Cl'RRENT GARDEh LORE. 



705 



Mending Rubber Hose. 



no need of emigrating. The cost of underdraining by 

 tile drains is considerable, but much less than formerly, 

 for tiles are much cheaper now. Many fields thus 

 drained, however, will yield enough more abundantly 

 to repay the cost of the enterprise in two or three years, 

 and will continue to improve in production for several 

 years longer, and will be a permanent improvement, 

 enduring a lifetime. — Mass. Ploiighiiian . 



Simple Hose Mender. — The accompanying engrav- 

 ing gives views of opposite sides of a section of hose 

 sent us by John McGowan, Orange, N. J., to illus- 

 trate a simple method of 

 mending hose practiced 

 by him for years. After 

 trimming evenly the rag- 

 ged edges of the break in 

 the hose, a short section of 

 half-inch iron pipe is in- 

 serted as shown by dotted 

 lines in the cut. Then a 

 piece of galvanized iron 

 wire is wrapped around the hose as shown at the right 

 in the upper figure, and twisted tightly so as to sink into 

 the rubber. The wire is then twisted for a few inches 

 as shown in the lower figure, again wrapped around 

 the hose and fastened as shown at the left of the upper 

 figure. This mender is not patented, and the materials 

 for making it are inexpensive and easily obtainable — 

 American Florist . 



Making and Planting Grape Cuttings.— Cut the 



grape vines in the fall as soon as the frost has caused 

 them to drop their leaves. Make the cutting six or 

 eight inches long ; if short jointed there may be three 

 or four eyes to a cutting ; if long jointed there will 

 sometimes be but two eyes. Cut close below the lower 

 eye and slanting at right angles with the bud, one-half 

 inch above the upper bud, in like manner slanting, so 

 that the upper point is on the same side of the bud. 

 Tie in bunches from twenty-five to one hundred as the 

 case may require, label them and bury them in the 

 ground so that the upper end of the bundle is three 

 inches underground In the spring when the ground is 

 fit to work in, plant them at an angle of 45 degrees 

 with thetop bud just even with the surfaceof theground, 

 press the ground firmly on the lower part of the cut- 

 ting. If preferable, the cuttings may be planted at 

 once where they are to grow, but in that case they must 

 have a covering so as to keep the frost from piercing 

 them. I prefer planting them in the fall. If a large 

 number are to be set, put the rows four feet apart and 

 the cuttings two or three inches apart in the rows — 

 S. Miller , ill Coliiiaii's Rural World. 



Rake Cultivation for Deep Loose Soil. — A neigh- 

 bor's garden has never for years been cultivated with 

 any thing but a fine toothed rake. After every rain the 

 crust is broken, and being pulverized thoroughly in the 

 preparation, the ground needs no deeper stirring. The 

 beds look almost as smooth as if sand-papered, and the 



vegetables grow with remarkable thrift. This supplies a 

 practical proof of the excellence of rake cultivation for 

 deep, loose soil. — Florida Fariiu r and Ft ml Groioer. 



Rooting Cuttings. — When cuttings are being rooted 

 by amateurs in small tin or earthen vessels placed in 

 sunny winnows, the process can be forwarded by paint- 

 ing the receptacle black, the color absorbing the heat 

 and imparting it to the sand or earth, thus facilitating 

 the starting of roots and forwarding the plant's develop- 

 ment. — California Fruit Grower . 



Girdled Trees. — The life of a tree is in the young 

 wood immediately underlying the bark. It seems in- 

 credible that a tree can possibly live when the bark 

 and underlying wood are separated. Some years ago 

 we had on our ground an Austrian pine which had been 

 completely girdled in this manner, and yet it continued 

 to live as if nothing was the matter. The late Professor 

 George Thurber could scarcely credit his eyes, so 

 strange did it seem when it was pointed out to him, yet 

 it lived a number of years before it finally died. We 

 have now before us another illustration sent to us by 

 Mrs. Ross Lewers, of Franktown, Nevada. She says it 

 was a young tree, and about four feet up the trunk it is 

 four inches in diameter. The lower part has four cir- 

 cles of wood and the upper part eight, showing that it 

 lived four years after the girdling occurred, and made 

 annual circles of wood in that time. It appears to 

 have been 



girdled by ej-rinches 

 porcup i n e s. 

 It belongs to 

 the Pi n u s 

 p 0 n d e r o s a < 

 which is 

 called yellow 

 pine i n that 

 part of the 

 country. The 

 fact seems to 

 show that the 

 t w o species 

 of pine men- 

 tioned have 

 the power to 

 draw moist- 

 ure, and pos- 

 sibly some 

 other m a t e- 

 rial, through 

 the old wood 

 — a power 

 which other 

 trees do not 

 possess — b u t 

 that being de- 

 prived by reason of the girdled portion, the lower part 

 of the trunk fails to get the benefit of the leaf^Taction, 

 and no wood can be formed below the girdledjpart. — 

 Meehan's Montlilv. 



3-^ inches 



Growth of Pine Tree .\fter being 

 Girdled. 



