124 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



time they should begin to fail ? The highest ridges and the poorest, thin- 

 est soil in Ohio is where such vines most abound; the subsoil a yellow, 

 gravelly clay, so hard that nothing but a pick can penetrate it. Nature 

 furnishes us facts and nurser3'nien give us theories. The two should har- 

 monize. I believe no fruit bearing plant, shrub or tree, will bear so much 

 mangling, pruning and dwarfing, of both root and branch, as the grape 

 vine and live. It seems to me almost a miracle in nature that vines can 

 be planted two or three feet apart, and kept dwarfed to the dimensions 

 vineyardists advise, without killing them entirely. May not the diseases 

 the vine, 'which have been developed of late years, be traced to the practice 

 of close planting and dwarfing ? I have planted one hundred vines, and 

 expect to plant that number each year. I plant in rows ten feet apart, and 

 eight feet apart in the row, but do not expect to get ten tons to the acre, 

 should be more than satisfiedwith less than half that amount." 



At this distance apart the gentlemen will have only 846 vines to the 

 acre. Will he be satisfied witli less than 20 pounds per vine, spread upon 

 trellis with arms four feet long, and at that distance apart growing very 

 liigh and strong At that he would have 10,920 pounds per acre; at 25 

 pounds per vine, 13,650 pounds; at 35 pounds per vine, 19,110 pounds; at 

 37 pounds per vine, 20,202 pounds. We don't know that an acre can be 

 made to average that, but single vines, of the same size, have yielded 50 

 pounds, which for an acre would make 27,300 pounds. 



Some of the members of the Club thought that this statement was too 

 "rose colored," though none disputed the calculation as a possible result. 

 Others thought that farmers need just such statistics constantly presented 

 to induce them to undertake any new branch of culture. It is, said one, 

 the neglect of all the cardinal principles of fruit growing that causes so 

 many to fail. 



How TO Keep Winter Apples. 



Mr. S. D. Comfort, Fredericktown, Knox county, Ohio, says: 

 " A neighbor of mine, one j^ear ago, packed eight barrels of winter apples 

 with dry sawdust, and left them headed up, exposed to all the rigors of our 

 last unusually cold winter. The result was, they were taken out in the 

 spring sound, and had retained their flavor better than if buried in the 

 ground or kept in cellar. Query — Could not grapes be kept in the same 

 way ? The same enterprising neighbor (a Maine Yankee), preserves his 

 cabbages through the winter by packing among refuse or leaves, head 

 downward, in boxes, each layer of heads with the stems cut off near the 

 head and covered with loose leaves of cabbage. Freezing will not injure 

 them when thus covered." ' 



Native Iowa Plants. 



Mrs. Mary Treat, Blaistown, Iowa, sends the following communication: 



Mr. Secretary. — Inclosed find specimens of Jersey Tea ( Ceanothus Ameri- 



canui<), and two species of Liatris and Cassia. This last is one of our most 



beautiful native plants. It grows in close masses from one to four feet in 



height, according to soil, situation, &c. It is quite sensitive, the leaves 



I 



