18641 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
315 
are a set of busybodies, that have nothing else 
to do but to find fault with the management of 
all public concerns, from the President’s business 
down to the Justice’s Court in Hookertown. 
They have sometimes criticised my judgments, 
though I never had an opinion reversed by a 
higher court since I sat upon the bench. You 
see, these idle folks—chaps like Jake Frink— 
would say “ it was no sort of use to send any 
thing to the soldiers, for it wasn’t half the time 
they got any thing when it was sent. A good deal 
of it was stolen, lots of things were smashed by 
the Express Companies, and the jellies and jams 
got jammed into the wrong stomachs.” You 
see, these stories worried my wife just as bad as 
if the milk was souring in her own pantry in 
dog-days. They didn’t worry me much, for I 
always noticed that the folks who grumbled 
most about the Sanitary stores spoiling, were 
the very ones who hadn’t given a red cent to 
buy them. A pi ecious little Jake Frink and 
company care about the soldiers. He never 
gave a dime for Sanitary stores. 
Well you see, nothing would satisfy the wom¬ 
an, but she must go and see that nothing was 
wasted, and when she came to hear that Jolm 
was wounded it brought matters to a focus, as 
Mr. Spooner would say, and we set right out 
for Washington. The hospitals around that 
city are about as thick as hay-cocks in a mead¬ 
ow on a summer afternoon, and it takes one 
near a week to see ’em all and find out all the 
particulars. Mrs. Bunker went into them about 
as thorough as if she was house-cleaning, and 
I guess the nurses thought the Inspector Gen¬ 
eral had sent an agent to pry into things gener¬ 
ally. She wanted to know if the things come 
straight, that had been sent to them by express 
from Hookertown, for she knew what the Sew¬ 
ing Society had sent, as she was one of the 
directresses, and packed up pretty much all her¬ 
self. There were shirts and drawers, socks and 
blankets, cushions, ticks and sheets, pillow¬ 
cases, quilts and comfortables, and pretty much 
every thing that a sick man could wear or use 
on a bed. There were preserves in every varie¬ 
ty, sugar, tea and coffee, candles, soap and tow¬ 
els, tin plates, basins and lanterns, etc., six bar¬ 
rels and nine boxes packed jam full. Now it 
so happened that the Hookertown supplies 
were on hand, and she had the satisfaction of 
seeing that every thing had come straight. All 
the nurses agreed that the express folks brought 
things very carefully, and many of them would 
not take any pay for the trouble. Mrs. Bunker 
was astonished to find every thing so neat and 
clean. When she went into the Columbian 
College Hospital and saw the doctor and his 
wife, and the motherly looking women that 
were nursing the soldiers, and the nice beds and 
the scrubbed floors, she declared it was equal to 
any thing in Connecticut housekeeping, which 
she thinks is about the limit of perfection. The 
Sunday after she got home, she looked up from 
the Bible where she was reading, and taking 
off the gold-bowed spectacles that Josiah gave 
her, she said, “ Timothy, I declare, I used to 
think David was rather hard on mankind when 
he says 1 All men are liars.’ But since I went 
down to Washington and saw how they lied 
about the Sanitary Commission, I think he wan’t 
much out of the way. Things down there 
could not have been better managed if I had 
done it myself.” I guess she is about right, and 
folks need not be afraid of doing too much for 
our soldiers. The poor fellows are fighting our 
battles, and we ought to do every thing we can 
for them when they are sick and wounded. 
Three years fighting has not made us poor, 
we have only grown rich and saucy. Hooker¬ 
town is as chockful of fight as ever. We have 
some soldiers’ graves among us, and some in 
old Virginia, and by the bones of our honored 
dead we are going to see this thing fought 
straight through. 
Hookertown, Conn., i Yours to command, 
Ocf. 5/A, 1864. ( Timothy Bunker Esq. 
--- --- 
Buckwheat Straw. 
When we began farming we adopted the 
practice of our neighbors in regard to buck¬ 
wheat straw; considering it unfit for fodder or 
litter, it was cast out into the barnyard to rot. 
It was said that when used for fodder or litter, it 
caused cattle to shed their hair, and sheep their 
wool, and even swine would lose their bristles 
if this was given as bedding. In the manure 
heap it was little esteemed as it was said to be 
“ poison stuff” to the land. By repeated trials 
I am satisfied that these charges are all false. 
Cattle and sheep eat it readily in preference to 
the straw of any other grain; they do not lose 
their hair or wool, and no injurious effects have 
followed its use as bedding. It should be thresh¬ 
ed as drawn in from the field, and as the straw 
is often quite green, should be stored in some 
airy loft. This can not be relied on for very 
solid fodder, but thrown into the yard rack on a 
cold day it makes a good and relishable lunch for 
the cattle. For the last two years I have fed it 
out soon after threshing, while still green, to 
milch cows, with apparent benefit. Never hav¬ 
ing fed it alone, I can not speak of its value 
accurately, but esteem it quite too good to be 
wasted. While cattle are receiving pumpkins, 
carrot tops, turnips, apples, and corn stalks, 
this may be added, aud with their gleanings 
from the pastures help out the milk, improve 
the condition of the stock and save the hay¬ 
mows. Our practice is to cut the buckwheat 
before the frost has destroyed the leaves, and 
set it up to cure in small stacks or “ Indians.” 
If allowed to lie and bleach in the swath and 
gather grit from the soil in every rain, any wise 
animal would reject it. G. 
Notes on Grapes and Grape Culture. 
So great has been the improvement in grapes 
within the past few years that grape growing 
almost seems like a new branch of horticulture. 
The very general interest taken in this fruit, im¬ 
pels us to keep the readers of the American 
Agriculturist posted up in whatever falls under 
our observation in respect to new and old vari¬ 
eties. These notes are made upon grapes as we 
see them upon the vines of skillful growers, 
and upon specimens forwarded for our tables. 
The past season has been unusually favor¬ 
able for the grape,' there having been very 
little mildew, and although insects have been 
very troublesome, they do not seem to have 
caused very serious damage. The old varieties, 
Isabella and Catawba, have generally done finely 
and have ripened with an earliness and perfec¬ 
tion seldom equalled. Specimens on our Ta¬ 
bles, of Isabella from Thos. Harris, of Brook¬ 
lyn, and of Catawba, from John Cole, of Staten 
Island, are each remarkably fine of their kind. 
A number of seedlings have been submitted for 
oui judgment, many of which promise well. 
There are two things to be borne in mind in re¬ 
gard to seedlings: 1st. A vine should be fruited 
four or five years before any safe opinion can 
be formed of its fruit, and; 2nd. It is of no use 
to continue to grow a seedling, and thus multi¬ 
ply varieties, unless it has some superiority over 
sorts already in cultivation. A seedling is often 
sent with the statement that the plant has had 
neither cultivation nor prunhig. This is very 
unfair toward a plant, which if it has any merit 
at all, should have a chance to develop it. A 
seedling of the Isabella from Carlise, Pa., has 
remarkable sweetness, and is early, but with 
such poor bunches from neglect, it is not to be 
commended. This is mentioned in illustration 
of many similar cases, and those who have 
shown us seedlings which are not noticed, may 
understand this to be the reason. Unless a 
seedling is at least as good as a Delaware, Iona, 
Concord, Diana, or some other of the best sorts, 
it had better be given up at once.... Maxataumey: 
this grape lias fruited well near Newburgh, and 
at Rochester, this year. It was nearly ripe 
at Rochester, on Sept. 17, and in this favor¬ 
able season would doubtless perfect itself there. 
It has great beauty, is a good bearer, an excel¬ 
lent white grape, and we shall be glad if it 
prove hardy, but with our present knowl¬ 
edge we can not recommend it for northern lo¬ 
calities. .... Greveling, —A distinguished grape- 
grower has given it as his opinion that this is 
the best black grape we yet have. Though 
not prepared to endorse this opinion, we can 
safely rank it with the best grapes. Its reputa¬ 
tion has been inj ured by the exhibition of small 
and loose bunches. When well grown, it forms 
a well-shaped, compact bunch, a good sized 
berry, with almost no pulp, very sweet and of 
a peculiar and delicate flavor; altogether it is 
a satisfactory fruit. Rogers' Hybrids. —An 
extensive series of seedlings sent out under 
numbers, but though called “hybrids,” they 
have no characteristics of the European grape. 
The colors range from white to nearly black, 
the berries vary much in quality and time of 
ripening, are large, thick skinned, showy, and 
some are foxy and burn the tongue. Being 
designated by numbers, there is already much 
confusion among them from the changing of 
numbers. The whole set is a complete muddle, 
and we do not think that the cause has been 
advanced by throwing such a crowd of varie¬ 
ties upon the public. If three or four of the 
best had been selected it would have been bet¬ 
ter. Numbers 1, 3, 4, 9, 13, 15, 19 and 30, have 
been by different parties considered as the best. 
We have tried them from several different 
sources, and have not seen a first-class grape 
among them. Norton's Virginia. —From what 
we have seen of this we are disposed to think 
well of it as a wine grape. Its reputation is 
established at the West; let us hear from our 
Eastern friends.... Area’s Hybrid does well in 
many places, and then is the best white grape. 
Worth trying by amateurs, but will not endure 
careless treatment... .Iona. This grape has been 
much injured by the very persistent puffing it 
has had in some quarters, and by the exhibi¬ 
tion of poor and badly grown specimens. The 
present season we have seen it growing in sev¬ 
eral places, and have tasted and examined the 
fruit from different localities. That we may 
not be charged with any partiality in its favor, 
it may be well to say, that the writer has no ac¬ 
quaintance with the originator of the variety, 
and that his opinion is formed entirely from the 
fruit and vines grown by other persons. Thus far 
it is decidedly the best native grape yet brought 
out, and though time may develop faults in 
it, none are perceptible now. Those who have 
only seen the specimens exhibited in New-York 
City, can have no idea of the perfection and 
beauty of which the Iona is susceptible. 
