370 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[December, 
of the others have become shriveled and un- 
sightly, the Dianas remain plunip and fresh. 
Good judges place it high as a wine grape, and 
consider that a mixture of this and the Dela- 
ware produces better wine than can be made 
from either variety alone. Elsinburgh and Her- 
bemont. — These small grapes grow in favor as 
they become better known. They will probably 
never be popular as market fruit, but for the 
table we consider them very fine. The berries 
are scarcely larger than good sized peas, but 
they have such a sprightly vinous flavor that 
they are great favorites with many. The Elsin- 
burgh is the more hardy of the two. Though 
these grapes are much alike in size and general 
appearance, they differ in sweetness and flavor, 
and are both desirable in amateur collections. 
Origin of the " Clinton Grape." 
— • — 
In his address at the Kirkland Agricultural 
Fair, Prof. North stated that the Clinton Grape 
originated in the horticultural amusements of a 
student at Hamilton College, and that the ori- 
ginal Clinton vine is now growing over a tall 
elm tree near the house formerly occupied by 
Dr. Noyes. It was planted there in 1821, by 
Hon. Hugh White, of Cohoes, who was then a 
Junior in College. Two years before, he had 
planted a quantity of grape-seed in his father's 
garden in Whitesboro' ; and out of the hun- 
dreds of seedlings that grew up from this plant- 
ing, one was selected that looked promising, and 
was planted near the house of Dr. Noyes, with 
whom Mr. White then boarded. It proved to 
be a rampant grower, and wonderfully pro- 
ductive. As a grape for making wine and 
jellies, it has come to be a favorite in latitudes 
where the Catawba will not ripen. It is a some- 
what popular grape with those who make no spe- 
cial objection to a little foxiness, because the vine 
is so thoroughly hardy, and the crops so unfail- 
ing. The original Clinton grape-vine now girths 
fifteen inches for each of its main branches. 
Mr. L. B. Langworthy, in a communication 
to the Rural New-Yorker, claims to have first 
introduced and named the Clinton, and that it 
originally came from a farm in Waterford, on 
the Hudson River. As Mr. L. did not know 
the vine until 1830, while Mr. White planted 
his in 1821, it is possible they may both be the 
same. Mr. Langworthy invites an interchange 
of specimens to settle the question of identity. 
« ■ »♦— i » 
Keeping Grapes. 
J. S. Christian communicates to the Prairie 
Farmer the following plan : The grapes are 
picked when fully ripe, on a dry afternoon, and 
taken to a dry cool room where every unripe or 
decayed berry is removed by means of a pair of 
scissors. The bunches are laid out so as not to 
touch each other, and allowed to remain for 
three weeks, until the stems are thoroughly dry. 
Tissue or soft printing paper is cut into pieces 
of a size to envelop each bunch. The square of 
paper is laid on the left hand, a bunch of grapes 
is laid upon the paper, and the edges of the pa- 
per are brought up over the bunch and secured 
by twisting the ends. The bunches thus envel- 
oped are laid in boxes deep enough to contain 
two tiers. The boxes are covered and kept in 
a cool room. If there is danger of frost, they 
should be covered with carpets or quilts. Isa- 
bellas, Diai-as, and Delawares, may be kept in 
this way until Spring, in a perfectly fresh state. 
— Query. Will the grapes keep well when thus 
left three -weeks in the open air ? 
Labels for Fruit Trees. 
" Shady Side," of Pittsburg, Pa., thinks that 
the leaden label described in the Agriculturist for 
October, may be good, but he prefers a label 
of sheet zinc which has a hole punched at 
one end to receive a piece of copper wire by 
means of which it may be attached to the tree. 
The name is written upon the label with a com- 
mon pen, and with an ink made as follows : 1 
drachm each of verdigris and sal ammoniac, i 
drachm lampblack, and 10 drachms of water. 
This can be prepared at any drug store. The 
recipe is not by any means new, and we give it 
for the benefit of those who may not have seen 
it. The advantage of the sheet lead label 
is, that it yields to the growth of the tree and 
there is no danger of that strangulation which 
is often produced by copper wire, when neglect- 
ed, as it often is. The zinc labels might be fast- 
ened on with lead wire, which is sold at the 
agricultural implement stores. In the engrav- 
ing of the lead label published in October, the 
end passing through the slit should have been 
bent over in order to properly secure the label. 
Prepare the Vegetable Garden. 
In December there is often a mild spell in 
which preparation can be made for Spring in 
the garden. A deep soil is essential to the pro- 
duction of garden vegetables ; but if the soil is 
unfortunately shallow, and with an unfavorable 
subsoil, measures should be taken to deepen it. 
Works upon gardening, presuming that the 
soil is of course deep, direct trenching. In this 
operation, properly performed, the ground is 
dug at least two spades deep, and the lower 
soil brought to the surface, and the upper soil 
put in its place below. There are many gar- 
dens in which it would be decidedly poor 
management to bring a poor subsoil to the top, 
and to bury the good surface mould a spade 
deep. Where the soil is shallow, the aim should 
be to increase its depth and better fit it for the 
growth of those plants the roots of which pene- 
trate deeply. In small gardens this work can 
be done with the spade and at this time of com- 
parative leisure, provided the ground be' not 
frozen nor too wet. The usual method of 
working is to dig a trench about three feet 
wide and a spade deep, throwing out the soil 
on one side ; put a good supply of manure into 
the trench, and spade it well into the sub- 
soil at the bottom. This being done, commence 
a second trench close to and parallel with the 
other, throwing the top soil into the first trench, 
working in manure at the same time. The sub- 
soil in the second trench is treated the same as 
that in the first one, and the work is continued 
by making trench after trench, and manuring 
each one in the same way. The top soil of the 
first trench is finally put into the last one. The 
d 
c 
a 
e 
/ 
accompanying diagram will show how the 
work may be laid out so as to avoid the fa- 
tiguing labor of wheeling the earth taken out 
of the first trench to the last. The spading is 
begun at a, the dirt being thrown out at b; 
this trench being treated as above directed, and 
the work continued until d is reached. The 
top soil from e is thrown into d, and the other 
half of the plot is then spaded over and treated 
in the same way, and the job finished by put- 
ting the earth thrown out at 6 into /. If the 
garden is of sufficient size, it should be st ar- 
ranged that the greater part of the labor can be 
done with a horse. It is a great saving to sub- 
stitute the plow and cultivator for the spade 
and hoe, and to do this requires a little fore- 
thought. All those plants which remain in the 
same spot for several years, such as asparagus, 
rhubarb, and the perennial herbs, should have 
a location by themselves ; the remainder of the 
garden, which at most needs but a single path 
through the centre, will then be left unob- 
structed. It is a great waste of space to cut large 
vegetable gardens into beds, as it costs about 
as much labor to keep the paths clean as it does 
to cultivate the crops. Gardens laid out in beds 
and edged with box or other edging, may look 
very neat, but they are unprofitable. Every 
crop, the nature of which will admit of it, 
should be planted in rows sufficiently wide 
apart to allow of cultivation with horse power. 
Manuring Pear Trees. 
At one of the Fruit Growers' Meetings, Dr. 
I. M. Ward, of Newark, N. J., gave, by request, 
an account of his manner of manuring his 
pear orchard. In Autumn he applies several 
barrow loads of course stable manure to each 
tree, spreading it several inches thick all around 
the tree as far as the roots extend. During the 
Winter the soluble matter is gradually leached 
from the manure and carried into the soil. In 
the Spring what remains of the manure is cov- 
ered with a coating of salt hay (or any other 
cheap hay) and it is allowed to remain on until 
Fall, when it is removed, and manure applied as 
before. By having the ground mulched in 
this way, it is kept moist and free from weeds. 
This mode of applying manure is approved by 
some of our most successful cultivators, and is 
preferred to plowing in the manure, at the risk 
of disturbing the surface roots. 
Fruits for Eastern Pennsylvania. 
— • — 
Frequent inquiries come to the Agriculturist as 
to what fruits to plant. These we answer when 
we have the statistics at hand. The very local 
character of many of our fruits is not generally 
appreciated. AVhat will succeed in one place 
will sometimes fail in an adjoining town or 
county. The knowledge of the geographical 
characters of fruits is yet very imperfect, but 
each year is adding to it, and we watch with 
much interest all the reports of discussions of 
horticultural societies, farmers' clubs, and the 
like. At the Fruit Growers' Society of Eastern 
Pennsylvania, the following were decided upon : 
Summer Pears. — Manning's Elizabeth, Doy- 
enne d'Ete, Tyson. — Autumn Pears. — Bartlett, 
Seckel, Belle Lucrative, Beurre Diel, Beurre 
d'Anjou, Louise Bonne de Jersey, Sheldon. — 
Winter Pears. — Lawrence, Vicar of Winkfield. 
Strawberries : Wilson, Triomphe de Gand, 
Fillmore, Jenny Lind, Lady Finger. — Raspber- 
ries : Purple Cane (earliest and best), Briuckle's 
Orange, Franconia, Hornet. — Blackberries : Dor- 
chester, it being preferred to the New-Rochclle, 
as being sweeter and earlier. 
How to Lay up Money.— Always spend 
each week less than you receive. Our real wants 
are always less than our desires. The writer 
has lived on two shillings a week for eatables, 
for months together, living on hominy and milk, 
