1864. 



THE ILLINOIS FAEMER. 



n 



the secret of this is worth knowing. The grapes 

 are transported in shallow baskets, upon the bot- 

 tom of which green grape leaves are placed, and 

 also against the sides ; then a layer of bunches, 

 and then more grape leaves, and so on, and leaves 

 on the top, upon which the lid presses and holds 

 all firmly, but does not prevent the free circulation 

 of air. In this way Mr. Knox sends grapes five 

 hundred miles to market in perfectly good order. 



The Yeddo Grapk. — A young vine of this new 

 wonder was shown at the late Penn. Hort. Exhi- 

 bition, from the Hon. Isaac Newton, Commissioner 

 of Agriculture at Washington, who has now grow- 

 ing in the garden of the Department a number of 

 vines. It has a leaf more like some of our native 

 than the foreign grapes, and may possibly prove 

 hardy. What the merits of the fruit are, is only 

 known from what has been already recorded in our 

 pages, from Mr. Fortune, who introduced it to 

 English gardens. These vines will probably be 

 distributed among our prominent nurserymen for 

 trial. — Hovey^s Magazine. 



— Should the Commissioner have any of these 

 vines for the West, we should be pleased to put 

 them on trial, both under glass and in the open 

 ground. We have our arrangements made for a 

 somewhat extended culture of the vine, and in- 

 tend to give all the new sorts that promise well a 

 trial. 



Grapes in Iowa. 



Burlington, Iowa, made 25,000 gallons of wine 

 in 1 862, and abeut the pame in 1863. Fort Madison 

 made in 1862 some 31 000 gallons, and a much larg- 

 er quantity in 1863, amount not yet ascertained by 

 me. 



The Concord Grape.-Wc notice that this grape, 

 BO much underrated by some of our pomological 

 Magi, has so rapidly forced its way upon its own 

 merits that it is now to be found for sale at all the 

 fruit stores of this city. It is always prominently 

 displayed, with large signs informing the public of 

 its name. They have been so displayed for sale for 

 nearly four weeks. Nobody is dissatisfied with this 

 grape, who is not prejudiced. True, it is not equal 

 in quality to the Delaware; but with all the boasted 

 superiority of the latter, who has seen it oflFered for 

 sale in a similar way ? It may be so oflFered, but we 

 hare not yet encountered it in our walks. — Qer- 

 manioum Td., ZOthvlt. 



-*»»- 



Good Sorghum Crop. — H. & D. McWilliams, near 

 Pontiac, in this State, report that they harvested 

 last fall three acres of Sugar Cane, which yielded 

 609 gallons, or 203 gallons to the acre. Consider- 

 ing the bad season, this is an excellent yield. The 

 ground was common rich prairie, considerable dis- 

 tance from timber. It was plowed early in the 

 spring to a depth of six inches, and well harrowed. 

 The seed was well sprouted before planting, which 

 was done early in May. The plants were hoed once, 

 and cultivated with a wheel cultivator four times. 

 The cane was not injured by the first frost, and was 

 out of the way of th« leoond. 



Culture of the Barberry- 

 Attention has of late been directed, says a co- 

 temporary, to the Barberry, as a suitable plant for 

 hedging. Indeed, many believe that this is the 

 plant we have been so long in search of, to make a 

 hardy, durable hedge, and one that will afford all 

 the protection required, and never prove trouble- 

 some on account of succoring. E. C. Frost, the 

 well-known nurseryman of Havana, Schuyler coun- 

 ty, furnishes the following information on the mode 

 of propagating the plants and forming the hedge : 

 Seed of the barberry maybe picked and planted 

 in the fall in drills, or during the winter, (the ber- 

 ries remain on the branches during the winter, and 

 a portion until it is in blossom the next spring,) or 

 the seed may be mixed with sand or dirt in the fall 

 or winter, and kept out exposed to the changes of 

 the season, and planted in the spring. 



The plants may be set for the hedge, one, two, 

 or three years from the seed, nine to twelve inches 

 apart, either in the fall or the spring. 



Each spring, sprouts start from the cellar, at the 

 ground, and grow higher and stronger than those 

 of the preceding year, until the plant is, in our soil 

 seven to eight feet high — each year's growth thick- 

 ens and strengthens the bottom of the hedge. 



It should not be trimmed or pruned at any time 

 when young or old. The single plant or hedge is 

 fan-shaped, upper surface even, the leaves, blos- 

 soms and fruit covering it to within about two feet 

 of the ground. If well cared for it will turn stock 

 in about four years. 



I have grown it fifteen years in grass and culti- 

 uated ground, and have not known a sprout to 

 come from the roots, but always from the collar of 

 the plant, and hence, say it never sprouts or 

 spreads, but thickens by the youngest wood. It 

 is very hardy ; the cold winters have not injured it, 

 nor has any of the oldest wood died out. 



The bark of the whole, root and branch, is bit- 

 ter, so that mice, nor nothing else will eat it. The 

 plant has thorns. The blossoms are yellow, the 

 fruit red and sour — used for tarts and jellies, and 

 is substituted for cranberries. — Rural American. 



Last fall we sowed several quarts of the above 

 seed, to grow plants for our own use, as we know 

 that it will make one of the very best of hedges for 

 orchards and gardens, as nothing, not even a bird 

 can get through one eight or ten years old. It is 

 hardy and easily grown. Of course this hedge must 

 be on dry land or that can be underdrained. We 

 have before called the attention of our readers to 

 the notice of this plant for hedging. — Ed. 



We think, with some of our English breth- 

 ren, that rotten straw is not manure; coarse rub- 

 bish, when applied as a top dressing to meadows, 

 will increase the yield of hay twenty-five per cent. 

 It may be carried on any time in the winter, when 

 it can be handled on account of frost. Care should 

 be taken not to drive in the meadow when your 

 wagon wheels will cut through the sod, because 

 these ruts will remain through the season. 



Treatise on Sugar and Sirup from Soeghwm, by 

 John L. Gill & Son, Columbus, Ohio. A pamphlet 

 of twenty pages, in which the subject is ably haf 

 ' died. 



