Among the numerous varieties of new fruits continually coming into market, it must puzzle the novice which to select. The raiser of novelties - as in the case of a grape introducer - whose card is before us, tells us that he had his new "seedling" alongside of the Concord, Salem, Hartford, and a dozen others, which all rotted and blighted, and " fizzled out " generally, while his glorious " Pride of Grapedom proved all that could be desirable in a first-class grape." We have a friend who is fond of growing numerous grapes. He has thirty kinds in full bearing and more coming on. His opinion is that: "So far as doing well is concerned, I do not find that one does much better than another, except perhaps the Delaware and the Catawba. These do not always ripen very well. That is to say, some green or immature fruit will always be found among the mature ones. They all do well. My plan is to plant in dry ground; that is, ground in which the water will surely run away rapidly. I like hard, solid ground. By digging about the vines some roots get cut, and these get fungus and molds on the bruised parts, and this communicates to the whole mass. And deleterious insects get into soft ground much easier than when the ground is solid and firm.

I keep weeds and grass from getting much headway by piling coal ashes under the plants, and I give the vines as much rich food as I can spare. They do not caie how much you give them. This is all my secret." This is the experience of a successful amateur. He does not grow for market, but for pleasure. To some extent such a mode of culture could not be applied on a large scale. But it goes to show that when "every kind rots," and so forth, it is to the cultivator and the cultivation, and not the variety, that we may often place the blame.

There is, however, always pleasure in watching the progress of some new variety, and in testing the improvements supposed to be made; and while relying mainly on well-known and well-tested varieties for one's main crop, a judicious experimenting with new kinds will be found to be a source of great pleasure.

In looking at what is now considered as sound practice, and back on the advice we used to give when such advice was heresy, we often congratulate ourselves on the success of our teachings; though few seem to remember to whom they are indebted for what has been taught. Take, for instance, the shading of fruit in order to get them to perfection. When the Gardeners' Monthly was first issued, the general belief was that it required "sun and air " to ripen fruits well, and the books teemed with directions to pull off leaves, thin out branches, and tie up shoots, and expose the fruit if we would have the best success. We showed that the initial stages of maturity was a vital, and not a purely chemical process; and that this was better secured by shade than by exposure. It was not good doctrine then, but now the general practice with those who want to get the very best bunches of grapes is to put paper bags on them; and some say that even tomatoes are far superior when treated in this way. But it is necessary that leaves should have the full light, though the fruit may not; and a few good, large healthy leaves are preferable to a good number of small ones. By far too many branches are left on most trees.

When the tree is in leaf, the one branch smothers out the other, and, remembering what we have already said about the value of healthy leaves, few leaves arrive at that perfection necessary to perfect the best fruit. Therefore, prune out enough of the weaker ones to give the rest every chance to develop their leaves to the fullest extent. Also prune so as to assist the plant to a conical form, as this enables the light to act better on all parts of the tree leaves. If trees have been neglected, in pruning now severely to get them to this shape, the result will be to make them throw out shoots still more vigorously from near the parts cut away. When these shoots appear in spring, pull them out while young with the finger and thumb. The current of sap will then flow strongly into the shoots left, and the ratio of growth will, in the end, be nearly equal through all the branches. The flow of sap through a tree is nearly like that of water through an uneven country. A very little obstruction will turn the course; but that, once started, soon be comes as great a stream in the new as in the old channel.

Apple trees have a habit, when old, of pushing out sappy shoots along the main branches. These should be cut away, in addition to a similar thinning, as recommended for the pear.

Dwarf apples and dwarf pears should be examined now to see what the borer is doing for them. This is the time when they do the most destruction, as they are boring down into the stems for winter protection. A cut with a jack-knife up and down the stems, so as to avoid girdling as much as possible, is the most certain destruction. Then, if in spring, before the parent insects begin to work, oiled paper, or rather tarred paper, be put about the stem near the ground they can be kept out. It is strange that with so little time as borer hunting takes, so many thousand trees should be allowed to die from their attacks every year.

Above all, for both apple and pear orchards, we bespeak a liberal dressing - a top dressing of something or another. If no manure is to be had, even common road sand will be found to have a beneficial influence.

Poverty of the surface soil is oftener a cause of fruit failure than " grass" " change of climate," or many imaginable ills, brought up from some ghostly cavern of thought, to cover up the poverty of pocket or of industrial inclinations.

Strawberries are much better when protected through the winter, no matter how " hardy " they may be. Very coarse, strawy manure is the best material, which can be raked off in early spring. A few inches is sufficient, just enough to keep the sun off when frozen, which all our readers know, by this time, is the chief cause of loss by frost.