178 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



The Ctalrman. — I have seen very fine plants only fifteen months from 

 the seed. I think, generally, seed from good varieties will produce good 

 seedlings, if not the original. 



Mr. Burgess. — I raised 50 seedling plants from the Victoria without get- 

 ting a single good plant. I have seen four stalks weigh twenty-eight 

 pounds. 



Solon Robinson. — I have a word to say about wine from rhubarb stalks.. 

 I stated here some months ago, when I produced a bottle of wine made at 

 Kenosha, Wis., from Gaboon's seedling, that an acre would give 800 gal- 

 lons of wine £8 good as the sample, which was pronounced very good 

 sherry. I was, Mr. Gaboon assures me, mistaken in the quantity. He 

 says it will make 2,500 gallons per acre. The juice is mixed with equal 

 quantities of water, and three and one-half pounds of sugar to a gallon^ 

 and barreled and fined and bottled in the usual way of making wine from 

 any other substance. 



Apropos of this subject, here is a letter from F. "W. Evans, one of the 

 leading elders of t'ae New Lebanon Shaker society, who says : • 



In return for the many items of useful information that I have gathered 

 from the reports of the Farmers' Club of your city, I am inclined to pre- 

 sent a few facts from my own esperience. 



Rjilefor Budding — uniformly successful in the most critical eases and 

 kinds. Cut the scions when either the first or second growth is completed, 

 and just at the time when the terminal bud that forms on the end of the 

 twig is handsomely browned. If the tree to be operated upon be, in pre- 

 cisely the same condition, and the manipulation is all right, it is impossible 

 for it to fail ; as at that time or state, the sap is in its most glutinous con- 

 dition, while on the contrary, when the tree is growing the most rapidly, 

 the sap is the most thin and watery. I have budded many of the common 

 red cherry stock with entire success, and have had them in full bearing 

 every year, except the present, wherein the cherry blossom buds, in this 

 section, were all killed during the winter. They form a valuable tree for 

 fruit ; they bear early and constantly, and the trees never injure ; but 

 those worked upon the common English stocks are subject to sun blight, 

 the bark killing down on the south side. 



Transplanting. — If the tree be of much size, in addition to the usual 

 good rules given in books, wrap the tree with twisted straw. Reason : 

 When a tree is newly set out, the roots cannot gather and send up the 

 usual supply of sap to counteract the action of the sun and wind, always 

 intent upon seasoning wood of every description ; consequently the sap 

 vessels become contracted in size, so that when the roots have become 

 rooted, and are prepared to meet all demands upon them from their friends 

 the branches, the latter cannot receive it, and the tree becomes stunted or 

 killed. The straw prevents this seasoning process ; and by retaining the 

 moisture — preventing evaporation — the size of the sap vessels remains 

 undiminished ; and when the roots get matters arranged, the growth pro- 

 ceeds just as though nothing had happened. 



