Proceedings of tee Farriers' Club. 547 



grapes have been unable to get ripe previous to severe frosts. Many 

 vineyards are now unpicked, with much of the fruit soured and 

 injured, which otherwise wonld have been good. The seasons thus 

 placing this grape in such narrow limits for maturing, the question 

 has arisen whether bearing vineyards five and six years old or more, 

 can be grafted successfully with earlier kinds, say the Delaware. It 

 is understood that the vine can be grafted. But is it practicable to 

 graft acres, and would the grafted flourish as well as the natural vine ? 

 Mr. R, H. Holton. — He had better rid his ground of what cumbers 

 it, and plant new vines. Old vines can be grafted, but not M'ith such 

 success as would warrant the adoption of the plan on an extended 

 scale. 



Asparagus. 



Mrs. E. Harrington, Clayton ville, Kansas. — I wish to know how to 

 raise asparagus, how to prepare the ground, when to sow the seed, 

 and how it should be cultivated. Please la}^ the matter before the 

 Club. 



Mr. P. T. Quinn. — Sow the seed next spring, in well prepared 

 ground, in shallow drills, covering the seed with half an inch of earth. 

 During the summer select a piece of ground the size required, and 

 thoroughly pulverizing it to a depth of twenty inches, add plenty of 

 manure, the inore the better for asparagus. In the following 

 October, if the plants were taken good care of, they will be large 

 enough to transplant in the permanent bed. For garden culture, 

 make the rows a foot apart, and set the plants three or four inches 

 deep and twelve inches apart in the row. In field culture, the rows 

 should be two feet apart. 



A Snow OF Fetht. 

 The table was spread witli specimens of apples, pears, and grapes, 

 the latter of the lona and Diana varieties, and brought by Mr. C. 

 W. Idell, the well known commission dealer. He remarked that he 

 oifered them to show their appearance when kept until this late day. 

 The lonas were grown in Schuyler county, and some in the Pleasant 

 Valley district. Indications, the present season, have gone to show 

 that the variety is not popular. There has been scarcely any demand 

 for it in the market, and sales have been effected with much difliculty. 

 Last year there was more call for lonas, but the supply was hmited. 

 The same is true of the Dianas. The Catawba is an excellent grape, 



