I have long been in the habit of saving Grapes for winter use between bats of cotton. I hare always found a tendency to mold, from, as I suppose, the too close texture of the cotton bats. Last autumn I gathered my principal crop of Grapes (Itabella and Catawba) on the 7th of October - about 200 lbs. In the pressure of other business, they were left spread thinly on sheets, in a dry room, until the 2d of November. This was a fault, as I was aware at the time, since they not only shrivelled badly, but mildew began on the stems. They were then packed - one half in cotton, as usual, and the remainder in dry Maple leaves, in alternate layers of each, as in the case of the cotton.

And now for the result Those put down in the Maple leaves kept much better than the others. The advantage of the Maple leaves over the cotton is, they pack less closely, and so do not exclude air; they do not stick to the decayed berries and the sharp portions of the stems; and they have, in case of any incipient decay, less power to communicate a bad flavor. Indeed, Maple leaves, gathered soon after they have fallen, are perfectly clean, and without scent I should have said, before this, that these Grapes are yet good, and are now in use.

Theoretically, I have long thought, and do still think, that packing in Clean sand would be preferable to any other mode. Sand washed from the vegetable matter that is often mixed with it, is as clean as the new fallen snow, and perfectly insoluble in any common vegetable acid. It can not, therefore, impart the least flavor to fruit buried in it It has the further advantage of most closely enveloping fruit, especially the berries of Grapes, so that they are separated from each other; at the same time, its dryness will absorb the moisture that may be imparted by a decaying berry. Sand can be readily washed, and dried in the heat of summer; and the same mass could be used from year to year, by being annually washed. C. E. Goodrich. - Utica, N. Y.