20 



XEW EXGLAXD FARMER. 



Jax. 



zer was the only early pear which answered to its 

 established reputation, though I have a pear near- 

 ly as earlv, which I purchased at some auction 

 under the 'label of Sou\Tain d'Ete, (Sovereign of 

 Summer.) which I have not found in any other 

 collection, and has made with me a very high rep- 

 utation. Then there is the Langelier. the SieuUe. 

 the Suzette de Bevay, and another for which I 

 have '-no name :" they are all that came up to 

 the standard of what I consider pears ought to be. 

 My own experience in this matter, I find, has been 

 more or less that of other and larger fruit-growers, 

 and I think I cannot be mistaken in attributing it 

 to the cause before named. Fruit-growing upon 

 cl.ivev soils has been most injuriously affected in 

 this wav ; but even upon sandy or gravelly soils 

 this peculiarity has been marked. Indeed, I think 

 for the last four or five yeais, the quality of pears 

 has been injuriously affected by the moisture of 

 the weather before and at the time of ripening. 



Of course, after such a season of plentv^ in the 

 fruit culture, we must expect the next to be one of 

 scarcity ; and so far as my observation extends, 

 very few fruit buds have formed for next year's 

 development. This remark does not apply to the 

 cherrv ; for the crop rf that fruit having been to a 

 great extent cut off the present season by the 

 damage to the fruit spurs, occasioned by the se- 

 vere frosts of the spring before, they are now 

 showing a profusion of fruit buds beyond any- 

 thing I ever witnessed. Of grapes and quinces 

 we cannot judge, as their fruit-buds are formed 

 upon the new wood of the same season ; but it is 

 reasonable to suppose that, the crop ha%-ing been 

 large this j'ear, they have exhausted something of 

 the fruit-bearing energy, which will tell upon the 

 fruit crop of the next. The currant bushes also 

 appear to have exhausted themselves somewhat 

 by their late exuberant crop, and their promise 

 for the next season is light. We have only to 

 "wait and see." E. c. P. 



Somerville, Mass., Nov., 1862. 



these circumstances, apples are selling at a rate 

 that affords the farmer a profit equal to an aver- 

 age realized on his other crops. The present 

 causes of low price cannot long exist. 



THE GKAPE CURE. 



Remarks. — Our correspondent has given four 

 causes of the low price of fruit this autumn, and 

 they are all correct. There is another cause, 

 however, for the low price of fruit which has pre- 

 vailed — namely, the unhappy and unnatural re- 

 bellion of our Southern brethren. Some of the 

 consequences of this are the derangement of trade 

 extending through all the circles of business. In 

 former years, when fruit has been plenty, a large 

 amount of it has found its way to the Southern 

 States, in exchange for oranges, sweet potatoes, 

 and many other articles of traflic. It was not 

 shipped in large quantities by a single vessel, but 

 made up a portion of the freight of numerous 

 coasters that were constantly plying between the 

 New England ports and those of nearly all the 

 South. Autumn pears, even, could be sent in 

 some of the swift steamers to many of the South- 

 em ports, all of which made a demand which has 

 not existed this year. In consequence of the gen- 

 eral derangement in business, we have reason to 

 believe that the shipment of apples to Liverpool 

 has been less than usual this year. Still, under 



The grape cure lasts for from three to six weeks. 

 The regular season commences, on an average, 

 about the middle or the first week in September, 

 and lasts to nearly the end of October. Every- 

 thing depends on the state of ripeness of the 

 grapes. The amount of grapes daily taken by per- 

 sons undergoing the cure, varies from about four 

 and a half to seven or eight pounds : in some 

 cases even as much as nine pounds is eaten. They 

 are taken three times a day, at the same hours at 

 which mineral waters are usually drank in Germa- 

 ny — before breakfast, at eleven o'clock in the 

 morning, or two hours before dinner, and at from 

 five to six in the evening. Persons generally com- 

 mence the cure with from two to three pounds a 

 day, and advance daily in quantity till the larger 

 limit is reached. The skins and the seeds should 

 not be swallowed. The largest portion is usually 

 consumed at eleven o'clock. 



Some doctors do not allow their patients to take 

 any other breakfast than the grapes, accompanied 

 by a roll of bread. The usual plan, however, is 

 to permit them to take a breakfast of tea or coffee 

 with bread, but no butter, after the grapes, A 

 strict diet is universally prescribed : all fat, sour 

 or spiced meats and pastiy are forbidden ; a small 

 quantity of white light wines is pennitted, but red 

 wines, beer and milk must be avoided. The eve- 

 ning meal should be a very light one. The system 

 , pursued at Durkheim is the same as the one fol- 

 ■ towed at the other places where the grape cure 

 , goes on ; and the grapes which are used in the 

 '. cure both at Vevay and Montreux, are, as at 

 ^ Durkheim, for the most part, the Gutedal and the 

 Austrian varieties. 



The disease in which the grape cure is consid- 

 ered by the German doctors to be the most bene- 

 ficial is in affections of the mucous membrane of 

 the respiratory organs. The secretive powers of 

 this membrane are roused, and it is enabled to 

 throw off obstructions which have assumed a 

 chronic form. Cases of bronchitis and pneumonia 

 are said to have been often cured, even in patients 

 \ of a scrofulous constitution ; and much benefit is 

 said to have been experienced by persons affected 

 . with tubercular consumption in its earlier stages, 

 j Where spitting of blood has set in, much caution 

 must be used as to the amount of grapes taken. 

 ' Persons affected with any of these complaints are 

 in the habit of coming to Durkheim yearly from 

 , all parts of Germany. 



A well-known grape-grower in New York some 

 years ago put forth a theory of curing disease by 

 ' the use of grapes, but he never carried his theory 

 : into practice beyond the circle of his own family. 

 j At Durkheim they do it on a larger scale. 



! Lucky Days. — The Anglo-Saxons deemed it 



: highly important that a child should be bom on a 



lucky day, on which the whole tenor of his life 



was supposed to depend ; for, in their opinion^ 



, each day had its peculiar influence upon the des- 



