jgricalincill fegartment Grape Culture I :t.. The -following brief; practicaVand cOndensed rules for the management of grapes were given by Dr. Whiting at the Farmer's institute, recently held at Saginaw, Michigan :-. ,'The soil best suited for the grape_ is decomposing shale,. but any good clay soil thoroughly drained will do. The ground should be, carefully prepared and only well-rotted manure Used. • Decomposing - turf is one of• the best fertilizers ; when it can be ob tained, no other will be required. The vines selected -for plantibg Should be good one year old layers or cuttings.. They may look small, but will make the best vines. , '. Good culture is as necessary to the vine .34, to corn .or cabbage: ,Mulching and watering .the first year .should not bi! neglected if (hough is excessive. One good soak ing is better than sprinklings. More water can be saved with a hoe than can be put on with a skrinpler. In planting cut the Vine back to - two buds, whatever its strength or age. Surnmey burning Con'Mats in pinch ing off weak and .straggling hoot in order to confine the sap to the fniin branches. The first summer allow Nut one main shoot to grow. In the fall, after the first frost, cut all the sum mer growth back to within two inids of the ground. The second year confine the sap to two branches, and in the fall cut : back to three buds each. - The third ;veal, if your vine has nyule - vigorousg,rowth, a few -stems of grapes may he allowed- toNnature, brut better take off all the fruit than to suffer-too muEll to grow.' Too heavy bearing while-.youn , f frill weaken the vine for .all future time. The trimming, now depends on what kind pf a trellis you wish to MEM -After you Kaye obtained a good vigcroici root, you can make it grow iu almosvany shape place son wish. byliceping the liranehes desired - tied up, anti all the otheris pinched back. Each year a few of the strongest branches should be allowkd to grow as wearers of fruit the following year. In trimming cut away 4 much of 1 the old_ wood as possiblel-and save the iww, as all thedruit buds arc o -the new wood. Y Oil ea n craily tell bow much tc cm a Nay by holdin . r.yoUr new woo up to the trellis. and ima!rinc a trane with three stems or rapi!s for eac bud. It' you do not cut off enough in the fall, :And VOU find. that the vine is going to be too thick, do not faill to :Mewl to, it when shoots are Alkma .'three to six inches long. in the siirin , r, or while in blossom. As soon as the fruit, is set examine_ the yine;..,prea out the new wool so that- enell Inine of grapes wilt hang free and eleay . _ pick oil all the tainall buneht?s,', an fasten the vines sectuyly, so that the I=l breaking the voui4' and "tinier branches. ,Aylten the wood ha sgrown So there arc three leaves 'beyond the last lilineh o/ grapes examine the vine: select the branche you wish to save for fruit hearing the coming season, and keep them tied up until they . have grown' as long as yon. wish to to make use of. The other branches should be pinched off as soon as they reach this point, ":three leaves be yond the last stem of grapes." . . • Break off all shoots and lattdrals• as fliStasthey appear, but on no ac count injure the leave on the hearing canes. .The fruit will color but-not ripen if the leaves are destroyed. tirapes.for winter use should lie picked as, soon as ripe and, when dry packed in dry sawdust. Select your how orlar. cover 'the, bottom .with sawdust, then•layers of tgapes and sawdust alternately wail full. Keep, I.lte.m in the ecolcat ,place you can find fre'e from frost until wanted for use. _ _-__. ,1,110...-- Ashes For Soils • Ashes are amongthe.--most econom ical nianureS, as they arc - produced !, by every household. Not a pound of. ashes should he stiiiited. but all should be saved anti applied to the land. Where they - can be had at reasonable rates they should be purchased fur manure. They can be drilled into the :soil , with melts and grain, or sown - bromicaSttin ineadowS and pastures - or placed in the muck heap. Pota toes, turnips anti all -roots. clover. - peas, beans. grain and grass are ex hausters of these salts and they are consequently much benetitted I,y the, use of: ashes. connection with bone dust they are used, with decid ed advantage -for the above crops. From twenty to thirty bushels p e r acre skould be used. upon light soils; • Tor rich kinds Or clays give a heavier - dressing—ay,tifty bushels per acre. Ito not forget that rep-ated dressings .of ashes, lime or gypsum, without a corresponding mhlition of barnyard or vegetable Inhume, lig). exhaust, tillage Of, their. carbonaceous and Or ganic• matters: This is not the ease with meadow lands for this very oh vious reason The whole s`urface of the soil is covered with vegetable agents, employed - in drawino• the car• bon from the air and soil, and• storiim: it'up in stubble and roots. Thi; the carbon is' constantly inereas'ing in well managed pastures, and, for a, __—time in meadows, The ashes made from bituminous and anthrecite coal • are inferior to those made frothveg . etables and wood, but still they are . . valuable. I== A Thvax farmer, cannot conceal-the fact that he is ji poor farnier. His crops-' reveal it to the world. His fences bespeak it.: his stock shows it. It cannot - he hidden or covered up. it sticks out . as plain as ati-ohl hat in ,a broken pane of glass. C 1 1 E), p the•premises about the buildings. It is no honor or credit to have the yards,-littered up with old sheds, wagons, h]•ol.'un fanning tools, wood, ete., with thistles, bran). burdocks and briars, growing ull among them REAR down hard on the food crops, snd raise all possible that will save buying or exchange. 1 •No one. thing adds so much to . tihe --profitableness and selling of a farm ',as fruit and shade trees. - :1.,,L00K i well intolliyself; 'there is a 'source which will always spring up ~ if thou wilt always, search there, fthicaliiiant piparlmtni E. E. Qtirmor, I r - J. A. WILT, Committep _ • G. 1. T. 3lceoi.Lon, of • G. W. RYAN, "I Associate Editors, A. T. Lu.i.Ey. -Communications may .be sent to either of the above editors , as may be preferred , and will appear in the Issue of which he has charge. .. T. LILLEY, Editor. MENTAL CULTURE 'Education does not so-much create fa culty as• it trains and invigorates it. What the grindstone is to the axe, education is to the mind, a means to sharpness. A. little more than this may be title when we apply it to the mind, for the very pro , cess of thinking, and study, loss. a tenden cy to work out the dross,. refining it as the hainmer does the iron on the anvil. It is very important that the Mind eains strength and facility of action throltigh habit of exercise, but it is puke import ant to learn the lair of its own action; to tind out its own natural chanbel, and like "the: river, wear it broader, deeper and straighter, as it has occasion. The un trained mind is like the waters of a river turned upon the prairie, having no chan nel for ifs use, stagnation is sure to follow After wandering and spreading over so much surface. A horse may be ..istrong hen lirSt put into service, but he does n ot know bow to use his Strength until he has received a special training. By habit 1 - 4 labor his muscle becomes more vigor ous and harmonious in action so that without ai.y real increase of strength he can move a load with .ease, which at first it. world have been impossible for him to start. It has; been said, we cannot stretch out all arm or a foot, or''walk, or run, or leap, without freshening the life-currents of the sysleM t•sentling new flashes of electric warmth along the nerves and muscks : and seattering a cloud of those blue and black devils that buzz around our , e,lentary piapils; stayers at home, and WOnlen 1191 , 6,4 , 1 yd MlrSerieS and amid household Ca+.!S. This is true, but it is egnally true, that the mind ought to be, and must be trained in oiler to know when anddiow. to act, to render the most good to itself and others. A KNOWLEDGE OF COMMON THINGS It is ii t a knowledge of abstruse and d.illiealt questions that we heed, so much as a fail il-iarity with the every-day atrairs of life.. The number of persons Who at tain to . ! j ulinenee biy the extent of their in \s, - small. fum Il .ation is l'et.',Sal' ly all. Their Ii earls tower al?ovc oth rs, like . the peaks i Of mountains, and their auses are in eve ry persons in nab.. 1 hey are the excep tions, awl not' the ;rule. it will be ~b-seived seived ih studying the history of -t_ '. wi'Prid .. ' ilptllle great mass of pe.ple, n he 'zepresent the valleys, hav'e been raised by the progress of iikelVery and invention, until the common man :las. at the present age; attained a height that was formerly considered inaccessible, except. to the scholars I.y pl,o:ession.' l The man who ex eels must go vastly higher now than he was compelled to do in the time of Plato and otfler philosophers, about whom our learnet-pundits tell such marvellous I:to ries. In fact, Liebig say's: "Our chil dren have more accurate perception and understanding of nature and natural phe nomena than' Plafo had, and, they call laugh at the -mistakes made' by Pliny." lint there is no denying the fact that a knowledge of common things is sadly nee ' dc , lin every community . : and Nte must; take care that, children of a future gener ation do not tutu the laugh on us. We iire led to these reflections by the occa sional receipt of letters asking questions, the answeis to s%hielt might to be'kuown .to the veliest tyro in ,icictiee. We are al war' glad to an , NUr q actions, and 'many Of our correspondents av lus with Nalu al;le information, or start topics tha t .lead to imporiant investigations. 'OSV and then situ e one asks a question, very much as.if lie Were to inquire if water common ly runs up hill, or something equally ab- mud. •We receive.spee . imens of such as quartz or rock crystal or feldspar, desitiin an analysis to be in'tide. anti in quiring if they'contain precious metal? We are asked if a perpetual motion be possible? What inc the constituents of \vitter ran it.be tenclercd combustible by