AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
7 
and under-dained. Layers and cuttings, each one 
year old were used. In February, 1852, the 
growth was cut down to two and four inches 
from the ground. 
From one to four shoots were allowed to 
to grow, according to the strength of the plant. 
The side shoots were picked off twice in the 
early part of the season, in all from three to five 
feet from the root, after which all were allowed 
to grow. In November some of the Isabellas 
had two shoots each eighteen feet long ; others 
four shoots each fourteen feet long. 
Some of the Catawba have two, others four 
shoots ten feet long each, of wood well ripened 
nearly to the ends. No manure of any kind has 
ever been put on this field, except some leached 
ashes on one corner, and that does not appear 
to have increased the growth at all. 
The yield of fruit has been uniformly heavy 
until the vines were injured by the severe win¬ 
ter of 1851-52, and again by long-continued 
and heavy rains while in blossom. 
Mildew rs sometimes seen on the Isabella, but 
never yet on the Catawba. The rot I have 
never seen but once. 
The training here is entirely on trellis, some 
made of wood, and some of wire. That of wire 
is made thus: Set posts twenty-five feet apart, 
bore half-inch holes at suitable distances; if for 
three wires, say twenty, forty, and sixty inches 
from the ground; or if for four wires, at eigh¬ 
teen, thirty-two, forty-six, and sixty do. Then 
draw in annealed wire, number nine, the whole 
length of the row of posts, letting the end come 
through the last post about four inches, drive 
in a half-inch pin of hardwood from the outside, 
and give the end of the wire one turn round the 
pin close to the post. Then from the other end 
draw the wire tight and fasten as before. The 
end posts should be set firm, with a brace from 
the inside. 
Number nine annealed wire is seven cents per 
pound, and weighs just one pound per lineal rod. 
Wire trellis is put up very rapidly, and costs 
less than half that of wood. 
It is better, also, for the clusters can hang 
singly, and have fuil benefit of the air. 
A little wine has been made for the last three 
years—has been pronounced by good judges to 
be of the first quality. 
Grapes will keep until May or June without 
decaying. I once put a bushel in a basket, 
covered with a sheet of paper, and set the basket 
in the cellar, on a barrel of apples. In March 
they were sound and fresh, and in better condi¬ 
tion than the russet apples. 
The influence of the Lake has a marked effect 
on our vegetation, retarding it in the spring, and 
preventing late frosts. In sixty years that 
peaches have been growing here, they have never 
been injured by a spring frost. 
In the fall the water retains the warmth ac¬ 
quired during the summer, sufficient to extend 
our season considerably beyond that of the main 
land at a distance from the lake. We never 
have a frost before the 20th of October, and often 
not until much later. The first this season to 
do injury, was November 18th, when the ther¬ 
mometer fell to twenty-eight degrees, until 
which time peppers, tomatoes, and the like, were 
untouched. A trifle of white frost had been ob¬ 
served before in some localities, but not suffici¬ 
ent to do injury. 
The severe drouths of summer are considera¬ 
bly mitigated by the moisture arising from the 
lake, while at the same time, fogs, so destructive 
to the grape leaves, are of rare occurrence in 
summer or autumn. — Tribune. 
GRAPES. 
The improvement of the grape, with a view 
of obtaining varieties adapted to our climate, 
has been of late, as has already been stated, 
sedulously pursued by the raising of seedlings, 
and new varieties have been, and will probably 
continue to be, annually exhibited. In endea¬ 
vors for this object Mr. A. W. Stetson has dis¬ 
tinguished himself, and during the past season 
he exhibited several new seedling varieties 
among others the following : 
Seedling No. 1, from the Grizzly Frontignan, 
of a purple color ; both bunches and berries of 
good size and fine flavor. This grape was 
highly approved of by good judges, and will, 
Mr. Stetson thinks, prove to be hardy. 
Seedling No. 2 is from the Grizzly Frontignan, 
has berries nearly white, with a little tinge of 
blush. 
Seedling No. 3, also from Grizzly Frontignan ; 
resembles No. 2, but has larger berries. 
Seedling No. 4 is from the Black Hamburg; 
three years only from the seed. 
Seedling No. 5, a seedling from the Sweet¬ 
water ; exactly like the common Sweetwater, in 
every thing but color, which was a dark blue. 
In addition to the foregoing, Mr. Stetson 
fruited the past year many other seedling-grapes. 
Mr. James Blood, of Newburyport, has two 
seedling grapes, which he states have been in 
bearing eight years, and never failed to produce 
a crop. The fruit was ripe this year in the last 
week of August. One of these was a large 
purple grape, resembling the Isabella ; the other 
in color, more approximating to the Catawba. 
They seemed to be both good grapes, and from 
the circumstance of ripening so early in the 
season, in addition to their other qualities, may 
prove an aquisition.— Hovey's Magazine. 
-•» e-- 
The Strawberry. —The sexual character of 
the strawberry is the subject of a very interest¬ 
ing report just made to the Cincinnati Horticul¬ 
tural Society by a committee, who have come 
to the following conclusions: 
1st. That all strawberries, in their natural 
state, have some blossoms, perfect in what are 
termed male and female organs, while some are 
decidedly pistillate, and others statninate. 
2d. That when they are in some degree per¬ 
fect in both organs, the fruit will be small and 
indifferent, except, perhaps, in the case of 
“Longworth’s Prolific.” 
3d. That if the staminate plants prevail, there 
will be but little fruit realized. 
4th. That if they be all pistillate there will be 
a like result, and that of an inferior quality. 
5th. That to insure a full crop, whatever be 
the theory, it is absolutely necessary that the 
pistillate plants predominate; indeed, that the 
staminate plants be very sparsely distributed. 
-• o «- 
For the American Agriculturist. 
A NEW REMEDY FOR CURCULIO. 
I have in my yard two plum trees, which 
have blossomed well every spring for more than 
ten years past, and have been, literally, loaded 
with young fruit; but not one solitary plum es¬ 
caped the ravages of the curculio long enough 
to mature, until last summer when one of the 
trees produced a fair crop. These trees stand 
about two rods asunder; and their circumstan¬ 
ces, as to soil, exposure, and situation in refer¬ 
ence to other trees, are as nearly alike as may 
be. During the past ten years I have tried 
every thing—except '•'■catching the crittur "— 
which I have seen recommended in agricultural 
works for repelling the curculio, but found noth¬ 
ing effectual until last season. I yarded my 
pigs in a small space about them for several 
weeks, to no good purpose. They were dusted 
with lime and ashes every morning for a long 
time without success. Holes bored into the 
body of the tree, and filled with sulphur, and 
stopped with a plug, had no perceptible influ¬ 
ence. Many other remedies proved quite as in¬ 
effectual. 
But last spring, early in May, in grading my 
yard around one of these trees, to the depth of 
ten to twelve inches, coarse unfriable earth from 
the highway side was drawn in with a scraper, 
and the team in traveling over it, packed it 
down very firmly. 1 had resolved, that if I 
found no fruit this year, I would cut them down. 
The result was, that the tree which had dirt 
hauled about it yielded a fair crop of ripe fruit; 
while from the other one, although it was well 
filled with young fruit, every plum dropped be¬ 
fore they were half grown. I observed when 
the curculio was committing depredations, and 
the fruit was dropping daily, that from the tree, 
around which dirt had been drawn, but very 
few plums fell to the ground in consequence of 
having been stung. 
It would appear, from this fact, that the cur¬ 
culio itinerates but little; that it hibernates in 
the soil, under the branches of the trees, on 
which it has flourished the preceding summer; 
and that paving, or burying it in the soil, a few 
inches deeper than it is accustomed to burrow, 
delays its resurrection, until the young fruit has 
grown so as not to be injured by these little 
marauders. 
I design to make some experiments this sea¬ 
son in repelling the curculio; and if I am suc¬ 
cessful, I will furnish you with details respecting 
them, and the result. S. Edwards Todd. 
Lake Ridge, Tomps. Co., N. Y. 
Similar experiments to the above have come 
under our own observation, but no covering of 
the surface of the ground has yet proved entirely 
effectual. Mr. Manice, of Long Island, paved 
the ground under his plum trees, but did not 
entirely succeed in keeping out the depredators 
till he entirely surrounded them with a high 
board fence. Against this the curculios would 
strike in great numbers while attempting to 
reach the trees. 
THE BEST CELERY. 
The few remarks I have to make on this sub¬ 
ject, therefore, are not made with a view to des¬ 
cribe any particular mode of culture, but rather 
to direct attention to particular varieties now in 
cultivation. There are at the present time a 
great many kinds of Celery grown, and all have 
their patrons, or some of them would soon be¬ 
come extinct; and if each cultivator, after a 
careful trial of the comparative merits of each 
variety, has retained the best and most useful 
for his purposes, he is quite right in doing so, 
and may assist others by giving the public the 
benefit of his experience; which I shall now 
proceed to do, trusting that others in different 
parts of the country may be induced to do the 
same. 
First, then, it is an indispensable quality in 
celery that it should be solid; second, that it 
should be sweet and crisp; and third, that it 
should remain long in perfection. The only va¬ 
rieties which I have found to possess these 
qualities any thing like constant is one known 
in this neighborhood under the name of “ Dwarf, 
late White Celery.” Unfortunately it has never 
been made known by the trade; at least, if it 
has, it has been so but very partially. It is of 
a dwarf, robust, compact habit, and can be had 
good ten months out of the twelve; the space 
between the rows may also be eighteen inches 
less than that for any other variety. I should 
advise all who have not grown it to give it a 
trial; and I am certain of its giving them satis¬ 
faction. It can only bo had true from a few es¬ 
tablishments at present. Those who have a 
stock of it should, therefore, make it known ; 
for of all others it is certainly the Celery best 
calculated to meet the extensive demand of a 
gentleman’s establishment, and to give entire 
satisfaction as regards flavor. A Bousie. 
Stole Pari , near Slough. 
[We can confirm Mr. Bousie’s opinion from 
our own experience. We find that those who 
have once grown it care but little for any other 
variety. It is most desirable that it should 
have some distinctive name; and we suggest 
that in future it be called “ Incomparable.” 
The raiser of this very useful variety is un¬ 
known.] — Florist and Fruitist. 
- •• • - 
Poverty wants some, luxury many, and ava- 
arice all things 
