grapes, without enriching with manure. But no lack of nutriment had been noticed by the cultivators. He was shown some White Doyenne Pears at Loveland on Frikay last, which were badly eracked. At Columbus they were perfect. He was surprised that this pear should crack at Loveland, and could not account for the difficulty, unless the ground was not underdrained: the roots, perhaps, got down into the wet clay, and rotted. He had noticed this on Ernst's hill, a number of years ago, and attributed it to water from the springs that there abounded. In the subsoils at Columbus, this pear does well. He would like to know whether gentlemen here had noticed this fault in the pear? They called it the great cracked pear in the East. Cultivation of Plums for Market. BY JAMES BARRETT, CANTERBURY, N. Y. So much has been said and written of late upon the Grape question, that I begin to fear we may forget that other fruits can be successfully raised. I therefore propose to give you my experience in raising Plums, in which I have made a profitable experiment, willing that my fellow readers of the Horticulturist may go and do likewise, if they believe the Yankee maxim, that some things may be done as well as others, and that one man can do what another has done, if he tries. In 1856, I set out with care what remained of seven or eight hundred Plum trees, which had been stuck out by contract two years before, and up to that time had re Mr. Cranch said he had never heard of the White Doyenne Pear cracking. Mr. Heaver said he had frequently no-fused to thrive. This transplanting reticed it, and thought the trouble owing to the wet nature of the soil in which the pear was planted. Mr. Pierson said he had five trees of this pear at Cheviot, on quince and pear root; they were worthless. On College Hill he had the same pear on quince root; here they also cracked. They had borne well. For the Ohio Cultivator. Grass for Orchards. I planted an apple orchard in 1856-'57. I have been cultivating the ground principally in vines, and it has become so foul that I wish to seed it in grass. But the question with me is-What kind of grass seed shall I sow? I would prefer red clover, as that makes the best hog pasture, and the trees are too young and too low headed to pasture to any other stock. But as all writers upon the orchard say-don't seed your orchard in red clover, I do not remember that any have given the whys and wherefores. Red clover is the best fertilizer, makes less sod, and probably breeds less mice and insects than any other grass.What then is the objection to red clover? And what grass is the least injury to fruit trees? D. K. KELLERMAN. Cedar Hill, Jan. 1861. NOTE.-Here is a question for our orchardists. Red clover is a fertilizer when plowed under, but as a growing crop we should think it was a great sucker of the soil. ED. FIELD NOTES. vived them, and from that period I date the beginning of my experiment, which, including the present season, makes six years that they have been under treatment. The ground between the plum trees has been regularly plowed and cultivated for the raspberry crop, the product of which has paid all expenses, including $50 per year ground-rent, for two acres and a quarter, and a profit besides. In 1859, I spread under each tree half a peck of common salt. The black knot upon these plum-trees has appeared regularly every year, and has been cut out clean to the healthy wood in month of June, say within a fortnight after its first appearance, and while the excresmoved without injury to the tree, the wound cence was still soft. It is then easily regenerally healing over the same season.→→ For the last three years this disease has decreased yearly. The past season I removed the whole from 640 tress in less than half a day. In 1859 these trees began to bear fruit, yielding twenty bushels, which was sold for fifty-five dollars, after paying expenses. In 1860, the crop was nine bushels and one peck, which brought three dollars a bushel. In 1861, I gathered and marketed seventy-two bushels, for which I received five dollars and twenty cents a bushel, after paying expenses. The total receipts for the three years amount to four hundred and forty-eight dollars and seventy-five cents, after paying all expenses, and amounts to about three times the original outlay, including cost of trees, labor of setting and transplanting. I know of no business which pays a better profit upon the investment. Only about one-half of my trees have yet borne fruit. Many of them produced from six to twenty plums the past season. Of course, the production may be expected to increase for many years. The variety cultivated by me is the freestone frost Plum, which is most prolific. The cling-stone is much the finest variety, holds good on the tree two or three weeks later, and brings a higher price in market. The secret of my success may be summed up as follows: 1st. By selecting varieties that are but little troubled by curculio, and that are marketed without damage to the fruit; these, being used for preserves, are gathered before they become soft and mellow enough to eat; consequently, they are not injured by transportation to market, and are sure to bring a good price. 2d. By careful planting in ground previously prepared and mellowed, and kept so by yearly working. 3d. By the use of salt as a manure. 4th. By an unsparing use of the knife upon the black knot in the month of June of each year, instead of waiting until fall or the next spring, or perhaps neglecting it altogether. us the results of your practice. We shall be glad to hear from you again.-ED.].. The Horticulturist. For the Ohio Cultivator. Winter Pears. It is a very common opinion that there is some mystery in the care of Winter Pears, some peculiar management, skill and art which is not easily attainable. This is quite a mistake. I send you herewith specimens of three early winter pears just ripening. These were gathered on the 28th Oct., were wrapped at once in newspaper, packed in a barrel, headed up and forwarded from Wisconsin to Columbus, being ten days on the journey. The barrel has since stood in a cool cellar, from which I have just taken them. Two or three days in a warm room will bring them in fine eating condition. The ripening may be so retarded by keeping them in the cellar, as to have them in use through the winter. Brief descriptions may interest your readers. In former years the Plum crop of this country was a source of profit to almost every farmer, but the curculio has attacked Beurre d' Aremberg.-Fruit medium to and destroyed the finer varieties of fruit, and the black knot made such havoc among large, obovate, skin thick, yellow with light the blue Plum trees, as to discourage its cul- russet, flesh white, buttery, melting, juicy; ture. May we not hope to see this fruit flavor rich, sprightly, vinous. Tree a good again generally cultivated for masket pur-grower, very productive, requires high culposes? ture, ripens in November and December. Glout Morceau. Fruit large obtuse pyraform, skin smooth greenish yellow, with many greenish specks, flesh white, fine grained, melting and buttery, with an agreeable sweet rich flavor. [There is no reason why we should not, if we take the necessary trouble, which need not exceed that usually bestowed upon the Raspberry in your own neighborhood. If the time and labor devoted to covering the Raspberry were bestowed upon the Plum, in jarring the trees, &c., as practiced by Ellwanger & Barry and others, the Plum Tree a thrifty fine grower and good bearwould yield a fair average all over the coun-er, suited to strong soil and high culture, try. Without some such devotion as this, succeeds admirably upon the quince. The it is useless to attempt growing few but the specimens are from a dwarf tree five years poorest kinds. Prince's Imperial Gage planted, from which were gathered the seems to be one of the few good Plums not so much attacked as others. Cutting out present season over half a bushel, being its the black knot, as you suggest, is very necthird crop, season Nov. to Jan. essary. The application of salt, if not car- Vicar of Winkfield.-Fruit large, long ried too far, is good, since it also helps to pyraform, showy and handsome, skin smooth kill the grub; but we have known its inju-pale yellow, sometimes with a brownish dicious application to be entirely destructive of the tree: the recommendation of such applications should always be accompanied by a caution. We are obliged to you for calling attention to this subject, and giving cheek. Flesh white, juicy, with a sprightly flavor. This a fine cooking, and often, though not always, a good dessert fruit. Tree vigorous on both pear and quince, hardy and exceedingly productive; a profit- | being able to smoke the house in the ordi able market variety. Ripens from Nov. to A. G. HANFORd, Jan. Columbus, Dec. 3d, 1861. Simple Method of Striking Rose Cuttings. I have been in the habit, for some years, of striking roses in what appears to me a much more simple way than is described in your paper of the 5th inst. At any time of the year when they are to be procured, I take cuttings of any sort of roses I want to propagate, (moss included,) and cut the half-ripened wood into lengths of two eyes. I remove the bottom leaf, leaving the top one to rest upon the surface of the bed and nourish the cutting while it forms its roots. The hot-bed (a very slight one) in which I plant the cuttings, is made thus: On the top of a little manure, just enough to give a slight bottom heat, I place 6 inches of earth, moistened to the consis tency of mortar, then cover with white sand, and set in the cuttings. I have occasionally struck every cutting, while 99 out of 100 are an average result.-Gardeners' Chron icle. Sulphur for Grape Mildew.-M. le docteur Guyot, has received from the Minister of Agriculture a commission to examine into the state of vineyards in France, and in consequence of his report, 500 francs have been given by the government to be expended in the purchase of sulphur, which is to be given to the vine-growers who can not afford to procure it for themselves. This shows the importance attached to the use of sulphur in arresting mildew on grapevines. nary way, I have used a lady's crinoline. I bought a cheap one covered it with glazed calico, pulled it up round a pole, making it as close as possible. It is just the size to cover one of Mr. River's miniature trees. I use Gedney's Fumigator, and leave on the crinoline till the next morning. I then syringe ihe trees. The fly has no chance against the tobacco in so small a space, and the tree does not appear the worse." For standard trees we suggest the use of that style of crinoline sometimes worn in New York omnibuses. Winter Care of Bees. If his stocks were carefully prepared for wintering during the mild weather in Octobe called on to give only a general superber and November, the beekeeper will not vision from time to time, though if warm he may use the opportunity to inspect his days occur, on which the bees can fly out, hives more narrowly. Dead bees and droppings should then be removed from the bottom-board, as a caution to prevent the entrance from becoming obstructed or closed. This should be done quietly and expeditiously, and only when the temperature is such as to allow bees to fly. Fowls must not be suffered to roost on or between the hives, nor should dogs, cats, or other domestic animals be tolerated about the apiary, especially during the winter. The less the bees are disturbed, at this season, when complete repose is so essential to them, the better. If the hives are situated on the north side of a fence or building, the bees will be less likely to be affected by transient changes of the Dry Clay for Mildew on the Grape.-weather, and in other locations, the front of P. Lazaris, of Athens, gives the results of several years experiments which he made with various substances for arresting the oidium or mildew on the grape. He thinks any dried and pulverized substance which does not injure the fruit or foliage of the vine will answer the purpose. He prefers dried clay. It should be free from sand or gravel, dried in the sun for a few hours, and then pulverized very finely and sifted, and then applied the same way as sulphur.Marietta Intelligencer. Hoops in Horticulture.-A lady correspondent of the Cottage Gardener, who signs herself "Kate," says: "The fruit trees in my orchard have been much blighted this year; tops of the young shoots curl up. I have, I think, destroyed the fly now. Not the hives should, if as practicable, be sheltered from the sun's rays. A temporary screen will serve as an excellent purpose, saving numbers of bees which would otherwise be tempted to issue and find themselves unable to return. Thin hives, whether made of straw or wood, will need some protection during very cold weather, in Northern districts; and where this seems necessary, it is always judicious to attend to it early in the season, so as not to disturb the colony when clustered in a semi-torpid state. Bees kept in Langstroth hives, will require upward ventilation, especially if the stocks are strong. The mere removal of the tin coverings of the holes in the honeyboard is not always sufficient to prevent the condensation of moisture within the hive, and the honey-board should then either be elevated about an inch, or entirely removed. If replaced by a frame of suitable size covered with canvas or coarse linen, sufficient ventilation may be furnished, and if the stock needs feeding, honey thickened with brown sugar and worked to a stiff doughy consistence, may be spread on the canvas immediately above the clustered bees, when it will be taken as required. If condensed moisture still collect within the top or cover of the hive, after the removal of the honeyboard, (as sometimes happens with strong colonies) additional ventilation should be given by boring one or more inch holes through the sides of the cover. The entrance of the hives must, during this period, be kept so contracted as to allow the passage of only one bee at a time.-Bee Journal. Saw-dust as a Fixer of Ammonia.Saw-dust is one of the very best absorbents for liquid manures. Mixed with diluted sulphuric acid, it is one of the best materials for fixing the ammonia which is given off in stables. The following experiments have been put on record: A shallow basin, in ammonia was formed in this manner. For this reason, saw-dust mixed with sulphuric acid is recommended as a means of keeping the idea that the manure, when committed to the soil, lies there in a precarious condition, liable at any moment to be deprived of its soluble constituents by the rain, and of its volatile matters by the heat of the sun's rays; but, on the contrary, they tend to show that there is a conservative influence at work in the soil which imprisons these substances within it, and stores and preserves them for the future uses of the plant; and, what is more, it exercises this influence most powerfully on those substances which are most sparingly distributed through the soil, holding with the firm grasp of a miser the potash and ammonia, but leaving the soda and lime, which are less important to the plant, at the mercy of the rain. The discovery of these facts has thrown an entire new light on the chemistry of the soil, for they have shown that it must be studied not merely by itself, but in relation to the various substances with which it comes in contact in the course of cultivation, so as to trace the influences which they mutually exert, and thus a subject already sufficiently complex has become more difficult and laborious than it was before. [Scottish Farmer. The which saw-dust moistened with dilute sulphuric acid was spread, was hung up in a stable, and in the course of three weeks all the acid in the saw-dust was completely neu-Messrs. Cook, who are engaged in the Poultry Trade in Champaign. tralized by the ammonia in the air of the sta- Poultry trade, just back of our office, inble, and a considerable quantity of sulphate of formed us the other day that they have the commencement of the season in Novem shipped for the New York market, since ber, some fifteen tons of Poultry. Such a slaughter of turkeys, geese, ducks, and our hearing, for the last month or six weeks, chickens, as has been carried on, within is perfectly astounding. We could scarcely imagine where they all came from. But the products of the country seem to be inexhaustable, and the cry is still they come. stables sweet and wholesome. The acid should be diluted with forty-five times its bulk of water, before it is applied to the saw-dust. Just enough should be applied to make the saw-dust feel damp. On account of its porosity, saw-dust retains the acid very perfectly, and presents a large surface for the absorption of the ammonia. Absorptive Powers of the Soil. No contribution of science to the practice of agriculture is more calculated to arrest the attention of the farmer than the various observations which have been made within the last few years regarding the remarkable power the soil possesses of absorbing and retaining some of the indispensable elements of the plant. The Messrs. Cook seem to understand the business perfectly, and are sending the hun gry Gothamites some of the best fowls that ever graced their tables or tickled their palates. Urbana Citizen. Oil in Morgan Co.-The people of "Buck Run," still keep up a great oil excitement. Sometime ago Updike and others were in the lead, later Watkins led off with his flowing well, now Thompson leads all. Whose They are the more worthy of attention, turn will come next, we can't tell. It is evinasmuch as the facts which have been de-ident from reports that Thompson now has termined are, to a certain extent, opposed the best show, the best producing well in to some of the more commonly prevalent that locality. We shall speak more of these opinions. They lend but little countenance wells hereafter.Mc Connellsville Enquirer. the proceeds in land or other substantial prop #phot a wrifieerty that cannot run away, but not in fancy in yldikasiqzlots or town houses, that may go begging for tenants in a few years. Take government notes and good currency freely this year, extend your farming operations just as far as you can pay for as you go, there is no danger in that direction, go in boldly for good farming machinery, tools, seeds, fruit trees, etc., etc. There are thousands of hearty eaters coming upon our northern border under pretense of occupying the Canadas, all of whom must be fed; one hundred and fifty thousand Federal soldiers in Kentucky and Missouri, all with ravening stomachs; and when our boys make a hole down the Mississippi, a million hungry humans will open their mouths like young robins to get a taste of our cheap bacon and beef and corn and wheat and whiskey! Go well but wisely, into sheep and sugar making; flax and cotton may be pushed as cautious experiments, but it will not do to go too largely into products the success of which pre-supposes all supply cut off from the South-for the South will be opened in time, and her cotton and sugar will be in our northern markets. This is a law of nature, bebeyond all law of political animosities. Editor's Table. EDITOR. › Do You WANT TO SWAP ?—Any subscriber to the Ohio Cultivator for 1862, or any person réceiving it as a premium from any fair or otherwise, can have Field Notes for 1862 instead of the Cultivator, by remitting us one dollar and informing us of their post-office address. THE OHIO STATE FAIR for this year is to held at Cleveland. We heartily concur in this decision of the State Board, and hope to give the Yankees a fraternal hug on that occasion. Columbus stood ready to take the fair, but was willing to defer for the present to the City upon the Lake Shore, after which we shall insist upon taking it here and keeping it here, and giving it such a direction as shall make it something more than a raree show. pond m Farmers of the West! take heed to our words; if you know how to ride this wave, it will bring you to plenty. Be sober, be vigilant, but be bold to grapple with the opportunity; and while you are thus sustaining the best interests of the government, win also for your selves a good recompense of reward. Game Laws and Sportsman's Rights. TIME OF ANNUAL MEETING. - The State Board and others come to see in what a fix they It is not to be expected that any law for the had got themselves by having the annual meet-protection of game, or for the security of land ing in January, and with one consent have de-holders against constructive trespass, will work termined to be set back to the old time in Dec. A resolution to that effect has already been presented in the Legislature. Money and Business. Every business man who watches the drift of State and National legislation, must be convinced that we are at the opening of an inflated paper currency. It is declared a military necessity, and as military affairs are in the ascendant, it must come. Such a state of things is never desirable in the abstract, for there must of necessity be a day of reckoning some time; But now being forewarned is forearmed. This is to be done by doing a clear and close business, keeping every thing up to the handle, venturing wisely in business that can be kept all in hand like a six-horse team, raising and selling produce, live stock, etc., and investing satisfactorily to all parties, or even do justice to the subject matter at issue. The rights and privileges of proprietors and commoners are yet too vague in this wooden country, to admit of being exactly defined by statute. This sub ject involves also a very delicate question of right, as to the liabilities of sporting dogs, while engaged in the chase of game. The statutes of Ohio, for the protection of sheep, make outlaws of all dogs not under the immediate oversight of the master. Under this statute we have known of the most valuable sporting dogs being maliciously slaughtered-not for the protection of sheep, but out of sheer cussednessfor well bred dogs will seldom touch sheep, (except half breed Newfoundlands, which are among the worst sheep-killers in the world.). We have noticed from various quarters, quite a disposition among legitimate sportsmen to sustain the present Game Laws. In other ca |