PROCEEDINGS OF TIIK FARMERS* CLUB. 25 



Mr. Will. Illinails, Hal)CiK-U Hill, N. Y., says (in 27i« Country Gimlleman). 



'' One way is to set the rows six or seven feet apart — then the liill.s nine 

 feet apart in tlie rows. Then use stakes .seven feet loii<^ out of the ground 

 — stakes square on the top. Set them between every third and fonrtii hill, 

 then use No. 9 wire, strained tight over the top of these stakes — then one- 

 third of the distance from the wire to the ground, use a line of marline, 

 drawn tiglit and wound around each stake, parallel with the wire — then 

 from eaih hill run two .small strings to the wire ; fasten tlicm two or three 

 feet apai t. 



'Training Ihe Vind^. — "Start two green heads up each string. When 

 they reieh the wire, then train them each way ; the arms will hang dinvn 

 so as to fasten on the marline below — train them as above. 



'•Concerning the yield, lean onl}' tell from observation and hearsay, 

 which was very flattering indeed, compared with the expense of the com- 

 mon way of two poles to each hill, at a cost of S150 per acre. 



" Ballnoning is my favorite way. Use one pole for nine hills; hills seven 

 by eight feet apart — short stakes to each hill except the one the pole is at; 

 pole 18 or 20 feet long; use common wool twine from the top of the stakes 

 to the top of the poh;, to train the vines on. 



" I have one yard, about five acres, that is wired with No. 8 wire, which 

 I like very well. The poles are set at each end, and between the seventh 

 an<l eighth hills. I have noticed some yards with short stakes running 

 (>n(? row and a half to each wire; then run strings from the top of each 

 stake to the wire." 



The Chairman — This is important information, as the consumption of 

 malt liquor is so rapidly increasing that the growing of hops beconies an 

 itenj of some account in American farming. Indeed, the crop now is a 

 very important one in some counties in this State. 



IIow TO Trap Ants. 



Mr. Solon liobiiisor. — Mouses that are infested with ants, black or red, may 

 be disinfected by a little attention to trapping them. A sponge is one of the 

 best things for trapping them. S[)riiikle it with dry white sugar, the sponge 

 being slightly moist, it will adhere. The ants will go into the cells of the 

 npong*.' alter the sugar in large nund)ers, and cm be destroyed in hct water, 

 and the sponge S(iueezed out and sugared again, and returned to the closet 

 for another haul, until all arc caught. Housekeepers will please not to com- 

 |)lain any more, after they learn this, about the way they arc tormented 

 with ants. 



Mr. John (». Hergen — I am much obliged to Mr. Robinson for prt^scnting 

 llfat receipt. It looks reasonable and will prove valuable to many house- 

 keepers. I Would also stiggest a large coarse sponge to trap crotoii l)Ugs, 

 as we call the small cockroaches that infest some of the houses in this city 

 to such an extent as render them unfit for comfortable habitations. The 

 plan is certaitdy worth trying for both bugs and ants. 



The Maguey Plant in California. 



Mr, Solon Robinson — The following very interesting account I find in 

 a late number of the San Francisco Bulletin. It Bays: 



