70 
j— " ■■■ '' " ..... i ...i . . 
bearers; tlie fruit is nQt esteemed of the first quality, ex¬ 
cept under the best aspects and in certain localities. I 
have seen fine grapes produced from both these vines in 
city gardens, yet I do not recommend them as the best. 
The Diana, Delaware, and Rebecca grapes will grow well, 
and are all fine fruit, but in city gardens, although giving 
good crops, require much care. For city gardens, where 
from one to ten vines are to be grown, we prefer the Con¬ 
cord to any vine we have used. 
Having decided upon the kind of vine you would plant, 
plant it at the proper time for planting. Remember one 
thing—a grape vine should never be planted in a wet soil. 
The ground should, if not dry of itself, be drained of all 
the surface moisture, and trenched about three feet deep, 
and with the soil thus prepared you will mix equal parts of 
bone dust (ground bone), wood ashes, lime, or broken 
bones, and two quarts of charcoal finely broken up. In¬ 
corporate this admixture thoroughly together, and plant 
your vines upon it in your border uniter your brick wall 
in your garden. If you can give the room, wo ask for our 
grape vines a border eight feet wide if we can get it, and 
in no case less than four feet width can we tolerate for our 
border. 
If you design to train these vines upon an upright trel¬ 
lis near the brick work they should be planted ten feet 
apart. If on posts, and trained around posts, eight will 
do, keeping the vines in both cases well and closely pruned'. 
I have seen them only six feet apart, and cultivated often 
what is known as the English vineyard culture, and they 
did remarkably well. 
As an unfailing rule, plant your vines where they will 
receive all the sunshine they can get; they love it. Now 
that you have planted your vine, the next important con¬ 
sideration is the pruning. This is to be done by removing 
all the last year’s, or old wood; the old wood is always to be 
cut away. Cut in the young vines to two or three eyes, 
until you can get two vigorous canes, of ten feet in length, 
and train, if you can, horizontally, say four feet from the 
ground. Every eye upon these canes will send upwards 
fine bearing branches. Cut in every other one of these 
upright branches every year. In this manner you can suc¬ 
cessfully grow a sufficient quantity of good table grapes, at 
least sufficient for the wants of a common city family. Is 
It hot worth trying? Ollipod Qxjill. 
ORCHARD WORK. 
I F you have ordered your trees' and shrubs for early 
spring they may possibly become frozen on their transit 
from the nursery grounds to your home. If so, what will 
you do with them? Throw them away as a dead loss, and 
growl over them; blame the nurseryman and every one 
else but yourself, who are the only one to blame for order- 
, ing prematurely? Now, do not do any of these things; it 
is very foolish in the first place, quite unnecessary in the 
second, and thirdly, it will not bring to life your frozen 
trees or plants. 
“What shall I do then?” This is what you shall do:— 
Try and be for once a philosopher, and set about the best 
remedy for this misfortune that cap be had. And this rem 
edy will be found in allowing the plants to remain in un¬ 
broken bundles, and then take the package at once to a 
cool cellar, or cover them thickly and compactly with straw 
or hay, so that they shall thaW only gradually. By no 
means hurry their thawing out. In this way you will save 
nearly all if not every one of your trees. 
I once had a large number of pear trees, of quite large 
size, considerably frozen on a passage from New York, 
which I saved without injury by this process after they 
had been pronounced “good for nothing” by a number of 
sympathetic neighbors. 
Never be in haste to throw away a plant or a tree be¬ 
cause the same has become chilled or apparently withered 
and dried up. There is often life in them. Always hope 
for the best and act promptly, and you will find in it yotlr 
reward. You should not plant out your trees until the 
ground becomes dry and mellow. You gain nothing by re¬ 
moving your trees frojn a comparatively cool atmosphere to 
a cooler or more windy one. Let the weather become tol¬ 
erably warm, prepaid your holes in the soil ready for the 
reception of your trees, and then plant them out. 
If your trees come .to you from the nursery in good con¬ 
dition (and your first care should be to examine tlnm) you 
may “heel them in,” unless you plant them at once. Dig 
a trench in “heeling in” of sufficient depth to completely 
cover all the roots of the trees when placed within, and 
thoroughly cover the samoj they can thus remain three 
weeks uninjured. 
You should cut your choice scions this month for graft¬ 
ing, and commence grafting as early as the first of April. 
You can prune your grape vines this month, and as long 
as they are in a dormant state cut close all the old wood, 
and remember that no grapes grow upon the old or last 
year’s wood. Turn the new wood back to two short eyes, 
all except your running canes. 
You can now set out your choice grape cuttings. Cut 
them to two or three eyes each in a nicely prepared, well 
made bed. Have the upper eye just above the soil, and 
press it firmly about them and mulch the bed. Currants 
and gooseberies may be set in the same manner. 
Ollipod Quill. 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
—IT - ■ ; ' - • . 1 1 ■ ■ - 
Brooklyn, March 5, 1874. 
Editor Forest and Stream:-— 
Some of your lady readers might be pleased to learn that at this sea¬ 
son of the year, cuttings from the cherry tree or apple tree will bud and 
blossom in the house, if the cut ends are kept in water for about a week 
or ten days. The water should be put on blood warm every day or two. 
W. W. S. 
A Thrifty Rose Bush.—A rosebush adorning a cottage 
in Santa Rosa, California, was planted in 1858, and is one 
of the Lamarque variety, the most beautiful of the white 
roses. Imagine an immense bouquet of white roses, twenty- 
five feet high, twenty-two feet across, beautifully rounded, 
'with a blossoming surface of 400 square feet, with 4,000 
full blown roses, and 20,000 buds. 
p istorg. 
PUGNACITY OF THE GREAT BLACK- 
BACKED GULL. 
D URING the autum and winter of 1873, and the present 
winter, my friend Mr. Montgomery and myself have 
made many successful hunting cruises along the Connecti¬ 
cut, Long Island, and Jersey coasts. Mr. M. follows shoot¬ 
ing for the sport it affords, and I hunt as a sportsman and 
ornithological collector. We live aboard our yacht, “put 
in” at any convenient harbor, choose a site for our house, 
and drop our anchor. Sometimes we remain a week or 
ten days in one place, at others but a few hours, according 
to the wind, and the game qualities of our hunting grounds. 
When “running” from one hunting ground to another, we 
often add bluefisli and “skip jacks” (bonito) to our larder, 
which at times are preferable to fowl. During our numer¬ 
ous trips we have made many captures of sea birds, and 
have established a “happy family.” Our family is not always 
happy, particularly at meal times, and the gulls, crows and 
cats, often fight over a favorite cod’s head or bone. When 
not feeding, they live in perfect harmony, and freely asso¬ 
ciate. Our family now consists of four brant ( Bernic'la 
brenta), four herring gulls, (Laras argentatus ), one great 
black-backed gull (L. rnarinus), two kittiwake gulls, (Bissa 
tridactyla), one red-liead (Aythya Americana ), one greater 
black-head (Fulix mania), one red-breasted mergauser 
(Mergus s errator), and several crows. The brants are our 
favorites, and their cur-r-r-r-unk,—cawnk, is often heard, 
and many of the urchins in our neighborhood try in vain 
lo imitate them. The last member added to the family, 
was a large black-hack gull, which was captured as fol¬ 
lows: As we were returning from the Fire Islands one 
day, we sighted a small flock of gulls,.to leeward, sitting 
on a bar. We were going before a two-reef breeze, with a 
stark sheet, and as it was blowing a “gale of wind,” we 
knew they would have to rise to windward, so we tried to 
“run them down.” When the flock raised, one of them 
was cut down, “wing tipped” at long range. We finally 
succeeding in coming along-side of it, although in so doing 
we “shipped” considerable water, when beating to wind¬ 
ward. Onr bird was caught and added to our “happy 
family.” Unlike the herring gulls he would eat greedily 
the first day he was turned loose. One morning I threw 
some clams to him as he was walking about the yard, and 
as he was eating them a cat (nearly full-grown) attempted 
to join in the feast. The gull seized it by the neck with its 
powerful bill, and if it had not been molested, would prob- 
ably have severely wounded, if not killed the cat. The 
next victim was a smart young man, who was going to 
“catch the gull and tame it.” Having driven it into a cor¬ 
ner, he attempted to seize it, but the gull got the first hold 
by the leg, and it'hung on savagely until the unfortunate 
youth tried to seize it by the neck, but the enemy was a 
knowing one, and he immediately let go of the “tamer’s” 
leg and grabbed him by the hand, driving the point of the 
upper mandible in the flesh, and making a wound that bled 
freely. The “tamer” retired from the field, and was re¬ 
ceived by his companions with roars of laughter. When 
sailing around Princess Bay last November, we sighted a 
wounded female old Squaw, (H. glacialis). As wc were 
“bearing down” on it, a large black-backed gull swooped 
down, and seized the duck, lifted it from the water, and 
carried it about twenty yards, before dropping it. I have 
been told by Simeon Cheney, an old and experienced hun¬ 
ter who lives on one of the numerous is^nds in ;he Bay of 
Fundy, that the “saddle-backed” or “farmer gulls” (L. 
marinas), will kill and devour a wounded “sea duck” (Som- 
atena mollissima), and that they often feed on dead birds 
found floating on the water. Our gull is evidently the 
“bead of the family” and when any of the other members 
approach too near, he gives them such a savage look that 
they “take the hint” and scamper away out of his reach. 
The brant often crook their necks, and hiss spitefully at 
him, as they can easily outrun him, and make a safe retreat 
if necessary. When not disturbed, Mr. Black back is very 
quiet, and minds his own business. He is wise, and seems 
to know what is going on around him. He will perceive 
a fish in any one’s hands at a distance, and always meets 
one half way to be fed. He has such a very wise look the 
bpvs call him “old daddy,” and bring him small*fish from 
the befell, which are always thankfully received. 
J. H. Batty, 
—In a lecture at New Haven last week, Prof. O. C. 
Marsh, the leader of the Yale Exploring Expedition, re¬ 
ported some recent discoveries of a very wonderful charac¬ 
ter. He stated that it had been ascertained that all the 
western region of the continent from the Gulf of Mexico to 
the Arctic regions was once a shallow sea, the Arctic 
regions being tropical in clithate, and evidences of a burn¬ 
ing atmosphere and prolific flora and fauna being apparent 
on the whole line of this inland sea. Among the curiosi¬ 
ties found by members of the expedition were the remains 
of sea serpents, sixty, seventy and eighty feet in length. 
These animals are very rare in other countries, but were 
formerly quite common in this country. Turtles five or 
six feet in length, but they did not have hard shells. Oys¬ 
ters have also been found three feet in diameter. In Kan¬ 
sas an immense reptile called a Dinosaur has been found 
which walked on its hind legs. Its feet we:e like bird’s' 
and it was probably similar to the animal which made the 
bird tracks of the Connecticut valley. Pterodactyls , or 
flying reptiles, also existed there, having a spread of 
wings of twenty-five feet, and able to carry away sheep or 
larger animals. The hones of birds about the size of pig. 
eons and having teeth have been discovered in this region. 
They formed a link between birds and reptiles. One of the 
most wonderful animals found is the Dinoceras, which was 
about the size of an elephant but differing in many respects. 
It had three pairs of horns on its head, and a pair of tusks 
like those of a walrus. That these animals went in herds 
is evident from the fact that remains of a dozen of them 
have been found in one hundred yards. The remains of an 
animal about the size of a fox, haying a skeleton very simi¬ 
lar to that of the .horse, has been found. It is called the 
Orchippus , has five toes, but its foot bears resemblance to 
the foot of a horse, and it is perhaps the ancestor of the 
horse. 
—As an item of scientific intelligence, the editor of Silli- 
man's Journal publishes the following note on subterranean 
fishes in California: It appears that the agent of the Cali¬ 
fornia Fetroleum Company, at St. Buanaventura, wanting 
water to supply the company’s wharf at that point, deter¬ 
mined to sink an artesian well on the sea-beacli, not five 
feet from high water mark. At the depth of one hun¬ 
dred and forty-six feet a strong flow of water was obtained 
which spoufed to the height of thirty feet. Soon after the 
attention of the agent, Mr. Bard, was directed to the fish 
with which the waste water from the well abounded, and 
which, on examination, proved to be young trout, “thous¬ 
ands of them being thrown out at every jet.” They were 
all of the same size, about two inches in'length, and were 
perfectly developed, the eyes being also perfect. As llie 
'temperature of the water, as it comes from the well, is 64° 
Falir., the fish must have entered it but a brief time before 
their expulsion, since they could not have lived long in 
such high temperature, and yet the nearest surface stream 
was several miles distant. 
HAVE WE A “QUAIL” OR “PARTRIDGE” 
AMONG US? 
Pit it.ADELPHIA, March 9, 1874. 
Editor Forest and Stream:— 
Our two greatest sporting writers, William Henry Herbert and Dr, E. 
J. Lewis, differ entirely as regards the proper name for the Ortyx V\r- 
giniana or American quail, one urging American quail as correct, and the 
Other American nartndge as best. Audubon and Wilson, in their accu¬ 
rate descriptions of the bird use the terms ortyx and perdix, and it is 
classified by and known to ornithologists as Ortyx Virginiana, or Amevi-, 
can quail. 1 will quote both Herbert and Lewis in their arguments. 
Lewis says: “It has been stated that the Perdix Virginianus is more 
closely allied to the European quail than to the English partridge, but 
such is not the fact, as the partridge of our country resembles the quail 
in no one particular save in the habit of partial emigration that it ex¬ 
hibits every autumn at the running season. The meat of the European 
quail is dark and oftentimes loaded with fat, while that of the partridge 
is white and invarihly lean. It is a well known fact that our partridge is 
monogamous, while the quail is polygamous. Quail seldom form them¬ 
selves into coveys; when they migrate they assemble together in large 
numbers, but as soonpis they arrive at their destination they separate, 
each seeking his own food and guarding his own safety; they travel in¬ 
variably at night. How widely different is all this from the habits of 
our bird! This being the case we trust the American sportsmen here¬ 
after will give our partridge its proper appellation and rank, and no long¬ 
er confound it with the quail, a bird far inferior whether in field on the 
table.” * 
Herbert writes; “The ornithological name of the partridge is Perdix; 
of the quail Coturnix; of the American bird, distinct from either, Ortyx. 
The latter name being .the Greek word, as Coturnix is the Latin word, 
meaning quail. It is of course impossible to talk about killing ortyxes, 
or more correctly ortyges; we must, therefore perforce call these birds 
either quail or partridge. Now as botli the European partridges are con¬ 
siderably more than double the size of the American bird, as they are 
never in any country migratory, and as they differ from the ortyx in not 
having the same woodland habits, in cry and in plumage, while in size, 
and in being a bird of passage, the European quail exactly resembles that 
of America, resembling in all other respects far more closely than the 
► partridge proper, I cannot for a moment hesitate in saying that Ameri¬ 
can quail is the correct and proper English name for the Ortyx Yirgini¬ 
ana, and I conceive that naturalists who first distinguished him from the 
quail with which he was originally classed, sanction the English no¬ 
menclature by giving him a scientific title, directly analagons to quail 
and not to partridge.” 
And thus do doctors disagree. May it not bo from sno.h arguments as 
I have just quoted that in the southern States onr “Bob White” becomes 
the Partridge, and in the more northern and western States the Quail? 
While really there is neither partridge nor quail strictly speaking in 
America, the Ortyx Yirginiana being a link between them. Homo. 
CENTRAL PARK MENAGERIE. 
Department of Public Parks, j. 
New York. March 7 ,. 1874. . S 
Animals received at Central Park Menagerie for the week ending 
March 6, 1874: 
One Virginia Deer, Cariacus Virginianus. Presented by Mrs. Sarah 
M. Mallory. 
One Herring Gull. Larus argentatus. Received in exchange. 
One Duck ILxwk. Falco anatum. Received in exehange. 
One Horned Owl. Bubo Virginianus. From Lafayette, N. Y.: donor 
not known. W. A. ConklIN; 
-- 
—A white squirrel was shot near Detroit last week by 
Frank Cliovin. 
—“How is the earth divided, my lad?” “By earthquakes, 
sir.” 
htural 
