866 



NOTES FKOm H. W. SARGBNT, ESQ 



WODENETHE, FISHKILL ON THE HUDSON, N. Y. 



We give the following extract from a letter of 

 Mr. Sargent :— "After two j^ears of tiaveling all over 

 the Christian world, I have come to certain conclu- 

 sions : 



]st. That all good American lawns are infinitely 

 better than the best English, which are a mass of 

 daisies and weeds. 



2d. That America is the worst fruit-growing 

 country in the world, except the North of Europe. 

 What, with the Apple and Peach borer, the codlin 

 moth, the yellows, the fire blight, the curled-leaf, 

 the thrip and mealy bug, and red spider in houses, 

 and our variable winters, in this neighborhood, at 

 any rate, we fruit growers are really in extremes. 

 Plums, Nectarines, Apricots,and I may say Peaches 

 and Gooseberries, are, probably, entirely unknown 

 to children of 10 years of age, though 15 years 

 since I grew them most successfully. 



I found hardly a leaf on my Pear trees on my ar- 

 rival, 10 days since, and of course the Pears arc not 

 worth picking. 



I have no apples now. In England, this fruit 

 may lack some flavor, yet on espaliers and cer- 

 tainly on walls, you may grow, and they do, every 

 thing. An early spring frost sometimes injures a 

 crop ; but if the fruit works through this, their only 

 other enemy is the wasp, and sometimes the spar- 

 row,— which a net will keep from the fruit. 



3d. There are much fewer ornamental plants, 

 (Shrubs and Trees,) in the English places than in 

 ours. 



The Cedar of Lebanon and Deodar do magnifi- 

 cently, especially the former. The latter, all over 

 England, suffered greatly last winter, and most of 

 the Araucar.as were destroyed. The great speci- 

 men at Kew, the largest and oldest in England, has 

 merely a few living branches on the top. Welling- 

 tonias do as well here, at least with me, as in Eng- 

 land. Pinusexcelsa, nivea, Beardsleyi, ponderosa, 

 &c., and all the new Silver Firs, amabilis, grandis, 

 nobilis, lasciocarpa, &c., do letter. All the new 

 Japanese Evergreens are larger and finer on my 

 place and Wellesley, (H.H.Hunnewell's) than lever 

 saw abroad. 



By allowing my lawn to grow up for 2 years, 1 

 have completely conquered the Summer or Crab 

 grass, by smothering it during its feeason from J uly 

 to 15th of September. 



In answer to one of your correspondents— no ever- 

 green hedge, except Holly, will turn cattle. They 

 always destroy the face by rubbing or scratching 

 with their heads. 



GRAPB NOTES PHOm THE PARSONAGE. 



BY W. n. W., READING, MASS. 



The past season, in New England, has been, 

 to the Gi'ape crop, one jof the most severely try- 

 ing that has been experienced for many years. 

 Such excessive rains as we have had, have 

 brought rot and mildew into a most unwel- 

 come famiharity with many to whom they have 

 hitherto been comparative strangers. In my own 

 garden, I have never before, in eight years, ^een a 

 vine in the least injured by mildew. But this year 

 there were very few that were not more or less affect- 

 ed, while many were almost entirely stripped of their 

 foliage. As it may be of some interest and benefit 

 to others, I propose to give a few notes in regard to 

 the behavior of the different varieties under culti- 

 vation. 



1. Delaware. On vines but slightly manured, 

 there was much mildew. So many leaves lost that 

 the fruit could not ripen, iiut on one vine heavily 

 manured with new dung, there was a most vigor- 

 ous and healthy growth ; no mildew, fruit very 

 large and thoroughly ripened, for which the pre- 

 mium was awarded at the Massachusetts Horticul- 

 tural Exhibition. 



2. Diana. Considerable mildew. Fruit rotted 

 and dropped badly, still much of it ripened up at 

 last very finely. 



3. lona. This variety has won golden opinions 

 in our neighborhood this season. All my vines have 

 appeared very healthy, a little touch of mildew here 

 and ther-fe, but hardly enough to kill a single leaf 

 The bunch and berry are simply magnificent, 

 whether as a feast to the eye or the palate. My 

 old vine (four years planted) began to color its fruit 

 before the Delaware at its side. I have much more 

 hope of its adaptation to our climate than before. 



4. Rogers' JS^o. 15, The fruit of this variety rot- 

 ted more than any other in the garden. It is a 

 most rampant grower, but how Mr. R. can consider 

 it the best of his hybrids (except Salem) I am at a 

 loss to understand, "De gustibus, &c, " 



5. Israella. Good grower, quite healthy, not 

 enough mildew to do any harm. Vines not yet old 

 enough to bear. 



6. Allen s Hybrid. Trained against a fence,with 

 nine or ten inches interval, this variety was almost 

 ruined by thrip and mildew ; but on the open 

 ground it appeared tolerably healthy. Had some 

 fine fruit from a young vine ten feet south of the 

 house, but not a berry from the o?c?vine 9 inches 

 east of a seven feet, tight fence. 



7. Union Village. On the upright portion of 

 the trellis scarcely any mildew at all : but on the 

 horizontal portion, (it slopes for ten feet up to the 

 house), almost every leaf was destroyed. A fine 

 show of fruit, but none of it ripened. Probably too 

 late for our latitude. 



