either want to pick them up and extend your plantation or sell them. We have had no old ones left over. How long they will bear from one setting and make remunerative returns, I cannot say. Mr. F. O. Harrington: I know they will do quite well the second

year.

Mr. Gardner: I can say that, from the experience I have had, but how long they will keep it up, I couldn't say.

Mr. Wragg: I am not quite as old and cannot tell as big a story as Mr. Gardner. I don't know but what I have taken Mr. Van Houten out to see my patches. I never said anything about them; I had no faith in them at all. I have been growing them for a couple of years. I had the Supurb and the Iowa. I had a plant that had 140 berries on; that is the most I could find. I dug it up and took it to the State Fair. I think Mr. Greene saw it. I dug up 10 plants, the best I could find. One of the parent plants had 28 young plants set on; another one had 64 young plants, but only about 40 berries. I had a terrible time taking these plants up. After two years, I have come to the conclusion that the everbearing strawbrry is all right, but you are going to get your best results from the patches planted the first year. I put out a bed close to my house this year, of 1,000 plants, 500 Iowa and 500 Superb. I could pick any time during the month of September three or four quarts every day until that freeze. I don't know what is going to be the future. I know it is a wonderful thing. I do not believe they are going to prove good on old beds, after two years. I had more berries on one plant put out this spring than on 50 plants two years old.

Mr. Gardner: I think that is partly so and partly not. I do not think we can really tell without an actual trial.

The President: We will now take up the next paper-"Grapes in My Vineyard," by Henry Lau, Davenport.

GRAPES IN MY VINEYARD.

BY HENRY LAU, DAVENPORT.

The name of vineyard, which a great and good horticultural secretary has put into the title of this paper can scarcely be applied to the little collection of about 120 vines, consisting of about 50 varieties, which are

not cultivated with a view to pecuniary profit, but serve as a hobby to a retired farmer.

The chief object is not quantity, but quality, large and shapely bunches of choice grapes, suitable as presents to friends near and far.

To attain this object, vines should have a sunny and sheltered location, they need all the heat and sunshine which the climate of Iowa can furnish, a warm, mellow and well drained soil and careful and judicious pruning. Late or delicate sorts do best on the south or east wall of a building.

The new bearing canes, raised for next year's fruiting should be trained along the top of the trellis; they require sunshine to produce good fruit buds; no sunshine, no bloom. Vines should not be allowed to overbear, the bloom should be thinned out to what the vines are able to ripen in an average season. Even early kinds like Iona, Brighton and Jewel will not ripen all their fruit, if the vines are overloaded, and will also fail to make good, ripe bearing wood for the next season.

There is quite a variation in the behavior of different seasons, soils and locations. The flavor, color and even the size of the individual berries are quite variable. Some sorts are not good until over-ripe, others have their best flavor before complete maturity, like Brighton, Amber Queen, Goethe and Herbert.

To make sure of unblemished bunches they ought to be put into paper sacks early enough to be a protection againt disease and worms and to prevent the birds from tearing them up later on. There are some seasons when they do not touch them at all, while at others they will not leave a bunch undamaged. I cover only the finer bunches, beginning with Brilliant, Jefferson, Iona, Catawba and Lady Washington, these being the kind most susceptible to disease. From 1,500 to 2,000 sacks are used every summer, mostly one-half and one-pound sacks; it takes a very large bunch to require a two-pound sack.

There is, however, one drawback to this business. When heavy rains follow a drouth about the time of ripening, some of the thin skinned sorts will crack and of those that make a very compact bunch, the berries will force each other off the peduncle. They are more apt to do this when inside of a sack, where there is less evaporation and they also start to rot, while outside they would probably get dry.

As to the merits of the different varieties with regard to flavor, it is largely a matter of taste, many object to a foxy flavor, even to that of the Concord, while others have a preference for it. Among the blacks, Herbert and Barry are my favorites. Iona seems to me to be the finest table grape of all, but it is not easy to produce fine bunches of it. Agawam, Delaware, Brighton and Amber Queen are fine red kinds, Green Mountain is perhaps the finest of my white varieties. Champion, Ives and Elvira have been dug up, because no one would eat them and Diana might just as well go too, being not worth much.

Mr. Tanner: I would like to ask whether anybody has tried the

Oneta grape.

Prof. Beach: It is a white grape of not very much pulp. I do not regard it as a grape of special value.

Mr. Tanner: There is a man by the name of Fish, of Marion, has been growing them for a number of years. He says he has no trouble keeping them until Christmas.

Prof. Beach: For a family vineyard I think it would be worthy of a trial anywhere where you can grow the Concord.

Mr. Blodgett: Mr. Lau, in his paper does not tell how he fastens those sacks on.

The Secretary: He usually cuts the sack on each side about two inches and turns the edges to lap over the vine and puts a pin in each side under it. Some of his best bunches are very fine, indeed. Mr. Blodgett: I used to tie the sacks, but have been using pins since.

Mr. McPherrin: What bird is it that destroys so many of our grapes?

Prof. Beach: That bird is the wasp. The wasp cuts the skin. The Orioles and English Sparrow will do it.

Mr. Blodgett: I have seen the Yellow Hammer do it.

Mr. Tanner: In our sections we have thousands of the English Sparrows and they destroy a great many of them.

Mr. McPherrin: The reason I asked the question, in my part of town, the northwestern part of this city, my neighbors and myself got into an argument what it was that was doing the mischief. They claimed it was bees. I watched closely and couldn't find any. I claimed it was the Sparrow, because we have lots of Sparrows. The President: I would like to offer a thought as to the destruction of grapes by birds. I have a vineyard of about one thousand vines located near ten acres of timber. We find that the Oriole and Cat-bird are principally responsible for the destruction of grapes. We placed tin cans filled with water on the posts in the vineyard, so the birds got water, and the destruction was almost entirely stopped.

Mr. Van Houten: I believe if there is any one thing that the planter could adopt without any amount of trouble and with a certainty of success, it would be the growing of grapes. A great many people think they ought to have two or three acres. If a man has but a town lot, he can grow a few grape vines, and he

can grow them with less bother and trouble than almost any other fruit. We have heard a great deal of talk about the high cost of living. If the people of the United States would be as earnest and energetic in the production of small areas, as the people of Japan are, I believe the high cost of living would be solved almost at once. I have made the statement, and want to repeat it, the people of Japan will have something growing, and if they have not a single foot of ground, they will have a box on the side of the house or in a window, and if they can't get it there, they will put it on top of the house. One building lot in this country is as large as ten in the Orient; yet, on one of those little lots they raise more than we do here. Who is better calculated to do this than the business and laboring man at his home? He can plant out a few plants, and I know of nothing that will exceed the grape.

Mr. Tanner. I believe Mr. Van Houten is right. If nine-tenths of the lots in this town were planted to good varieties of grapes, they would produce all the grapes needed.

The President: I believe we were to take up Mr. Toole's paper for discussion this morning. Have you anything further to offer on this subject?

Mr. Toole I didn't know but what I had reached the point in my paper where I might be asked some questions. I want to say, as to landscape gardening, I have some ideas of my own. I wouldn't ask any landscape gardener anything about it. There is one thing I think it is always well to bear in mind in landscape gardening, and that is, to have in mind always whether what you plant is going to hide something or obstruct the view, or whether it is going to hide your lawn. If you hide your lawn there isn't much comfort in having one, even though it is kept in good shape. Always bear in mind when you are planting shrubbery, what the probable size of it will be in the future; how it will affect the view, and that generally applies to the view from the house. Above all things, you don't want to be shut in as many people are, with too much planting around the house.

Mr. Wragg: I remember hearing Mr. Toole talking a year ago on the Viburnums-the High Bush Cranberry, and the Dentatum; did you find that a profitable shrub?

Mr. Toole: When you come to say valuable, I notice they are listed by some nurserymen. I have seen them grow in Baraboo. It is rather a rare shrub with us. I would say, both of them have a value worthy of consideration. You can say that of the spirea;

the bush always looks well. I think the Viburnums all have a place. I don't know how many we have. I had in mind the Sheep Berry, the Maple Leaf, and Dentatum and one or two others.

Mr. Wragg: And the Black Haw.

Mr. Toole: I am not sure of that. Further south in Illinois, we had the Black Haw. I supposed we had the Black Haw with us, but when I came to look into it closer, I found ours is the Sheep Berry. Most of our shrubs are amenable to pruning, and you should always remember, that you must train your plants, and consider whether you can keep the shrub down in size or not. Mr. Wragg: Have you the American Mountain Ash? Mr. Toole: We have it.

Prof. Beach: While we are on this subject of native shrubs, I should like to hear from Mr. Millard Harrington. He has given a great deal of attention to shrubs. I would like to have a statement from him as to which ones he regards most valuable.

Mr. Harrington: I do not know that I can add anything to what has been said. The Manna Berry makes a good showing. Some of the boys like the fruit when it is ripe. We have two or three dogwoods that are native to our country, which would be quite advantageous to put out in landscape gardening.

The Secretary: Is the large flowering Dogwood hardy with you? Mr. Harrington: I think not.

The Secretary: There are a few at Davenport, but they are not very satisfactory. The trees live but the bloom is usually killed.

Mr. Harrington: I wouldn't think, under the usual circumstances, that the hazel would be planted a great deal; under certain conditions, it might.

Mr. Toole: I had in mind the Witch-hazel, not the other Hazel. They make a very neat shrub.

Mr. Harrington: I don't think that is hardy enough with us here.

Mr. Toole: Mr. Patten tells me that we are better situated as to hardiness than he is; that is simply because of the bluff situation.

Mr. Harrington: There are many things that enter into what we call hardiness. The latitude has less to do with it than we sometimes think. Take the state of Michigan; they can grow trees and plants in the extreme northern Michigan, which they cannot