84 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[March, 
kept by the nursciyiuen, and, though not so 
showy as the Chinese, is worthy of more notice 
than it has received. It has sliorter and compact 
clusters, aud often flowei's twice in the season. 
Early Bearing Apples. 
To persons just planting orcliarifs, especially 
in a new countiy, those kinds which yield fruit 
soonest after planting, are very desirable. We 
note the following:— Kesioich Codling: This is 
not a first-rate apple for dessert, but is excellent 
for pies, and is one of the earliest bearers known. 
Tender, juicy, sour, of medium size, ripe in 
August and September. —Sops of Wine: A good 
apple, of middle size, dark crimson, an abund¬ 
ant bearer, ripe in September. —Spice Sweet: 
Large, pale j^ellow, sweet, tender, good for 
eating or baking, profuse bearer. September.— 
Drop iVOr, or Cloth of Gold: Large, yellow, 
sweet, with a sub-acid flavor. Early and abund¬ 
ant yield. September and October. To these 
we may add the Early Harvest, excellent for 
cooking, and, when fully ripe, for eating. All 
these are not only earl}^ bearers, but good, sub¬ 
stantial fruit, worthy of a place in the orchard. 
•--^-4-^ Wa » ^ 
Experience with a Cold Grapery. 
The following description of the erection and 
working of a cold grapery, by Mr. Aaron Low, 
of Esse.x, Mass., will be interesting to those 
who wish to erect structures of this kind. The 
cost of the house, based upon the price of ma¬ 
terials and labor, in 1862, was $160, but this 
was at a time when prices were much lower 
than at present. Though a house like the 
one here described would doubtless give paying 
^returns, the border is too small for the best 
results. Our correspondent gives a sketch of 
il.e routine of the care of the house for three 
years, but as the whole article is rather long, we 
give, at this time, his manner of building his 
liouse, and the operations of the first year, 
reserving the remainder of the account for 
another month: 
“After selecting the spot, and deciding that 
my house should be 50 feet long, by 13 feet wide, 
I took out the soil to the depth of two feet, with 
a gradual slope from the back to the front of 
the pit. I then filled one foot in depth with 
small stones, and on them a covering of leather 
chips and clam shells, to keep the soil of the 
borders from working down and obstructing 
the drainage. A two-inch tile drain in each 
corner, and one in the middle of the front side 
of the pit, running to an outlet 30 or 40 feet 
from the house, render the drainage complete. 
The House. —For the back of the house, 9 
feet high, stout cedar posts 14 feet long, 
are set about 8 feet apart, and 5 feet in the 
ground, so as to be sure to be out of the influ¬ 
ence of frost. The 4 by 0-inch plate is spiked 
on to the head of each post. Girts, 2 by 3 
inches, are placed 8 feet apart, on the back side, 
and let in with a shoulder, and spiked on to 
each post. The covering consjjts of hemlock 
boards, covered with spruce clapboards; the 
boards running down to the bottom of the pit, 
the clapboards extending to the ground level. 
The front is 3 feet high ffom the ground level, 
and has 6 glass windows, 74 feet long, and 2 
feet wide. They are made of 2-inch plank, for 
the outside frame, with an incli st 3 de running 
lengthwise, taking two lights in width, of 8 by 
10 glass. In other respects, the front is built 
the same as the back side. 
The ends are built the same, except instead of 
the cedar posts, spruce joists, 3 inches by 4, are 
framed into a sili at the bottom of the pit and 
the end rafters of the roof. There is a door in 
each end. The one next the street is part glass, 
the Other is a common board door. 
The rafters are of white pine, 15 feet long, 2 by 
6 inches, placed 34 feet apart, and matched to 
front aud back plates with a shoulder, and bolted 
on. Purlins, 2 inches by 2, are mortised into each 
rafter, 34 feet apart. They extend through 14 
inches, and are fastened by a strong oak pin, on 
the opposite side. Four stiles, 1 inch thick, by 
2 deep, are placed between each pair of rafters, 
each resting upon the purlins, being let in with 
a 4 inch gain, and fixstened in place by a nail. 
There are 5 rows of 8 by 10 glass to each bay. 
All the rafters and stiles are ploughed I of an 
inch deep, and the glass, instead of lapping, is 
slid up and butted, one pane against the other. 
This is much more convenient than the old 
method, and, where the glass is true, it will not 
leak enough to do any hurt. To support the 
vines, white oak treenails, 10 inches long, are 
driven into inch holes, bored in each rafter, 3 
feet apart; holes f of an inch are bored in the 
loxver end of the treenails, through which com¬ 
mon sized telegraph wii’e is run lengthwise of 
the house. Mo. 19 wire runs parallel xvith the 
rafters, to fasten the bearing spurs to. The 
wires are 14 inches from the glass. 
The top ventilators are seven in number; one 
to every other bay, and are made 2 feet wide, 
and 46 inches long, resting on the rafters on tlie 
outside, being hung to the casing of the plate 
by butt hinges. They are raised by a narrow 
strip of board fastened by a hinge to the 
lower inside edge of the ventilator, that being 
fastened by another hinge, making a loose joint, 
to a strip of board sliding through two grooves 
on the back of the house, and reaching down 
low enough to be convenient in opening them. 
The front windows are opened when bottom 
ventilation is w’anted. There are two tanks, 
holding about 600 gallons, one being inside, and 
connected with the outside one by a lead pipe. 
The water from the roof fills the outside tank, 
and is drawn into the other as wanted. 
The Borders. —The borders are wholly on 
the inside, and were made of the top soil taken 
out of the pit, mixed with pasture turf and 
muck that had lain in heap six months, with 
the addition of about a sixth part of fine old 
manure, and a small portion of air-slackened 
lime and ashes. The heap was dug over and 
made very fine, before putting it in the bor¬ 
ders, which were but 3 feet wide, and 2 deep. 
The vines, 34 in number, there being 17 on 
the front border, and the same on the back, were 
one year old, and were set out on the 4th day of 
May, 3 feet apart, and 1 foot from the front of 
the house. They soon started growing, and as 
soon as they had made 2 or 3 inches, all but the 
best shoot were rubbed off. The house was 
kept quite moist, by syringing every night with 
water kept in a shallow tank, 1 foot wide, and 
8 inches deep, running the length of the house. 
One great advantage in the shallow tank is, you 
always have water of the same temperature as 
the air in the house, to syringe the vines with. 
The top ventilators were opened every fair 
day, as soon as the temperature of the house 
commenced rising, and were kept open till the 
latter part of the afternoon, thereby letting the 
temperature rise and fall gradually. The vines 
grew rapidly, and were trained carefully to the 
wires, until they had grown the length of the 
rafters, when, about the 1st of September, they 
were stopped, to hasten the ripening of the 
cane, for next year’s fruiting. The borders were 
watered once a week, till September, when it 
was gradually withheld, and the front ventilators 
opened dailj’’, to give a free circulation of air.” 
9 After the leaves had fallen in November, the 
vines were taken down, and the strongest cut 
back to 5 feet, the weaker to 2 feet. Thej" wei e 
then laid down on the borders, and covered 
with forest leaves sulficienlly to keep out the 
frost, and remained undisturbed till spring. The 
house was kept cool in the winter bj' leaving 
the doors open in fair weather. 
A Country Parson on the Chinese Winter 
Radish, and on the Value of a Garden. 
The following, from a “New-York Dominic.” 
who lives in a village near this cilj’, is given 
as a specimen of manj’’ letters we receive upon 
the success of small gardens and the pleasiue 
derived from them. The Radish, which he docs 
not too highly praise, was figured and described 
in September last. The seed is sown in August 
and September:—“I am a kind of ‘Country 
Parson,’ and take great pleasure in cultivating a 
small garden. I find it a source of recreation 
and of health, amid other and weightier labors. 
On the recommendation of the American Agricul¬ 
turist, I procured, last summer, a package of the 
new Rose-colored Chinese Radish, for fall and 
winter use. They have proved so good, and I 
have had such complete success in keeping them, 
that I want to tell jmu about them. This radish 
is so much more sweet and tender than the old 
Black and AVhite Spanish sorts, that I am sure 
no one will cultivate either of the latter after ho 
has tried the forixxer. My family have enjoyed 
them as a real luxury. They are beautiful to 
look upon, and still better to the taste. As a 
nexv one is cut open, revealing its beautiful and 
juicy surface, the frequent exclamation is, 
‘What an excellent radish !’ I had a coiqxle of 
quite old persons, over seventy j-ears of age, 
staying with me. One of them without a tooth 
in her head, scraped and ate them with a 
relish that would have done you good to see. 
“Let me tell you of the plan that I hit upon 
to keep them for winter use. I have learned so 
many stood things from the Agriculturist, that J 
want to tell you this in return. I first dug a hole 
about two feet deep, and wide enough to hold 
upright a common flour barrel. I then took an 
old barrel, with both the head and bottom out, 
and stood it in the hole. I ptxt mj^ radishes into 
the barrel, on the ground, and banked up 
the barrel, on the outside, about to the top. I 
pushed a small bundle of straw into tlie barrel, 
and down upon the radishes, and then laid an 
old door over the top of the barrel, to keep out 
the rain aud snow. When wishing to get the 
radishes, we have only to push the hand down 
between the straw and the side of the barrel. 
We are now in the second week of Januaiy, 
and have had some severe freezing weather. 1 
have not found one frozen, and they are as fresh, 
and crisp>, and sweet, as xvhen first pulled. 
“My whole lot, with about one quarter of it 
occupied by the house, is 75 feet by 125 feet. I 
have a beautiful bed of Asparagus aud anotlior 
of Strawberries, of my own planting; about 
twenty Grape vines, of seven different sorts; 
Raspberries, Blackberries, Currants, Pea is. 
Cherries, Peaches, almost all of ny own i)l:int- 
ing in less than six years past. Aud besides 
these, I manage to get a good many vegetables 
out of my garden in the spring and summer. 
I have learned many very important things from 
my garden. I have had pleasure and enjoyment 
from it, aud have, I trust, neglected no duty to 
