is more 

 argillaceous. But I would say to all, don't 

 invest too largely in them till you know 

 something abiut their success in the West, 

 unle.ss you are an amateur, and wish to try 

 all sorts by way of experiment. 



James Mathews. 

 AgricMllimtl College Farm, Oct. 24, 1870. 



For the Western Pomologist. 



The Eumelan Grape. 

 Though my Eumrlan vines have not fruit- 

 ed yet, I have Iiatl the pleasure of tasting 

 the fruit, and I unhesitatingly projounce it 

 sicond oiily to the lona, and ripening much 

 earlier. It is without pulp, and sweet to the 

 center — the best black grape I have tasted; 

 iU'.d being a first ([uality fruit, early and 

 strong grower, it is the grape for the million^ 

 I have cut away a part of my old vines and 

 grafted ill the Eumelan, and intend to cut 

 away the most of the balance and graft the 

 Eumi'lan in. The lona and Eumelan arc 

 the best grapes I have yet tasted, and I am 

 fast converting my vineyard into those two 

 kinds, as it costs no more to grow a good 

 grape than a poor one. The old sorts done 

 very well till we got better; but now that 

 we have better, I will soon change all to 

 best. 



I would add — this season has been a pecu- 

 liar one ; the fruit crop abundant, except 

 grapes ; though strawberries and raspberries 

 blighted 'some from drouth, which was very 

 severe at their season of ripening. All kind 

 of fruit ripened before its usual time — fall 

 apples ripened in summer, early winter in 

 early fall, and late winter quite good eating 

 now. 



Grain and grass generally good ; potatoes 

 a light crop on account of bugs. No frost 

 yet, though the forest trees are fast cleaning 

 of leaves. Petek M. Gideok, 



Excelsior, Minn., Oct. 1870. 



Kiln for Drying Fruit. 



A Tennessee corri.spondent of the Ohio 

 Farmer gives the following directions for 

 kiln drying fruit: 



"A man can make a kiln of this in a day 

 who has the stone, and one can dry adout one 

 bushel of dried apples per day. It is built of 

 stone, layiiig the walls up sixteen inches high 

 and four feet wide leaving a place for smoke 

 to go into the chimney at the back end. A 

 few pillars are put through the center so as 

 to hold up the top stone ; that leaves two 

 l)laces for fire. It is covered with stone two 

 or more inches thick ; upon that two or three 

 inches of thick mortar is laid, so as to make 

 a firm body that will hold the heat. After 

 it is dried, a bushel of slacked lime with very 

 little sand in it, is spread evenly over the top ; 

 that will become hard; the fruit is spread 

 upon the top. 



As to leugtli p ople can suit themselves, 

 but eight feet is a good length ; then the heat 

 can be kept more uniform. The fruit dries 

 very fast. It requires to be filled morning 

 and evening. This way saves a great deal of 

 time to the women, aud it dties the fruit fast- 

 er, so that tlie flied and bees are not of any 

 trouble. If any one tries it once, they will 

 never do without if they dry fruit. 



American Grapes. 



DO WE UNDERSTAND THEIR PROPER CULTURE ? 



In 1867 and 1868, I traveled throughout 

 Europe, and studied the grape in every 

 grape country ; aud I found the nature and 

 constitution of the foreign grape so totally 

 distinct fi'om our indigenous grapes, that I 

 was naturally led to reflect whether our 

 m'.thod of cultivating our American vines 

 did not too closely resemble and pattern 

 after the European .system, which hundreds 

 of years of rigid pruning, etc., has metamor- 

 phosed into an almost entirely artilicial 

 product, whilst our vines are almost entirely 

 natural. 



'Iho vii!c dressers from Europe, having 

 almo.st a birtbriglit to teach us liow to culti- 

 vate the grape, have brought th'ir ideas and 

 treatment among us, audit would seem sheer 

 assurance to take any appeal from their 

 decision ; and so we cut and prune our luxu- 

 riant growing vines by the European square 

 aud compass, to a Sl-vciv extent. 



I think we are beginning to throw ofl" 

 these European ideas, but by very slow and 

 ferl)le degrees. I have seven acres in graphs 

 and my trellises are from eight to ten feet 

 high, and I would have them higher if con- 

 venient — even twelve feet. I train my vines 

 so they will bear the most fruit at the top of 

 the trellises; and I believe tliey escape mil- 

 dew, rot, etc., from this method — mildew and 

 rot arising to a great extent from tlie fruit 

 bilng too close to the ground and severe 

 pru.iing. My grajjes escaped all diseases, 

 while my neiglibors suft"er simie from rot, 

 bursting open and leaf blight.— C S. Car. 

 Boston Spectator. 



For tlie Western Pomologist: 

 Fertilizing Grapes. "Why some' Operators 

 Fail. 



To produce marked changes in any grape 

 by mere scetl planting is a very slow and 

 uncertain process. But to put the pollen of 

 one variety on another is a rapid and an 

 almost certaiu way to get a new grape. Such 

 changed grapes are called "crosses." lam per- 

 suaded that most who attempt to make 

 crosses use too much pollen, aud therefore, 

 I call serious attention to the way Dr Rogers 

 of Salem, made his crosses. He cut off the 

 anthers of one vine and put ajcut off cluster 

 of another in a fine cotton bag, about the 

 cluster to be fertilized. Thus he used but 

 little pollen and in the natur.d wa3',and hence 

 his success. The rougli hand and load of 

 pollen commonly usjd is fatal to success. 

 Perhaps love is not to be forced in 

 a 'grape more than in man, or the happy 

 product of a fertilization. I could name 

 failures by the score, by this neglect. Then 

 if my reader wants a new grape, seek it by 

 a natural cross, made by diftuscd pollen. 



S. J. Pakrei-, M. D. 



Ithica, N. Y. 



c-=-;= 



Red ^'PIDEU. — The ad interim committee 

 of Illi:iois Slate Hortienltural Society re- 

 port great damage done, in the northern part 

 of the Stati', by a new (?) Acarus, or Mite. 

 We presume they have got hold of that most 

 troublesome pest, the Red Spider (Taonibi 

 dium telarium, Ilerii), which is pale yellow 

 when }'ouiig. The young of most mites 

 dill'er much from the adults, and many of 

 them are six-legged instead of eight-legged, 

 as they afterwards become. '1 his mite is al- 

 ways injurious during hot, dry weatlier, and 

 a good rain will soon diminish its number. 



