THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



S3 



ance to know that the two oldest varie- 

 ties of plums on my grounds which I 

 planted some thirty years ago, which 

 bore fruit last year, and look as if they 

 will hold out some time yet, are of 

 American origin, namely the Bolman's 

 "Washington, a native of New York 

 City, and the Piince's Yellow Gage, a 

 native of Long Island N. Y. 



VITICULTURAL. 



Grape Experience. — Sir, — With me last 

 fall the Prentiss, Worden and Pockling- 

 ton were worthless. The Worden 

 ripened all its fruit, and some of the 

 bunches were large. I took out my 

 knife and cut off a fine bunch to carry 

 it into the house, but by the time I 

 had it cut off I had just four grapes 

 left on the stem ; they dropped so 

 badly. I packed some to try the keep- 

 ing qualities, and they all failed to be 

 good for anything. 



I have had good satisfaction with 

 Brighton. I have them in good condi- 

 tion yet (Feb. I) and expect to hive 

 them up to April. They are as fine 

 yet as in November. 



Has any reader of The Horticulturist 

 experience with reference to the keep- 

 ing qualities of the Niagara and Empire 

 State ? 



My Jessica proved a very poor 

 keeper. The Je^fferson and Lady Wash- 

 ington were worthless with me. I 

 made a frame over my vines, which 

 were full of very fine bunches of 

 grapes, and covered them over with 

 glass ; but all to no purpose. I will 

 either cut them down, or gi-aft them. 

 J. B. Williams, Bloomfield. 



Pruning the Grapevine. — A writer in 

 Popular Gardening says that the 

 pruner invariably finds that upon a 

 thrifty, strong growing vine, the buds 

 upon the medium-sized canes are 

 swelled larger and stand out from the 

 cane more prominently, than the buds 

 upon the largest canes. 



He has tried the experiment over 

 and over, and this is the sum of his 

 observation, that the medium canes are 

 the ones that develop the best fruit 

 buds, whenever the vines are strong. 



Lady Grape. — President Lyon, of 

 Michigan, said at Chatham that this 

 grape should be introduced into every 

 list of grapes for home use. It stands 

 head and shoulders above anything 

 else. Better have a medium crop and 

 first quality than an enormous yield of 

 inferior fruit. 



Manuring the Grape. — The Government 

 Committee in France, after several 

 years' investigation of the manuring of 

 the grape and the results of a series of 

 experiments with potash manures, re- 

 port sti-ongly against nitrogenous man- 

 ures, including stable manure, as being 

 " more hurtful than useful," which ac- 

 cords with common practice, also that 

 feeble grape-vines consume as much 

 manure as vigorous vines. 



Potash should enter into the com- 

 position of manures for gi-ape- vines, the 

 elements in the soil being generally in 

 bad condition for assimilation ; potash 

 carries forward in some way with it 

 the other fertilizing principles. 



Potash from the root passes to the 

 vine, to the leaves, then to the twigs, 

 to arrive at last at the fruit, of which 

 it favors the development. Its migra- 

 tion is comparable to those of the nitro- 

 genized elements and phosphates. 



The potash introduced through the 

 root in the coui-se of a season is not 

 entirely consumed, since it is found 

 after fructification, reserved in suflicient 

 quantity, in the wood and in the twigs. 

 — Wine and Fruit Grower. 



Pruning Grapes. — Sir: — I see on page 

 7, Januaiy No., a correspondent ad- 

 vises pruning gi'apes in the spring 

 and leads new beginners astray. It is 

 too late to prune grapes when you un- 



