1863 



THE ILLmOIS FAEMER. 



263 



we have offended by refusing to allow, them to 

 tramp over our grounds give a reason why we 

 should toil through the season that they may riot 

 upon the results ? "What's a few berries ? " Sure 

 enough — a little matter, as would be a pound of 

 sugar at the merchant's. But should crowds of 

 men, women and children flock to the store through 

 five or six weeks, and each claim a pound, the 

 merchant would find a sad hole in his profits. And 

 should he throw himself upon the generosity of a 

 great mass of people, he would find that they would 

 accept his gifts and impoverish a whole sugar plan- 

 tation with the most remarkable sangfroid. 



Finally : We have done with this wholesale sys- 

 tem of robbery. Our friends who know us and 

 understand this matter, will be friends always. 

 Those who visit ris only in berry time, will probably 

 continue offended, and to revile. Let the Lord's 

 will be done. 



Wilson's Strawberry— Two Witnesses. 



The editor of the Germantown Telegraph, speak-' 

 ing of this famous strawberry, says "the Wilson 

 ran out the second year, whereupon we ran it off 

 the premises totally, never to come back again. If 

 anybody were to surreptitiously infest our ground 

 with a bed of this so-called fruit, he would be in- 

 continently prosecuted if discovered !" The edit- 

 or of the 0-ardener's Monthly, also residing in Ger- 

 mantown, places the;Wilson at the head of several 

 select varieties for family use, as well as for pro- 

 ductiveness. 



When two distinguished men thus differ in the 

 same locality, on a variety many years in general 

 cultivation, we are admonished to be cautious in 

 recommending any new sort to others. — Cmmtry 

 GenUeman. 



-<•» — 



The Two Gardeners. 



There were two gardeners whose crop of peas 

 had been killed by the frost. One of them fret- 

 ted and grumbled, and said nobody was so unfor- 

 tunate as he was. Visiting his neighbor some 

 time after,he cried out in astonishment, "What are 

 these" A fine crop of peas ! Where did they 

 come from ? " These are what I sowed while you 

 were fretting," said the neighbor. " Why, don't 

 you ever fret?" "Yes, but I generally put it off 

 till I have repaired the the mischief." "But then 

 you have no need to fret at all," said the fretter. 

 " Precisely so," replied his friend, "and that is the 

 very reason why I put it off." 



-^^ 



Bot in Grapes. 



There are three distinct diseases of the grape ; 

 sometimes all three are developed in the same 

 vineyard, and sometimes two, or only one. The 

 'rot, properly speaking, is a disease and discolora- 

 tion of the entire juice of the berry, from which it 

 assumes a dark brown color, soon drops off the 

 stem, or dries on and falls upon the first shaking of 

 the vine. This is called water rot. 



Another disease is mildew which appears on the 

 stems of the grape bunches and on the leaves. Mil- 

 dew renders the leaves and stems unhealthy, and 

 consequently unable lo convey a healthful vital 



sap to the fruit, retarding its growth, and finally 

 preventing it from ripening. 



Smallpox is another disease, affecting only the 

 berry of the grape. This is a spot of rust on the 

 cheek of the berry, so very thin that the keenest 

 blade cannot shave it off without exposing the 

 healthy flesh of the berry underneath. The effect 

 of small pox is to cause a slight depression on the 

 surface of the grape where the spot is attached, 

 but does not seem to be of any other damage to 

 the fruit, as the grape is as good for wine, as if it 

 had not been blotched ; except the slight loss of 

 fullness in form. We are told that this disease is 

 of more serious consequence in the old country. 



WHAT CATTSES THE EOT ? 



As we were examining a vineyard back of San- 

 duxy — the only one seriously affected by water 

 rot, we came upon a German vine dresser at his 

 work, and asked what caused the rot. "The land 

 is too rich," was his prompt reply. "Is it not the 

 effect of such hot, muggy weather as this ?" "No, 

 the land is too rich ; such days as this bring out 

 the rot faster than cool, dry weather, but it is only 

 because it stimulates the rich soil in which the 

 grapes are growing. I have been in a vineyard all 

 my life, my father has a large vineyard in Germa- 

 ny, which he inherited from his father ; so I know 

 something about Grapes. The land in this vine- 

 yard is too rich, and that is why the grapes rot." 



This vineyard is in dark muck and loam, with a 

 clay bottom at the depth of twelve to eighteen 

 inches, and is the most neatly kept vineyard about 

 Sandusky. — Ohio Farmer. 



—•>- 



Cultivating Orchards. 



On a very pleasant day in October of last year, 

 we took a long ramble with that great lover of 

 trees and excellent practical horticulturist, Thom- 

 as Meehan, of Germantown, Pa, We walked far 

 up the beautiful Wishahickon, over the hills and 

 through the fields, and talked of what we saw. 

 Among other things we came to an old orchard, 

 and he fell to discoursing about what is sometimes 

 recommended in the papers about the clean culti- 

 vation of orchards, much in the vein of the follow- 

 ing, which we find from his pen in a late number 

 of ihe Gardner's Monthly: — Ohio Fanner, 



ORCHARDS. 



We must repeat, that we regard the plan of not 

 allowing even the merest blade of vegetation to 

 grow in an orchard from the time it is set out until 

 it is old enough to cut up for fire-wood, as nothing 

 but a "sentiment." We have never seen such an 

 orchard, and if any one can tell us of such an one, 

 we will go and see it. It would not "pay;" and we 

 now point out why. The reasons are obvious, and 

 all this — granting for the sake of argument, that 

 the trees might be a little better for it. 



1. To make an orchard profitable something 

 must and will be grown on the ground during the 

 first few years of its existence, at the very least. 

 Suppose we admit cropping an injury, grass crops 

 are least so of any. We do not, however, consid- 

 er it an injury, unless suffered to mature or under 

 other limited circumstances. 



2. It makes all the difference how a thing is done: 

 An auctioneer was selling a lot of German sausages, 



