182 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[May, 
incision around the head or pericarp. This may 
be done once, or if a very large one, twice, to 
the same head. The milky juice will at once 
exude, and by the next morning will be ready 
to be scraped off with a somewhat duller knife 
and lodged in a common tin cup, belted around 
the operator by having a handkerchief through 
the handle.” “B.,”on the other hand, uses a 
knife for the purpose, which makes three incis¬ 
ions at once, and also a peculiar knife for col¬ 
lecting the product. He has promised us a set 
of these implements, and we hope to be able in 
due time to give engravings of them. 
Trellises for Tomato Plants. 
Those who grow tomatoes in the garden find 
that a support of some kind is essential not only 
a 9 aQ 
to preserve a neat appearance but to produce 
the finest fruit. We have already published 
several trellises and now add another hy Mr. E. 
1ST. Maxwell, of Louisville, Ivy. If the trellis is 
made against a fence, pieces are got out of 1 1 1 4 x 
l'la-inch stuff, G inches longer than the bight of 
the fence. A small iron hook is attached to one 
end of each piece. Holes a trifle smaller than 
common telegraph wire are bored in the pieces, 
6 inches apart, beginning at 4 inches from 
the hook, end, and having the last hole about a 
foot from the opposite 
end. Cut telegraph 
wire into lengths of3'| 2 
inches, and bend them 
at 1 ! | 4 inch from one 
end at an angle a little 
more acute than a 
right-angle, and drive 
the pieces into the 
holes. The piece, when 
finished, is shown atM, 
fig. 2. For every two 
tomato plants there 
will be required one 
of these upright pieces, 
and one additional 
piece at the end of 1 he 
row. The slats, which 
run horizontally, arc ripped from an inch 
board eight feet long, one-quarter or three- 
eighths of an inch thick; exactly similar to a 
common lath but twice its length. Cut both 
ends of the slats slanting, as represented in fig. 
1, which gives only one section of the trellis. 
Screw into the fence, near its top, on a hori¬ 
zontal line, iron eyes, I?, fig. 2, measuring the dis¬ 
tance between them accurately. Now fasten 
the books on the upper ends of the upright 
pieces, into these iron eyes, and let the lower 
ends slightly enter the ground fifteen inches out 
from the bottom of the fence. Place the slats 
in position, as seen in figure 1, and with a 
small hammer drive the iron wire supports 
tightly upon them, and your trellis is finished. 
The tomato vines should be planted directly 
under the bottom slat, and four feet apart; 
this will give two vines between two up¬ 
rights, and one upright between two vines. 
As the vines grow up the trellis, weave their 
tops in and out between the slats, behind one 
slat, in front of the next, and so on alternately; 
this will support the vine without any tying. 
A few of the upper slats might be farther than 
6 inches apart, for economy’s sake, but it will 
not answer to have the lower ones any wider. 
In the fall, after frost destroys the quality of 
the fruit, drive the iron fastenings loose hy strik¬ 
ing them behind the trellis, draw out the slats 
horizontally, letting the vines fall to the ground, 
unhook the upright pieces and your entire trel¬ 
lis may be placed under cover for the winter, 
ready to be put together again the following 
summer with but a very few' minutes’ work. 
A trellis may be made without the support of 
a fence. Two upright pieces, (7, fig. 2, seven feet 
long, are prepared with wires as before describ¬ 
ed, and fastened together at the top ends by 
a small iron bolt. The lower ends are spread 
three or four feet apart; these uprights are se¬ 
cured in position by being tied to cedar stakes, 
driven firmly into the ground; I prefer wire to 
twdne for tying. These supports are placed at 
the same distance apart as those against a fence, 
and similar slats are used. Plant vines along 
both sides of the trellis four feet apart, as before. 
My vines were planted in rich soil last sum¬ 
mer, and grew eight feet high, trained in this 
w 7 ay, covering the entire trellis, and were 
loaded with delicious fruit nearly to their tops. 
The slats running east and west warped bad¬ 
ly, but those on the trellis running north and 
south remained perfectly free from this defect. 
Entrance Gates. 
There is perhaps no one contrivance so gen¬ 
erally in use that is so unsatisfactory as a gate, 
be it large or small. We find this the most fre¬ 
quently out of order, of any of the surround¬ 
ings of a house, whether it be the gate leading 
to a modest cottage, or the one that closes the 
approach to an expensive mansion. The trouble 
about gates must bo largely felt by our readers, 
if we can judge from the number of requests we 
have for plans of gates. We mentioned the 
matter to Mr. Geo. E. Woodward, the well- 
known architect, and he referred us to a gate 
in his work upon Country Homes, as the one 
ho had found in his experience to be the most 
easily built, and the most durable. With Mr. 
A 
W.’s permission we copy some of his engravings 
to illustrate the principle, which is that upon 
which railroad bridges and span-roofs are built. 
Figure 1 shows the simplest form of a gate of 
this kind. Within a simple frame there are 
eight braces crossing each other, and five iron 
rods, the heads of which are let into the upper 
rail of the gate, and the lower ends are furnish¬ 
ed with a screw and nut by means of which 
they may be fastened. The braces are halve u 
together where they cross each other; they are 
not tenoned into the frames of the gate, but are 
Fig. 4. —LOWER HINGE-CORNER. 
held in position by tightening the nuts. The 
ends of the braces that bear against the rods 
have a groove in each to admit the end. The 
principle of construction here shown being 
adhered to, a gate of this kind may be orna¬ 
mented in various ways, as illustrated in the 
work referred to. One of these is in the rustic 
gate, figure 2, where the whole is made of cedar 
sticks and iron rods. Three other rails, besides 
the upper and lower ones, are fastened to the 
braces by means of carriage bolts. In this gate 
the iron rod at one end is made to answer as a 
very simple and permanent hinge. It is pro¬ 
longed at each end beyond the portion upon 
which the nut is screw¬ 
ed ; the upper end moves 
in a strong iron eye 
screwed into the gate 
post, while the lower end 
is stepped into a stone 
placed to receive it. The 
hinges to the gate, in 
figure 1, are strong and 
very simple, and are 
shown more plainly in 
figures 3, 4, and 5. Fig¬ 
ure 5 gives a perspective view of the hinge; 
figure 3 shows the upper hinge corner in section ; 
the rod which holds this end of the gate passes 
through the upper plates of the hinge, which is 
further secured to the gate by means of carriage 
bolts. In figure 4 we have a section of the low¬ 
er corner, where the iron rod passes through the 
lower plate of the hinge, and is there fastened 
by the nut. The hinge may, if desired, be 
countersunk, to present less iron work to view. 
Lettuce Growing in New York City. 
BY PETER HENDERSON. 
The passenger in the horse-cars going from 
GOth Street to Harlem, on New York Island, 
any day from June to October, may see little 
patches of vegetation of different shades of 
green, ranged in uniform and regular lines. 
