6o4 



FRUIT AND GARDEN NOTES. 



In drying sweet-corn for seed in any but small quanti- 

 ties artificial heat is essential, and the temperature must 

 be sufficient to do the work rapidly, as otherwise the 

 whole crop will sprout. The best method is unques- 

 tionably by a forced blast, such as is used in the rapid 

 seasoning of lumber. With this properly tempered, the 

 ears being arranged on slatted shelves, the corn can be 

 rapidly and uniformily cured without impairing its vi- 

 tality. — T. H. HoSKiNS, Vermont. 



SOME GRAPE ENEMIES. 



In a conversation which I recently had with one of 

 Vineland's most successful fruit-growers, he claimed to 

 have succeeded in saving a crop of Ives Seedling grapes 

 from the rose-bugs by hand-picking. It is a curious fact 

 that this insect generally, if not invariably, comes first 

 on one side of a field, or one end of a row, and gradu- 

 ally moves across. Mr. Ellis' plan is to watch for its first 

 appearance, and to have men ready to meet it at once. 

 A little kerosene, say a teacupful, is poured into a pan (a 

 tin milk-pan is best), and the bugs are brushed into it, 

 throwing them out and providing more kerosene as often 

 as is necessary. No effort is made to get every bug, but 

 rather to collect the most bugs in the shortest time ; and 

 when the men have been over the plat once they turn 

 back and go over it again, following up this course while 

 any bugs remain. From 

 ten days to two weeks is 

 all the time they ordinarily 

 need for this work. Mr. 

 Ellis has 25 acres of grapes, 

 and from three to four men 

 kept the bugs down, so that 

 he has secured a full crop 

 of grapes over the whole 

 area. It is only during a 

 few of the worst days that 

 the men give their whole 

 time to bug-picking. The 

 grapes are worth 4 cents 

 a pound for unfermented 

 wine, the purpose for 

 which he raises them, so it 

 will be easy to realize a good profit on this investment, 

 as experience has shown him that the bugs would have 

 taken nearly the whole crop if allowed to do so. 



There seems to be a great difference of opinion about 

 the success of spraying grapes, which may, perhaps, be 

 accounted for by differences in the way of doing it. Mr. 

 Ellis says that a prominent grape-grower, who does con- 

 siderable talking and writing on these subjects, induced 

 several of his neighbors to try spraying, sold them spray- 

 ers, and gave directions about using them. His direc- 

 tions were carried out, with the result that the grapes 

 rotted quite as badly as others not sprayed. When their 

 condition was reported to the man who had advised 

 spraying, he replied that he did not understand why the 

 grapes so treated should decay, as his own grapes were 

 all right. One of the men, however, was a doubter, and 



Fig. io.— Bassett American 

 Plum (P. maritima). 

 Full size. (See page 600.) 



examined the vines for himself, with the result that he 

 found the grapes just as badly rotted as his own. 



One of our intelligent grape-growers told me that he 

 had sprayed five times this season, and was likely to lose 

 all his grapes after all. On the contrary, L. H. Park- 

 hurst, whose place is just across the street from the one 

 last alluded to, has grapes in fine condition, there being 

 only an occasional rotten berry on a trellis about 150 feet 

 long. On this same trellis they rotted so badly in 1890 

 that the yield was less than 250 pounds. In 1891 he se- 

 cured, by spraying, 1,600 pounds, and there is a promise 

 of at least as large a crop this season. 



What makes this difference ? Perhaps a little insight 

 into Mr. Parkhurst's manner of doing his work will af- 

 ford a key. He has sufficient means to carry out what 

 he undertakes, and his plans are carried out in the most 

 thorough manner. He says he wants the best sprayer to 

 be had, a man to handle it who understands the work ; 

 that the man must make it his business to spray whenever 

 spraying is needed, especially after every rain ; and that 

 nothing shall be allowed to interfere with or delay it. 

 Mr. Parkhurst sprays his grapes in field-culture with 

 equal success. — Wm. F. Bassett, Atlantic Co., N. J. 



GRAPES AND GRAPE-ROT. 



The present season is more than wet enough to atone 

 for the drouth of the two proceeding years, and one effect 

 of excessive moisture in the soil will be the apparent in- 

 crease of grape-rot in the vineyards. 



We have about two acres in grapes, consisting princi- 

 pally of Concord, Goethe and Elvira, with one or two 

 vines each of about 30 other varieties. The soil is stiff 

 clay, with good surface drainage and partial underdrain- 

 age. The grapes have been sprayed with Bordeaux mix- 

 ture four times : as the buds were swelling ; just before the 

 bloom ; when the grapes were the size of small shot ; and_ 

 lastly, July i, leaving an interval of two or three weeks 

 between the sprayings. The rains were so frequent, 

 however, that only the last spray remained long on the 

 vines, the others being washed off by heavy rains within 

 less than a week from the time of their application. A 

 careful examination of the vines, July 29 and August i, 

 showed the presence of rot in considerable quantity ; and 

 a comparison of our vines sprayed four times with those 

 of a neighbor, grown under similar conditions, but 

 sprayed only once, showed no superiority in the former. 



The rot seemed to have developed during the last week 

 in August, when we had heavy rains preceeded by ten 

 days of extremely warm weather. It is not to be sup- 

 posed that the disease has reached its full development, 

 but a comparison of varieties, showing the amount of 

 present injury, may be of interest to the reader. In the 

 following table, the method of pruning, quality of fruit 

 and number of bunches in which the rot shows, are 

 given. The Concord, Elvira and Goethe have been in 

 bearing several years, and have been pruned continu- 

 ously on the old-wood, short-spur system. The remain- 

 ing varieties are bearing their first full crop, though most 

 of them bore some fruit last year. They are pruned on 



