1804] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
19 
Wine Grapes. 
A grape l"« >r wine making most contain b large 
amount ol" BUgar; the grape may not taste 
sweet, as the sugar la often concealed by the 
presence of acid, still it musl be there or the 
grape will be worthless for wine. As the same 
variety will have a more Or less rich juice in 
different localities, it will be seen that the opin- 
ion of a vine grower in Missouri as in the wine 
making qualities of any particular Variety, will 
not bold with regard to the same grape grown 
in New-York. So far as isyel known, the Del- 
aware stands at the head of the list of wine 
■ pes lor the northern anil OBStern Stairs. 
The Concord is now receiving attention as a 
wine prbdncor, and we notice that specimens 
dflts wine were ranked higher than the Calaw- 
ba by the Association at Cincinnati. "Wheth- 
er this verdict will bo sustained in other locali- 
ties remain- to be seen. The Clinton and Dia- 
na have their advocates as wine grapes, and it 
is probable that a mixture of several varieties 
will afford a better wine than any one will singly! 
Do Varieties of Fruit Degenerate ? 
M. Decaisne, Professor of Cultivation at the 
Garden of Plants, Paris, says that they do not. 
This is against the popular belief, and contrary 
to the opinions of some pomological writers. 
Prof. Decaisne, who is high authority, says : 
" The notion that fruit-trees degenerate because 
they are propagated by grafting, is an error 
which must be exposed. There is no single 
fact to prove it. Those which have been cited, 
depend upon totally different causes, first and 
foremost among which are climate, unsuitable 
soil, and very often bad cultivation or a neglect 
of pruning, so common nowadays. Our an- 
cient pears, which a century or two ago were 
so justly esteemed, are now exactly the same as 
they ever were ; they ripen at the same time, 
and keep good just as long. ...The pretended 
degeneracy of ancient races is really nothing 
more than one of the clever devices of the 
present day." 
The Effect of Cross Fertilization. 
That some varieties of plants do become fer- 
tilized by the pollen of other varieties and thus 
" mix," is a fact which has presented itself to 
the observation of every cultivator. With 
squashes and their relatives, as well as with 
many other plants, this tendency is often very 
annoying, as it prevents the preservation of de- 
sirable sorts. The question frequently occurs : 
in cross impregnation does the influence of the 
pollen applied this year manifest itself in any 
effect upon the fruit of this year, or does it re- 
main latent in the seed, and only appear when 
fruit is obtained from that seed ? There are 
many instances which go to show that an effect 
is produced the same year. The change in In- 
dian corn is one of these, and it is stated on 
good anthority that beans and squashes also 
show the effects of cross impregnation the first 
year. An observing fruit grower informs us 
that the Hovey's Seedling strawberry, a pistil- 
late variety, cultivated in some localities, dif- 
fers very much in quality according to the kind 
with which it is fertilized, it being less acid 
when impregnated by the Boston Pine, than by 
the Early Scarlet. Xow as the so-called fruit 
of the strawberry is not the fruit in the botani- 
cal sense, but merely the enlarged end of the 
stem on which the true fruits, popularly con- 
sidered seeds, are borne, it would seem that the 
pollen of one sort has the power, n«t only of 
affecting tin' trull proper, but of extending its 
influence beyond that to the receptacle or en- 
larged end of the stem lit the bottom of the 
flower. This is a subject, upon which there is 
little positively known, and one which affords 
ni excellent field oft observation for the curious. 
It would be interesting to know how fur this 
cross fertilizing affects the quality of our fruits, 
anil i! suggests the idea thai the variation of the 
-amr fruil in different localities is not due to 
soil and climate alone. "We shall be glad of any 
facts bearing upon this subject. 
The Failure of Small Seeds. 
It requires a great deal of care to succeed 
with very small seeds. If covered too deeply, 
they will not germinate; if planted very shallow 
there is 'danger that the surface of the soil will 
get dry and the little plant perish for want of 
moisture. In the March Agriculturist (page 75) 
the principal causes of failure were stated, and 
the subject is referred to again, as two instances 
have occurred in which the fault is laid at the 
door of the seedsman. A gentleman purchased 
a package of petunia seed of one of our neigh- 
bors, and afterward complained that portulaccas 
came up instead. He was assured that there 
could be no mistake, so he sent back the portion 
of the seed which had not been sown, which 
was submitted to our inspection. The seeds 
returned were to all appearances those of the 
petunia, and certainly not portulacca seeds, 
which are so remarkable in their exterior as 
to be at once detected. The 
figure shows the peculiar shape 
and markings of the portulacca 
seed, as it appears under a com- 
mon magnifyer. Those having 
a microscope or magnifying 
glass, will find these seeds most beautiful ob- 
jects to look at; they are shaped like little 
shells, have a fine metallic lustre and pretty 
markings. The second case was that of a person 
who sent us a mullein leaf as a specimen of the 
product of a paper of tobacco seed sent from 
this Office. As the seed was obtained from a 
source above suspicion of fraud, and this being 
the only complaint of it ve have had from 
some thousands of similar packages, we are safe 
in concluding that the fault was not in the seed. 
The probabilities in both instances are, that the 
seed sown failed to germinate from some one 
of several causes, and that the plants alleged 
to have been produced by them were from 
seeds already in the soil. 
Sand on Cranberry Meadows. 
" Selahammah," of Fall River, Mass., writes : 
"My experience teaches me that putting sand 
on peat or muck soil at least, is worse than la- 
bor and cost thrown away. Some years since, 
I took some peat from a swamp for fuel, and 
then leveled off a sufficient quantity of the ref- 
use for a cranberry patch. Having heard and 
read so much about the benefits of sand, and 
having a quantity of it from a well which I had 
been digging, I gave the beds a good coating. 
In addition to tl>e swamp grass, the sand 
brought in all sorts of domestic weeds and grass- 
es, and I have had a tedious job to keep them 
cleaned out. I have pretty effectually done it, 
but the fact is, that it has been more work than 
the vines are worth. In a swamp directly ad- 
joining my lands, where cranberries are culti- 
vated without sand, it has not been a quarter 
of the work to keep out the weeds and gnu 
Open Heads for Fruit Trees. 
Most orchard trees have their heads altogeth- 
er too crowded ; the limbs arc allowed to till up 
the centre so that light and air are excluded, and 
the full development and maturity of the fruit 
prevented. A distinguished pomologist in giv- 
ing directions for pruning an orchard, advised 
to leave room enough in the centre of the tree 
for a barrel into which to pick the apples; and 
he was not far from right It requires but little 
trouble to get a tree into good shape, if it i- at- 
tended to while young, when the knife will 
do the work, which, if neglected, will necessi- 
tate the use of the saw and chisel. Where large 
scars are to be made, it is always best to defer 
pruning until Summer; though cutting with 
the knife may be done after the severity of the 
AVinler has passed. Trees should he started 
with a view to an open and well balanced head, 
but where this has been neglected, they should 
be made as nearly right as possible before they 
get large. Wherever a branch will crowd 
another if allowed to grow, or will unduly (ill 
up the centre of the tree, it should be removed. 
A timely use of the knife in early Spring, and 
an occasional summer pinching of a shoot dis- 
posed to grow where a limb is not needed, will 
keep the top open. It is sometimes necessary 
in order to give the tree a proper balance, to in- 
duce a branch to prolong itself more than it 
naturally would ; this can be done by removing 
the side shoots upon it. 
Soils for Potting. 
Those who are novices in the cultivation of 
plants in pots, are often troubled when they see 
the directions to use some particular soil or 
compost, given in the works on gardening. 
Various formulas for these composts are given, 
and some of their ingredients are mentioned by 
names which are little known in this country. 
These minute directions are frequently sufficient 
to deter those who think they are essential to 
success, from cultivating many plants. The 
fact is, that most plants will grow in any good 
garden soil, by which we mean a light loam en- 
riched with vegetable matter and well-decayed 
manure. Sods from an old pasture stacked up 
and allowed to decay, will decompose into a 
compost which will suit the great majority of 
plants, and may be easily varied to suit par- 
ticular ones by the addition of sand for those 
requiring a poorer soil, and by the use of some 
top soil from the woods to suit those requiring 
more vegetable mould. The sods and surface 
soil of a rich pasture, with about one-fourth 
of well-decayed manure like that taken from 
an old hot-bed, mixed together and left in 
a heap for some months, with an occasional 
forking over, will give a compost which will 
answer for all ordinary plants. Run it through 
a coarse screen to remove slicks and large 
lumps, and preserve under cover for use. 
Are Grapes Deteriorating ? — Hovey's 
Magazine avers that the grapes exhibited during 
the last few years are inferior to those of the 
same varieties produced fifteen or twenty years 
since. May not the well-known tendency to look 
back to the "good old times," have something 
to do with such a judgment ? Will any one 
substantiate or disprove the statement by facts ? 
