valuable of the many contributions which Mr. Wilder has made to horticulture, and will worthily bear his name. With his permission, we are authorized to, and do hereby name his strawberry seedling No. 13, 'The President Wilder.'

"Cherries. This fruit continues to be scarce, and it is doubtful if it will again become abundant in our market. The cost of picking is a serious consideration. Still this is almost the only cost, and certainly would be readily met, provided we could have the crops of former years. For home-use, at least, the cherry must have a place. Black Tartarean took our first prize, as is usual but we must caution the public that this variety is by no means as hardy or as certain as many other kinds of fair quality.”

AN EXCELLENT FERTILIZER. We advise our readers who have farms and gardens to cultivate, to prepare as large a quantity of the fertilizer we suggested and recommended in the April number, vol. ii. of "The Journal of Chemistry," as they possibly can. It embraces in its composition quite every element required in the growth and maturation of roots and the cereal grains; and it has the advantages of being comparatively cheap and easily prepared. No fertilizer we have yet devised (and we have prepared and experimented with a large number) affords more certain and satisfactory results than this one; and those who prepared and used it last season are extravagant in their praises of it. It supplies a most desirable dressing for fruit-trees and vines. We use no other fertilizer for our grapes; and, if any of our friends have had better results in their cultivation than we have, it will afford us pleasure to publish their successes. The method of preparing the fertilizer is as follows:

"Take one barrel of pure, finely-ground bone, and mix with it a barrel of good wood-ashes; during the mixing add gradually about three pailfuls of water. The heap may be made upon the floor of an outbuilding, or upon the barn-floor; and, by the use of a hoe, the bone and ashes must be thoroughly blended together. The water added is just sufficient to liberate the caustic alkalies, potash and soda; and these re-act upon the gelatine of the bone, dissolving the little atoms, forming a kind of soap, and fitting it for plant aliment. It must be used in small quantities, or in about the same way as the so-called superphosphates. A barrel of this mixture is worth two of any of the commercial fertilizers; and the cost will be but about half as much. It remains to be added, if the bonemeal and ashes are very dry, four pailfuls of water may be required; but care must be exercised not to have it inconveniently moist. It will be ready for use in a week after it is made. Pure, raw, finely-ground bone and the best of ashes should be employed. If ashes cannot be procured, potashes may be employed as a substitute, by dissolving twelve pounds in ten gallons of hot water, and thoroughly saturating the bone-flour with the solution. A barrel of dry peat or good loam, free from stones, may be mixed with the bone after adding the potash. Care must be used not to have it too moist or too dry. It should not form a sticky mass. In using, a little earth should be scattered over it before dropping the seed. The seed should not fall directly upon it. The effect of this fertilizer will not be noticed early in the season; but, as it advances, the crops will become vigorous, and yield a fine return.” — Journal of Chemistry.

THE second annual meeting of the New-York State Grape-Growers' Association was held at Canandaigua, Feb. 18. The following officers were chosen : President, Hon. E. B. Pottle, Naples; Vice-Presidents, C. L. Hoag, Lockport; C. D. Champlain, Hammondsport; Dr. H. H. Farley, Union Springs; A. S. Moss, Fredonia; Dr. C. W. Grant, Peekskill; Corresponding Secretary, G. F. Wilcox, Fairport; Recording Secretary, E. F. Underhill, Brocton; Treasurer, M. D. Munger, Canandaigua. Hon. Marshall P. Wilder of Boston, and Dr. John A. Warder of Cincinnati, were elected honorary members of the association.

The president, in his address, said, “There are localities in nearly every section of the State, even in the extreme north, sheltered nooks, having the proper adaptation of soil and other influence, which have made the growing of this delicious fruit not only profitable in the ordinary sense, but exceedingly so when compared with the results of growing the other products of our State. In all such localities, the cultivation of the grape should be encouraged. Not only should we seek out such localities, but it should be our duty to learn the variety best adapted to them; for we know full well that a grape which thrives well in one place or section may be and often is worthless in another. The Delaware may be set down as one of the best American grapes; but when planted in a soil adapted to the successful culture of the Catawba, Isabella, or Diana, it was worthless and the latter, when taken from the sterile soil that develops and makes them what they are in certain localities within our State, and transplanted to the rich soil needed for the Delaware, exhaust themselves in needless growth of wood; and the fruit gathered, rarely, if ever, repays the cost of culture. And it will be quite as impossible for us to establish a standard for pruning, for planting, for cultivation, or any thing in regard to the grape, which shall be universal in its application, as it is to establish a standard of variety. All these matters have got to be considered with reference to the strength of your soil; and when you have brought sagacity and experience to bear upon the question of culture, and ascertained what your wants are, you can adapt yourself to it."

Mr. Coxe of Auburn spoke in favor of Allen's Hybrid. In his experience, the way to make the Allen's Hybrid produce was to starve the vine. With generous culture, the fruit was poor and the foliage mildewed; but when planted in very poor stony land, overlying limestone rock, the third year it grew vigorously, and rewarded him with eight pounds of fine fruit, without a mildewed leaf or an impaired berry. He had applied sulphur twice during the season. Some other vines had succeeded as well by applying common gypsum.

Mr. Keech of Waterloo, having been unsuccessful with the Allen's Hybrid, thought the difficulty might be in the mode of pruning, and commenced experimenting on three vines. He formed two horizontal arms to a vine, each four feet long, and cut all the canes down to within three inches of the arm. All the buds which started he allowed to remain, and they grew to the top of the trellis. He did no summer pruning, but let each shoot grow as far as it would. After he had picked several clusters, he gathered the fruit from one of the vines, and they weighed thirteen pounds of very handsome fruit. The next year, he took off twenty-two pounds of as handsome fruit as he had ever seen. The vines were

planted in a light sandy soil, with no manure at all. Neither year was he troubled with mildew.

Mr. Welles of Canandaigua said the Eumelan was remarkable for its perfect ripeness and the purity of its flavor. Two clusters he had allowed to remain in his office, which was heated by day only, and the berries were dried into perfect raisins. It was a very sweet grape. The only objection he saw was its large and abundant seeds..

Mr. Bronson of Geneva believed, if Allen's Hybrid bore a good crop only once in four years, it paid. He would plant Iona and Israella, the latter for its beauty. The demand for Rogers's Hybrids was very great; they suited the masses better than a high-flavored grape like the Iona.

Mr. Underhill of Brocton, Chatauqua County, said, the Iona, in several vineyards, had produced for the first time last fall, and the result had more than exceeded expectations. The fruit was excellent, the yield good, and the health of the vine all that could be wished. Rogers's Hybrids were increasing in favor, especially the Salem, which he regarded as the best. The Clinton, which had been sadly neglected, was growing in favor each year, by reason of its unsurpassed healthiness, enormous yield, and its value for red wine. For a dry white wine, the Iona was regarded as best, the Diana next, and the Delaware next. The Martha he regarded with disfavor. Though vigorous and healthy, it was more foxy than its parent, the Concord.

Mr. Perry of Canandaigua said Rogers's Hybrids should be planted in alternate rows with Hartford, Concord, or Delaware. By this arrangement, the Rogers would fertilize better, and have solid bunches, instead of the loose bunches which they often have. The Creveling should be planted in the same manner. Mr. Perry's statement was corroborated by the president, Mr. Keech, and others.

Mr. Coxe of Auburn said, that, while his neighbors had suffered from the blue beetle, he had escaped by turning a large number of hens and chickens into his vineyard.

The president, Mr. Pottle of Naples, said he had never known a Delaware vineyard which had been summer pruned that was satisfactory in its results. Mr. Byington, a neighbor of his, had a Delaware vineyard which made a most remarkable growth, some canes making from eighteen to twenty-two feet in a single year. They were planted upon a very stony but rich piece of bottom land, and it fed the vines well, the stone insuring perfect drainage. The vines were ten to twelve feet apart in the rows. The clusters and berries averaged nearly or quite the size of Isabellas, and sold in the New-York market at from twenty-three to thirty-two cents a pound. He took, in one instance, fifty-three pounds from a single vine. These vines did not have a single leaf or tendril taken from them during the season. They were pruned.on, the system of long canes. He attributed this success, first, to the perfect underdrainage, and the amount of fertilizing material in the soil, and, second, to the abundance of wood to sustain the grapes.

When they could find a locality (and there were such) that would with certainty ripen the Isabella and Catawba, those grapes would produce as generous a re

turn as any American grape. He had a vineyard of five acres of Isabellas, which had never failed in ten years to ripen the crop, though he did not mean to assert that it ripened all the grapes. Four years ago, that piece of land paid him, at ten cents a pound for the product, three thousand two hundred and sixty-four dollars. Mr. Shaw of Middlesex, Yates County, said his choice of all varieties was the Iona, and, next to it, the Diana. The latter had always borne good crops, with the fruit evenly set, and had been the most profitable of any variety he had cultivated. The Lydia was an excellent white grape, and had not shown any disease.

Mr. Wagener of Crooked Lake had one piece of Ionas that had borne crops for two years, and had done well. The vines grew satisfactorily, and bore heavily of well-ripened fruit. They were as ripe on the 15th of September as the Catawbas were on the 15th of October. The Israellas had done well, and were sufficiently advanced to send to market the first of September. The Creveling bore scattering and loose clusters, though planted in with other varieties. He regarded the Iona as best, the Delaware next, and, perhaps, the Catawba and Diana next. For an early grape, he would plant the Israella. It had proved with him to be a good keeper, being good until the following January, and retaining its flavor well.

Mr. Underhill of Brocton called the attention of the association to an insect, which, in his locality, had committed ravages upon young vines. Two years since, he discovered in August, in a vineyard planted that year, that the leaves of his Delawares, Israellas, and Ionas, and especially Adirondacs, were badly riddled by a little drab-colored bug nearly a quarter of an inch long, which so set back the growth, that, at the end of the season, the roots were but little stronger than when they were set out. The past year, he looked out for the trespasser, and applied slacked lime early in the morning. He was inclined to believe it checked their operations, though not certain that it was the best remedy.

Hon. E. B. Pottle of Naples, E. F. Underhill of Brocton, F. L. Perry of Canandaigua, Dr. E. Van Keuren of Hammondsport, Dr. A. Bushnell of Peekskill, and C. L. Hoag of Lockport, were appointed a committee to investigate, in their respective localities, the causes of the diseases of the vine, and its enemies, and the best remedies; each member of the committee to report at the next annual meeting.

It was decided to hold the second annual fair of the association at Canandaigua, on the fifth and sixth days of October, 1869; and the next winter meeting at Rochester, on the third Tuesday in January, 1870.

PLOUGHING ORCHARDS. The following experiment by Mr. H. Dayton of Alden, Erie County, N.Y., is better than a column of theorizing. His orchard of two acres and a half, which had produced very little fruit for a number of years, and most of that wormy, was carefully ploughed less than two inches deep late last fall, and harrowed and cultivated two or three times in the early part of the present season. The result is, he has picked, this fall, over four hundred and fifty barrels of fine, smooth apples, bringing in about sixteen hundred dollars. The soil was a sandy gravel, and had been in grass about ten years.

THE March meeting of the Potomac Fruit-Growers' Association was held at the Friends' meeting-house, Alexandria, Va., President Bramhall in the chair. The discussion of fertilizers led to the opinion, that farmers had better buy their own guano and simple phosphates, and mix themselves, if a mixture is wanted, in order to avoid the humbugs which are now flooding the market. Marl can be delivered anywhere on the Potomac for a dollar per ton: this is an excellent fertilizer, cheap, and much needed by our soils. Col. Close considered marl and stable-manure good, but thought it would hardly pay to haul either when concentrated manures, such as Peruvian guano, bone-dust, and poudrette, could be bought at present prices. Be sure, however, to purchase a good article, and then compost to suit your soil. We must not be too much afraid of being humbugged; a little, once in a while, makes one sharp. Dr. Lloyd believed, from experiments which he had made, that new manure is better in every respect than that thoroughly rotted.

Chalkly Gillingham read a very instructive paper on fruit-destroying insects and their insect enemies.

Orchard culture. - Judge Gray: The idea entertained by many, that the land is too valuable to be entirely devoted to the orchard, is a mistaken one. If we want good fruit and abundance of it, we must give it the land and the culture it needs, and it will amply repay all attention received. An orchard at Niagara, N.Y., was sown to buckwheat for sixteen years, and not a bushel taken off. It was only ploughed in the spring to sow again. The grain afforded ample feed for the poultry that ranged through the orchard. By this system, the soil was changed from a light sand to a rich loam: the trees were thrifty, and bore well. It is cheaper, in my opinion, to sow buckwheat than fertilizers, and does much more good. Apply nothing more than a light dressing of plaster; plough, and sow again. On heavy land, the system is probably equally beneficial, tending not only to enrich the land, but to make it more friable.

Judge Bramhall remarked, that heavy lands at the North were immensely improved by ploughing in green crops, and cited several instances.

C. Gillingham: I think the system followed at Niagara the best that could be devised for the purpose. The ground not being ploughed until spring, there was. no inconvenience in gathering the fruit; and, moreover, I believe a ripe crop much better to plough in than a green crop. The idea that we can, in an orchard, sow and reap, and take off all kinds of crops, without returning an equivalent, and still gather a harvest of fruit, is wholly wrong.

I

S. B. Walton: I believe the secret lies in having the ground covered. think if it was simply covered over, with no crop or fertilizer whatever, the land would improve.

The association adjourned to meet at the Columbia schoolhouse, Closeville, Alexandria County, Va., Saturday, April 3, at 10, A.M., and a punctual attendance was requested. The president invited the presence and co-operation of the ladies, and asked their assistance in the good work of fruit-raising.

Correspondence is solicited on all matters of interest and importance pertaining to fruit-culture, and all inquiries will be duly answered. All correspondence should be addressed to Col. James T. Close, Cor. Sec. P. F. G. A., Arlington, Va.