" Chautauqua," Proctor, N. Y., says: "Is the grapevine cleistogamous: i. e., is the stigma fertilized by its own pollen before the cap falls off?

Volume 23, page 308, Berckman's grape; does it ripen in July and is it anywhere for sale? I am unable to find it in a catalogue.

Volume 23, page 205, cheap boiler, water backs. No hardware store in Buffalo knows what it is. Do you know where and who manufactures it?

Volume 24, page 178, Strong's method of grafting. What is it?

I will look under the nom de plume " Chautauqua " in Gardeners' Monthly for an answer."

[Cleistogamous, as generally understood by those who use the term, would hardly be applied to the grape vine. The violet has two distinct kinds of flowers, one as we generally know them, with colored petals, the other without petals, and which in fact never open their buds at all, but mature seed without opening. These are properly cleistogamous flowers in the purely botanical sense. In the grape vine the corolla remains over the pistil in such a manner as to favor the reception of its own pollen. It is not adapted to cross-fertilization, unless the operator removes the corolla and applies the pollen before its own has had a chance to reach the stigma. It might be called a self-fertilizer and not cleistogamous, though the results are much the same.

The Berckmans could probably be had of those who secured Dr. Wylie's hybrids. Probably Mr. Berckmans could tell.

"Water backs " is a common term in this part of the world in connection with ordinary kitchen ranges or stoves. It is a small boiler at the back of the range which furnishes warm water for kitchen or household uses. What do they call them in Buffalo?

Mr. Woodbridge Strong's method of grafting is simply to cut or chop a gash in the side of the branch, cut the scion wedge-fashion, and stick it in. It is among the most valuable facts ever given the readers of the Gardeners' Monthly. - Ed. G. M.]