SEASONABLE HINTS. 
Usually a good deal of work may be done 
this month that will forward and facilitate 
spring operations. Plowing the ground 
where new plantations are to be made, dig¬ 
ging holes for trees to be planted, construct¬ 
ing trellises, procuring posts and stakes, and 
many other things ma}-^ be done now to 
material advantage. 
All plants that require -winter protection 
should be covered without delay. 
Strawberries in the Northern States are al¬ 
ways benefited by winter mulching, and on 
heavy, retentive soils it becomes an absolute 
necessity if we would Insure best results. 
For ordinaiy-sized beds in the home garden, 
•an excellent way of winter covering is to 
spread coarse manure between the rows, 
then cover the entire bed, plants and all, with 
dry leaves, about two inches thick, and l.ay 
evergreen branches or brush over them suf¬ 
ficient to keep the leaves in their place. 
In the field coarse straw is generally more 
convenient of application, with here and 
there a shovelful of soil thrown upon it to 
hold it down. Where salt haj"^ can be ob¬ 
tained, nothing is better for the pm-pose; it 
is free from obnoxious seeds, and may be 
used for many years. 
Baspben-ies .—^Now is an opportune season 
for scattering coarse manure along both 
sides of the rows. It is astonishing what 
efleet such a top-dressing has on the follow¬ 
ing year’s crop. 
Grapevines of tender varieties should be 
loosened from their trellises, bent ovei’, laid 
upon the ground and be covered with soil, 
principally their tip ends, the chief object 
being to prevent evaporation from the ter¬ 
minal twigs. The vines may be pruned be¬ 
fore lajdng them down, thus lessening the 
work of covering. Even simply laying the 
vines upon the ground makes them less lia¬ 
ble to suffer than -n-hen left on the trellises. 
Mice are often doing considerable damage 
to young fruit trees during wdnter, especial¬ 
ly when there is much snow upon the ground 
and these mischievous rodents cannot find 
much food. They will then work under the 
snow towards the trees, and gnaw their 
bark off. Tramping the snow down after 
every snow-fall, several feet around the stem 
of the trees, i.s an almost comfilete pi-otee- 
tion; but as this is apt to be neglected some¬ 
times, a surer pi-eventive is to hill or bank 
soil around the trees. These mounds should 
be not less than 18 inches high, as steep as 
po.s.sible, and be packed firmly and smoothly. 
Of course this has to be done before the 
ground freezes very deep. 
Coal Ashes. —Don’t cai-t coal-ashes in tiie 
road if your land is heavy, but sift and scal> 
ter them over the ground. .Spread thickly 
around Currant ajid Goosebeny bushes; 
ashes are one of the best non-conductors of 
heat, and keej) the soil .-ii-ound tlic plants 
cool and moist in summer. In many agar- 
den a load of sifted coal-jishes will do more 
good than a load of stable manure. 
JMhels will get lost even in the best i-egu- 
lated gardens, thej-efore no pj-udcrit gardener 
should consider hisyear’s work finished before 
he has drawn a infij) of his gj’oiinds on which 
the position and name of every tree is mai-kcd. 
THE AMERICAN GARDE^ 
THE &EE&& EASPBEBET IN VEBMONT. 
If called upon to select one variety of each 
class of fruits or vegetables and we were re¬ 
stricted to the cultivation of that particular 
kind, the choice would in many cases be a 
very difiicult and puzzling matter, but wei e 
I placed in this improbable predicament, 
w'hen it came to Black-cap Kaspberries, 1 
am sure that I should without hesitation 
speak for the Gregg. Although a trifle late 
in ripening, the general sterling qualities of 
the fruit -will amply repay one for -waiting a 
little. In my test of this variety it was planted 
in a strong, s.andy loam, ne.ar to, and was 
given the same care as, the Souheg.an, Ty¬ 
ler, and Mammoth Cluster. The Gregg has 
outstripped all the others in vigor of growth, 
and as to productiveness was far .'ihead. 
The size of the berrj'^ .averages larger th.an 
any other cap varietj' of my acquaintance, 
and the qualitj’- is excellent. 
My experience with plant novelties leads 
me usuall}’^ to modify somewhat the state¬ 
ments of originators and disseminators re¬ 
garding their ne^v varieties when taken as a 
base for expectations, but I confess that the 
claims for this variety h.ave been fully sub¬ 
stantiated thus far in my experience with it. 
The Souliegan was a dis.appointraent both 
in earliness and other qu.alities. ]Mj^ plants 
obtained from two reli.able sources gave no 
better results than the 'lyler which they 
closely resemble. The old Mammoth Cluster 
has many friends yet, and not without good 
reason, for when given a fair chance on 
strong, moist soil, it will compare favorably 
-with many of the new arrivals. 
Vermont. W. H. Eand. 
BEES ABE POMOLOGISTS. 
Not a few believe that bees injure fruit. 
They are frequently accused of injuring 
Peaches, Apples, berries, and even Grapes. 
I do not believe this. But though it be cor¬ 
rect the bees are the best friends of the hor- 
tieulturist. Did you ever tiiink why? Sex 
is not confined to the animal kingdom by 
anymeiins; plants .are sexual. The sexual 
organs are in the l)lossoins. For tlie blos¬ 
soms to produce fruit tlie ovules must be 
fertilized by the pollen from the .anthers at 
the summit of the stamens, which falls upon 
the stigma and tr.aversing the style of the 
pistil reaches the ovary. 
In this ])rocess of fertilizing, insects arc 
important aifls and in quite a large number 
of cases are essential aids; and of all iusccts 
bees are the most important workers. 'I’liey 
seek the honey to be found in the blossoms- 
and while on this quest they disturb the an¬ 
thers, knocking the jiollen nj)on their wings 
.' ' way conveying it to 
waiting stigmas. In a large class of llowtsrs 
the work of insects is essential to fertiliza¬ 
tion either bcc.-iuse the, st.-imens and |)istils of 
not rcacdi maturity at the 
time, or the j)istils ai-e turned away 
from the stamens, ])reventing the pollen 
from falling on tlnj stigimts, or else tin; an¬ 
thers are below tlie stigmas, having the 
same effect; while other blossoms have no 
pistils or else no stamens: in all these eases 
sclf-rertllization is Impossible. 
I'o fertilize such blossoms it would seem 
tliat the cl-eation of the liees had been espe¬ 
cially designed, so well do they jierforin 
First, the bees are formed Just 
Eecemlper, 
right to accompUsh it. Then the flower has 
ie honey to attract the bee. And when the 
conditions are most favorable the flower 
sends out a fragrance to yet f^her attract 
the bee Prof. Gray calls this fragrance the- 
Lwer’s advertisement. But it may occur 
to the mind of the reader that Ihe bee would 
visit flowers of diftferent species and thus 
occasion the greatest confusion. Not so. 
The bee has a keen sense of taste and never 
mixes its nectars, but as the nectar of all 
blossoms of each species tastes alike it con¬ 
fines each visit to one species. Aside from 
this, having found nect.ar in one blossom it 
would natiu-Jilly seek in others having the 
same .appear.ance and fragrance. To get at 
the bee must twist itself into 
and positions, a wise 
the dis- 
tho blossom 
same 
tliclr work. 
the honey 
all possible shapes 
provision of nature to secure 
lodgement of the pollen; and she also doles 
out the nect.ar in small quantities that the 
bee may be compelled to make frequent 
visits. It is also a fact woi-thy of note that 
the blossom does not yield nectar until it 
is ready for its part in fertilization. 
This phase of the phenomena is curious 
enough to be interesting, but there is an in¬ 
tensely practical aspect of the case. Nature 
would not go to so much trouble for nothing, 
and if there was not an important -umrk for 
the bees to perform, there -would not be 
these ijrovisious made for it. We are forced 
to the conclusion that where there are no 
bees many blossoms will fail of being prop¬ 
erly fertilized and hence fail to matm-e fruit. 
How much the fruit grower would lose by 
the total destruction of bees it would be 
h.ard to estimate even approximately, but 
prob.ably it would far exceed any damage 
the bees will do by occasionally punctur¬ 
ing a Grape or Peach. It is said that in a 
tou'u in Massachusetts, so strong was the 
belief that bees injured the fruit, that an or¬ 
dinance was passed obliging the bee-keepers 
to remove their bees to another locality, 
^'iitcr a year or two the fruit growers decid¬ 
ed to have the l)ees brought back as so little 
fruit set upon the trees in proportion to the 
blossoms which appeared. AVhen wc con¬ 
sider the work done by bees, we are justi¬ 
fied in calling them pomologlsts. 
1 am certain that bees injure fruit very 
little, if at .all. Most of the destruction 
blamed upon them is the work of other 
agents. I’lic jaws of the bee are too we.ak 
to puncture the skin of the most delic.ate 
Gi-ape. Only after it is pierced does the 
bee harm the fruit. John m. Stahl. 
paetiality op EOSE-BUGS. 
In the “Munson Hill Nurseries,’’in my 
vicimty, are growing a number of JapanPor- 
snmuon seedlings, some of which fruited 
tins year. On one tree, which bloomed pro¬ 
fusely, the blossoms were small save on one. 
branch which had large ones. The roso- 
•ugs attacked the small blossonus, and al- 
>'.g . requently picked oil by hand, ahun- 
I' «l.ioyed, while the large ones on the sumo 
SldT^ir' 
...".y.- 
G. A. Um-iit. 
