eight to fifteen bunches of fruit. At the beginning of the fourth year each cane must be cut to two buds, always making the cut an inch or more beyond the bud. We now have a straight stem two and one half or three feet high with three to five spurs of two buds each. Each bud should push and bear two or three bunches, giving us eighteen to thirty, as much as a vine in its fourth year should bear.

During this and each subsequent season we should aim to maintain a uniform growth among the different shoots, always encourag ing the shoot growing from the lower bud on each spur to make a vigorous growth, because it becomes the spur from which the fruitbearing cane for the next year must grow. This can be accomplished by pinching the shoots, starting from the upper buds when they take the lead, as they are apt to do. At the end of the fourth season we have three to five branches, each bearing two canes. The upper cane on each branch is to be cut away, and the lower one cut to two buds as usual. We will also have a few canes growing from base or dormant buds. They should all be cut away but two, which we prune to two buds, the vine being now able to sustain five to seven spurs with their load of thirty to forty clusters. One or two spurs may be added in the same manner each year till we have ten or twelve, which is enough for any vine. This is one of the simplest systems known, and one of the best. After the head is formed, it consists in simply cutting away the upper cane of each branch and pruning the other to a spur of two buds. But it requires judgment, observation, and practice.

The pruner, before he touches a vine, should be able to picture it in his mind as it will appear at the end of the season. The temptation to leave too much wood must be finally resisted. All suckers must be cut entirely away. Thorough cultivation should be given each season, but it need not be deep. If good cedar stakes are used they will last till the vines are stiff enough to support themselves. Every farmer should plant from twenty-five to fifty vines for the use of his family. Their pruning need occupy but a few hours each year, and it can be done during the winter. Their cultivation can be done in a short time with horse and cultivator. It should be attended to early in the season, before the feeding fibers occupy the upper soil, and should never be very deep.

WHAT VARIETIES TO PLANT.

The professional vineyardist will, of course, select those kinds which are best adapted to the purpose for which he grows them. If for wine, he will plant wine grapes; otherwise, what he considers

the best table grape, taking into consideration their shipping qualities. For the farmer who plants for his own use, I would recommend Deleware, Concord, Hartford Prolific, and Isabella. These are pure natives, hardy, productive, of good quality, and free from disease. They resist phylloxera, and are seldom attacked by mildew. I have tested nearly all the new varieties of note, but not one of them has given entire satisfaction, except, perhaps, the Worden and Herbert, which might be added to the above list. The Royal Muscadine, when well cared for, is a magnificent grape, of the best quality and early, but it will not bear neglect, and is verv liable to mildew. The Black Hamburg is a noble grape, of the largest size and best quality. It is a fair shipper, and does well in some localities, but mildews badly, and is worthless for the general farmer.

DISEASES OF THE GRAPE.

The only disease we have had to contend with is mildew, which prevails quite extensively in Western Oregon. So far as I know, it always starts among the foreign or hybrid varieties, and for this reason I advise the farmers to plant only natives. Mildew is an insidious foe, very liable to commence its destructive work just at the time when the farmer is busiest with his harvesting. If not promptly checked, it spreads rapidly and soon ruins a vineyard. The only effective remedy we have yet found is powdered sulphur. If applied in time, this has never failed to prevent the disease, and if it has already made its appearance, the free use of sulphur has always arrested its further progress. The sulphur should be blown or sprinkled on the leaves of fruit during hot, dry weather. The rot-the great enemy of the Eastern grape-growers-has not to my knowledge made its appearance in our State. The phylloxera, the destroyer of the French vineyards, is also as yet unknown in this valley; but unless we exercise more care in the future than we have in the past, it will surely come and work destruction among our foreign vines, as it is doing in California. It behooves us to be. warned in time. Viewing the subject from the standpoint of twenty-five years' experience, I am led to the conclusion that as a commercial industry, grape-growing will never take high rank in Western Oregon, not only for the reasons already given, but for the further reason that we can never hope to compete with California in the manufacture of either raisins or wine.

ORCHARD PLANTING.

By H. B. LUCE.

The attempt is to give the readers of Fruits and Flowers some observations on my limited knowledge of orchard planting. I shall confine my remarks to the field of my experience-the Willamette Valley-whose soils and climatic conditions are measureably uniform.

We are on the threshold of a new era in horticulture in Oregon. The pioneer times have passed away, and the old mossgrown, unpruned, and uncultivated orchards, containing many worthless and too many varieties, must be grubbed up and new ones planted to supply foreign markets and home demands. Some hesitate to plant more fruit trees for fear of over-production and unremunerative prices. Such doubting Thomases ought to take California, which has almost doubied her orchard area in the past two years, as an example, and take courage. California glutted Eastern markets with her fruits two years ago, selling at auction carloads of fruit for less than cost of transportation. Nothing daunted, next year she increased her area of planting and vastly increased her Eastern shipments, yet found a market for all her fruits at advanced prices. Her previous shipments had advertised her productions and opened markets that she could not have won by selling to commission houses at equal prices with competing products from Europe. The fact is, we Oregonians are shut up to our home market because of our limited production, and we become discouraged when we glut our home market and realize low prices. When we raise a supply of good shipping fruits, so that we can ship by the train load to the Eastern States, or by the ship load to Australia, Great Britain, and South Pacific ports, then our green shipping fruits will find a willing market abroad, our dried fruits will drive European products out of the Eastern States, and our home markets, relieved from the glut, will offer better prices for domestic supplies. California horticulturists have demonstrated this fact for us, and we should unite with her in conquering these markets and holding them for our own forever more.

WHAT TO PLANT.

For the family orchard several varieties of each kind of fruit ripening in succession should be selected. (For a description of the varieties herein named the inquirer is referred to nursery cata

logues and horticultural works.) A dozen cherry trees-May Duke, Early Purple Guigne, Black Tartarian, Yellow Spanish, Royal Ann, Black Republican, and Late Duke. A half dozen peach treesAvery's Early, Crawford's Early, Golden Cling. A few apricotsMoorpark is best. A dozen or two plums-Early Golden Drop, Peach Plum, Columbia, and Coe's Golden Drop. A dozen summer and autumn pears-Madeline, Bartlett, Tyson, Fall Butter, Beurre d'Anjou. A dozen winter pears-Easter Beurre, Winter Nellis, Vicar. Two dozen summer and fall apples-Red Astrachan, Early Harvest, Golden Sweet, Sweet Bough, Red June, Gravenstein, Fameuse Fall Pippin; and twenty-five winter apples-Jonathan, Yellow Newtown Pippin, Lady Apple, Golden Cheek Pippin, Yellow Bellflower, Golden Russett, Tompkins' King, and Tallman Sweet; and two or three crab apples-Transcendent, Hyslop; also a dozen prunes-the Italian.

But the selection of varieties for commercial purposes is quite a different proposition. Only a few varieties should be chosen, and those with reference to their growing and bearing qualities and the market for which they are intended. The great defect in Oregon orchards today is that they contain too many varieties, so that the owners cannot ship by the carload.

SUMMER AND FALL APPLES.

There is no market abroad or at home for summer or fall apples worth the attention of the commercial dealer, for they come in direct competition with our luscious berries, peaches, and grapes. It would seem, however, that we might secure a market for early apples in the mountainous regions east of the Cascade Range. But as our State is rapidly filling up, our towns begin to offer a local market for a limited supply of this fruit. For this purpose, the Red Astrachan and the Gravenstein are the best.

WINTER APPLES.

For extensive apple-growing a few of the best varieties of winter apples should be planted, and the location should be carefully chosen for special adaptations. The best shipping apple in our State is the Yellow Newtown Pippin, but it is a poor grower and bears inferior fruit in most localities in our valley, though it succeeds well on the slate, quartzite, and granite soils of Southern Oregon, and in the drier regions of Eastern Oregon. The Red Cheek Pippin, Esopus Spitzenberg, and Golden Russett are all good shippers, but the trees are not strong growers or healthy. The Northern Spy is a good shipper and the tree is thrifty, but it is a

shy bearer in many localities, and it is a late bearer. The Jonathan and White Winter Pearmain are also good shippers. But among all of them, Oregonians have not yet selected one that is satisfactory as an apple for extensive commercial purposes and especially adapted to our soil and climate. I suggest the Ben Davis for this purpose. Its quality is only second rate, but it is large and red, and the tree is healthy and a strong grower.

The best soil for the apple is a deep, rich, moist, calcareous loam, but it will thrive on shallow soils; even clay underlaid with gravel has proved good, but whatever the nature of the sub-soil, it must be sound and open to the passage of moisture. An extremely light sandy soil, or a very stiff clay or adobe are the worst soils for the apple. In all cases where there is excessive moisture, there must be a close tile drainage or the trees will soon die out.

CHERRIES

We have but two good shipping cherries, the Royal Ann and the Lewelling, or Black Republican. The only soil suited to them is high and dry locations with a porous sub-soil.

PRUNES AND PLUMS.

The commercial prune for this State is undoubtedly the Italian. It is the best both for domestic and export purposes. It is not so prolific as some other varieties, but it is very dark in color, has a thin skin, is good size, is pleasantly tart, and is fine fleshed. It is the only prune we have that will compete in the markets with the French prunes of France and California, which it easily leads.

The Columbia and Coe's Golden Drop are perhaps our best commercial plums. The Yellow Egg is the popular plum for the canneries.

In California experience has shown, says Wickson's California Fruits, that the prune and plum grafted on Myrobolan stocks thrive in low, moist valley lands, in comparatively dry lands and in stiff upland soils, so that it has come to be accepted as the all-round stock for the plum. Though prunes and plums will endure bad soils, they do better on good soils, a rich, clayey loam being best suited to their growth and fruitfulness.

PEARS.

Like the Italian prune, the Bartlett is the favorite pear for Oregon planters. Canners, shippers, and local customers all call for the Bartlett, and they usually sell at the East for nearly twice the price