250 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
August. 
ally, is the moist state of the air, and the shading 
of clouds, preventing immediate evaporation, and 
connected with the even and gradual application 
which showers impart. Hence, watering under 
the hot rays of the sun should be avoided, even¬ 
ing usually proving the most advantageous time 
for this purpose; and if several light and succes¬ 
sive applications are given, the moisture will pene¬ 
trate more deeply into the soil. 
Mildew on the Grape. 
Many years since, when the practice was com¬ 
mon of raising the hardier exotic grapes in the open 
air, and more especially the Early White Musca¬ 
dine or White Sweetwater, we often had occasion 
to observe the influence of proximity to the soil 
in preventing mildew. It frequently happened that 
every bunch three feet high or more, was badly 
mildewed, while such as chanced to lie within a 
few inches of the surface of the earth, were often 
entirely free from its influence. Whether it was 
owing to any effect of the soil, which the rains 
dashed in minute quantities upon the fruit, or to 
some other cause, was never ascertained, but the 
subject is certainly worthy of further investiga¬ 
tion. We have often heard on the other hand, 
of grapes escaping the mildew, which were train¬ 
ed high on trees; and in a late number of the Wes¬ 
tern Horticultural Review, we perceive a state¬ 
ment of S. Tenable, of Shelby county, Kentuc¬ 
ky, that a German near Evansville, observing that 
graphs within a few feet of the ground were more 
or less affected with mildew, trained some of his 
vines twelve or fifteen feet high, and they produc¬ 
ed fruit of the best quality, entirely free, from dis¬ 
ease. In another instance, a vine trained on the 
walls of a house, to a height of eighteen feet, bore 
fruit in great abundance, without a blemish. It 
is not probable that any effectual remedy will be 
discovered for the mildew on the foreign grape, 
other than cultivation under glass; but the sub¬ 
ject is one of much interest for investigation and 
inquiries may lead to important results in the 
management of the native varieties. 
Remedy for Black Knot. 
In answer to repeated inquiries for the best re¬ 
medy for the black excresences on the plum tree 
we can only repeat what we have before given—• 
excision with the knife, when the disease first ap¬ 
pears. u But, our trees are all covered with 
them, and we should have to cut away the whole 
tree!” Very well; your trees have reached this 
condition through neglect, and the best thing is to 
root up and burr at once all such radically dis¬ 
eased individuals, which is certainly no worse 
than death by the knot, which is inevitable at so 
late a stage. We have practiced the remedy of 
cutting for many years past, and have succeeded 
in keeping the disease in complete check, without 
ever (except in one instance) being obliged to re¬ 
move an amount equal to the growth of the tree 
in one year. But even if it were necessary to 
destroy half the trees with the knife—this would 
be better than to have them wholly destroyed 
with the excresences, to say nothing of the singu¬ 
larly ornamental effect, which we have some¬ 
times witnessed, of a dozen half dead and fungus 
clad trees, occupying conspicuous positions in the 
garden. Salt water or a solution of copperas, has 
been recommended as a wash for the wounds 
when the excrescences have been cut out of large 
limbs, and chloride of lime may prove still better. 
As for the 11 trouble” or labor of continually cut¬ 
ting, we have never found it one half the labor of 
cultivating properly, and are well satisfied that so 
easy and generally effectual a remedy is at our 
command. 
Destroying Trees. 
A thriving farmer, who bad just discovered the 
loss of a hundred newly transplanted peach trees 
by the mice, said to the nurseryman who furnish¬ 
ed them, “ This is a hard loss for me, but it 
will help you nurserymen!” A late paper of 
high character utters a similar opinion, when 
describing the losses of young trees by bad 
pruning and other mismanagement — 1 “ no wonder 
that the business of nurserymen is continuous and 
thriving!” Nothing can be more erroneous. The 
great increase in the nursery business is owing, not 
to continued failures by purchasers, but to the 
improved cultivation which the trees of late years 
receive, giving promise of a full remuneration for 
the outlay. How many men would continue to 
buy and plant trees, only to lose them? How 
ong would farmers continue to raise wheat, if no 
"crop was ever yielded? How many gardeners 
would patronise the seed stores, if the seedsman 
should bake and destroy the vitality of all that he 
sold, as we have heard of being done in certain 
places in the old world? No man will expend his 
money without a promise of a return, and it is 
therefore the nurseryman’s highest interest to as¬ 
sist as much as practicable in promoting the suc¬ 
cessful management of the trees he furnishes. 
Late Sown Vegetables. 
Some of the greatest delicacies for table use may 
be obtained from quite late sowings. We can speak 
most positively in regard to turneps. Both the 
round and the flat turnep may be sown at any time 
in July or August, and we have known it come to 
considerable maturity in a season in which there 
were no early frosts, when sown in tire first week 
of September. Special pains should be taken 
to enrich the soil, for in this way we secure two 
objects—the more rapid growth of the plant, and 
a sweeter and more tender vegetable. We sup¬ 
pose it is generally well known that the more ra¬ 
pid the growth of this and several other vegetables, 
the more mild and tender they are to the taste. 
Cabbages, onions, radishes, spinach, cauliflower, 
are all much more delicate in flavor, and agreeable 
to the palate when grown freely and rapidly, than 
when their growth is stinted or slow. Cucumbers 
and celery may also be added to the above named, 
as being much milder when grown rapidly than 
when of slow growth. Some of these may be 
raised late in the season, as well as turneps, so as 
to supply the table with the delicacies of spring 
and summer until quite late in the fall and winter. 
By the end of July and in the course of August, 
there will be vacant places in garden and field, 
which it will be good economy to sow with turneps. 
There will be, at all events, the pea and early po¬ 
tato ground; these and other such patches may be 
sown with round or even flat turnep, and thereby, 
we will be making provision both for our family and 
our stock. What we do not use for the table will be 
well relished by our cattle; and cows which have a 
tolerable supply, will not dry up so early as cows 
that have no green feed. Observer. 
