AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
119 
was plenty, in twenty minutes, my son hold¬ 
ing the watch while I with a small boy per¬ 
formed the operation. After I have gone 
round my trees, I open my cloth and destroy 
the bugs with thumb and finger, which has 
proved very effectual. I have tried all nos¬ 
trums of the day and foundjthem ineffectual. 
I have taken the worm from the plum, when 
but a few days old, and placed him in fine 
salt, in strong brine, in vinegar, and the like, 
and examined him with good glasses for 
some time, but he would not die until the 
application of thumb and finger, which has 
always proved efficient. 
I believe I have killed more trees with salt 
than insects. 
Last year my crop of plums would have 
been from 75 to 100 bushels, if it had not 
been for the heavy rains in August and Sep¬ 
tember, which caused many of them to crack 
and rot on the trees. 
I send you the number of insects taken 
each year, from 1847 to 1853. I could have 
told you how many I took each day, if I had 
thought it to have been interesting, for I have 
day and date of every day’s work. 
In 1847 I began operations June 1st, and ended July 14th, 
and caught, on about a dozen trees, 1,421 curculios. 
1848— May 15th to June 28th caught_ 945 do. 
1849— June 4th to June 20th. 975 do. 
[This year, 1849,1 had some 50 trees come into bearing.] 
1850— June 3d to June 26th. 209 do. 
1851— June 3d to June 25th. 229 do. 
1852— June 4th to June 24th. 320 do. 
1853— June 1st to June 16th. 864 do. 
This year, 1853, I had quite a number of 
trees that came into bearing in a part of my 
garden where plums were never raised 
before, which probably was part of the cause 
of my taking so many more this year than 
the year before, and another reason I think, 
was the mild winter of 1853, which was fa¬ 
vorable for them, as they were more plenty 
throughout this region than for some years 
before. I believe that, until a way is found 
out to exterminate them entirely from our 
gardens, the jarring plan will be found most 
effectual, simple, and economical way to de¬ 
stroy this little, but formidable pest of our 
gardens. 
Before concluding, 1 wish to inform you 
how I cultivate my plum trees. My plan is 
to set them twelve feet between the rows 
and six feet in the rows, and prune severely 
and cultivate highly. By so doing, my trees 
are not large, but full of bearing wood with¬ 
in two feet of the ground, and from six to 
eight feet high, and I have every advantage 
in reaching for and destroying the curculio, 
which you will find to be the saving of a 
good deal of time, and on such trees you will 
have more and finer fruit than on larger 
ones. I prune my plum trees in July, and 
have a second growth the same year. Yours 
respectfully, John Parsons, Jr. 
Rockport, Mass., Feb. 1854. 
MULCHING WITH WOOD SHAVINGS. 
Mr. Editor : Never having seen any¬ 
thing written on the subject of mulching fruit 
trees with wood shavings, I venture to sug¬ 
gest to such of your readers who have young 
orchards, the propriety of trying the ex¬ 
periment. 
Having had but two years experience, I 
am not prepared to say they are better than 
any other material, but I am free to confess 
they have thus far surpassed anything I 
have ever tried. 
Having a few fruit trees set on a barren 
knoll, which, although they had yearly re¬ 
ceived a liberal mulching with grass, assumed 
the appearance of premature decay, and, in 
fact, had already taken the downhill course, 
I resolved to try the effect of mulching with 
shavings. Around each tree I put two bar¬ 
rels of shavings, within a circle of eight feet 
in diameter, leaving a small space between 
the shavings and the tree to be filled with 
fresh earth. To keep the shavings snug, a 
chin coat of grass was spread over the 
whole. To fully test the experiment, a 
part of the trees were treated the same as 
they had formerly been. After the lapse of 
one year, (which was last year,; those trees 
mulched with shavings put out vigorous 
shoots, and their dark green foliage could be 
easily distinguished from the others at a 
great distance. So well satisfied was I 
with the result, I last year used upward of 
a hundred barrels, which has proved equally 
as beneficial to the trees, while the first I 
mulched continue to thrive even beyond my 
expectations. 
If any of your readers have used the above 
named material, I hope they will communi¬ 
cate the fact, and state with what success. 
I have found brush from evergreen trees 
to be an excellent material for mulching 
young orchards. E. Hersey. 
[New England Farmer. 
HINTS ON GRAPE GROV/ING. 
BY A COUNTRY GARDENER. 
The importance of bestowing care in the 
formation of the borders , in which the vines 
are to be planted, rather than waste money 
in making the house ornamental, was pointed 
out in a former paper. A good border is 
certainly the greatest help toward obtaining 
grapes. I have in my time superintended 
the making of many, and have seen many 
others made, and the recommendations now 
given are based on practice derived from 
experience ; for, after all, what constitutes a 
good border is still aproblem not satisfactori¬ 
ly proved with many. There is one opin¬ 
ion strongly rooted in the minds of the non¬ 
professional grape growers, viz., that a vine 
border must consist of a goodly proportion 
of rotten dung, butcher’s refuse, or dead car¬ 
cases, bones, and the like ; for, say they,the 
vine will grow on a dunghill. And we have 
very frequently witnessed the enthusiasts in 
vine culture putting dead carcases to the 
roots of some favorite vine, witli the hope 
that next season the vine will be forced by 
such an extraordinary stimulant, and pro¬ 
duce something prodigious in the way of 
grapes ; and I have been oftentimes asked 
how it was, after so and so had been careful¬ 
ly put to the roots, no better results had 
been obtained ? Now it is very difficult to 
persuade people on points referable only to 
laws based on the physiology of plants ; and 
therefore the short answer I give for pru¬ 
dent motives, “Wait and see another year,” 
is perhaps the best. I may now state that 
all the ingredients enumerated are useful 
enough in the hands of the skilfull gardener 
(though not indispensable), but in nine out of 
every ten cases which have come under my 
observation, they are, in the hands of the 
amateur, productive of more mischief than 
aught besides. What the vine really re¬ 
quires was stated in my first paper, but it 
may not perhaps be amiss to look at the 
matter again. 
It is a mistaken notion that the vine grows 
best in the richest soils ; on the contrary, 
the sloping sides of mountain ranges, and 
dry gravelly or rocky soils, are proverbial 
for ‘producing the richest grapes and the 
most durable trees. In the East, where the 
vine is indigenous, the soil is usually shal¬ 
low, resting on a rocky substratum. To im¬ 
prove the size of the fruit, manures have 
from time immemorial been employed ; but 
then, we must remember, the nature of the 
subsoil—affording complete drainage—and a 
climate producing a much more rapid evapo¬ 
ration than our own; hence, in warm lati¬ 
tudes, a soil much richer than any we ought 
to employ may be used. This was Mr. 
Hoare’s theory, but he carried it too far. As 
the future welfare of the vine will, then, in 
a great measure depend on the drainage of 
the soil in which it grows, the formation of 
the border must be such that water should 
pass freely through it, without any detention 
whatever; and to insure free evaporation 
from the surface, the border should be some¬ 
what elevated above the surrounding soil. 
Gravelly, and rocky or chalky bottoms, if 
free from springs, form the best natural sub¬ 
soil for the vine, on which the border may 
rest, with merely a drain along the front, and 
below the bottom, to carry off any water 
which may percolate to the lower level. 
But, when an artificial subsoil has to be made, 
I strongly recommend having it paved with 
rough flagging, if such can be obtained at a 
reasonable cost. To carry this out properly 
a space should be cleared, the width of the 
border, which, considering the houses are 
narrow, and that two feet of the border wilt 
be inside, need not be more than nine or at 
farthest ten feet from the front. I purpose 
the border to be two feet deep ; and to allow 
for the supporting walls and flagging, two 
feet more will be necessary. This bottom 
should be made to slope upward toward the 
house, and should be made firm, to carry the 
dwarf walls without danger of their sinking; 
if wet, concrete the surface with hot lime, 
gravel, and coal ashes ; this will cut off all 
connection of the roots witli damp. One 
foot below the level of this prepared bottom, 
a main drain must be carried along the front 
of the border two feet square; next, run 
rough walls as wide apart as will carry the 
flag-stones ; these should run from the main 
drain, direct to the extent of the border 
inside the house, where, if possible, the 
end should be left open. Carry them up 
one foot in height, and on them place the 
flagging, beginning at the bottom, and pro.- 
ceeding upward ; these need not be placed 
exactly close together, neither will it matter, 
if they vary in size or thickness; smaller 
pieces can be put in between, where wanted, 
and two or three inches of broken rubble 
should be placed over, which will then be 
ready to receive the soil. It will be evident 
no water can lodge in a border placed over 
so thorough a drainage, and the passage of 
air underneath, from the main drain to the 
house, will assist in removing any dampness 
below. I have been thus minute in describ¬ 
ing the drainage necessary, unless, as alluded 
to above, the natural drainage is perfect, 
owing to the nature of the subsoil. If the 
house is a detatched one, a dwarf wall at the 
ends will be required—or, what will answer 
the purpose as well, with a less stiff appear¬ 
ance, the soil of the border may be kept up 
by a piece of low rockwork. 
The best way to prepare the soil will be 
to obtain some turf three or four inches thick 
from a pasture field or common. Neither 
turf from strong clays nor sandy soils are 
good, loam of a medium texture being best; 
neither should it be obtained from low wet 
situations, but from sound dry land. This, 
when procured, should be stacked up with 
fresh horse-dung, or with that combined with 
cow and pig dung, using the latter more 
largely, if the loam is of a light character; 
to these add a portion of scavenger’s manure, 
which always contains fertilizing matter, 
and more or less of sand and grit. Old mor¬ 
tar may be used or not. These ingredients 
should be stacked up in layers ; the heap will 
soon heat, from the mixture of fresh manure, 
and this will help to decay the turf, and 
bring it into a state fit for use. The heap, 
when it gets cold, may be chopped down and 
turned over once, when it will be fit for use. 
As a guide in mixing, let three parts be loam, 
one manure, and one rubble materials, in¬ 
cluding road grit, town sweepings, or old mor¬ 
tar. Mind, never allow it to get saturated 
with rain, nor yet break it down ;© > fi ie. 
[London Florist. 
