set on the ridges, and between these are 
ditches of water. Ever}' dry day the water 
is bailed from these ditches upon the grow¬ 
ing plants, and the result is cauliflower of 
enormous size, compact, and almost as white 
as snow. In these ditches water-cress is 
grown, both for cutting and seed, and the 
two crops are said to be profitable, while the 
quality is certainly excellent.” 
three inches in diameter. If the shoots are 
tall and slender at the time of potting, pinch 
them back. In a few weeks shift the plants 
mto larger pots and pinch off the ends of the 
shoots again. Good, strong plants will re¬ 
quire pots ten to twelve inches in diameter 
by the first of July, at which tome the pinch 
mg should be dispensed with for fear of 
destroying the flower buds. The plants will 
require an abundance of water and they 
should never be allowed to wilt for the want 
of it. As soon as the flower buds appear 
p ace in the house or in some, half shady 
pliu-c, and keep them there until the bloorn- 
ERIGHTENING THE STEIPED BUG 
FROM VINES. 
GRAFTING THE GRAPE ON ITS 
LATERALS. 
I find it, unnecessary to graft at the root 
of the vine and often inexpedient, but more 
Successful to graft the side branches or later¬ 
als of the vine. Two years ago 1 laid down 
two wild vines sixty feet hi length each, 
buried them in a trench ten inches deep, 
brought up their side branches above ground 
suitable distances apart for grafting. I then 
set fifty Iona grafts on those branches just 
below the surface of the ground. Every 
graft lived and has made strong, healthy 
\ ines. 1 loft live of the branches until the 
20th of July, and then grafted with Dela¬ 
wares. Two of them failed to grow, the 
other three grew and made about us much 
growth as the Iona vines that were set earlv 
GARDENERS' NOTES 
Salt for Strawberries. 
art, Upper Alton, HI., 
mg season is over. The pinching back of the 
young shoots early in the season is a very 
important operation, as it makes the plants 
grow stocky and well furnished with bloom¬ 
ing shoots. It |s too Iate to fchink ()f piuch 
ing the shoots now. 
RAISING ONION SETS, 
W. C. Pelham, Maysville, Ky., writes to 
the American Agriculturist of his method 
of raising onion sets He selects a level and 
dry piece of ground. Ills ground is rich 
alluvial loam, but. the character of the soil is 
of no special importance. Her Is are formed 
two feet wide, with a path of one foot be¬ 
tween. The “beds” are excavated to the 
depth of two inches—or, in other words, the 
path or alley between is two inches higher 
than the beds ; the bottom of the beds is 
nicely smoothed with the back of a spade, so 
as to present a level surface whereon to sow 
the set d. The seed is sown so that from fif¬ 
teen to twenty seeds will cover a square inch. 
If the surface of the beds was sprinkled with 
piaster or white sand, the seeds, which are 
block, could be sown more evenly. After 
sowing, the seeds arer covered with two inches 
of pure clean sand, wkiclubrings the beds and 
paths to the same level. The whole is then 
MADEIRA VINE CULTURE. 
Will someone having experience in culti¬ 
vating the Madeira or Mignonette vine in a 
window tell which is preferable, to keep it 
growing t.h« year round or cut it. off in the 
fall and put it. m the cellar to rest during the 
winter ?- Mum. M. A. I,each. 
i'tiK Madeira or Mignonette vine (Bims- 
singaiUUa I mane Holden) is a native of South 
America, where it grows as a perennial 
climbing plant; hut under cultivation it is 
usually treated as though it was herbaceous, 
the sterns being allowed to die down in win- 
b‘r. Tf it is cultivated in a greenhouse or 
warm room, there is no need or permitting it 
1 ° lose its leaves in winter, but may be kept 
growing continually from year to year. Of 
course a partial rest may be allowed ; in 
fact, the growth will usually be checked at 
the approach of cold weather even if in the 
house; but if kept where the temperature 
does not fall below 45° to 50°, the leaves will 
remain fresh and green. Tf the vines become 
too large, it is an easy matter to reduce the 
size by priming ; but it there is any danger 
of freezing in winter, it is far beRcr to allow 
the roots to ripen off in autumn and then 
preserve them in dry sand during the cold 
weather, planting out again in spring. 
---- 
IRON TRELLISES FOR VINES. 
Are iron frames or trellises injurious to 
climbing roses ? 1 am inclined to think they 
are, from the fact that, a Solfuterre rose 
which I had blossomed liriclv when urrowinir 
on a wooden frame, but the bram-he* 
MANURE FOR GRAPE VINES. 
BASKETS OF ROSES. 
Roses in a cut state are always welcome, 
and a tastefully arranged basket of them 
’ constitutes one of the most i logant floral 
ornaments that can be obtained for the dec¬ 
oration of the drawing-room. Three import¬ 
ant points may be urged in their favor. 
Firstly, Roses will keep fresh for a compart 
lively longtime ; Secondly, they are not diffi¬ 
cult, to arrange ; thirdly, they can be bought 
for a small sum, if not growing in one’s own 
garden, and any one who does possess a gar¬ 
den. large or small, is sure to have Roses. 
Baskets made of different materials for hold¬ 
ing ordinary cut flowers can be bought, but 
for Roses I prefer those made of glass, as the 
Clear crystal shows up the rich colorB of the 
Roses and their variously tinted foliage bet¬ 
ter than any other material. In glass bas¬ 
kets the flowers should nestle among Moss 
instead of sand, which, when seen through 
the glass, has a bad effect. 
the arrangement as to color must be, of 
course, according to taste ; some prefer their 
Roses to he all of one color, such as crimson ; 
Others Like white or pink, and some mixed 
colors. In the accompanying illustration, 
Mareclial Niel has been used in the form of 
full-blown and half-opened buds, set off with 
foliage of the same and the 3 r oitug brown 
foliage of other Roses. Round the handle ts 
twisted a spray of Lygadium smnde.m, but a 
piece of variegated ivy, Japan Honeysuckle, 
or anything of that kind, would look quite 
as effectively. Opinions differ, I know, as to 
the propriety of mixing Ferns with Roses in 
preference to their own foliage, but for my 
own part I prefer their own leaves, when the 
arrangement consists wholly of Roses. If of 
mixed flowers, then light Ferns might be 
us °d with advantage. I need scarcely add 
that besides Roses there are man v other fiow- 
I rof. Bache says :—Herbaceous plants 
and vegetables furnish numerous instances of 
the influence of peculi:.. manures on the 
quality of t he products. The cheese and milk 
ol certain localities are highly prized on ac¬ 
count of the peculiar aroma of the grass in 
those localities. 
Resides this bad influence of odorous nitro¬ 
genous manures on wine, we must bear in 
mind that this process re stores to the soil 
only a small portion of the potash consumed 
by the canes, the leaves and the fruit, and 
that it also Lends to exhaustion, since it re¬ 
turns to the soil but one-fifth or one-sixth of 
the amount of potash taken from it. More¬ 
over, nitrogenous substances exclusively used 
hasten the decay of vineyards and the ex¬ 
haustion of the soil. We have a report from 
Baron Von Liebig of the exhaust ion of a vine¬ 
yard at Bingen, on the Rhine, through the 
exclusive use of horn scrapings. The result 
at first seemed good, but after a few years 
the growth and production decreased rapidly. 
The extra growth induced by the horn scrap¬ 
ings had divested the soil of all its potash 
without returning any. 
Nitrogenous manures also increase in the 
grape the proportion of albuminous and 
mucilaginous matters, aud correspondingly 
diminish the saccharine; the wine contains 
less alcohol, and is consequently more sub¬ 
ject to alteration. In fact, sugar-producing 
plants never want strongly oitrogenous ma¬ 
nures ; and sugar-makers are aware that 
beets manured with highly nitrogenous com¬ 
pounds—although more bulky—contain less 
sugar and more organic matter, to the detri¬ 
ment of the manufacturer. 
FRAZADILLO TOMATO. 
What is the tomato Frazadillo, and how 
should it be prepared for table ? I planted 
some seed sent me by a friend this spring* 
thc-v are growing finely, and will soon be 
ready for use, but l do not know how to use 
tiiom. I was told the seed came from Mexi¬ 
co, and that, the fruit was borne in a green 
capsule. —Carolinian. 
The Frazadillo tomato belongs to the. same 
genus as our common ground cherry, or, as 
it is sometimes called, strawberry-tomato, 
( L’hgmUs Alk&kengi ), therefore quite a dif¬ 
ferent fruit from the true tomato. Lyoopersi- 
cum esculentum. The fruit of the species of 
Physails are enclosed iu a kind of iufluted 
husk or calyx, hence the name of the genus, 
which is from a Greek word meaning blad¬ 
der, or bladders. We have several native 
species which are sometimes used for making 
pie.-., or cooked and placed upon the table in 
the usual manner of preparing plums, goose¬ 
berries aud similar fruits. 
This Mexican novelty will probably have a 
bnef run, the same as the Chinese and Jap¬ 
anese species introduced a few years since ; 
hut to call it a tomato is giving it a rather 
laney name, although it is about as near the 
ruth as the introducers of novelties gener- 
GRAPE VINE TIES; AGAIN. 
I noticed ail article on grape vine ties in 
the Rural New-Yorker stating what E. A. 
Rikul says in the Rural World. If the three- 
ply jute twine which he mentions, as the 
cheapest and best for tying grape vines, is 
the same that is commonly known as wool 
twine, ho has truly given us the cheapest and 
best material for the purpose. I have used 
wool twine for many years. I use it for both 
old arid new wood and find it Verv durable 
and easy to tie quickly ; but find tarred rope 
very difficult to tie. 1 have seen articles on 
grape vine ties in which the writers recom¬ 
mended ties made of willow twigs, the inner 
bark of the bass wood, & 0 „ all of which cost 
but little m money, perhaps, but cost a great 
deal oi time to prepare for use—especially 
the bass-bark ; and often, if ready for use 
it is bungling aud cannot be tied quickly’ 
Wool twine costs but 15 cents uor lb. is very 
light and flexible, i have never found any¬ 
thing cheaper or better. w l d 
A SPORTING MYRTLE. 
I inclose a slip from a small clump of 
myrtle I have laid for two years. It main¬ 
tains its characteristic equally well in sun or 
shade. Is ir. a sport from common myrtle 
or is the variegation caused by a disease in 
the plant ?— Rose Geranium. 
1 H"k v allegation ol the loaves of your niyr- 
tie may have been caused by disease or in¬ 
sects; and this variation from the original 
type would bo termed by florists a “sport.” 
It is quite probable that you may perpetuate 
this sport by taking cuttings from the varie¬ 
gated branches. The large-leaved, variegated 
myrtle was produced in this manner; also 
the variegated ivies, and hundreds of similar 
plants cultivated in our gardens. 
