THE CANADIAN HOllTICULTURIST. 29 



MORE ABOUT THE JANESVILLE GRAPE. 



COMMUNICATED. 



I see that your attention has been called to the Janesville Grape 

 hy Mr. Farncombe, and that yon wish to hear the experience of others: 

 I agree with your Newcastle correspondent in many points, but if he 



annot ripen them before September he had better leave for some more 

 lavorable clime. I had tliem ripe li'ere (Brampton) this season 20th 

 August, which is no uncommon thing. I don't consider them supei'ior 

 or even equal in quality to the Concord ; about equal to the Beaconsfield 



r Champion. But then it is the earliest grape I am acquainted with,- 

 ^the Burnet has not fruited with me yet,) and is perfectly hardy ; it is 

 said to stand forty degrees of cold without injury. I think it is the 

 most profitable grape we have, considering it^ hardiness, early maturity,- 

 and it being a free grower and good bearer. It comes on before the 

 tnarket is glutted, and consequently brings a good price — much better 

 than finer varieties ripening later in the season. 



CHICKENS As FERTILIZERS. 



In tlie last agricultural report for this State, says the N'ew Ev(jland 

 Farmer, we have the testimony of Mr. Kinney, of Worcester, that from 

 seventy-five hens he made in one year $250 worth of American guano: 

 His main object in keeping hens was for the purpose of dressing his land; 

 Formerly he bought many cords of manure to dress two acres of land. He 

 now cultivates eleven acres without buying a ceut's Worth of manui-e. Ho 

 keeps his hens confined the year round ; he is very careful to give them 

 clean, wholesome food, and to keep their house clean and sweet. The floor 

 is covered with three or four inches of gravel, and the droppings carefully 

 and frequently x'emoved, and kept dry. At the end of the year he had one 

 hundred and fifty bushels of droj)pings, making about one ton in weight, 

 whi^h he pulverized and mixed with three and one-half tons of poor loam 

 and a little plaster of Paris. He then had four and one-half tons of guano, 

 which he testifies is better than any imported article he has tried. He 

 sows it on the ground, uses it in a solid or liquid form; in the hill, and every" 

 where it is a success. The experience of Mr. Kinney is certainly worthy 

 of thought. If the excrements of birds on the coast of Africa and South 

 America are of sufficient value to import to this country, we cannot see why 

 we may not use with profit the droppings of fowls raised in our own laud-. 



Hens properly fed and cared for will return one hundred i)er cent. [)rofit 

 above their cost of keeping in eggs alone, and when we add their meat 

 producing power, and lastly their fertilizing capacity, who will say thafc 

 iliey are not profitable to keep 1 — Florida DispcUch. 



