Hollinger Corp. pH 8.5 Wactte to Beginners. ae Harvest..... Budding Instru ons. d Boys on the Farm. . ~ Bones, Ashes, etc. - Blackberry’ Culture _ Blackberries...... - Cultivation and ‘Training.. b -Certainties of Fruit Culture... . Currant Culture..... 0. si eee Fruit .... . Fall Planting.... _ Fruit house... . Forms of Trees.. Y (Grafting. 40.0. Grape “ulture. Grape Talk : He _ Gooseberry Culture......... Grape Culture.... 2.2.2... ; How I Began Fruit Gite: PVRS ae Biter hese owes give Kehew Wb All et Gn: a esene Gc eR elec Eat ae . How to Winter Trees... ...:. i How Farmers Should Begin. . How to Make Maneya w.iaset Hudson River Vines.......... Hints for Evaporator: ‘How to Hold the Boys Insects Injurious to Fruit... JEN AIS ESM IRAE oboks dap ac Location of Fruit Gardens... > Layiog Out a Fruit EE» wee weluabelsecr aus hceestme see wae Marketing Bruits 52: Pee a Aanurins ees yas Viale Mar¥boro Raspberry..... » Making Propagatin, Beds. : Manures, by Prof. Caldwell..._. : » Manures and A plication! ay MOL SL Cu he E Propagation—General Rules. Rey Propagating Strawberries...... . Propagating Black Rasperries .. _. Propagating Red Raspberries. bees Blackberrie Propagating Currants... ; Propagating Gooseberries.. RS ce aera Propagating Grapes .... : Propagating the Quince. SPUN . Propagating Peach, Apricot, etc....... _ Propagating Plum and Chie PS RN _ Propagating the iPearigoe ’ i. . Grape Vineset. | D. Second Summer. — FirstSummer. = E. Winter pruned. ‘Winter pruned. F. Laid on wire ‘third | at i Spring.” (pes Growth the fourth s summer; 06 cluste Wint fourth winter } ce a = —- = ae — —_— ~ —e ae ST a> = ‘SSSNBAILONGOYd GNY ‘LNVid 20 YODIA ‘SSANWUIS “ALIWWNO ‘ALNYES "3Z'S SDYVI ‘YSHLO ANY NVHi 33YD3G LNSNINS SHOW ¥ NI ONILINA ‘SSONVISWNOYID WV YSGNN LINYS JO dOYD ¥ ONINNSNI SNHL “ROSSOTE LOTETT V HIM ‘LNSUVd HSHLOW SHL 4O SLINZIN SHL WIV S3SS3SSOd AY¥YVd SHL ‘SRINYSEMVYLS WIV 30 SISVNIVA LSOW BHL ‘SYSHLO ANYW GNY 'Y3DNGOYLNI SLI ‘'YOLYNIDINO SLI AS GSYSCISNOD SYM N3SNO ASSUSr BHL “88! NI GadnGoOud ‘NBSNO-AgSYSr JO ONMGRRS ¥ $y DIOLS PUGS test + RUSK boa . a : “ “HA NTLS ana 9E"H1I1 ‘NOS @ LUWH “SVHD Mi seeacy Soe TON Awuvd ; ANU Vd ee < 4 : : 7S ~ a \ » ‘ ! MNIMMH NIH WAIN! JOHN A. WARDER. JOHN J. THOMAS. CHARLES DOWNING. HON. MARSHAL P. WILDER. FATHERS OF RMERICAN POMOLOGY. No one can enjoy our Fine Fruits, or write about them, without becoming indebted to Patrick Barry, Charles Downing, John J. Thomas, Hon. Marshal P. Wilder, John A. Warder, and other Fathers of American Pomology. GENERAL RULES, Story of the Weeds. Ee 2 _ seeds, the feel the warm sun- _ shine. They were ® so happy they burst their sides with w \aughter, and s sprouted up thick e= andfast. Finding : == them in the field which had been previously engaged by the raspberries, for their own special and undi- vided use, I started the cultivator rooting them up right and left, and burying many more. ‘‘ What ashame,” cried the weeds, “‘to fight us thus in our infancy, before we have harmed you. You should wait until we are big enough to defend ourselves. Take somebody of your own size, can’t you?” Later in the season I found the weeds crowing lustily under the shade of the ber- ries. Again I set the cultivator at work. ** Ha, ha, ha!” screamed the weeds, ‘‘ you can’t hurt us now. Our big roots have grasped the soil firmly. If you dislodge us we will take fresh root and begin again, and if you kill a few our seeds will spring up and take revenge. Scrape away, old fel- low, we rather enjoy it. As the fall frosts began to gather, and the weeds had folded their doors for a snug winter, again found them camped about in social communities. Now my turn had come. ‘Get out,” says I, ‘‘or I will put you out. I have endured your intrusions long enough. You have robbed my plants of their food and water, you have made nesting places for mice, you have caught in my clothes and filled the tails of my horses. You have reigned supreme in this farm for a generation. Now your kingdom has fallen. I will have no more of you. Scatter, expire, vanish.” But they only chuckled in their tents, for they had often heard such talk before, and the previous proprietor did not think it worth while to molest them at this late season, thinking they had done their worst. ‘‘Ho, you, Tom, Jack and Jerry, bring out the great winged shovel-ploughs. Hitch to each the strongest horse; run through those rows until every weed is uprooted.” Forthwith I heard the steel shares grinding in the soil. The battle had begun. Then came the One day some that my ¢ father had plowed under fifty years m before,found them- | selves turned up by ploughshare where they could groans and shrieks of the dead and dying. Thousands upon thousands perished upon that bloody’ field. ‘‘Give us quarter,” © shouted a big weed that had hid himself in vain close by a plant, ‘‘ would youslaughter us in cold blood after all our struggles, when the winter is at hand and we cannot work to replace your mutilations? When the frost will bite us, exposed and naked, and leave us dead as the stubble?” But the end had come, and he fell with his companions in one common tomb, —— —<-<. HOW TO PROPAGATE, General Rules, Everybody should learn how to propagate fruits. When you buy a rare plant for your garden you may increase it to a hun- dred in a short time by giving it a little at- tention, and if you do not desire the increase yourself you can do vour friends a favor by placing such gems in their garden.” The professional fruit grower especially needs all possible information on this subject. His success depends on his having the im- proved varieties, and as he can get a large supply at an early date by rapidly multiply- ing them, he should ever be on the alert. When a new variety is introduced, we have often heard people say, “‘ When the price gets low, I will buy.” But the price usual- ly keeps up for two or three years. Now supposing it is a new red raspberry, and you buy one plant for one dollar when first offered. You plant in the richest soil possible, manure and nurse it, and the next season you have fifty—you might possibly get a hundred—but say fifty plants. These you plant in the same way. and the second year you have two thousand five hundred, worth probably, at the price usual two years after it is introduced, $50 to $100—a Note.—The author desires to give credit to the Ruval New Vorker for three cuts of grafting the grape, furnished at our expense. To the New York 7yzéuze for the ‘Boy on the Farm,” ‘“How Farmers May Begin,”’ and about budding, said articles having been written by the author for the 7yzéune. ‘To Mr. J. Jenkins, ; in- oni, Ohio, for cuts of budding and grafting; etc,, furnished at our expense, from his valuable work, “The Art of Propagation given some ‘‘waifs of the press.”’ To Saunders’ ‘‘Insects Injurious to Fruits,” for cut on page 26. In the PortTFOLIOo are t PROPAGATING THE RASPBERRY. 3 good investment, certainly. But farther than this, it is a great pleasure to have these new things of great promise, to watch over and care for them, even though you get disappointed at times, as you assuredly will. 1. Remember that you should plant on rich soil for propagation. A cutting has no roots to send out toa distance for food, and must have it near at hand. More than this, rich soil is more moist than poor, and more porous. 2. Make the soil deep and fine. Hard clay soil that bakes will not answer, unless sand or muck is mixed with it liberally. 3. Plant and cultivate with care, and give frequent attention. You seldom find a successful propagator with a propagating bed in the further corner of his grounds. Why? He wants it near by, where he will be reminded of its needs. 4, When about to propagate, investigate thoroughly and learn what varieties are most worthy. Do not waste your time on worthless varieties. Get aspecimen bearing fruit on your place as early as possible, and judge by its conduct there whether it will be profitable for you to largely multiply it. 5. The profits of propagation are great. From an acre you might realize $1,000 or more. In propagating some species the dabor also is great. Consider that at the start, and do not expect large profits from small outlay of time and attention. 6. Plant and care for your propagating -beds in the best possible manner. It does not pay to neglect anything, but least of all a propagating bed. What Ihave learned about propagation has been from experience. I have met with many failures before learn- ing the best methods. I know that all the books I shall sell will never cover the losses I have sustained to make me competent to give the advice I do in this little work. me ‘Propagating the Strawberry. from one vigorous strawberry plant in one season. . When you have a: valuabie but scarce variety that you wish to increase rapidly plant in a bed deeply trenched, and enriched the year previously with all the manure that can be well mixed thereon. Set the plants from four to six feet apart each way. Work the soil about them fre- quently, but not deep. When the firstrun- ners appear remove them. . As the plant gains strength permit runners to remain, and draw them out in different directions from the parent plant, laying a small stone over each where the leaves appear.. Con- tinue this course, watering in time of drouth with diluted liquid manure. Soil so rich as this is not desirable for producing fruit, but is just the thing for increasing plants. Newly manured soil is not in condition for forcing plants. It must first become rotted and incorporated with the soil. Then it becomes plant food and not before. Fresh manure often prevents plants from growing when placed where the roots come in con- tact with it. Such manure should be used as a mulch, when it accomplishes a double purpose—keeping the soil cool and moist, and furnishing plant food by leaching after rains. —__=5 e+ —_____ Propagating Black Raspberries, tii sit Ty eee Ree WA ARAN \ LY | Raspberry plant with tips layered. Next to strawberries these are the easiest of all to propagate, yet many do not know how to proceed. JI have known people to layer the canes at intervals as they would the’ _grape, leaving the tip uncovered. These people could learn from the wild plants in the woods, which bend over and drop the tip in the loose soil, where it takes root and produces a new plant. Plants would take root often unaided in the planted field were it not for the wind, which sways them about and destroys the vitality of the tips. We have known whole plantations to be lost for propagation by a heavy wind previous to layering. If such a wind comes very early (which seldom occurs) It is possible to grow 500 to 1000 plants | the tips will send out new buds and take © = PROPAGATING THE RASPBERRY. root. But if the season is well advanced | litter. Hasty people plow furrows for tips, into late September, it is useless to spend time with them. The old rule is not to layer tips until they turn red, are swollen and look snakish. Such a condition is indeed desirable, but the propagator who would wait for such maturity would succeed in obtaining only half as many plants as he who began as soon as the canes were long enough to bend ever and reach the earth. Why? From the fact that if layered early (before the cane has grown long), the cane, instead of continuing to extend itself, often from ten to fourteen feet, which is a waste of vital- ity, will send out new branches, which can, | I begin to layer | in turn, be layered later. very soon after the berry harvest is over, often at once. First put the soil in fine condition by repeated cultivation (for the pickers have made foot-paths all about), then, with a garden trowel, make a hole two to three inches deep, hold in the tip as nearly perpendicular as you can (if laid flat it will invariably push out and not take root), fill up the hole, pressing it firmly, if very dry. Tips put in with light covering make the best plants, but the wind is apt to twist them out. A good man or boy will put in from 1000 to 4000 in a day in this manner, depending on the looseness of the soil and number of tips per bush. I often have thirty men and boys at this work, going over the fields three or four times, at inter- vals of about two weeks. The earlier tips are put in the larger the plants are. If the weather is excessively hot and the tips very immature, they sometimes scald or turn black and die, but we have never met with any serious loss in this respect, and would not delay an hour on this account. Of course the lower the bushes are headed the earlier they can be laid, thus we cut off the young canes when twelve to eighteen inches high, which occurs often before blossoming. By trimming closely, after digging plants,the canes support themselves and bear fine cropsof fruit. Does this crop of young plants, often forty or fifty exhaust the vitality of the parent plant? Yes, it hassuchatendency. Prop- agating plants should have better care and more fertilizing than those that bear fruit only. By nipping the tip of canes early and often, and making the soil very rich, it is possible to get 100 plants from one the first season planted. The richer the soil the larger the plants and the-greater number. The young plants are usually left where they grow until the winter is over. If to be planted on your own place it is better to plant them in the spring, after they have sent up a green shoot two inches high. Raspberry and strawberry roots are quickly destroyed, if exposed to a hot sun or drying wind; ten minutes’ exposure will often sap their vitality. If you propagate blackcap tips on low, wet soil, they will be heaved out by frost, unless covered with strawy and use plow or shovel to cover them. It does not pay to follow this method. it Propagating Red Raspberries. The roots of this class continually form buds, =f. which, pushing up through mm | (the soil, form sucker plants HW WW wi —some varieties form few, some many. If you plant a, choice variety in ’the spring, in good soil, its roots will probably cover a y spot 8to4 feet across. If 2 * you dig the parent plant the next spring, be careful to cut the roots close to the cane so as to leave as many roots in the soil as possible, and undis- turbed. The strength of the roots remaining in the soil, instead of nourishing the parent will bud rapidly and furnish an amazing supply of strong plants—40 to 109 in many instances. If the soil is mulched with rot- ten manure it wili make it easier for the young plants to push upwards as wellas give them food. You can cut off the lat- eral roots of the parent plant and permit it to remain if you wish, but it will do better elsewhere, and will have another bed of roots formed by another spring. I prefer not to disturb the plant until spring, as root growth often continues during winter, and the young germs are safer attached to the parent plant until spring. If you are a skilful propagator, and have a green-house, you will take up all the roots you can with the plant, cut them in one- half inch pieces and start them with bot- tom heat, in boxes of sand. As soon as buds appear on the roots they are placed in shallow boxes filled with about three inches of good soil, mixed with leaf mould. When the plants have grown a few inches above the soil they may be potted or trans- planted at once in out-door beds or fields. Similar treatment may be given in hot-beds and cold frames, but such methods require close attention and considerable experience, and the novice will often do better not to attempt them. Gardeners succeed by sim- ply cutting the roots inte two-inch pieces and planting shallow in rows in garden beds, covering with sand or mulch that will enable the young germs to push through easily. These require careful weeding and hoeing, but if they get a good start make fine plants by fall. If you have a valuable variety on your place and wish to extend your plantation you can do so by trans- planting green plants, suckers that spring up where plants were set the spring pre- vious. We have succeeded best by permit- ting these green plants to get of considera- ble size, say six to ten inches, before trans- PROPAGATING THE BLACKBERRY. planting; then, nipping the tender tops and many of the leaves. Then the wocd has hardened, the roots have multiplied. and the plant has a better chance to live than if dug when young and tender, with feeble roots. If I could have learned this by other experience than my own, I should have saved $1,000 at least. In fact, much information that I give in these pages has cost me large sums of money. I once had afew plants of a valuable new red rasp- berry that I desired to propagate as fast as possible. I dug up part of the roots and placed them under glass, thinking if they grew well to do likewise with the remain- der, but if they seemed liable to fail I would permit the balance to propagate themselves where they grew. Well the plants under glass grew amazingly. Iwas delighted and of course dug up all and placed with them over artificial heat. But after a time all began to grow smaller, then some withered, and all looked feeble. Every method was attempted to revive them, without avail, and the whole enter- prise I regarded a failure. If I had left the roots in the soil where they grew, as first recommended here, I would have secured more and better plants. The few pot house plants that lived did not take kindly to transplanting in the open field, to fight the wind and sunshine. Then I have planted hot house plants when too small, earlier in the season, according to rules, desiring to avail myself of fine rains. But the season proved late and wet, frosts fell upon the tender shoots, worms gnawed into them, some rotted, some were eaten by grubs, more became discouraged -by the cold weather that kept nipping their noses, thus when the warm-growing weather came, previous to which they should not have been planted, most of my pets had departed to ‘that bourne from which no traveler returns. In planting red raspberries for propaga- tion remember that if set in rows seven feet apart the roots will meet in two years, and by the third cover the entire surface. Thus in planting the Marlboro I set them in rows seven feet apart, planting potatoes between the first year. The second year I will have barely room to run a cultivator between the rows. What would I have done if planted three feet apart? When planting for fruit I plant four feet apart each way and cultivate with. horse both ways. Remember that some kinds of red and yellow raspberries propagate only from tips. The drooping tendency of the canes indicate this peculiar propensity. 0 > ______ Propagation of Blackberries. The blackberry is propagated much like the red raspberry, therefore I need not go into details. It takes the blackberry longer to become established than raspberries, but By) having once gained a foothold it endures for a long time in the same patch with profit. One eason’s growth of root s not sufficient for the est success in propa- Aeating, as it is with the eraspberry. ‘Two years’ y growth should be given 4 before the parent plant is dug up for propaga- tion. But the spring after one season’s Sie growth you can sever the roots one foot distant from the plant by thrusting down a sharp spade and withdrawing it with the least disturbance of the soil possible. Then there will be roots enough left undisturbed on the plant to push forward a good growth of new roots, and the severed roots will sprout up and make fine plants. But the second year you can remove the parent plant and the roots from eighteen inches about it and then there will be enough roots left in the soil to make a good stand of plants. Cut the roots into pieces two inches or more lony, depending on the size. Do not cut too short. Nothing is gained, for if left long, two plants will probably be formed, and if too short, perhaps none. The smaller the root the longer it should be cut. We generally cut the roots in the fall, stor- ing in boxes of sand in the cellar, but they may be cut in the spring with nearly equal » success. Scatter the roots in shallow trenches six inches wide as early inthe spring as the soil will work and cover with two inches of loose soil. If a sprinkling of rotten manure is strewn over the rows after this it will avail much. Keep them well wed or failure is certain. Usually strong plants are made by fall, and in digging these you can leave detached roots in the soil to spring up and renew the row. The parent plant, after removing most of the roots, may be planted in a new bed. In green-houses very small pieces of roots make good plants, the same as with red raspberries. |The more you spade among a patch of blackberries the more suckers will spring up. Therefore, if you have a field designed for fruit do not dig plants therein. There are kinds of trailing blackberries | that do not propagate from the root, but from tips like black raspberries. —_—___——__$0 &—_—@ Propagating Currants. Few cuttings take root so rapidly as the currant. I cut the wood of the present sea- son’s growth as soon as the leaves begin to fall, often stripping the leaves by hand. I then cut the wood into cuttings seven to eight inches long, tie in bundies of fifty, lay them in a trench with the butt end up and cover with two inches of fine soil over _ 6 . CURRANTS AND GOOSEBERRIES. the butts. This being done the last of August when the earth is warm, the cut- tings will callus over and send out roots in from ten to twenty days. I often find the cuttings so well rooted it requires some pulling to get them apart at planting. I plant when I get time in the fall, often in November, in rows three feet apart. I thrust down a spade to its full depth, sway is backwards and forwards, making quite a hole, then withdraw it and a boy slipsin two cuttings, one at each side of the hole. We progress in this way until the end of the row isreached. [I then turn back and both tread the earth as compactly as possi- ble on each side of the cuttings, sinking our heels down hard. Thistreading is very important work in planting all cuttings, as it is no easy matter to compact the earth to the depth of a foot from the surface. When the field is planted thus we run a shovel plow between the rows, being careful to throw the soil as near the cuttings as possi- ble and not cover them, the tip end of each being now exposed. This leaves a ridge on } each side of the row of cuttings, witha hollow in the line of the cuttings. This hollow we fill at once with fresh stra horse manure, thick enough to hide the cuttings completely. If the furrow is not deep I go through the second time with shovel plow after manuring. The ditch made by the shovel plow lets the water pass off, and the manure covering prevents heaving by frost, and stimulates growth so as to secure the best possible plant one year from planting. If currant bushes are earthed up a foot or more in June, roots will be formed about the base of the branches. New varieties are often propa- gated in this way. The rooted layers are removed, permitting the parent plant to remain. +0 Propagating Gooseberries, Gooseberry cuttings do not easily make roots, therefore the bushes are usually layered in July. The young wood of the present season’s growth, when immature, takes root readily, therefore as soon as growth enough has been made the layering /should begin. They are usually banked up /as high as possible in order to cover the new growth in part. In order to accom- plish this most effectually I sometimes bend the branches down flat to the earth and cover all but the tips. By fall the whole plant will be a mass of roots, which should then be divided—every piece that has a root, no matter how small the root, planted as recommended for currants and covered with manure and shovel plowed. I have seen old bushes layered, not expecting the old wood to take root there, but to sosoften the wood that it might more easily take 'root the next season when planted like cut- tings. i Propagating the Grape. It must be remembered that there are varieties of fruits that are much more diffi- cult to propagate than others. This is the case with raspberries, gooseberries, etc., and especially with the grape, on some varieties of which it is almost impossible to secure good roots. But the larger number root freely from layers or cuttings. Layer- ing is the most simple method, by which any one may succeed. ‘This is done most readily with the young green wood by bury- ing it in June in the soil three inches deep at intervals, often thus securing many plants from each vine. Last season’s canes PROPAGATING THE GRAPE. 7 can also be layered early in the Spring. |the vineyard. Cleft grafting is usually Stretch the cane in a shallow trench and | adopted for such vines. The cane is first fasten it there with wooden pins. Do not cover it with earth until the buds open and the young shoots get several inches high, then gradually cover until four inches deep, placing a stake where each green shoot springs forth, each of which will make a well-rooted vine. Layering is a heavy draft on the vine, thus we seldom layer the first season, knowing it would weaken the vine. It should be layered sparingly until well established, unless some sturdy kind like Concord or Champion. Layers that are poorly rooted are planted in nursery rows one season. Nurserymen always cut off a large part of the roots of vines at transplanting. This gives more fibrous roots, the vines plant easier and grow equally well. There are numerous methods Cleft graft of grape. for preparing grapes from cuttings, the most frequent being from two or three-eyed ee Lo cme jars |e me a Cane laid down. cuttings, each about eight inches long: planted simply by thrusting in the spade f. i (no shoveling out trenches), in carefully ws l prepared beds, in rows twenty inches apart, Mee three inches apart in the rows, all firmly veilll trod with the feet, then mulched with e leaves, rotten tan bark, saw dust, cut straw, etc. There are soils so well adapted it is possible to succeed without a mulch, but such soils are rare —in all cases the mulch gives the larger percentage of good rooted vines. AsIlook back upon my experience I find my best luck to be always with the mulched. A few propagate entirely from one-eye cuttings out doors. The wood is cut an inch above the eye and left as long as possible and yet have only one eye— simply a short peg with an eye near the top. These are simply thrust in a narrow bed closely, in rows a foot apart, and at once covered with three inches of seasoned tan bark -when first removed from the tannery itis not sosafe. Few weeds came up through this heavy mulch, but the grapes push up readily. Many varieties grow well by this method, while others are scattering, only here and there a plant. but with new varteties there is a great gain in getting double the number of cuttings. _ Under glass nurserymen propagate from ‘single eyes cut from two to three inches long, started in shallow boxes of sand, and afterwards potted or transplanted in beds. |, A good way to increase a valuable variety is to graft single eye cuttings on grape roots and plant in the usual way. Grafting is now practiced more largely than ever i _ before, principally on established vines in Whip graft on section of grape root. SSX _ Two-Bud Grape Cut ting. The lines show how’ the cut may be made across the node, utilizing every eye. 8 _ PROPAGATING THE GRAPE. Grafted Cane of Grape cut off three to four inches below the sur- face of the soil, then the stump is split with some thin sharp implement, extending the cleft about two inches. The cleft is held open with a narrow wedge in the mid- dle of the cleft. The scion may have one eye or several, but should not be over six inches long. Sharpen it with a keen-edged knife so as to fit the cleft standing open before you, permitting the outer edge to be thicker than the inner, that it may press -more closely at the vital part, where the inner bark of both stock and scion meet. Insert it carefully and withdraw the wedge. If the stock is large another graft may be inserted in the other side of the cleft. Bind firmly with stout twine, covering this with a few twists of wire. The string alone would rot, but it prevents the wire from cutting the vine. Then cover the graft with a mixture of four parts of stiff clay with one part of fresh cow dung. For grafting grape roots whip grafting is adopted. Take a yearling Concord vine, or any cheap vine for this purpose. If the roots spring from several eyes one vine will make several roots for grafting. This work can be done during Winter if the vines used for stocks are stored in the cellar. Pack away in sand thesame as apple grafts. If you desire to cross one variety with another to produce seed pre >@ sumed to inherit the charac- / teristics of each parent, cut the anthers from the stamens with pointed shears before the pollen is shed, when the flowers first open as shown in the cut. As the flower be- at : comes developed. apply the e Smee *" pollen from the flower of the variety you desire to use to the pistil ‘“‘C.” To avoid impreg- nation by insects or winds p-\ carrying pollen, cover the flowers to be impregnated with thin oiled paper or cloth. G. in W. Campbell says the grape Grape Fower. blossom must be opened arti- Dsiamens witn ficially before its season of anthersremv’d flowering, for the removal of the anthers. The above cut shows the graft on astrong cane layered in the earth. By this method the parent vineis but little interfered with in case the graft fails to succeed. But the Grape Flower. Inarching. The dotted lines below show where the new variety is cut off and removed after the union is perfected, and above where the wild vine is severed. of a vineyard are changed. It is not re- garded as difficult, but I advise experiment- ing in a small way at first. Green wood cuttings are mostly started under glass. Inarching is performed on green or ripe wood by planting the vines side by side, or by placing one in a pot or Green Wood Grape Cutting. box. The twocanes are simply bound to- . gether after taking a slice of wood from each, and bringing the exposed layers of bark closely together. If connected some- thing like a whip graft it succeeds better. The wounded part should be bound with moss or clay. After the vines have grown cleft graft is generally used where varieties'l together detach the portions not desired, t |THE QUINCE, PEACH, CHERRY, ETC. 9 Propagating the Quince. Usually the quince is cut back after it Propagating the Peach, Apricot and N ectarine, We class these together as all are worked . becomes well established, that it may form | on peach stocks by the same method. Nat- numerous young shoots near the base. The Stool Layering of the Quince, bush is then earthed up a foot or more in June. By fall the branches will have formed numerous roots and may be removed and planted in nursery rows where they soon make fine trees. By ma- nuring and nursing a crop of layers may be taken every other year from the same stool. Plants may be formed by bending Plant Layer. down a branch and covering a part with earth.. With rare varieties we import from France the Angers Quinces which cost $15 per 1,000, plant them and bud with the rare ‘variety. This is the most rapid method and makes the finest trees, as the Angers possesses great vigor. We often graft cut- tings of the quince on short pieces of apple roots. The apple root sustains the cutting until it forms roots of its own. All these methods preserve the identity of the vari- ety—but if seed is sown no one can tell what kind of quince may be produced. The quince does not root readily from cut- tings, yet a few people meet with good suc- cess by this method. Make the cuttings long, and prepare them in the fall, planting very early in the spring. ural peach seed is used by the best nur- serymen from trees never budded, coming from Tennessee. These are less liable to yellows than seed grown North, Whatever kind you use prepare in the fall by mixing the seed with sand and exposing them to the frost and storms all winter. This loog- ens the cement that binds the pits and they open readily in the spring without crack- ing. Sow these in beds or drills very early, covering but lightly with sandy soil. When the plants become four inches high trans- | plant on a cloudy day to nursery rows three and one-half feet apart, six inches apart in the rows. About the first of Sep- tember bud them. Next spring cut the tree back just above the bud that you have set, and break or rub off all other buds that appear, except this one that you desire. By fall this single bud will grow from three to six feet high and form a splendid tree. a Propagating the Cherry and Plum, The seeds of these are treated much like those of the peach. Seedlings are usually bought at $6 to $8 per 1,000, as the growing of these, also pear and apple seedlings is a business of itself. The largest seedlings are secured and planted eight inches by three and one-half feet, generally by thrusting in the spade as recommended for planting currant cuttings, but the safer method is to open a trench, but it requires more labor. The highest culture is given. As the plum drops its leaves early it is budded first—in July. The wood of the cherry must not be too sappy, thus budding is deferred until very rapid growth is past, say the first of August here. The after-treatment is the 10 PROPAGATING THE PEAR AND APPLE. same as for the peach, except that it takes at least two years to get a well-branched cherry tree. Cherry and plum buds give us more trouble than any other. They do not always grow. Sometimes half the cherry trees must be dug up and thrown away after attempting to make buds catch by repeated budding, A small black insect otten besieges the leaves of the young cherry and ruins the tree unless destroyed by dipping the branches in tobacco water diluted. A friend picks off the infested leaves and burns them. Cherries and plums are sometimes grafted on pieces of cherry or plum roots, but they seldom suc- ceed by this method, ee Propagating the Pear. Pear seed is expensive and the novice should be contented to purchase pear seed- lings one year old, strong, and plant eight inches by three and one-half feet. All oursery ground should be well drained and fertilized, and put in the finest possible condition before planting. Pear roots are the most sensitive of all roots, and require careful planting and every possible atten- tion. The leaves of pear trees are subject to blight, especially on American seedlings. Those imported from France are less sub- ject to leaf blight. To be safe against blight (which renders budding impossible by: tightening the bark), the pear is budded early in July, as soon as mature buds can be secured. The pear may be grafted on pear roots, but budding is much safer, ee Propagating the Apple. Any person can grow apple seedlings, Get pomace'from the cider-mill the mo- ment it comes from the press. If it heats itis ruined. Open trenches in well pre- pared soil with a shovel plow three feet apart. Scatter the pomace thickly therein. Then run the shovel plow between each row, thus covering the pomace very lightly. If you spread rotted manure along the O Planting Root rows, or ashes, it will avail much. Do not be afraid of getting in too much seed— you can thin the rows with a garden rake when the plants first come up, if too thick. Some say the pomace sours the soil. Do not believe this. It is even better than cleaned seed on heavy soil, as the straw mixed with it keeps the soil porous, permitting the young plants to come up easily, and you avoid the risk of soaking the dry seed. Dig the seedlings the first succeeding fall, sort- ing out the larger ones. grafted, cutting the roots into pieces about three inches long. The smaller ones may be planted and budded. If not large enough the first year they may be budded the next. We only use the best. The after- treatment is the same as before described. Root grafting is done in the winter, the grafted roots being packed in moist sand. The budding may be done any time from August 20th to October. ——— $e ——_—_— Propagation by Cutting. Mr. J. Jenkins says: Most varieties of Grape-vines, Currants, Gooseberries, Roses, and much of the shrubbery supplied by nurserymen, grow readily, and are grown from out-door cuttings. Whether of trees or vines, in-door or out-door propagation, the operation of nature in the growth of the cutting is the same. The bud holds within its brown envelope the:principle of life, which extends through the cells that have carried the circulation, extended the growth, and established the bud. After the cutting is divided, nature’s first effort is to form a callus with the descending cells that would have gone to extend and enlarge the roots on the mother Vine. - If instead of abruptly dividing the cane or shoot to be used as a cutting, a system of ringing or strangulation be followed, every bud may be made to producea plant. This strangulation or ringing is performed on soft or green wood by tying thread tightly around the point where the cutting is to be separated, and on hard wood by a ring of copper wire drawn closely. This will cause an enlargement and a deposition of cambium at the point of arrest and make the growth of the cutting thus prepared, when finely separated and planted, almost as certain a though they already had roots. P One very successful experiment with out- door cuttings of the grape was performed by allowing the cane to remain on the mother vines until the buds had started a growth of one-half inch or more, and the leaves had begun to unfold, every eye was separated, the old wood placed entirely be- low the soil, the new growth just appearing above the ground, shaded carefully, witha result of full eighty per cent. of vine. | In the usual manner of preparing cut- tings greater success follows when the cut- tings are taken off immediately on the fal of the leaf before freezing, when they ; These may be root. / ART OF BUDDING. 11 should immediately be packed away in moss or soil until time for planting in spring. ; Grape cuttings from outdoor planting may be made with single eyes, but all the - advantages of a two-bud cutting may be retained by simply cutting across the node with a sharp knife, or with shears, com- mencing the cut opposite and one-eighth of an inch or more below the bud and finish- ing one-eighth of an inch or more above. ij, lag Uy “yh = WD 7 tae X, AN Ru ull Th )) yy Cutting a Bua The Art of Budding. The object of budding is to rapidly mul. tiply with the least possible consumption of coins and time. Every leaf bud may make m a tree. A slow growing or hy stunted stock cannot be bud- Hl) ded at all with success, there- in} fore the best possible culture should be given. All trim- nh ming of the stock should be deferred until the day of bud- HI the delusion that by removing ii} the shoots from the trunks of | their ‘young orchard trees while in leaf they are hasten- Hs ing their growth. Bands for iit budding are secured by re- i) moving the bark of basswood ie in June or July and soaking i it in water until the inner | bark peels off in thin ribbons. N The pear in this section is budded in July, as the leaf De dine Sars blight usually attacks it soon and bud ready for 2fter, stopping all growth, insertion. rendering budding impossi- ble. After the pear, we bud the plum, then Budding ; the cherry, following with the apple, and closing with the peach from ‘ the 10th to the last of Sep- tember, Though much de- pends upon the season, I have found that early bud- ding generally succeeds the best, but more attention is required to prevent the cut- ting of the rapidly expand- ing stock by the band that holds the bud. While a cer- , tain maturity of bud is desir- able, immaturity is seldom the cause of failure. Apple buds must be set before they have become very prominent, | : or the season will be passed. rope eecaae ys I have budded the peach suc- been cut out of cessfully when the buds set the stock. could scarcely be discovered with the naked Vance’s .Method eye. Pear buds are the only ones I recall as_ having fully matured before setting. . If the season is _ favored with frequent rains and the stocks are pushing ahead rap- idly, budding may be deferred with less danger than if the sea- Json is dry and the sap moving slowly. A good budder se- lects his buds with great care, using none that are feeble or ° on soft, spongy wood, and no blossom buds. While the tying of the buds is easily learned by a bright boy, it must be thor- oughly done or the buds will dry out and fail. The illustrations tell how to bud better than words. The leaves are first removed, i? leaving a short stub | onlyforahandle. The /\ bud is removed, with an inch in length of bark and a little wood directly under the bud. This wood used to be peeled away, but now it is left attached to the bud with better suc- cess. An opening is made in the stock, the bud is inserted from the top (by some from the Bud: Bud inserted andbottom) and gently tied. pressed into place by the part of the leaf stem remaining. There is seldom any failure in budding when done by experienced hands, but with the novice fail- ure is not infrequent from the following pos- sible defects: 1. The cross cut in the bark may not have _ been sufficiently wide to prevent breaking when open- ed; or too much effort may have been made to raise the bark with i\ ee 12 HOW TO GRAFT. blade or handle, thus causing roughness—the Iknife-handle should never be used in this manner. The upper corners of the bark of the stock should be raised with one steady pressure of the knife-blade, and the bud then made to force its own way home, where it will fit perfectly, and no exposure of the parts to drying influences occur. The novice often fails to push the bud successfully to its place by the frail stem. Tyin bud The pressure should betoward g POR AUN Ine S the stock and downward. In Sue of old STOCK. obstinate cases we press down by inserting the knife-point crosswise just below the bud. 2. In taking out the wood attached to the bud the vital parts are liable to be injured. 3. The bud may have been inserted when quite immature, or the shield may have been cut too short —it should measure at least an inch in length. 4. If the bark clings to the stock all efforts to bud will prove futile; but this seldom occurs in the proper ~ season under good cultivation. M5. The tying of the bud may i) have been loosely or otherwise \ imperfectly done, or the bands left on too long, causing the bud to be seriously cut by the ex- panding stock. The bands __ shouldin most cases be removed Ring budding. after fifteen days. 6. The soil should be cultivated at once after budding. I have known men to spend a day budding 500) trees, yet over 4,000 peaches have been budded in one day by an expert, I never heard of 4,000 plums or pears being worked in one day. I would prefer to have 500 well done than to have 4,000 worked poorly. Formerly apples were mostly root grafted, but nursery- “men are get- ting more in the habit of budding them. Some of the buds. inserted fail to grow. . These are re- budded the next season, with the excep- tion of the peach, Peaches that fail are grubbed out without apol- ogy. Cherries often get too large by the second year, but apples and pears might be rebudded the First season’s growth from bud. third year if necessary, but such large stocks produce crooks where the buds push — out. Itis more difficult to succeed in bud- ding the plum than most other fruit trees. Experienced nurserymen buy the strongest stocks designed for budding, and would take no poor ones as a gift. They plant in rich soil and crowd them with high culture. Buds succeed in such stocks where they would failin poor stocks, or these not so well cared for. —_— SP BS. How to Graft. \ Cleft Graftings. Stocks cut and split, and Scions inserted. Scions for grafting are usually cut late in the fall and stored in moist sand in the cel- lar, but hardy varieties may be cut at any time before the leaves begin to grow. Graft- ; « ing out doors begins in the spring with the first warm days, and f continues until the leaves are yy expanded in May. The scions Watt being kept dormant the best time Wit is when the leaves on the stock are just pushing out. But with the plum and cherry grafting ij should be done very early. The | ‘ peach is seldom grafted. With Ni large trees a branch is sawed off, A\\the stock split, a wedge inserted to hold it open while a scion is placed at each side as shown in the cut a b, taking pains to make a close fit where the bark should meet. The cleft and wound should then be covered with grafting wax to keep out the air, made of equal parts of resin, bees-wax and tallow, melted to- gether. Waie GRAFTING and saddle grafting are methods of splicing the scion to the stock, offering a larger surface of contact, and being best suited to small stocks and indoor work. Apple root grafts are usually whip grafted, Whip Graft- ing. ae ~ should always be employed. } THE BOY ON THE FARM. 13 and wound with a waxed 1 string, no attempt being made | to keep out the air, as they | are at once packed in moist hij If the cutting is done with a } blunt dull knife there is but } little hope for success. The }illiif graft has a remarkable effect jill on the roots of the stock. | In starting apple trees in the nursery, we graft on roots of seedlings, after such roots have been atf- fected by the graft for three or four years, we find that those grafted with Red Astra- chan, for instance, are very fibrous, branching out near the surface, with few tap roots, while the rows adjoin- ing, or parts of the same row, Saddle Grafting. grafted with the Duchess of Oldenburgh or the Fameuse, are destitute of fibers, possess only three coarse prongs, as a tule, one of which is liable to be a tap root seeking an abode far down in the subsoil, Here’s a good label for fruit trees. It is made of tin, six or eight inches long, and a inch or so wide at the wide end, tapering to nearly a point at the other. Write the —= names of the tree with a Wen A\scratch-awl, or a saw-file ground to a sharp point, bearing on hard enough to cut through the coating of tin into the iron. The rain will rust the letters and make them permanent. Wrap the narrow end once, loosely, around asmall side branch. Then you can always know whether you are eating an appleor a turnip. This is the Farm Journal plan. John J. Thomas’ plan is to use zinc strips and mark with a lead pencil. This makes a permanent label. ane In planting pistillate strawberries (mark- ed ‘‘ P” incatalogues) do not forget to plant them within six to ten feet of the Wilson, Sharpless, James Vick or other hermaphro- dite varieties, that the pistillate blossoms may be made to produce fruit. \\\ | ) i ; iy me oa K i \ | i | i) l a Mi j ma ff SS SSS SS SSS SS SS The Boy on the Farm. THE AUTHOR’S EXPERIENCE. A group of farmers’ boys was gathered before the old stone school-house, with its tortuous benches, cracked corner and dis- torted architecture, one bright morning a quarter of a century ago. ‘‘Do you see the young man riding the bay horse yonder?” asked one. ‘‘He’s leaving these parts—going to seek his fortune.” We watched = the traveler closely as he passed, noted his attrac- tive equipment, his manly form and bearing.and his in- fe tense and determined coun- tenance. ‘‘ Were I in his place I would drive astage- coach,” said one. ‘‘ I would drive an engine,” said another. ‘I would hunt in the forest and fight Indians,” said another. ‘I would stand before the mast on the sea,” said the fourth. Boy-like, I en- vied his freedom from the restraints of school and home, his freedom to: go wherever he wished, his freedom to choose from all the callings in the great mysterious world that opened so invitingiy before him. Following him with my eyes until he passed out of sight over the hill toward the distant city, I pictured for him in my imagination a glorious career. Whether he became dis- tinguished or sank into obscurity I know not. Inever heard of him more. But the sanguine, determined horseman, in defiance of wise counsels and admonitions of disas- ter, turning his back upon the world of his childhood, and driving out into the great unknown, is atype of young America. He is driving forth to-day from American farms in every township. It is his daunt- less and progressive spirit that has extended” our railroads, developed the plains, opened mines, reared cities, and made this a coun- try of which all are so proud. This spirit, inherited, is one source of discontent in the boys on the farm, but there are others more prominent. ~ THE AUTHOR’S EXPERIENCE. T have happy recollections of the joyous days of childhood on the farm. These are rich legacies with which I could not be tempted to part. Farm life may be made a paradise for children —not a hot-house exist- ence, stifling the victim with rich odors and indolence, causing him to wilt at the first exposure, but free, industrious, out-door life, bronzed with the hot blasts of Sum- mer, buffeting Wintry winds and storms, like the isolated oak, deep-rooted and knotty armed; a life that teaches humility, self-re- liance and courage; the successful training- course for the coming distinguished men The farmers’ boys who were my school- mates did not complain of farm life, but were contented and happy, yet as they ap- proached manhood many dispersed into speculation, law, medicine and the ministry as naturally as ducks take to the water. At _ the age of eighteen I also began to experi- ence a feeling of unrest. Enjecying unusual opportunities for success on the farm, I reasoned thus in the premises; ‘‘Farming is dirty work—if I put ona clean suit I am certain to encounter a dirty job; it is hard work—from sunrise to sunset the days are not long enough; it is often a cruel occupa- tion—the mutilation and slaughter of blame- less animals make me shudder; I may asso- _ ciate with those possessing less refinement than myself, and thereby I lose, whereas I _ might gain by associating with those supe- rior to myself; farming is said to be the most independent occupation—why, then, does it not bring greater honor, dignity and wealth; farming is not free from risk—in- sects, vermin, disease, and the elements prey alike upon the provident and impro- vident; that the farmer is not crippled by these severe losses is accounted for in his rigid economy and forced industry at such seasons; the farmer markets so many items _hedoes not keep well informed on their shifting values, and does not attempt to in- fluence the market price, thus he is preyed upon by parasites; lastly, in the professions and many lines of business, the reputation for ability or fair dealing is often worth a fortune; not so with the farmer—his grain is dumped into the same boat with his neigh- bor’s; his brand upon his produce gives it little, if any additional value, and should he retire he has no ‘good will’ to dispose of.” Similar thoughts encourage, but are not the 15 prime cause of discontent with boys on the farm. Our homestead farm was one of the best in New York State, located on an eminence commanding views of great beauty, sur- rounded by friendly and intelligent neigh- bors, adjacent to attractive villages, churches and schools. My father possessed, liberal views of life, and we all indulged in luxuries and sports in common with those out of debt and with money in the bank. My brothers and I were given opportunities for recreation, education and private enter- prise. While yet aladI leased the home- stead for two years, during which time, prices ruling high, I cleared over $2.000 above all farm or personal expenditures. Notwithstanding such favorable circum- stances, often cited as a recipe for making boys ‘‘stick.” none of my father’s children continued farmers. With a fair prospect of ultimately owning the homestead, I left it, served an apprenticeship and for twelve years was a member of a firm of bankers in TON MONT a city. There I learn- gu, ed how easily for- Wi tunes are made, and : how easily lost. Learn- = : =ed the value of good SS FUdigestion, and of the refreshing sleep of him who labors under the open sky. Learned when clouds threat- ened, when the waves of the panic shook my bark, and the sea was strewn with wrecks, that the farm was a safe harbor, and I longed to cast anchor again in that quiet retreat, remembering only the pleasant chapters of my farm life. Do I then regret leaving the old homestead? No, for there discontent would have relaxed my energies. No, for I cannot help feeling that I am a — stronger man than I could have been had I remained. The principal cause of discontent in the boys on the farm is this: Many of them were designed by the Almighty for special- ties; are endowed with qualifications for’ me- chanics, navigators, in- ventors, lawyers, doctors, clergymen, etc. What pia a wonderful provision Tae: that all are not born for one pursuit. What confusion and suffering would result were 16 it otherwise. Knowing well the character- istics of my brothers and schoolmates, who did not ‘‘stick to the farm,” I am confident they would have made poor farmers, where- as in their proper spheres they were success- ful. Therefore I dispute the popular theory that we may advance agriculture by induc- ing those boys to remain farmers whose natural inclinations would lead them into other pursuits. A man struggling for suc- cess in a field wholly unsuited to his tastes and natural endowments is pitiable, and often ridiculous. HOW TO GROW FRUIT. The Author’s Experience and Advice. HOW I BEGAN. Deprived of good health by city life I longed to get back to the country and thought it would be a fine thing to fix up a run-down farm and make it valua- ble. It seemed as though it would be a pleasure to improve it here and there, and -make each stroke tell on its beauty and usefulness—like touching up a painting. It was a fine theory to consider behind a counter—not so fine in practice I discovered. I had no trouble in finding a run-down farm—lots of them—but this one had splen- did soil, and a perpetual spring, big enough to turn a mill, bubbled up near the house and flowed through it. But it was an aw- ful looking place, everything battered, wrecked and forlorn, with mosquitoes and ratsin abundance. I pitched intoit witha will, full of enthusiasm, not permitting my family to come near it until the painters and carpenters had been at work a month. I made some bold strokes in tearing away door-yard and other fence, enlarging the grounds from 16 feet square to 18 acres, _I trimmed the orchards, cleared away rub- bish, laid out drives, seeded lawns, rebuilt walls, put in new foundations—whacked away right and left, and was so lost in the excitement of the enterprise as to. virtually make a hermit of myself. How the money flew! Why a thousand dollars spent on such a place would improve it some, to be sure, but straightway another thousand would have to be added to it—there was ap- parently no end to the outlay demanded. ~ THE AUTHOR'S EXPERIENCE. ‘i never wiil be. You can see by the illustra- tion, that the place is not what it was, but it does not satisfy us yet. ‘i We planted the farm to fruit—big fruit, small fruit—all kinds that grow on earth. No one about us understood fruit, and all thought I was crazy. My own father and mother looked upon me a harmless lunatic on the fruit question. Ikeptatit, however. The good farmers looked shy at the big strawberries and red raspberries which I offered them, for we held them at a big — price. The first few crops went off slowly. This gave me the blues, still we planted. more and more. Crazy as a March hare, you see, Well, by and by, the fruit sold. better, no one knew why. Then the good ;| people came to the farm and engaged them. in advance of picking—could not supply them. They would stand before the fruit house waiting fcr the pickers to come in with their trays of berries. Sometimes we had to send them away without any. They often came ten miles to get berries— farmers, villagers, laborers, grocers, blacksmiths, shoemakers, tinkers, bankers, merchants, ministers—all after berries. Now, who was crazy? Then people wanted plants of those big, sweet berries. Not only our neighbors, people in every state on the con- tinent wanted plants. Wehaveno reason to complain of the returns the old farm has. yielded. It has kept us healthy, happy and fat ; if we have not a fat pocketbook it is not the fault of the Fruit Farm. Will we sellthe farm? No!! Too many associations connected with it. It must go down to our children’s children. Advice to a Beginner, Late one rainy night came a knocking at our office door. Our guest had traveled a hundred miles to see us. He was young, intelligent, full of enthusiasm. His object was to serve an apprenticeship at fruit. growing with us. He had money, having sold his fruit farm in Maryland, where he had been growing peaches. He was now employed as stenographer, had served as amanuensis to a prominent literary man, and was accomplished in various matters. Looking him over carefully after supper I remarked that some people had poetical. ideas of fruit culture, which facts would not substantiate. I told him that we had an apprentice with us last year. We paid him wages, probably all he earned. He worked as the other help worked, early and late, at whatever we had in hand, regardless whether it would teach him the art of fruit. growing. He dug plants, planted them, hoed, trimmed, picked berries, sold them, and waxed fatand hearty. Ioftenexplain-. ed matters to him that seemed to be of im- portance to an apprentice, but this kind of teaching did not appear to make any im- pression. At the end of eight months he drew his wages and wenthome. His father We are not through fixing up yet—perhaps | was delighted to find him grown so robust. u ' iN) “GHAOUMNI "AN “UWALSHHOOM UVAN WAVH LINAA ANO ita er PAP) = W) HKG, iC Nh & f IN uml i) yet é iH MN WAIT ‘ni Nil a Hi ay WA (ap Ais Vil ee) Miya Tis AC io Ns My awe ‘ Ail Tinks } SSE lines | = ZEN = = 2 RS LS F-S i 38 SSS a3 =AS=eS AES SS SS = SS! ——— S55 —— = Mec DieeriU eee il fj NIWA Ww | eae elit wast ae 5 = eS : SSS SS SS ee = =: er. SS SAL — ss SITE =F ns: Yoon sa Se ——s LSS Seu = == = = =, * Manner. 18 LOCATION OF A FRUIT GARDEN. and strong, but I think the boy did not feel quite satisfied with what he had learned. But when he begins fruit growing for him- self, on his own soil, he will find that he has learned more here than he realized. It would be impossible for even the most stupid and disinterested person thus to be in con- tact with plants and trees for eight months without gathering much information of permanent value. I related the experience of a man who left the city in embarrassed circum- stances and moved on a farm, with no knowledge of fruit growing. This man made it pay as best he could with farm crops for the first few years, planting straw- berries, raspberries, blackberries, currants and the large fruits in a very small way, intending to learn by experience. He found there Was much to learn, and made some mistakes, but gradually increased his plan- tations of fruit, gradually giving up the farm crops, until he now depends entirely on his fruits, and is successful beyond his expectation. HE KNEW IT ALL. I told him of another man who consid- ered himself well posted in general fruit culture, and who, in fact, had considerable experience one way and another. He began fruit growing as a business by planting twenty acres. A Propagating Bed. There are few nurseries in which the ~ soil is naturally in the best condition for out-door propagation by cutting, etc. We remember a bed at Rochester made 40 years ago by drawing 100 loads of sand on a small plot, and continually enriching and mixing it with the sur- rounding soil. Every year the bed bore a wonderful crop of vines, the stand being something remarkable. But an examina- tion would convince any person why the cuttings succeeded so well. The conditions. of moistureand porosity were present, and the most careful attention was given. Any one may prepare a bed equally desirable, smaller or larger as their wants demand. If only designed for one year the expense would be considerable, but as it can be - used thus forever, the cost is too small for consideration. If you have no sand to mix with your clayey loam use muck—say about as much muck as common soil, and mix well by plowing and cultivating, or spading. Before applying the sand or muck and after plowing, it would bea great ad- vantage to burn piles of brush on the soil. The benefit derived is not only from the ashes—the burning of the soil is an ad- vantage. Apply ashes, phosphate and well You can put it on the wagon and I will| rotted manure freely, and have all well teach you how. Chop and split it into | mixed with the soil before planting. 30 Berry Harvest. Wheat harvest brings in a busy season, but the berry harvest is one of greater anxiety, as small fruits are perishable, and must be sold at once as well as gathered. Begin a month in advance to get crates, boxes, picking trays, etc., on hand, and build new packing houses, where necessary. These are often rude affairs. We have seen a pole borne by two crotched posts, on which boards rested, one end of the boards lying on the ground, answer in keeping off sunshine and storm. Some- times only the shade of a large tree is re- lied on. But sudden and severe storms are liable to occur, and most often the houses are sixteen feet square, with a nar- row passage way on one side through which only one row of pickers can pass at a time to deliver the berries, thus avoiding confusion. It should admit the air freely. On large fruit farms they must have many of these packing houses at convenient points. They must also have cheap cabins built in which pickers from a distance can sleep and cook. It requires some experience to manage berry pickers, especially when a large number are employed. They are easily in- fiuenced to stop work at a critical moment, by some one discontented picker. Prevent this by making contracts with them for the whole season or no pay. Itis useless to try to keep accounts with pickers, for if they get the notion that your accounts are not what their memory calls for your books will be worthless to convince them, and one dissatisfied picker will torment you worse than an army of ordinary creditors. Work entirely on the ticket system and it will save you vexation of spirit. But you can have tickets, each one of which will cover 100 quarts picked, to pay out when lian.e to run short of small tickets. Therearemany kinds of tickets used, but mostly small ones with one, three and six quarts marked on them, or one, two and four, correspond- ing with the number of quarts the picking trays hold. Mr. Samuels’ method is as fol- lows: ‘‘He has a card four inches in length by one anda half inches wide, on whicha number of figures, are printed to represent quarts, with smaller figures below giving the sum of all above. The larger figures are punched out with a punch like | a railroad conductor’s, as the berries are J brought in. A man stands at one of the packing house doors for this purpose, and punches out numbers, representing the quarts picked, attends to the berries and gives instructions about picking. This re- quires an experienced man, and one who is thoroughly honest, as it is easy to punch out figures representing more, than is brought in by some favorite.” Govern the pickers with a firm hand. There is no other way. They will soon learn whether you intend ‘‘ the rules” shall THE BERRY HARVEST. be obeyed, and whether you are in earnest in your commands. Rest assured that every advantage will be taken of weakness in discipline. No less than two persons can manage a lot of pickers— often many more, according to the number employed. One person must be ready to receive the fruit as it comes into the fruit house, pay out the tickets, and place the fiuit in crates, or, where it is assorted, as the case may be; the other must be moving about the berry field continually, seeing that the pickers stick to the rows assigned them, that they pick clean, fill their baskets and put in norubbish. Few men are suitable for this work—it requires a brigadier gen- eral, We recommend that every large berry grower have rules printed on cards, and that they be given to each picker when he is invited to begin work. We shall nse these rules on cardsthat represent one dol- lar due the picker, which will enable us to take up the smaller tickets. It will be worded thus on the back of card: When properly signed by us this ticket will show that one dollar is due you at the end of the picking season, providing you have worked . faithfully to the end. If you lose this ticket you lose your money. ——————— $s ———— Rules for Berry Pickers. ELUTE 1. No person is permitted to stop work for the day without permission. 2. No children under eight years of age, no troubiesome, complaining, dissatisfied, profane or improper talking persons al- lowed on the premises. 3. Those who eat most berries and talk most accomplish the least work and are not wanted. 4, Each picking tray will contain its quota of boxes, and no person will be permitted to take more quart boxes than the picking tray holds. 5. Tickets will be given for each quart picked. Jf you lose these tickets you lose your money. Donot trust others to count your tickets. Keep your tickets in pack- ages of one dollar each, so as to have them convenient to be proved when you are paid. 6. Pickers willbe paid at the end of the raspberry season for picking both rasp- berries and strawherries, and not before. It is best for you to get your money all at once for then you know how much the season has brought you, and it is notcon- sumed by piecemeal. We can not be both- ered by paying pickers as they happen to want change. 7%. If you can not pick all the berries in the row, if you can not pick without bruis- ing the fruit, or trampling on it; if you can not fill your boxes properly, or keep the fruit free from leaves and rubbish you will be discharged. You are not paid to make fun, to tramp on boxes and trays, or make a noise. : ye Ye a MARKETING FRUITS. _ All must be quiet and orderly or you will _ prevent others from working besides losing your own time. 9. Any person found creating dissatis- faction among the pickers, by word or act, will be banished and never permitted to enter the place again. 10. If found picking from other rows ‘than that which has been given you to pick you willnot be paid for picking such ber- ries. 11. Itis understood and agreed that all persons employed to pick our berries shall remain with us, picking whenever and as . long as their services are needed, and that should they stop picking sooner (unless on account of sickness), they forfeit all the money they have earned. ‘This is under- - stood to be a contract between us and every picker, and will be enforced. It is assumed also that you agree to keep all the rules herein laid down, and abide by all require- ments above set forth. If vou can not agree to abide by these rules do not begin work. All tickets must be presented for payment within ten days after the close of the picking season. — Marketing Fruits. We publish elsewhere facts regarding the loss incurred in shipment of foreign fruits. If the losses of domestic fruits were cap- able of being shown it would astonish the reader, for there is often a woful lack of judgment or experience in putting them up and sorting, and often inattention on the ' part of the persons to whom they are sent home sales. for sale. Parker Earle is one of the most successful shippers. He stations men at important points to attend to shipments and sales, not feeling satisfied to trust every- thing to men employed by others. The selling requires as much attention and ex- ‘perience as growing. His fruits are picked Eeare getting fully ripe, are assorted, packed to stand rough usage,and open at the end of the journey in tempting style. He ships in refrigerator cars, and stores in cold houses as soon as picked. We often see his fruit in the Rochester market looking as fresh as when first picked in southern Ili- nois. We find the home market is most profit- able, and would advise all to make every effort to sell as near home as possible. _ Many people send fruit far away to market not knowing that larger profits could be made by manipulating and encouraging Learn what your home mar- ket requires and grow fruits to meet it. _Make a home market. Grow berries so large and tempting they will sell them- selves. _ sell the more you may sell. You will find that the more you Your custom- ers will eat berries from habit,and consume ‘bushels where formerly they consumed | ago. _ quarts. For instance take a locality where | demand. 31 many persons are growing fruit on a large scale, and you will find more berries con- sumed there than elsewhere, and more easily sold, for the people have learned their value and formed the fruit eating habit. Distant shipments entail loss at best, crates are lost or smashed, there is an unexpected glut in the market, trains are delayed, or unlooked for events transpire to cut short profits. The home market is the best, rely on it mainly. If compelled to ship make arrangements. beforehand with men whom you have found (on inquiry), are reliable. Never send to a total stranger, of whom you know noth- ing. Let one man at each point handle all you send to that place. Do not disappoint him when he expects a shipment. fruit will soon get a reputation with his customers, and if superior will command better prices than if sent to different firms, who know less about you or your goods. If shipping a large lot telegraph the amount and the hour of shipment so that he may be making a sale for it before its arrival. There are many growers who sell entirely through commission houses, and who are well satisfied with the results. But remem- ber it requires experience to pack and ship and make it pay, and that for the novice the home market is the mainstay and safe anchor. Strawberries intended for distant shipment should be picked every day, and raspberries every other day. SQ Ten Questions Answered. Question 1. Is fruit-growing profitable. Answer. It is profitable if conducted with skilland perseverance. Without experi- ence we cannot be skillful. Without perse- verance we can accomplish nothing. Q. 2. If fruit growing is profitable why do not rural people more generally engage in it? ; A. The mass of ruralists have been born and bred farmers. Their entire attention has been given to grain growing, to stock, etc. They know no more about fruit grow- ing than about manufacturing boots and shoes or woolen goods. They have not placed themselves in position to learn about fruit growing. But where fruit farms have been successfully established among far- mers they have not been slow to learn that fruit growing pays best, and such farmers often pick up enough information to begin for themselves in growing fruit. Q. 8. Is fruit growing more generally pursued than formerly? A. Yes, especially small fruit. Twenty years ago small fruit growing was scarcely ursued as a bustmess, the supply coming argely from wild bushes. There is ten times as much grown now as ten years Each year increases the supply and Your ~ 32 VOYAGES OF DISCOVERY. Q. 4. Does not the increase of planting depress the price of fruit? A. It has not thus far. Since canning and evaporating began the prices have stif- fened, and the glutsin the markets, so fre- quent of old, are seldom experienced. The more abundant the supply of fruit the more people form the habit of eating it. Q. 5. Is there not danger of over-produc- tion ? A. There would be danger were every part of the country adapted to fruit culture. Considering the fact that but a small part of the United States is well adaped to give profitable returns, there appears to be but little danger of a permanent over-supply. _ Not so much danger as there is of an over- supply of wheat, for wheat can be grown over a much larger extent of country. Q. 6. Are people going into fruit culture intelligently or blindly ? A. There was a time when men rushed into it blindly with exaggerated expecta- tions, not knowing what to plant or where to plant. They were alike ignorant of var- ieties, the habits of species, the peculiarities of soil necessary and other important ques- tions. These men failed disastrously. Another class have begun the work, who have fitted themselves by experience and observation and never in this country have we had so intelligent and competent a class of fruit growers as to day. Q. 7. Which branch of fruit culture is most profitable ? A. It is difficult to state. What is most profitable to-day may be the least profitable afew years from now, and what is most profitable in one locality may be the least so in others. The wise course appears to be this: plant not all to strawberries, or to pears, or any one thing, but everything that your market calls for. The season opens with strawberries, then comes raspberries, blackberries, currants, gooseberries, apples, peaches, pears, plums, quinces. Thus you have something to market perpetually, and if one crop fails you do not feel it as you would if all your time had been spent on one specialty. Your market should be your guide as to what you should grow. Q. 8. Is fruit-growing hard work? A. Physically it is not nearly so hard work as farming. _ Mentally it requires more effort. Q. 9. What soil is best for fruit culture; A. A farm having both sandy loam and clay loam would be preferable, as pears, plums, apples and some other fruits would do best on clay loam, and the small fruits best on strong, sandy loam. In all cases avoid stiff clay. I-would not take such land as a gift for fruit culture. Q. 10. What would be the chances for success of an inexperienced city man, ora retired clergyman, at fruit-growing as a business? A. His chances would be small. He wowld be likely to have fanciful and exag- erated ideas of the profits, and an inade- quate conception of the amount of work required. He would in other words not be practical. But many such men have suc- ceeded, and will again. If a man has the right metal in him there is no such word as fail in any enterprise he undertakes. oot - iP The Marlboro Raspberry. Probably no raspberry has ever been intro- duced in this country about which so much will be said as the Marlboro. Shares of this variety were sold in the Spring of 1883, all being bound by contract not to sell be- fore the Fall of 1884. One of the best indi- cations is that most of the shares were taken near where the berry originated, and where it is best known, and by fruit grow- ers for their own planting. The Marlboro ~ is a bright red raspberry, large size, firm and fair quality—we do not consider it equal to the best in quality—a firm ship- ping berry is seldom of the best flavor, as quality and softness or juiciness often go together. The quality is better than Brandywine or Reliance. We may think better of its quality on further acquaintance. It is claimed to be the earliest variety to ripen—we have not tested this point. It endured the past severe Winter here, the canes coming through in fine condition, to the tips, without any protections. Itisone of the most vigorous growers, making strong, stocky, reddish canes, with very prominent buds. We stand ready to expose any weak point that may be mentioned against this variety, believing the public should be cor- rectly informed. We confess that we had fears that it was not hardy enough for us, and that we watched it anxiously, but from its appearance the past Winter and Spring we consider it as hardy as the Cuth- bert. Red raspberries are becoming more profitable each season for market, and a valuable early variety is just what is needed. Just what position the Marlboro will take ultimately, we cannot state, but it promises exceedingly well. Weadvise all to endeavor to see it in fruit so as to be able to judge for themselves. —_+#0—___—_— Voyages of Discovery. We advise our readers to move about and see the new varieties in fruit this season. By this means you can judge of their value nearly as well as though you had been to the trouble and expense of testing them your- selves. Weassure you that there is being made improvements in many fruits, more particularly the small fruits. If any one within a day’s drive has the James Vick strawberry in bearing it will pay you to visit it. We sent out this believing it might become one of the most popular both for market and home use, and the more we see of it the stronger our hopes become, but THE NEW RITE ¢RAPE NIAGARA. This new purely native White Grape is a cross between Concord and Cassady. Hardy; as strong a grower as gencord; earlier and far better in quality. Bunches large and uniform; very compact, sometimes shouldered. Enor- Mously productive; a four-year old vine producing 140 clusters, weighing from 8 to 16 ounces each. Selling in various arkets at 15 to 25 cents per pound, when best California grapes brought ten cents. The most desirable white grape fer produced. THE GRAPE FOR THE MILLION. TO 249 PEARLST NY POTTED time alone will tell. If it is the most pro- . fitable market berry you cannot learn the _ fact too soon. The first report from the _ James Vick this season comes from John ' T Stark, Secretary of the West Tennessee Horticultural Society, Jackson, Tenn., dated May 1st, he says: ‘‘I picked my first James Vick this morning; a late frost in- jured the berries somewhat ; this one meas- ures one and one-fourth inches in length,and three and one-eighth inches in circumfer- ence, and I think there are fully two hun- _ dred berries on the plant this was picked from ; color and shape beautiful. Hope to have some nice ones to exhibit at our meet- ing. When you get anything extra good please let me know.” Get sight of the Al- jantic, Mrs Garfield, Prince of Strawberries, Daniel Boone, Pipers’ Seedling and other strawberries. When in fruit look up a plant of Hansell, Marlboro, Shaffer’s Colossal, Montclair, Superb, Souhegan, Tyler and other raspberries, also Early Cluster, Wil- son Jr., Stone’s Hardy, Wallace, Taylor and other blackberries. It will pay you to see -Fay’s Currant, Lee’s Prolific and the newer grapes, such as Moore’s Karly, Worden’s, Pocklington, Prentiss, Duchess, Early Vic- tor, Niagara, etc. If a man is breeding horses, cattle or sheep, he traveis about to see what others are doing in his line. Fruit growers will fall behind if they do not do _ likewise. But do not visit other fruit growers in a critical mood, or with the con- ceit that your methods, your varieties, your plantations are superior. If they really are superior struggle hard not to show your host that you think so. There is no greater ~ bore than the man who goes from one fruit farm to another without appearing to see anything worth seeing. Do not expect too much. De not look for paved walks and sodded borders in the fields of fruit. Ex- pect to discover plots apparently abandoned to weeds, Every propagator has such— _ they are the beds wherein his red raspber- ries and blackberries are permitted to sucker and produce young plants, and no cultiva- _ tor dare enter. Be interested, be pleased, learn and be happy and wise. Potted Strawberry Plants. People often defer planting Strawberries in early spring, and desire later to start a _ bed. For such, plants grown in small pots » are valuable, for they can be transplanted with a ball of earth about their roots at any time of the year, though if the weather is very hot and dry, water must be given ~ them at intervals on the start. If planted PLANTS. 33 in hot, dry weather, fill the hole in which - the plant is set (with the ball of earth left on undisturbed) with water, and so that the earth about the roots is thoroughly moistened. It is safer to shade the plants fora few days in such cases. But in ordi- nary moist soil, in coolish weather, potted plants will require no such attention. In getting started with new varieties, potted plants are valuable. The drawback in planting in quantity is the weight of earth attached to the plants which makes express charges high. Potted plants are usually shipped in light baskets holding 100 plants or more, each. We planted potted Vicks in July, August and September of last year, and these plants will bear a crop this season, many having set 100 and more berries each, and they will be of large size. : In planting potted plants you gain by having to cultivate them for a shorter peri- od, and the ground can be occupied with other crops early in the year, such as peas, or early potatoes, etc. But the extra ex- pense of obtaining such plants will pre- vent their being planted on a large scale. Whatever you do, do not plant strawberries late in the fall from ordinary unpotted plants ; they will not secure foothold by winter, and unless protected skillfully would be heaved out by frost and destroyed. ———_++e-___ Bones, Ashes, Ete. Three hundred pounds of unleached ashes ~ mixed with 100 pounds of ground bones in a heap and kept moist would soon reduce the bone to a nearly soluble condition fora fertilizer. But as a caustic potash is a much more quickly active decomposing agent than the mild potash or carbonate, it would be- better to add about a bushel of fresh-burned. lime to the heap. When this slakes by the addition of water, it takes the carbonic acid from the potash in the ashes and makes it caustic, in which condition it will reduce the bone toa soluble condition very soon. the mixture should then be shoveled over and mixed with a fourth of its weight of plaster, which will prevent the escape of ammonia that will be produced. If the bone is raw, such a mixture will contain about four pounds of nitrogen, fifty pounds of ' phosphate of lime, and ten pounds of pot- -ash, worth at market price about $4.50 per 100 pounds, not counting the lime and plaster, which will be additional. Ground - bone can be bought for $25 to $30 a ton.— N. Y. Times. 0 It is held now that pear blight is not con- tagious, but by using a knife on healthy trees that has trimmed blighted ones, dis- - ease is thought to be carried. We desire to be careful what we assert regarding this business. Some people know all about pear blight and yellows, we do not. / 4 y 34 A Catskill Fruit Grower. “You have probably had some experience in fruit culture,” I remarked to an aged and communicative Catskillian-on-the-Hud- son. ‘‘Gosh, yes. When I was a boy Rochester nurserymen cum out here them- selves and sold us trees. I bought fifty ap- ple trees, dug big holes and filled em in with rich soils and sods. Beats all how they growed. Why men would cum to see them ar trees loaded down with apples, and think I was lyin when I told how few years they had been growin. Gosh, yes. And then my boys didn’t like farming and I sold the old place, and the man who bought it let them trees take care of themselves. Well the grubs got inter em, the moss covered em, the branches looked dead like, and not an apple grew onem. Gosh, yes. And then I ses to that man, you dig out them ar dead trees and put in pear and plums, then tackle the earth-with the hoe and cultivator, draw on some dung, white- wash em, lime em, train em. Well, he done it, and now he beats all of em with the biggest Bartlett pears and Lumbard plums you ever sot eyes on.) Gosh, yes; and then I used to grow strawberries. Beats all how them things did turn out the berries, and big uns, you bet. You see I pulled off the runners and kept em in hills like and they did bear like mad, and I sold em all for 12 and 15 centsa quart. Ye see the nite boat takes em right to New York fresh as a clam, without a bruise or a jolt. Gosh, yes. ' But the boys don’t like farmin. One of em is porter in the hotel, and one is train man on the railroad, and f help a lit- tle looking after fruit and pertaters for the hotel where my boy works. Farmin pays best. Gosh, yes! But what is an old fel- ler to do when his boys don’t like farmin, says I, and so I sells the farm and cums here and-totes about like nobody. If them ere boys had stuck to the farm and the ap- ples and berries, we’d had a heap of money now. Gosh, yes. For that new railroad (West Shore) has cum along, and you can’t buy the old farm now for twice the money I got.” A Successful Weed. If there is a more persistent weed than Mallows (cheese) Ido hot want to contend with it. When we took possession of our farm the yard was in a garden where the Mallows had seeded for many years. When formerly an old row of peach trees stood, with currants, burdocks and pigweeds be- tween, we planted roses and other orna- mentals, after cleaning it out thoroughly. The soil was rich and everything thrived. The Mallows came up as thick as hair on a horse. We fought it with hoe and cultivator, and have been fighting it for years since, but even now if HUDSON RIVER VINEYARDS. | " left uncultivated for a few weeks the Mal- lows reappear about as thick as ever, fresh seed being continually brought to the sur- face by cultivation. Wherea plant of Mal- lows gets a good foothold in rich soil, it will cover a plot four feet across with root 80 strongly imbedded that the strongest man cannot pullitup. Very small plants go to seed, and all should be looked after closely in the fall, The roots are exceedingly tough, and the hoe and cultivator are often turned aside by them. A friend, on moy- ing a barn, found a bed of decayed manure which he applied to his lawn, covering the sacred spot several inches deep. Soon he saw his fatal mistake, for mallows appeared thick and fast, and despite his efforts took possession, and he was never after able to conquer them. If our readers can tell how to get them out of a grass plot, or how to get them out of door yards where they have had full sway for half a century, we will gladly give the needed space. In enlarging fieldsin the nursery, we have occupied old lanes, where Mallows had gained foothold, with cherries and pears in nursery rows, where the soil received the most thorough culture, yet at this season we find the Mal- lows as thick in these spots as it is probable for them to grow. We are clearing them out, but will expect to see their faces again next season and the next until doomsday. a $3 o— \ Hudson River Vineyards. I probably passed ¥ within sight of nearly one hundred vineyards. Their important features, and the ideas suggested are as follows: 1. The importance of elevation. The higher the better. Here early and late frosts seldom do injury and the grapes be- come thoroughly ripe, a condition most de- voutly to be sought. As Mr. Downing said when we called: ‘‘ Don’t send me any im- perfectly ripened grapes to test, as they give no satisfaction.” 2. Plant only on dry soil. There is much elevated land on the Hudson that slants so the water cannot run off. No vines will ever be planted here. _The grape courts dry soil, dry seasons and warm dry countries, with an abundance of sunshine. 3. Thorough cultivation. The soil is kept loose and free from weeds by frequent cultivation with horse and hoe. Grass and weeds not only steal plant food and moist- ure; they shade the soil from the sun’s rays and ‘prevent early ripening of the fruit. The Acme is a good tool with which to work ee hinning the fruit. Overbearing causes the grapes to ripen very late if at all, and does permanent injury to the vines. How much each vine should bear depends on the vigor of the variety, its age and con- dition. The vines are not permitted to bear half what they would bear if undisturbed. By this thinning larger bunches are secured i MANURING TREES. ~* 30 _ and better prices in market, and often as Many pounds as though twice as many bunches were left on. : __ 9, Pruning close so as to avoid too many ‘bunches setting, and keep the vines within bounds, and attentive tieing to the wires. I never saw a successful vineyard when the vines were straggling away from the wires. 6. Fertility of soil. The mountain sides, after ages of washings of rains cannot be expected to be very rich. Here applica- tions of manure give immediate results, and I find grape growers making every ef- fort to increase the supply from the pig pens and stables. %. The choice of varieties. Even on the Hudson river the old Concord is the most reliable.’ Though other varieties pay the best profits, many of them are expected oc- casionally to fail for one reason or another, _ Itis safe to say that the Concord can be grown at half the expense of most of the other varieties, but many of the promising new varieties are not yet fully tested here. 8. Careful assorting and attractive pack- ing for market, in packages with handles so that purchasers can carry them after purchasing, and so small as not to become wearisome to the purchaser. A dealer will sell many more fruits put up in five or ten pound baskets, than if offered in larger packages from which they must be un- _ packed and pawed over, many berries drop- ing off, and all made much less attractive. Not only grapes, but plums, peaches and rare apples and pears can profitably be marketed in this manner. Manuring Fruit Trees. It is singular how long some fallacies retain their hold, even after they have been disproved by facts, and of these, one of the most mischievous is the belief that fruit trees and bushes are liable to injury rather than benefit from the application of manure. All sorts of disease, such as canker and other ailments to which fruit trees are liable, are set down as the result of applying manure to the roots; whereas, in nine cases out of ten, it arises from poverty of the soil, causing the roots to run down into the bad subsoil. Lam continually hearing complaints from owners of fruit trees as to their unsatisfactory condition, and on ex- amination have invariably found scarcely any surface roots or fibres of any kind, nothing but large, thong-like roots, that run right down intothe subsoil. On inquiry I have usually found that manuring or top- dressing had not been practiced for many years, their owners having come to the con- clusion that such practices were dangerous. I do not say that manure will prove to be a cure for fruit-tree ailments of all kinds, but I will briefly detail a few facts that have come under my observation at various is a far more prolific source. of injury than abundant feeding of the surface roots, both with solid and liquid manures, and growers must form their own conclusions as to the best course to pursue. The fruitful or un- fruitful state of orchard trees in nine cases out of ten, is entirely dependent on the at- tention which they receive as regards ma- nuring. In the fruit growing parts of Kent, where — large orchards of standard trees planted on grass land is the rule, it isa well-established fact that if the grass is cut for hay and carried away, the trees soon become un- fruitful and die out; while, on the con- trary, if the grass is fed off, so that the nutriment is returned to the roots in the shape of manure, the trees keep fruitful and healthy. I have seen some of the. most moss-grown, miserable specimens of starved orchard trees restored to fruitful condition by making the ground beneath them the winter quarters of sheep and pigs, feeding them at the same time as if they were in the farmyard with roots and corn. ' ' The finest old specimens of apple and pear trees are generally those in an orchard next to the homestead that is used as a run for calves, sheep, pigs and poultry the whole year around. In these orchards the turf is short, and being full of nutriment the trees keep healthy and prolific for an indefinite period. Ashes, garden refuse, or any kind of road scrapings, or even scaven- gers’ rubbish may be utilized for increasing our supply of orchard fruits. They should .| be spread roughly on the surface in winter, and in spring harrowed and rolled down firmly. The result will soon be a marked improvement in the size and quality of the crop. Difference of opinion prevails as to the pruning or non-prunirg trees, some adopting one system and some another; but, be that as it may, I never knew fruit trees continue to yield good crops for any length of time unless the roots were sup- plied with manure in some form or other.— London Garden. Se — CULTIVATING STRAWBERRIES.—A. writer in Vick’s Magazine says that in raising strawberries for market, the rows should be at least twenty-five rods long, so that horse-power may be used in destroying every weed as soon as it sprouts, and the surface of the soil kept constantly clean and mellow. No ridges or furrows are to be formed between the rows. : OLD RASPBERRY CANES.—Mr. Hale rec- ommends leaving the old canes which are past bearing, till the following Spring, to protect the new vines from wind and snow. Sometimes the snow thus accumulating has shielded the canes, and a better crop has been the result. Mr. R. Johnson, in his “‘Farm Notes” makes the same recommen- times, to prove that starvation of the roots | dation. we uf 36 QUESTIONS ANSWERED, A Querist in a Fruit Garden. How can I best fill out vacancies in rasp-. berry and strawberry rows caused by plants dying from effects of drouth? _ “With strawberries permit the plants that survive to make new plants, and take up the new plants with a mass of earth about the roots in September, and plant where vacancies occur. Or, better, train the run- ners into quart baskets or small pots, and transplant from these when well rooted. With black raspberries, layer the young canes as soon as long enough, and trans- plant these young plants next Spring where vacancies occur, after the tips of young plants have grown an inch or two, leaving earth about the roots. With red raspberries fill vacancies now with green sucker plants that have sprung up about oid plants on your place. Do not order green plants as they willnot often endure shipment. Re- move the leaves on planting. Is it necessary to remove blossoms from newly set strawberries ? If set early, and the weather continues moist, the plants may come through in good condition, bearing fruit the first season. But if a drouth occurs after planting, the plants might perish from the drain upon their vitality in attempting to produce fruit before becoming established. I have known plantations to be saved in such cases by re- moving every blossom and green berry. What is the best plan for carrying plants through a drouth? I never water them. As ordinarily done, watering is detrimental. I mulch each plant with muck or sawdust, or in the field ~ with loose fine earth. Even where the soil in the row has become hard this mulch of fine earth often saves the plants through a long drouth, if the spaces between the rows are cultivated frequently. When isthe best time to head black rasp- berries and blackberries? If you wish to grow without stakes (the approved method) pinch off the tips of young canes as soon as they get about two . feet high. If you wait until the canes are four or five feet high and then cut off a foot or more, you check growth and lose some of the best buds. I cut back the bearing canes of red raspberries, and shortening in side branches early in the Spring, securing more and better fruit than if the entire canes were left on and giving better oppor- tunity for the pickers to move about with- out breaking off the ripe berries. Is Summer pruning of the grape advis- able? Grape growers thin grapes by pulling off surplus buds and shoots and shortening-in canes, allowing but three or four bunches to each cane, when the trellis is well covered. If left to itself the grapevine sets twice as many clusters as it can bring to perfection. If a large part of the clusters are removed early, those remaining will be much larger, will ripen earlier and be of better quality and the vitality of the vine be perpetuated. _ How long is it profitable to allow straw- berries, raspberries, etc., to grow on the same soil without renewing? Some varieties run out much sooner than others. Ordinarily three years with straw- berries, five with blackberries and currants is the extent, though many are profitable much longer, and strawberries might con- tinue an existence for a lifetime. The bet- ter the culture, and the richer and better drained the soil, the longer the plant en- dures. Where land is very high-priced strawberries are only allowed to remain long enough to produce one crop. Where land is cheaper there is no limit to the in- genuity that may be applied to keeping the the beds renewed and productive year after year, keeping in view the fact that the young plants possess the most vigor. Are large fruits as profitable as small fruits ? Asa rule they are not. Our small fruits seldom fail to give a crop, while the pears, apples, peaches and plums often have their barren years. But the trees require less attention than plants and vines, and we do not feel the loss of a crop so seriously from them. While engaged in the business one should desire to grow the large fruits as well as the small. Does fancy fruit growing pay? i No. If growing fruit as a business you must learn the cheapest method of produc- ing it. It pays to fertilize well, to give good culture, tooffer in attractive style in market, and to raise the best varieties, but thereis a limit to high culture, and to every- thihg connected with the business. Every man must be his own judge as to when he has reached this limit. Some men can grow fruit at half the cost of others. Some men can manufacture shoes for less than others. Good common sense carries a man a long way toward success in this country. —[Charles A. Green in N. Y. Tribune. —_—__ 9 ——_———_ A French method for converting cider — into vinegar is as follows : Scald three bar- rels or casks with hot water, rinse thor- oughly and empty. Then scald with vin- egar, rolling the barrels and allowing them to stand on their sides two or three days, until they become thorougly saturated with vinegar. The barrels are then filled about one-third with strong pure cider vinegar and two gallons of cider acid added. Every eight days thereafter two gallons of cider are added until the barrels are two- thirds full. The whole is allowed to stand | fourteen days longer, when it will be found to be good vinegar, and one-half of it may be drawn and the process of filling up with cider began again. In summer the barrels — are allowed to stand in the sun, and in cold weather kept where the temperature is 80 ._ degrees. SLEEPY HOLLOW ROMANCE. 4 EEE t nt, he lie tELICtA, bg, We i ” Wanver We cw A Sleepy Hollow Romanee, Illus- trated. - Timothy Baldwin visits the metropolis to make arrangements with his commission house to sell the fruit from his great farm at Sleepy Hollow, in Western New York. _ He takes his pretty daughter along to show her the sights. Now Timothy is rich. The _ grapes from the hillsides, the berries from _ the valleys, the red-cheeked apples, the golden pears, the delicious peaches had ' year by year added to his bank account, _ until he need have no fear of keeping the _ wolf from his door. His daughter, Betsy, _ had been given the best advantages, and _ had recently graduated with honors. He Af See i Doodid #itce, LowJ was proud of her, yet not pleased with the admiring glances bestowed upon her by his fellow passengers, several of whom found no favor though they attempted to enter into conversation with Timothy, appearing deeply interested in fruit culture and other ruralaffairs. The journey progressed as all journeys do. The newsagent dumped Bob Ingersoll’s and the Bad Boy’s book into their laps, the cough lozenges, and prize candies. The brakeman ertered anon to bawl out the unintelligible names of sta- tions, the conductor moved to and fro like a brigadier. By the way where are the peanuts that used to be offered so freely on the cars in days of old? They are banished and the mild-flavored and less dyspeptic oranges, figs and banana are substituted. 38 From Albany Timothy took the day-boat desiring to enjoy again the beautiful Hud- son river scenery, and to point out its at- tractions to Betsy. A band of musicians was aboard, the deck was well-filled with pleasure seekers, the grand old hills loomed up sublimely, and Timothy and Betsy were. happy. _They stopped at the Astor House in New York. and will never forget the del- icacies for which the place is famous. Af- ter attending to business and showing Betsy Brooklyn Bridge, Prospect and Cen- tral Parks, the sights on Broadway, the art galleries, and the museums, our friends got aboard the cars at the Grand Central depot for home, Betsy taking the seat next the window, through the frame of which her sweet face beamed bewitchingly. At this point a foppishly dressed young man appears, and is at once smitten by Betsy. He attempts to attract her attention by strutting up and down the platform. Timothy meanwhile is figuring up his pro- spective profits from fruit. Last year he sold his red raspberries for $4,000, his straw- berries for $2,000, his black caps and biack- berries for $2,000 more. He explains to Betsy that he figures the sum higher this year than ever before, when she exclaims: ‘‘ Father do see this funny little man.” Now Timothy is mild mannered generally but when he saw this foppish nincompoop smirking and flirting he was as mad as though he had recently sat down on a red hot hornets nest. He said nothing, but un- observed by the fop, watched his antics. Suddenly Timothy darts out of the rear end of the train. There lies the two wheeled truck used for moving baggage. He sees the dandy strutting in the opposite direc- tion near the window where Betsy sits, un- conscious of impending disaster. Suddenly Timothy remembers that his trunks are not yet aboard, for he dashes towards the young man in fine attire with the speed of a fast mail train, and the catastrophe depicted in our last illustration transpires. Berries still flourish in Sleepy Hollow, where Tim- othy lives, and the gossips tell of Betsy’s approaching wedding. She is to marry one of the foremost farmers. Probably some of her purchases on Broadway will be worn on her wedding day. LIlustrations from Rural New-Yorker—romance by our editor. tem. A plan for a cold fruit house is given elsewhere in this issue. It would seem to be unnecessary to go to such great ex- pense. Such houses are now built with simply room between outside and inside sheathing, to admit of one foot of space for sawdust—the theory being to confine cold air. It is remarkable that any section of country where fruits are grown should be without some such building for storing fruit in its fresh state. Simply an ordinary ice house is a safe place to keep a few crates of berries or other fruits. USEFUL ITEMS. $< A neighbor sowed oats among his cur-— rants, and the currant worm, previously — destructive, did not appear. Where they are troublesome give them powdered helle- bore promptly, at first sight, sprinkled on when bushes are wet with dew. The Science Monthly reports the cause of the cathartic energy of pears. Ripe Bart- letts are found to contain sharp pointed. crystals which irritate the walls of the in- testines. The Keiffer Pear has this clear grit, which will enable it to push its way to — popularity. Drake's Traveler’s Magazine says that the “nursery trade of Rochester is not sur- passed by that of any other place in the world. The suburbs are highly cultivated, having 4,000 acres of fruit trees and numer- ous nurseries, each of which comprise from 250 to 500 acres.” ‘ ** An honest strawberry box is the noblest work of man.” This cruel thrust at the man who invented the box with the bottom half way tothe top, will bring tears to the eyes of the sympathetic. How much bet- ter strawberries taste when there arefew | of them, and the price high. Barnum says the world likes humbugs. Certainly this box looks as innocent as a new born babe, at first glance, and liberal too in proportions. But so long as imper- fection prevails in the human race, just so long will complaints be made when it is ‘difficult to tell which end of the box holds. most, the bottom or top. Stone wall fences are an abomination. They must go with the crooked rail fences, as barbed wire becomes better known. It is about impossible to climb over @ stone wall without loosening the stones, thus a wall where hunters or children often pass, soon tumbles down, and what an elephant on your hands it is to repair. Nothing looks worse than a broken down stone wall. - Fasten one barbed wire over your walls in place of rails and people will not at- tempt to climbit. Barbed wire makes the cheapest fence. Winds have no effect on it. If we had ittwenty years ago there would now be no unruly or jumping stock. To Escare LiGutTniInc.—Carry as little metal as possible about your person. When the storm approaches shelter yourself in the nearest brick or stone building. If none be near you, stand stillor lie down on your face, regardless of the rain, which is really a protection. Avoid the shelter of trees and doorways, also out-houses, such as. barns or stables, whether of stone or wood, especially of the latter. I consider that open, low, dry, stony ground issafer — than high, wet and grassy ground, and that © leeward sites aresafer than windward ones. — On seeking shelter laborers should leaye their tools behind, as the metal is apt to i attract the electric fluid. And then - Unruly cattle and horses respect it. © fe = | os : CL ae hie Nii Has Ae ’ =a | ‘THIS INTRODUCES OUR PORTFOLIO. 40 Planting the Apple Tree. Come, let us plant the apple-tree ! Cleave the tough greensward with the spade; Wide let 1t hollow bed be made, There gently lay the roots, and there Sift the dark mould with kindly care, And press it o’er them tenderly ; As, round the sleeping infant’s feet, We softly fold the cradle-sheet, So plant we the apple-tree. What plant we in the apple-tree ? Buds, which the breath of summer days Shall lengthen into leafy sprays; Boughs, which the thrush with crimson breast, Shall haunt, and sing, and hide her nest. We plant upon the sunny lea A shadow for the noortide hour, A shelter from the summer shower, When we plant the apple-tree. What plant we in the apple tree ? Sweets for a hundred flowery springs, To load the May wind’s restless wings ; When from the orchard-row, he pours Its fragrance through our open doors, A world of blossoms for the bee— Flowers for the sick girl’s silent room. For the glad infant sprigs of bloom, We plant with the apple-tree. What plant we with the apple-tree? Fruits that shall swell in sunny June. And redden in the August noon, And drop as gentle airs came by That fan the blue September sky; While children, wild with noisy glee, Shall scent their fragrance as they pass, And search for them the tufted grass At the foot of the apple-tree.—Bryant. ——_—_~+1e—__— PRIMER OF HORTICULTURE. PREPARED BY CHARLES W. GARFIELD. The Peach. The peach is one of the most delicious fruits grown in a temperate climate, and whenever it succeeds its cultivation yields a larger net return than perhaps any other fruit—every succeeding year affords evidence that it may be successfully grown in many localities where heretofore it was supposed such an undertaking would result in failure. Being a native of a warmer climate than ours, it is often injured by the intense cold of Winter. It is therefore advisable to fortify the tree in every possible way against the rigors of our northern climate. This precaution is the first step toward success, and in many localities is imperative. Several factors will enter into the account in secur- ing thisresult. First—the site for the orchard should be elevated above the lands adjacent, and the surface should incline considerably in order to secure perfect drainage for excess of water and coldair. Thecold -air being heavier than warm air will run off, if the surface is descending, and will occupy the lowest level the same as water; for this reason, among others, peaehes will not succeed on low ground, nor even on high land if the surface is a dead level for some dis- tance around. For the same reasons, all depressions having no out- let should be avoided. Neither willa peach orchard succeed on heavy clay soil when the subsoil retains an excess of water, unless very thoroughly underdrained and the subsoil broken up. If it becomes again appar- ently compact, the roots will be enabled to penetrate such soil far more readily than they could before it was broken up. It is known that the roots of the peach tree have less power to penetrate the hard earth than those of many other fruit trees, and require a loose, friable soil and subsoil. Such a condition of the soil allows the water to pass off readily and admits light and heat, both im- portant agents in vegetable growth. THE PEACH. ] ; The best soil for the peach is a deep, strong, gravelly~ loam or a heavy loam with a porous subsoil. Sandy land is preferable to heavy clays, and with the use of fertilizers will produce fruit of excellent quality and in reasonable abundance. As an incentive to a thorough preparation of the earth before planting out the orchard and of the most prompt and thorough cultivation afterward, we may say that an acre of land adapted to and thoroughly prepared for growing peaches, will produce a net in- come equal to three or fouracres devoted to farm crops, and on sandy land the peach orchard will show a still larger balance in its favor. aie Farmers too often seem satisfied with shallow culti- vation, and their crops usually correspond’ with the labor and skill used in conducting their farm opera- tions. Now, while the ordinary returns from farming may not warrant the expense of fertilizing, under- draining, and subsoiling, to the extent I have indicated, the case is far different in laying a sure foundation for a profitable peach orchard. The usual depth of plowing is six inches—the sub- soil below that distance is of little benefit to growing crops unless the roots can penetrate through it. If the bed of mellow earth can be made one foot deep in- stead of six inches, the productive capacity of the or- chard will be increased in the same ratio. The benefits secured by a thorough breaking up of the soil to a proper depth may be Stated as follows: Air, light and heat, indispensible agents in growing fruit and all farm crops, are more freely admitted to the whole depth of soil to work out these wonderful changes which produce such abundant and beautiful crops of fruit and grain. The air brings with it ele- ments of fertility, heat from the sun’s rays and is laden | with moisture. It yields up a portion of its heat as it penetrates the cool earth ; this cooling process lessens its capacity to hold moisture and a portion of this is also given up to the earth. This will explain why a deep, mellow soil will carry a crop of fruit througha severe drought so much better than ashallow one. A deep, mellow bed of earth will also retain a greater amount of rain water without displacing other agen- cies required to carry on vegetable growth. _ During very dry weather the fruits growing on the shallow soils are pinched and shriveled and often be- come entirely worthless, while a deepsoil yields up the moisture it has held in store to the multitude of roots which fill the ground. The fruit swells, and grows in size and beauty,and gladdens the heart of the owner in the prospect of an abundant harvest. While the one must offer a small measure of lean, inferior fruit, the other is blessed with an abundant yield of beauti- ful fruit which is in demand at the highest prices. It is very true that in many sections the growing of peaches has proved a very profitable business, where the orchards have been set out op land prepared as for ordinary farm crops, and the orchard has received only the most primitive cultivation ; but there is no doubt that these same orchards would have nearly doubled their yield of fruit had they received generous care and cultivation. In selecting a location for an orchard it is well to keep in mind that the nearer the soil meets these re- quirements in its natural state the less expense will be required in its preparation. s The cost of drawing a large crop of peaches to mar- ket isan importantitem. If near a good market or’ shipping point, the fruit can be more expeditiously handled and disposed of at just the right time and in the best possible condition, which means your net pro- ceeds will be fifty to one hundred per cent. more than if the fruit were carted a long distance and reached its destination twenty-four hours late. Peaches, being perishable and delicate fruit, it is important that they be handled with the greatest care and reach a market in the least possible time, in order to bring the best price. It is difficult for a beginner to select suitable varie- ties from the long list of names found in the nursery- man’s catalogue. use or for the amateur, would be unfit to grow for mar- ket purposes. Some varieties are very tender and perishable; others ripen during the hottest ~ part of Summer, and are liable to rot on the tree or decay in transportation. Atthisseason a warm rain of one or more days’ duration will often cause a loss of the entire crop, unlessone is favored with a home market, or with facilities for drying the fruit. Peaches ripening so early in the Season are not the best for drying, nor for canning. , Many varieties adapted for home — i _ bear abundant annual crops of fruit ; that will endure _ transportation ; that are of good size and of handsome _ appearance (a great deal depends on pleasing the eye). _ Varieties should be planted to ripen in succession, so _ as to give more time for gathering and marketing. A _ good proportion of the fruit should, for many reasons, _ ripen during the latter part of the season. _ Remember and plant only a few sorts, and those of the best. Setevery kind by itself, for when you come to harvest the peaches it will be much more conven- ient. Trim the trees to a whip on planting. Keep the soil in some cultivated crop continually. J.D. Husrep. THE RAISING OF PEARS, I am asked to tell how I raise pears. Well, it is not a difficult matter. Simply go at it with good common sense and careful watching of your trees and most any one can grow them. As to location of the orchard, if I could have just what I wanted, it should be on a gentle slope toward the south, and the soil a gravelly _,loam on clay sub-soil or, next best, an entirely clay soil. If the latter, orif the clay in the first case was near the surface,it would probably be necessary to under-drain the Jand. I consider a southern slope, _ where the trees get the full sun, better than a north- _ ern exposure, and I would assoon have it exposed to winds as sheltered. My preparation for planting would be to grow corn well marured, on the ground _ the previous year and in the Spring just before setting out the orchard, plow the land well. Then where I wanted the trees to stand, which I would have not _ more than one rod apart each way, I would dig holes ' three feet across and eighteen inches deep and loosen _ up the sub-soil for another spade’s depth, scatter about one quart of salt over this loosened sub-soil in each hole and then fill in six inches of good, top earth, leav- ing the hole about one foot deep. Here I would set the trees, carefully preserving and laying out every fibrous root and packing the earth well around the _ roots : _ As to selection of the trees: They should be iwo years old from the graft, and both teps and roots (es- pecialy the latter) well grown and first-class in every particular. In buying trees froma dealer or agent I make them strike out that clause about furnishing other varieties equally good if they happen to be out of what I order. After setting the trees I leave the -surface close around the tree a little dishing or hol- lowed the first year,soasto enable it to get all the moisture it needs. I never mulch but very little,while I hoe about the trees so as to keep the surface mellow. My after cultivation is to grow some hoed crop among the trees for five years, cultivating the ground well, but not manuring too heavily. I think the ground can be too rich for the pear. The selection of varieties for my.orchard, whether for my own use or for market, would be Bartlett, for early ; Seckel and Sheldon, Autumn; and Duchess d’ Angouleme, late Autumn. The last if regard as one of the best. Forsake of variety I also have Ononda- ga, Lawrence, Buerre d’Anjou, Louise Bonne de _Jersey, and others. My practice in ripening and marketing is to pick when matured, though still green in color and some- what hard (when they pick easily by lifting them up, isthe test). Putin barrels in the dark, when they will “*sweat,”’ and the pears as well as the barrel inside will be covered with drops of water. Afterwards they will turn yellow, and are then ready tosellorcan. If -Ishipped away, of course I would have tosend them green- DoneEy. Orchard Culture of Plums. There are three serious obstacles in the way of plum _growing, viz: Premature shedding of leaf, curculio and rot. _ While inferior crops of apples or peaches may be -grown on land seeded to grass or grain, plums are gen— ' erally a total failure, under such treatment. With such ' usage they frequently shed their leaves in midsummer, when all growth of tree and fruit ceases. Thorough ‘ cultivation until the crop is nearly matured is the best _ known remedy for this evil. __ When successful, the plum bears immense crops, for ' which reason annual manuring is absolutely necessary to supnly the ingredients taken away with the crops. A failure in this respect generally means a failure of ( crop. Prt ee é | PEARS AND PLUMS. Select varieties for planting an orchard that will 41 The attempt to raise plums without heavy manuring and thorough cultivation is useless. One or two crops may be obtained, after which the trees usually makea feeble growth, and perish during the first hard Winter. If the curculio withheld his friendly aid, this inclina- tion to overbear would sweep the larger portion of plum orchards out of existence; and while we grate- fully acknowledge the kindness of the ‘‘ Little Turk” ‘in assisting us to prolong the lives of ou: plum or- chards, we regret that he is seriously inclined to over- do the thing—‘“‘ take the lion’s share,’’ and compel us to ‘‘declare war,’’ and act upon the defensive; that mode of warfare known as the ‘jarring process,”’ which consists in jarring down theinsects upon a cloth spread out for that purpose, will lead to certain victory if diligently prosecuted. The cost of such warfare need not exceed ten cents per tree. Promptness in ac- tion is essential to success ; afew days’ delay and the crop might be lost. The time to;commence operations is easily determined by examining the plums daily, as soon as they burst the remains of the calyx enclosing them; if the ‘crescent sign’’ is to be found on the fruit, commence operations, although some plum growers allow the insect to puncture one-half the crop before beginning, as they believe it to be a cheaper method of thinning than by hand. All fruit falling on account of being punctured by the curculio, should be picked up at least once per week, and destroyed JI think the young curculio usually remains in the plum about ten days after it falls. To jar small trees a nail may be driven in the tree, which I believe does no in- jury; or alimb may be sawed off an inch or so from the trunk, and struck with ahammer. When the trees become large I have found a crotched stick, five or six feet long, about as heavy as a common handspike, with the crotch wound witha cloth to prevent bruising the most convenient to jar the trees. The tree should be approached as quietly as possible, and let the jar be sudden. Shaking the tree will not answer. Some— times in the middle of the day, especially if it be warm the curculio will fly off the sheet before they can be caught; sprinkling the sheet with water will prevent that. I believe if each tree be shaken every hour in the day while they are at work, all, or nearly all will be caught, although they might come from adjacent orchards afterwards and destroy the crop. The idea that early morning is the only time they can be suc-— cessfully caught is a fallacy. Ihave known heavy crops secured, where curculio swas ned by the thous- ands, while the jarring was only con.,aued one or two days. Each tree was jarred repeatedly during the day and the jarring was continued until none could be caught. om any cause they should be allowed to puncture the entire crop,don’t conclude that the crop is lost, for if chilly weather follows immediately after they have done their work, very fewif any, will hatch, and no harm is done, as the small wound they make soon heals up. I have known them deposit their eggs sey- eral times before any hatched. - For rot I know of nocertain remedy. Hundreds, yea thousands of bushels of plums have rotted in northern Michigan in the last few years. The idea that they rot only where they mane on the tree so as to touch each other is incorrect; I have known them thinned so that they did not come in contact, yet they all rotted ; picking the fruit as soon as the rot appears on it does not appear to do any good. Last October I read an article in the New York Wzz- ness, am sorry I have itnot at hand, which stated thatif the fruit was picked carefully as soon as it com- menced torot and then placed in a pail of water to prevent the spores of the decayed fruit from rising and lighting on the fruit remaining upon the tree, carried away and burned or deeply buried in the ground, tree and fruit be liberally sprinkled with lime, that it would prove acertainremedly for rot. It also stated that the spores contained in the decayed fruit, if left under the tree, would cause the fruit to rot the next season. I have noticed that when the fruit rotted once ona tree it continued to rot year after year. If the above should prove to be a certain remedy for rot, then I know no reason why plum growing may not be made a success ; if not, then the rot is a serious obstacle, al- though I have never known it to appear until after several crops were raised. ; : Plums succeed in any soil where apples or peaches would, although heavy soils are preferable. Almost all the varieties of plums succeed on the peach stock, the only exceptions I know of being the Lombard and 49 : the Canada Egg’; the former grows well on the peach, but fails to unite properly, and is therefore liable to blow off, and the latter seldom grows at all. There are thousands of plum trees in this vicinity on peach stocks which have peen set ten or fifteen years, and have done equally as well if not better, than those on plum stocks. For light soils I certainly prefer the plum on peach, if not for all soils. Fifteen feet apart each way is the proper distance for the trees to be set. : In reference to varieties the following are excellent -and perhaps as good as any: Bradshaw,Prince Engle- bert, Purple Egg, Pond’s seedling, Lombard and Coe’s Golden Drop. The above are named in their order of ripening. The first four are large, beautiful plums commanding the highest price inmarket.. The Lom- bard is vigorous and exceedingly productive, but fails in some localities ; it bears very young. Coe’s Golden Drop bears immense crops every other year. The Purple Egg is the most vigorous growing tree with which I am acquainted, carrying its foliage through seasons when all others have failed ; it is exceedingly _hardy. The Bradshaw is Seed tender.’ With my present knowledge of plums I think one would not go far astray by setting an equal number of the above varieties, although I may think very differently in the future. G. C. McCatcuik. ‘A GRAPE ‘GROWER’S ADVICE Tn abridged form for these pages and the counsel is certainly clearly defined and practical. Here it is: There is nothing subtile or mysterious in planting grape roots or young trees of any kind, any more than there is in planting potatoes or cabbage. x. The ground should be prepared one year in ad- vance by raising on it a crop of corn or potatoes, or by Summer fallow ; but were I prepared to plant, I would not defer planting ; plant at any rate, and cultivate as you would corn or any other small crop, and you will be surprised tosee the rapid growth your vines will make. . 2, High rolling land, of a gravelly nature, isin my , opinion best adapted to successful grape culture. The grape needs heat and sunshine, the former to ripen the fruit, and the latter to prevent mildew. 3..Were I to plant a vineyard again I would plant the roots eizht feet apart each way in perfect rows. There are those who advise eight by ten, and ten by . twelve, but I hold that eight by eight affords room enough for all practical purposes. ark each way \with a plow and plant at the crossing of the furrows, and but an inch or two deeper; straighten the roots out and cover them up with a hoe, leaving the eye even with the surface,and the workisdone. Corn, potatoes, beans or other vegetables may be raised on the same ground between the grape plants during the first two seasons without any injury to the vines. ' 4. As young vines throw up several shoots during the first two or three Summers after planting, care should be taken to remove them, also to cut off all branches but the Jeading oneto a height of sixteen or twenty inches. The first year the vines may trail on the ground, but the second season they should by all means be tied up toastake. I have no opinion to offer respecting the two leading systems of grape culture, stake or trellis, as both have warm advocates. The stake system appears to be the cheapest in cultivation, because the cultivator can work both ways; while under the trellis plan the work can be performed only one way. The planter must then choose between the two. 5. Pruning may be done at any time between the fall of the leaf and the 2zoth of March, cutting back to two or three eyes on the young timber. 6. As to varieties, the Concord holds first place on the lake shore, and I believe also, in the general mar- ket; and for all purposes it appears to be the most profitable grape yet introduced. We have several new kinds of a greenish white color that are highly spoken of, known as the Prentiss, Pocklington and Niagara. JoserH Lanin. The Quince. The more common mode of propagation is by layers or cuttings; but commercial propagators frequently plant stools in very rich soil, cutting them back to very near the ground, and encouraging the growth of nu- merous shoots the first year. The next year rich earth is filled in a few inches deep among and about the clump of young shoots, which during the next Summer ! GRAPE AND QUINCE. ——— are hindered in their growth in various ways | as by weeds, drouth, and want of air at the roots. Allowing weeds to grow among our plants to rob them of food and moisture, is almost as unwise as cultivating poor soil. One would scarcely expect a manufacturer to erect a building, fill it with tools and material, hire his employes, and then in- vite all the loafers in the community to come and use his material for their own selfish ends, and yet this would be just about as wise as allowing weeds in growing crops. While we cannot produce rain at will, we _ can toa great extent, by frequent stirring of the surface and by mulching, prevent the evaporation of moisture from the soil, this same stirring keeps the surface loose and admits air to the roots. After having grown the crops, final success depends very much on the manner in which it is picked and marketed. This is especially true of strawberries, which are often sent to mar- ket with such an unattractive appearance that they yield no profit to the grower, and very little pleasure to the consumer. Small fruits should be carefully picked, and all damaged or worthless berries left out. They. should he sent to market in clean baskets or ~ boxes, and each of These should contain ber- ries of a uniform size from top to bottom. ‘No part of fruit culture is of more im- portance than a knowledge of varieties, and this must be learned, in part, by each one for himself. A person with little or no ex- perience should commence in a small way, and confine himself mainly to such varieties » as are known to do well in all soils and lo- calities. If everyone would ‘prove all things and hold fast that which is good’ nurserymen would receive fewer curses and fruit growers more money. As a tule, every one should raise his own plants, ex- cept new varieties which he wishes to test. — In this way he is sure to have plants fresh, well grown and true to name, besides sav- ing heavy express charges. b ‘“ When we consider the healthfulness of the work, that it is carried on in the open air, that it furnishes an agreeable exercise for both mind and body, and that success is in exact proportion to the brain work in- vested, it is not strange that so many en- gage in it.” MATHEW CRAWFORD. —— Watering Newly Set Trees. That newly planted trees in certain un- favorable seasons and certain conditions of soil do occasionally require watering will not be denied, but the cases are so rare that they are scarcely to be taken into ac- count. A tree properly planted, with the soil in the right condition, immediately goes to replace roots which had been severed in removal. The earth grows warmer every day, and the young rootlets feel the influ- ence of this heat, and new fibers immedi- ately break from them, as may be seen by - examination twenty-four hours after plant- ing. The soil has probably a temperature of 60° or 65°, and perhaps more, but just as all is going well enough, along comes the planter with a pot of cold water, which he dashes around the tree, chilling the earth, and, indeed, often killing the young fibers. Trees can stand a great deal. or twice as many would neversurvive. Thetree leaves out with the great heat of the sun upon the soil, and again the fibers begin to put out ; once more comes the shower-bath, often a | third time, and if the tree does not die it is in spite of the planter. It is rare that a tree planted very early ever needs any water; certainly only in a very dry soil, and it should then be given at the time of planting. But later in the sea- son, when the sun’s rays are more powerful _ and evaporation more rapid, possibly one or at most,two waterings are all any tree needs. — If the planter has nothing to do, and wishes to show his affection for his trees, he can safely take the syringe, or even a fine rose ~ water pot, and moisten the whole top of the — trees, which will do far more good than to drown the roots.—Canadian Farmer. . GOOD EXAMPLES. Shall we Plant Pears ? B. F. J. To this question I answer yes, certainly ; but with certain limitations as to soil and situation. To be sure there is danger to be apprehended from bacteria, and the resul- tant pear blight, but much less than most people think; for familiarity with these - creatures, infinitesimally little, is breeding a wholesome measure of contempt. For middle latitudes, there is no fruit tree hardier, longer lived, or more produc- tive than the pear, and as for merit as a fruit it is second only in excellence to the peach, with the advantage of being a longer keeper, improving with age. But to suc- ceed with the pear, certain essentials must be attended to, which restrict and limit its areas of cultivation to gardens and grounds. This grows out of its relatively small root development as compared with the apple, and demands for it a soil which is not only rich in mineral elements of plant food, but a situation where, while the soil is neither cold nor wet, there is moisture enough in it to make the solutions on which the roots feed. From these peculiarities arise the limita- tions which confine the successful cultiva- tion of the pear on a large scale to a very few soils, while at the same time they ac- count for its health and fruitfulness within the limited area of city lots, town gardens and grounds. In the latter the ashes from the stoves and hearths, the water and waste from the kitchen, furnish just these mate- rials of mineral food the large demands the pear roots make on the soil, and the conse- quence is it is hardy and fruitful under such surroundings, and is taking the place of the apple, peach and plum, and threatening the popularity of the grape. To be sure the pear was a partial failure last year, even under the conditions named, but this was the first time for a dozen years, and arose from exceptional causes which are not likely to appear again for a generation. As for varieties, the choice is limited, there being not more than a half dozen good _ ones tosafely choose from. These are: first, the Tyson, early, small and sweet ; second, the Bartlett, the one great pear, beside which all others are a mere cypher; and ’ third, the Duchess, which is very large, very prolific, and very good for show and _ preserves, but for little else. If anybody wants to try the Kieffer, let him by all - means, but don’t try more than one or two, for the good and sufficient reason that com- pared with a Bartlett, itis no better than a common, sour seedling apple measured by Baldwin or a Northern Spy. To those who in towns or cities have a few spare feet of soil, more or less free air and sunshine space, I heartily recommend the planting of a pear tree or two (on their own roots, mind you; never on quince), by confident that nothing in the fruit tree line | will afford more satisfaction. : ————__+$eoo—_—_. A Model Fruit House. A Pennsylvania man with a fancy for fruit farming, has built himself a retarding house for fruit, which cost $5,000, and which the Philadelphia Press describes as follows: ‘*Tu economize space it is built square, fifty feet each way. It has two walls of stone, each twenty-two inches thick, with an open space between of twelve inches, and this space filled in with charcoal, as a non-conductor of heat. Inside of the in- side wall the ice is piled four feet thick, maintained in its place by studding and boards. Below the floor is another four feet of ice resting on a foot of charcoal, and above the room the ice is eleven feet thick, with three inches of wood above that ; and when he builds another (if he ever does) he will make the ice fifteen feet thick above and six feet at the sides. Still this one works well; it never freezes in Winter, nor does it waste ice rapidly in Summer. The temperature is always from thirty-three to thirty-seven degrees. Of course there are no windows, and itisareal dungeon. There are inside and outside doors made something like safe doors, and as nearly air tight as possible. If one should happen to get shut in, it would not be easy to get an alarm to the outer world. The melting ice from above is conducted down below the under floor in pipes and discharged where it will do the least harm. It takes from 1,000 to 1,200 tons of ice to fill this house, and it is sup- plied from an artificial pond on the place. The cost of filling is estimated at about fif- teen cents per ton. Profit in Raspberries. Mr. E. Van Allen of Albany County, N.— Y., writes as follows to the New England Homestead : Two thousand Cuthbert raspberry plants were set in the fall of 1881, in rows five feet apart in the rows. The soil was a rich loam. In the spring the plants started early and grew right along, so that by fall the plantation had the appearance of a two years’ growth. The young plants were pinched back when they had attained a growth of twogfeet, and in the rows be- tween the plants a good crop of cabbage was grown. The plantation was well cul- tivated throughout the season of 1882 and not a weed allowed to grow. Now for the results: The past season there was picked and sold from the plantation of a little less than an acre, 100 bushels of fruit that sold for 13 cents per quart, net; or in round numbers, $384 worth of berries. In addi- tion to this, 48,000 plants have been dug” from the patch this Fall and sold to one 58 HINTS TO EVAPORATORS. | nurseryman for $3 per thousand, amounting | time, labor and money. And let not those to $144. Hnough plants were kept to set two acres, and the prospects for an immense fruit yield, next season is good. REST ISS SS SEAR Underground Irrigation. Where water, is scarce, as in some of the extreme southern counties, or where there is more good land than can be well irriga- ted from the streams by surface irrigation, a system of underground irrigation has been adopted. It should perhaps be ex- plained, for the benefit of those who have always lived in a wet country, that when water is run over the soil undera very dry atmosphere and a cloudless sky, evapora- tion is very great; so great, indeed, that when water is scarce it becomes an object to prevent this evaporation, and thus se- cure all the benefit of all the water for the use of the growing crop. To meet this want an underground system of irrigation by perforated pipes has been invented and put in use, and is proving of immense benefit. The pipe is now gener- ally made of concrete. The ditches are dug, say, fifteen to twenty feet apart over the field, or in the middle of the space between the rows of trees in an orchard, and. by a machine having a feeding hopper, _ the concrete, ready mixed, is fed into the hopper, and the machine converts it into the required size pipe, and at the same time moves along in the ditch, leaving the pipe behind it. The same machinery perfo- rates the pipe, so that the water is let out of it in quantities required. The pipe being from one and one-half to three feet ‘below the surface, the water is applied that depth down, and all loss by evaporation is thus prevented. = —+2>— | Hints to Evaporators. Those evaporators who cram their goods into greasy sacks, or press and stamp them into dirty boot boxes or wormy cracker barrels, must not be disappointed if dis- criminating purchasers fail to appreciate their economy and blissful ignorance. But, asall grain-growers cannot become millers, neither can all fruit-growers become evap- orators, but such as do, should endeavor to become the BEST, and make the BEST pro- ducts, and obtain the best prices, to do which, they must first learg how, and, as the necessary information will not probably come to them by revelation, they had bet- ter come to the meeting of our association, and learn from the accumulated experience of others, wherein they have failed, and how they have succeeded, instead of grop- ing or blundering on their way by costly ~ experience and loss of time, to obtain the best results. They can learn at our meet- ings in a few days’ time, and at small ex- _ pense, what will otherwise cost them much of most experience suppose that they know it all, for there is a wide fiell before them — There was much discus- - for improvement. sion in regard to what variety of apples made the best evaporated product. The Rhode Island Greening, Baldwin, Smith's | Cider, Missouri Pippin, Maiden’s Blush, Huntsman’s Favorite, Roxbury Russet and Jonathan were all recommended for'mak- ing evaporated fruit of excellent flavor, and fair color. The Ben Davis was said to make the whitest fruit of any, but isnot — sour enough and lacks flavor, and does nowt sell well to the largest dealers and best judges. The following resolution was adopted by a large vote : ‘““Resolved, That it is the sense of this Association that the extensive planting of Ben Davis to the exclusion of other varie- ties more valuable for evaporating purposes, is against the present and future interests, both of fruit-growers and fruit evaporators, and we recommend to orchardists early and late varieties of a decided acid flavor.” How to Anchor the Boys. Editor GREEN’S FRUIT GROWER :—Many suggestions are given to farmers about an- choring the boys on the farm, but none seems to fit the case better than the direc- tion to give him some share in the profits. Something that he may call his own, and which he can improve by industry. Some- times the ‘‘ bent ” may be very pronounced but ordinarily it is what you makeit. Itis easy to interest the little boy in small fruit culture, or in the care of young stock, whose growth he watches with keen inter- est because the proceeds are to be his very own. As you value your good name with your boy, deal as uprightly with him as you would with your neighbors’ son. ‘Don’t let it be ‘‘boy’s calf, but father’s cow.” When he has gained some money by hard work and the means you have given him to use for himself, don’t say to him as another father did: ‘‘ Dan, you may lend me that money and I will give you my note for it.” The money was handed over most reluct- antly, and that was the last the boy ever saw of it. That youth concluded to quit farm life at the earliest day he could. Two boys I knew, had by the hardest earned money, selling apples about the vil- lage from a bag carried on an old_horse’s back, bought a calf. watched and tended with pride, and there were various calculations over the way the money should be invested. But one day a cattle dealer came along, and their pet was | It grew well and was — sold with the rest of the young cattle ;and_ - one of these boys remembered when he was | gray-bearded, that they never saw any- thing of the money. Very differently did another farmer man- age. He gave his boy, any acre on the © . SUCCESS. FORMS OF TREES. 59 farm he would pick out, with leave to use all the fertilizers he pleased, and various other facilities for making his small farm a The boy chose to set it in small _ fruits, for which there was a good market, and every year saw him more of an enthu- siast in this culture, and very soon they brought him in most handsome return. City life had no charms for that youth as he grew up. There is a delight in watching the growth of trees and plants of one’s own setting, that is of a most elevating, refining charac- ter. It is a foil to many if the temptations _ of life, which are to be formed in the coun- try as well as in the city. A good paper on the subject, and a personal interest in the culture will cause an intelligent lad to take hold of it with vigor, and will invest coun- try life with a new charm. No wonder Oliver Wendell Holmes said that the best poems he had made were the trees he had planted along the winding river. Would that every ‘‘ waste place” about our farm- er’s homes might this year be planted with a vine or a bush or a tree. Whata change it would make in the face of the landscape, and in the lives of the dwellers in these homes. J. E. McC, —__<2—___—_ Forms of Trees. It should be borne in mind that fruit trees are not planted for ornament, and all beauty in the tree must be secondary to an abundance of good fruit. An attempt to shape all the trees of an orchard alike must necessarily fail. The ‘‘inverted umbrella” and ‘‘open urn shape” recommended for apple trees cannot be had in practice. Itis a mistaken notion to suppose that fruit on such trees gets more light than those coni- ealin shape. More surface is exposed to sunlight on a conical tree than on a flat- topped or hollow-topped specimen. Per- haps the majority of varieties cannot be made to assume the obconical or inverted umbrella from, or at least they do not re- tain it when old. Strive to make the trees in an orchard as nearly symmetrical in shape as possible, but do not undertake to make a tree assume a form contrary to its habit of growth. The person who prunes all trees after one model must make a botch of hisorchard. Having decided upon the height at which the top is to be started— and even this may vary in different varie- ties—the important points are :—1. Secure an opening at the base of the head large enough to admit comfortably a man and basket. 2. Keep the top moderately and evenly thinned of small limbs. 3. Do not run the limbs up long and slender, with no side branches. 4. If in a windy region prune heaviest on the side opposite the prevailing winds. In most cases I have seen ill results follow the cutting out of the center of trees. More light and air are’ usually needed on the lower branches than | - \ on the interior ones. It is not necessary to read atreatiseon pruning before one can prune an orchard properly. The most suc- cessful apple growers I have known are | those who started the top moderately high, let the tree take its natural form—unless in exceptional cases of an ill-formed tree—and who thinned out the small branches evenly each year. This simplifies the process and renders it more useful.—American Culti-_ vator. i Reclaiming a Waste. EDITOR GREEN’S FRUIT GROWER :—If the fairy who made ‘‘transformations” had moved Mrs. Holmes’ back door-yard around to the front of the house some moonshiny night, it would have made a stir in the morning. Such a flutter and hurry as all would have been in, to rake up the old bar- rel hoops and pick up the rusty tins before passers-by began to take observation. It was a very neglected spot and Cousin Horace’s esthetic taste was a good deal shocked by it, when he came down fora visit. But he was a prudent young man and always thought a good deal more than he said. I presume that was one reason he was accounted so ‘‘deep.” He laid a little trap for Cousin Maria and Rufus that worked well, and helped clean up the yard without any fault being found. — He ‘‘took them by guile,” as it were. “‘That’s a nice rich bit of ground of yours, Maria, just back of the wood-house ; I won- der you do not improve it by putting ina grape-vine or two. They would run all over the shed and you might have a snug little arbor there for the children to play in out of the sun.” It was a new idea that such a rubbish corner could be beautiful and made useful, and all adopted the plan with enthusiasm. Horace agreed to make the girlsa present __ of the vines and a beautiful row of currant bushes along the fence, if they would prom- ise to attend them well in remembrance of him, when he was over the sea. With a good deal of blushing and giggling the promise was given, and all hands set to work to ‘‘clear up.” That day he drove over to the nursery for the ‘‘ sets.” ‘‘ What a perfect sight this yard is!” said Jane ; ‘‘I had no idea it looked so horrid. All those old dishes and those old battered basins and burdock stalks. What must Horace have thought of it! Let’s slick up before he gets back if we possibly can.” Two able-bodied girls and a spry, little ‘boy soon put a different face on the land- scape, and by the time Horace was ready to dig it looked like a new place. He went about as unconcerned as if it had always been cleared up, and before he left built a cosy, little arbor, with a pretty rustic seat in it, just where the worst rubbish heap had accumulated. | «“There Em., you can sit there and read + 60 my letters when I am gone, and mother can darn her stockings here all summer. You'll say in a year or two that this is bet- ter than the parlor.” And it was in time the pleasantest room they had. There is no way toreclaim ‘‘a waste” better than set- ting a fine plant there. J. E. Mc C. a cata Farm-Yard Manure. From Dr. Voelker’s lengthy reports, the following important and thoroughly relia- ble information has been compiled : 1. The soluble parts of manure are much the most valuable, therefore it is important to save the urine, and to keep the manure protected from the rain. Manure thrown out and exposed to rain becomes just as worthless as wood ashes thus exposed. 2. Farm-yard manure, in its fresh state, contains soluable phosphates of lime, insol- uable nitrogen, and but a small proportion of free ammonia. 3. The urine of horses, cows and hogs does not contain any considerable amount of phosphate of lime, but this is largely contained in the drainage of dung heaps, which are more valuable than urine. 4, The most effectual manner of prevent- ing loss in fertilizing matter, when not com- posted, is to cast the manure directly on the field, whenever circumstances will permit. ‘On all soils with a moderate proportion of clay, there is no waste if the manure is not ploughed in at once. Indeed, it is main- tained by some that it is the best to permit manure to lie on the surface and allow the rain to wash it into the soil. In the case of dry soils it may be evenly spread and al- lowed to remain for months without appre- ciable loss; but, on light, sandy soils, it is best to manure with well fermented dung shortly before the crop is put in. Well rotted dung contains a very much larger proportion of soluable organic and saline mineral matters than fresh manure. It is also richer in nitrogen, and, weight for weight, is more valuable. 6. During fermentation dung gives off organic matter in a gaseous form ; but if properly handled there is no great loss of nitrogen. Organic acids are always formed and gypsum is developed. These fix, or hold, the ammonia as fast as it is generated. While fermenting, the phosphate of lime which it contains is much more soluble than when the manure is fresh. Ammonia is given off in the interior of the forment- ing heap, but is arrested by the organic acids, and the gypsum in the colder exter- nal layers. Turning heaps over, therefore, occasions loss, though some think other- wise. ——____$ee—_____ Wood Ashes for Orchards. For orchards, says Dr. R. C. Kedzie, in ABOUT FERTILIZERS. barnyard manure, ton for ton. When barn- - yard manure is composted with wood ashes, the coarse vegetable material and litter are rapidly broken down, and the manure is speedily fitted for use; there is some loss of nitrogen in the form of ammonia, but there will be no loss of mineral, matter if kept from leaching by water. Cate Wood ashes represent all the mineral ele- ments of vegetable growth, and contain everything the farmer must give his crops except combined nitrogen. Wood ashes will vary in composition and value with the kind of wood and the part of thetree. I will take the ash of the body-wood of the Beech-tree as representing the average of wood ashes. 320 pounds of potash, worth $16, and 105 pounds of phosphoric acid (insoluble), worth $5 25. Omitting all the other ash consti- tuents, which have some value of them- selves, the potash and phosphoric acid of a ton.of such ashes are worth $21.25, or nearly six times the value of a ton of fresh horse- dung. ; Strawberry W orm. The time is now approaching when the fly of the strawberry worm may be seen flying about the vines of the strawberry. Along the last of May it makes its appear- ance, andmay be known by its pitch black color, oval abdomen and two rows of dull, white lines. The female will puncture the stem and lay her eggs in the puncture, and in about two weeks the eggs will hatch, and small holes eaten in the leaves will be the means of discovering the worm. The worms are of a dirty yellow and a gray- green color, the head being darker than the body. The worm has twenty-two legs, and when fully grown is about three-quarters of an inch long. When not feeding it is curled up in spiral form on the under side of the leaf. and if disturbed will fall to the ground. They moult four times before reaching ma- turity. The remedy is Paris green or hele- bore, dry or dissolved in water, but these poisons must not be used after the fruit has set.— Wester Rural. ——_+>—__—_- A man near here is growing rare flower- ing bulbs. In preparing his beds he exca- vates three to four feet deep, forming a cellar like opening. He then sifts the earth he replaces in this excavation, and mixes it - well with muck, leaf mould, sand and manure. This forms a bed so loose he can thrust his arm in it the full length, any time. He says itis wonderful how much rubbish he sifts out of theearth. We have an idea that Mr. Durand grows his seedling strawberries on soil prepared something like this, but not so thoroughly, and as they do not get such soil away from home, his — the New York Tribune, I regard ashes as| seedlings often disappoint those who have -worth more than six times the value of! great expectations from them. o 2 c nN : . A ton of such ashes contains — EVAPORATING HINTS. 61 Cy Evaporating Fruit, BY SCHUYLER & HADDUCK. Management of factories, this year, will _need be very economical, and none but real choice fruit should be manufactured, if any money isto be made. Apples, also, will have to be bought very low. Theabsurdity of paying 45 to 60c., or more, for green ap- ples, as last year, has been demonstrated by factory, losses incurred. Ten to twenty cents, as the apple crop now promises, will certainly be all that the prospects will justify. Fruit must be well cored and trimmed, and properly dried and bleached white, and nicely packed in 50 pound boxes, - tosell to advantage. Boxes should be well faced with best of average, and paper should be put on both bottom and top of boxes. Wax paper with fly paper on edges, is neatest for top. .There is no use sending wet apples to market—those that have becn sprinkled or only two-thirds dried—as the maker will lose by the operation. should all be very thoroughly and persist- ently looked after by an efficient superin- tendent, to have evaporated fruit present an attractive appearance. Everything should be kept clean and every factory should be thoroughly scrubbed all over at least once a week. Jelly stock should be bone dry, and evaporated apples should be thoroughly dry, but not as dry as jelly stock. . It re- quires careful attention to get apples dry and not scorched, nor so extremely dry that uhey will not come into pliable packing condition in about twenty-four hours. Another point we wish to impress on factory men, be sure your evaporated apple room and bins are thoroughly dusted and wiped with wet cloth before putting in fruit. also your fruit trays or frames. Never tread on evaporated apples with feet. We had sev- erallots of apples the past year that we found almost impossible to sell at all, have some on hand yet and sold those we did dis- pose of at great discount, and for the only reason that they were dirty and mussy looking from dirty fruit rooms and dirty handling. Evaporated apples should be al- ways white and clean. People who find it necessary to eat dirt can buy common sun-dried, which are usually sufficiently dirty to satisfy any propensities in that di- rection. , In our large sales of the past year the best grade of fruit in appearance, as far as” the manufacturer was concerned, and for which we received the most money, came from our large Missouri factories. They use better apples and take greater pains in preparing and handling fruit. There should be greater uniformity in packing and grad- ing fruit, and if factories would pack with reference to about four grades (they ought not to make the lower grades however), it would be better for trade—say, fancy, choice, prime and common. Fancy. To be all white rings, well cored and trimmed, made from good apples of the size of choice packing apples. Choice. To be all rings and pieces, well cored. and trimmed, containing no fine pieces, and made of good apples of various sizes suitable for evaporation. Prime. Tobe made of any apples cap- able of evaporation, fairly cored and trim- med, and not over 25 per cent. off in color. Common. To be apples badly cored and trimmed, and handled generally, and from 25 to 50 per cent. off in color. Tf all factories would approximate to- wards such grading and mark boxes accord- ingly, it would assist the trade in selling. Always brand box also, so that dealer may know which is top. - poe Native GRAaPEs.—Samuel Miller, of Mis- souri, says the, Pocklington is the most showy of the white grapes, and the Jeffer- son the handsomest and best among the red ones. ‘ } 62 THE GRAPE. Grape Culture. VINES The best vines are those grown from cut- tings havirg two eyes, in which a single system of roots radiate from the lower eye like the spokes of a wheel, and the vine grows out of the top bud. One-year old vines are to be preferred in all cases, if first- class, even if two years old, root pruned and transplanted vines should be offered at the same price. PLANTING. In planting vines, the single tier of roots should be set as low in the ground as may be and keep the upper node, from which the vine has started, out of the ground, so that new roots will not grow from it. Unless this precaution is taken, anew upper tier of roots, thus encouraged to grow, will, after a time, usurp and displace the others, and the action of frost in clayey soil will gradually, and sometimes ina single winter, throw the vine out of ground and expose these upper roots in an injurious way, and this condition remains permanent. year is that which occurs first, always prem- ising that the soil should be mellow and friable, and if in autumn, a shovelful of loam should be used so as to completely bury the two or three buds only that are left upon the vine above the surface. The ear- lier in autumn or spring that the work is done, the better, providing the conditions are as stated. DISTANCES. The distances at which vines should be set will depend somewhat upon the strength of the soil and the mode of training adopted. If in all respects as before advised, the best | distance is believed to be primarily, in rows eight feet.apart with the vines six feet apart in the rows which perfectly run north and south. It will be a matter of great conven- ience to have the rows consist of but twen- ty-five vines, thus occupying 144 feet in length ; then by omitting one vine, a space of twelve feet will be left for access between two vineyards. If circumstances favor, or rather, if they seem t9 require, as the vines get age and strength, each alternate’ vine, _ including the two end ones in each row, may be removed. thus leaving twelve vines in each that will stand eight by twelve feet apart. . CULTIVATION. Almost any hoed crop may be grown in the vineyard for one or two years if an equivalent amount of fertilization be given, but after this time grape vines only. Many and various are the implements that have been tried for cultivation and discarded. The plow is here inadmissible. Cultivation should be shallow. perhaps two inches is ample, and this should be done in a way that will not disturb the larger roots, the great body of which lie from three to six ‘more—I’'ll pull them. The best time of the| P. inches deep. The last summer’s experience has proved the one-horse ‘‘ Acme” harrow to be exactly the thing. Itis an implement that disturbs the soil fron one to five inches deep, at the will of the driver, or in hard ground the rider, and never cuts off the larger roots even if lying at the surface. _ Cultivation should begin each year as soon as the ground will pulverize in the spring and be renewed after every packing rain, or in the absence of rain, before a crop of weeds has time to show the third leaf.— Farm Journal. : A Walk Over the Farm. A white daisy! I will pull it up and cover it with dirt; the seed being green, it will rot, but if left above ground to cure, it would grow. Well, well! here are three me! here is a rod square covered with them and I can’t stop to pullthem. Bad luck to the fellow when he lets foul weeds get so plentiful that he has to pass them without ulling them up. Whoever don’t destroy the first bad weeds that appear on his prem- ises, entails on himself and his posterity troubles without number. Farmers, their Further along—ah, © wives, sons and daughters, should study _ botany, so that they can recognize plants by description, and whenever a bad weed appears in’ any locality, the people and the papers of that locality should put it in the rogue’s gallery and send its picture over the country to put people on their guard. Here are oats—ostensibly oats, but Canada thistles are mixed with them in proportions varying from one-fourth to three-fourths. |Cut when the thistles are coming into bloom, cured and salted a little, the whole make excellent fodder, especially for sheep. Standing till the oats and thistles are ripe, the mixture is an abomination that men and animals wish to keep clearof. Canada thistles, plowed under in the blow in a dry time, are good manure, apparently sent from heaven for a valuable purpose. Al- lowed to get ripe we readily imagine they come from the other place. Large and long experience as a farmer induces me to think that the terrible decline in field crops is more owing to the exhaustion of the humus, the vegetable mould of the soil, than to any other cause. In spite of all pretences and prevarications, a great decline in the productive capacity of the soil of these States has taken place. Im- proved varieties, improved implements, tillage, and commercial fertilizers, keep up yields, to some extent, but the aggregate of _ impoverishment is horrible and enormous. We must grow less grain to send abroad, and more to feed on the farm, and we must cart into the yards, and thence into the fields, large quantities of muck that — kind providence has stored for use.—Hugh T. Brooks in Farm and Home. HOW TO KEEP FRUIT. — 63 Preservation ot Fruits. The first picking of apples is usually the best and ought to be laid aside for winter - use. The second gathering—for apples are rarely twice hand-picked—should be sorted -out, the least injured ones laid aside and then preserved, and those most injured used at once. When cider is made at-home the ‘same rules hold good. | Work up those -apples that lock least likely to keep. The care needed for apples is doubly necessary | for pears, as they are more juicy and less liable to resist the rough handling or an uneven temperature. When fruits are first gathered, they, as it is technically ex- pressed, sweat—that is, they exude their Superabundant moisture. 1. If this mois- ture be carefully removed twice, and the fruit neatly wrapped in paper, then stored in an atmosphere that is uniform and mod- erate, it will keep with ease far into the next year. It is also necessary from week to week to enter the fruit room, which should not be allowed to become too damp on any account, as damp speedily destroys vegetable matter, and look over the rows of fruit. This can be done by taking up a pear or apple here and there at regular intervals and examining its state, and then -replacing it if all is found safe, rejecting it if it is found unsound. In harvesting small fruits, care must be had to collect them in dry weather; other- wise they will require more sugar and more time in preserving, and likewise be less cer- tain to keep well. Still fruit—that is, apples, pears, peaches, nectarines, and such like—bear to be preserved when only slightly pinked. Quinces ought to be canned or made into consistent preserves about one month after having been har- vested. The saccharine matter in the fruit is set by that time. The harvesting of nuts is a small matter, yet annually bushels of nuts are lost by storing them in a damp condition in frozen cellars or over-heated closets. In the nut- ting season, immediately after the slight frosts, all nuts should be gathered, the} husks removed and the nuts allowed to remain exposed to the open air, but under shelter from rains or severe frosts. About the first of December all nuts should be dry enough to store; they may then safely lie three inches deep on the floor of a well- ventilated garret.. A cellar is the worst possible place to store fruits in. As every cellar is below the surface, it is more or less damp, if not artificially heated, and artificial heat is expensive, and dampness is strongly antagonistic to safe keeping of any vegetable matter. _ The best manner of keeping grapes fresh for winter use is that method pursued in’ Spain, namely: to pack the entire clusters in thick, open-mouthed stoneware jars, lay- ing dry, putting fresh, hard wood sawdust between them so thickly ‘as to fill up all | Phe es r { interstices; then to place the jarsinacool and even atmosphere, excluding all light. —Tribune and Farmer. ‘[Is this a fact, or do the cool apples cause the air to condense, the same as the ice pitcher? Some people hold that damp cellars are the best for storing apples, even where a foot or more water stands on the cellar bottom.—EKditor Fruit GROWER. | Prices for Fruits. The Chicago Tribune is of the opinion that the prices of fruit will never be low again in this country. The facilities of transportation are so abundant and the for- | eign demand for evaporated fruit so con- stant and increasing that fruit-growing in ~ the United States may be considered estab- lished as a paying business. ‘‘ while grass grows and water runs.” Thus the production of standard fruit is an increas- ing business, and not only seedsmen and nurserymen are profiting from it, but those who give most attention to orchards, vine- yards, berry gardens, etc., find their inter- ests rapidly on the increase. Our railroads carry fruits and their products hundreds of miles, and render possible the cultivation of flourishing orchards on hitherto isolated hills which were abandoned to the wilder- , ness. Dried fruit is wanted in most foreign countries. Canned fruit is carried from our great seaports to ‘‘the end of the earth,” and profitably sold. . Many of the European peasants use our jams instead of butter on their bread. Dehydrated ov evaporated fruit, better than all other kinds, is of gen- eral acceptance wherever offered, and valued equally with the fresh products, Within the last ten years the amount of raw fruit brought into England from the | United States is something astonishing. In 1871 there were but 56,441 bushels, valued at £40,604; but in 1882 there were 1,065,076 received in Great Britain from this country, worth £387,190, or $1,881,734.40, The out- look for the American fruit grower is most favorable, and those of the rising genera- tion who have a fancy for the business may enter upon it with confidence that their enlightened efforts will be crowned with SUCCESS. . Sar nEEEEEEEEEEEnESY aataEt eee PARALLELS IN FRUITS.—There are cer- tain resemblances in varieties of the differ- ent kinds of fruit, which are interesting to note. The Baldwin, among apples, the Bartlett in pears, the Crawford in peaches, the Lumbard in plums, and the Concord among grapes, hold a similarity in position. The Seckel pear, the Delaware grape, and the Green Gage plum have a certain simi- larity, being small in size and excellent in quality. Formerly the Wilson strawberry was as widely popular as the Concord grape but lately the’ Crescent and some other sorts are crowding it down, | ; 64. THE PEAR ORCHARD. . ar Experimental Pear Orchard. BY SAMUEL C. MOON IN THE FARM JOURNAL. I herewith give the record of an experi- mental pear orchard in which over fifty of the most popular and highly recommended varieties were planted says: ‘“‘ My father started this orchard about thirty years ago and there have been occasional additions made down to the present time. The char- acter of the soil is a fine rich sandy loam. Most of these varieties are still advertised and recommended in nursery catalogues. I give the result of experience with them in EKastern Bucks County, thirty miles north of Philadelphia, for the benefit of the readers. The varieties which possess superior merit and have been very profitable, can be counted on the fingers. I would name Beurre Giffard, Buffum, Bartlett, Sheldon and Rutter, as being the most profitable. And as the second five, Early Catherine, Doyenne D’Ete, Abbott, Seckel, Natural or Choke. I have always found a good market for fruit near home, in Trenton, N. J., and sell whatever grows on the trees; large anl small, good, fair and indifferent. Where fruit can be disposed of in this way, with- out much expense for the freight, commis- sion, etc., almost any kind of fruit trees (if not totally barren ) will be profitable ; that is, they will more than pay for the land which they occupy, but the pears which are really valuable for the majority of the plant- ers are very few. The first and most. essential requisite for a tree to be valuable, is productiveness ; second, size and appearance of fruit ; third, time of ripening ; very early and very late fruit bringing the highest price; fourth, quality of fruit. Fine looking fruit will command a fair price, even in a glutted market, regardless of its quality, when small or unattractive stock, although of the finest flavor, will go begging for a market, or rot. Nearly every variety named in this list has been affected, more or less, with “blight” at some period. Those which have suffered least from it are Beurre Gif- fard, Buffum, Sheldon, Rutter, Chinese Sand and natural fruit. Those which have suffered most are Beurre D’Anjou, Lawrence and Vicar of Winkfield. : The only remedy that I know for blight is to remove the injured branch and burn it; keep the tree growing vigorously and let it repair the loss. If a tree dies plant another ; but ‘‘ don’t” grub out an old pear root while there is life in it. It will send Manning’s Elizabeth, two of the best pears, and some others, are feeble growers while young, requiring several years to come into bearing ; but are vigorous and soon become productive if worked into the top of a thrifty large tree. : 3 4 I believe the best condition for a pear orchard is to keep the land in sod and never plow it, but not allow the grass to grow within two or three feet of the trunks of the trees; keep the circle mulched with manure, leaves or stones. Manure the land liberally once in three or fouryears. Allow hogs to root in the orchard and devour all the defective fruit. Seckel pears especially are large, fairer, and higher colored when grown in sod than in cultivated land. —_—_— +0 @—____ Sending Plants by Mail. So much progress has been made by nur- serymen and florists that now it is compara- tively an easy matter to send plants any reasonable distance by mail with perfect safety. Of course, such plants require care- ful packing; not only must they be kept moist, but they must be packed so as to in- sure them against damage in handling while in the mail. Mail pouches do not always receive the kindest treatment in the world. and unless packages are well packed serious damage will result. Testing as I do a large number of varieties, I receive a large number of packages through the mail, and uniformly have received them in good condition. ‘The first essential in hav- ing plants live is to keep the roots damp and © uninjured. For this Bae moss is used: ~ over this was generally placed two or three layers of oiled paper, and then over this stout wrapping pa each wrapper being well tied on, and inthis way packages came through long distances without injury. I had occasion to send to Chambersburg, Pa., for a collection of roses ; they came as nice and fresh as though they were just out of the ground. They were packed first in damp moss, then a layer of oiled paper ; thepack- — age in this condition was put in a stout pasteboard tube and then wrapped with wrapping-paper, on which was the address. These must have been three or four days on ~ the road, giving them every advantage of — close connection, and yet were in first-class © condition, the leaves fresh and green. They — were set out and grew right along. Many ~ are deterred from purchasing plants from the fear of their not being able to come long dis- tances through the mail without injury, but my experience is that with the present — plan and knowledge of doing the work of packing this risk is reduced to a minimum. ~ At any rate, so far as my experience is con- * ay cerned, I have always had good success — with such plants if proper care were given — them after they were received. Mae = | f N.J.SHEPHERD. In Germantown Telegraph. _ up a sucker that will soon commence bear- ing or form an excellent stock for grafting. Pear trees seldom need trimming after they get to bearing, except cutting out dead wood, if there is any. Beurre Giffard and a OP SE eee ee x ‘ a IC Foe © re OR GREEN'S NURSERY Co... Rochester. N. Y. ———aEE ¢ © 41D > 0 + Be —_ Nemaha Black Raspberry. This variety originated with Hon. Robert Furnas. of Nebraska. Mr. Furnas says it has proved to be hardier than Gregg with him, and a meritorious variety. We have fruit- ed it here two seasons. It has proved hardy, vigorous, of unsurpassed size and produc- tive. Its season is even later than the Gregg. It is a firm berry, of good quality. Previous to the Nemaha we have had no late variety that is hardy. Early varieties ripen their wood and stop growing early, going into winter in good condition. But Gregg and Mammoth Cluster mature the wood and hold their leaves very late, and winter finds them with soft and tender wood, and they often get injured by severe weather. Es- GREEN'S NURSERY CO., ROCHESTER, N. y, pecially is this the case on clayey, latish soil. On sandy soil they are more hardy. If. Nemaha proves to be more hardy, it will be a great gain, and Mr. Furnas is very positive that it is. Considering the large number of varieties of black caps, I should hesitate be- fore introducing another, without more thorough testing, but feel’ that Mr. Furnas’ statements should have much weight. Vis- itors who have seen the Nemaha on our grounds have said that it was the largest of all. Indeed I have picked larger specimens from it than from any other, yet I do not think the average size larger than Greggs. © It is doubtful if we get a variety much larger. Perhaps we ought to be satisfied with such a giant. We are Joint Owners > NA : MARLBORO’ RASPBERRY Being shareholders of the Marlboro’ Raspberry. we are propagating it and are prepared to furnish fine plants at the following prices: Retail, $1 each: $5 for 6, $o for 12, $12.50 for 25, $18 for 50, $25 for 100. Wholesale rates on application. Description as given by the originator: It is the largest grower, with stronger canes and side arms than any known variety. After being tied to the stakes all Winter, having no protection, the branches from the extreme terminal buds at the height of eleven feet,have. borne as fine fruit asany other down thecane. It is hardy in the fullest sense. The side branches are two to three feet long, with clusters occuring on short joints more than half way down, and are of unusual strength. bending with a heavy load and not breaking. The great size of its dark-green foliage is the means of its early, regular and late bearing, and extraordinary size of fruit, which is one-quarter larger than the old Hudson River Antwerp. The berries average three- quarters of an inch in diameter, and when not retarded ed ’ a iss Hog oe ‘ f yy a Al by long and severe drouth, one-third of them will measure aninch. Incolor a bright crimson, and un- like others, does not lose its brilliancy when over ripe. This has been seen and stated by the A merzcan Agri- culturist, Rural New Yorker, and scoresof others. It does not contain the peculiar musky aroma of the Azz- werp, and is passed upon by all as delicious in flavor. Unlike any other, it’ will remain four days on the bushes after ripe, and is then marketable. Growers here have picked them from the ground and declared they were fit for market. In quantity of fruit it ex- ceeds any variety we have ever handled. We estimate the returns of an acre of this berry, well cared for, at $1,000. Old growers here range the profits much higher. The old Axtwerf, when in its prime, has — _can be verified by hundreds of visitors from this berr done better ; and now, at a time when there is ne oth Raspberry before the country which will fill the void made by the loss of the Aztwerf, and as itis known that a Raspberry with requisite qualities will yield a ~ greater profit from a given quantity of land thanany ~ other fruit, and as every point we have givenaboye ~ section, and also’from abroad, Axtwerp growers here are justified in their ready remarks that itisthe ‘“best ~ variety’ they ever knew. Send for Catalogue. = GREEN’S NURSERY CO., Box 562, Rochester, N. Y For Sale Cheap. We have some extra electrotypes of the following — i fruits left over. If you want. any of them, send for prices. Keifer Pear, Peen-To Peach, Tyler Rrasp-— berry, Picking Strawberries, Lost Ruby, James Vick Strawberry, Roses, Blackberries, Grape Arbor, Lee’s Black Currant, Bidwell Strawberry, Beebe’s Golden Raspberry, Shaffer’s Colossal Raspberry, Manchester Strawberry, Fay’s Prolific Currant, Cuthbert Rasp-— berrp, Wheatland Peach, Schumaker Peach, Gregg Raspberry, Ohio Raspberry, Daniel Boon Strawberry, Nemaha Raspberry, Hayes Grape, and many others. 'GREEN’S NURSERY CO., : Box 561, RocHEsTER, N. Y) PRICES for TREES, PLANTS, é&e. FOR SPRING OF 1885. Apple Trees—Stark, Talman Sweet, Early Harvest, Red Astrachan, Duchesse, Autumn Strawberry, Mun- son Sweet, Maiden’s Blush, N. Spy, Pewaukee, Gold- en Russet, Wealthy, Ben. Davis, Grimes’ Golden, Wag- ener, Whitney No. 20, Chenango Strawberry, Wine Sap, Famuese. First-class, 6 feet, 15c. each. First- ~ class. 4 to 5 feet, roc. each. Lord Nelson, 2s5c. For other rare varieties see catalogue. We havea rarecol- ection. ; Pears—HKieffer, 35c. to 75c. Largest standard var ties 6oc.; one vear, 2 to 4 feet, 25c.; 12 to 20 inches, rse: Dwarf Pears 25 to 50 cents each. } Cherries—3oC. to 50c. ' Plums—25¢. Peaches—4 to $8 per roo, i Orange Quinces—25 cents. Champion, 4ocents. Meech’s Prolific Quinces—tr.50 each, eit: Russian Mulberry—r2 to 20 inches, 50 cents per T2 5 3 to 4 feet, 25 cents each. : rc Downing Mulberry—Four feet, 50 cents, Larger, 75 cents. : j Hardy Rose Bushes—2s5 cents. Reid PRICES FOR THE NEWER GRAPES, Pocklington, Moore’s Early, Dutchess, Lady, Pren- tiss, Lady Washington, Cottage, strong, one year, 3oc.; two years soc. each. Vergennes, Early Victor, 4oc. and 60c. each Hayes’ Early, superior quality, white. August Giant, large, very early, good quality. Amber Queen, reddish yellow, early, very good. Centennial, reddish white, good. These last four are offered now — | for the first time. Price, one year, strong, 6oc.; two years, $1.00 each. ' ; Niagara Grape—Two years, strong. $2each. — Delaware, Agawam, Lindley, Salem, Worden, Per— kins, Hartford, Concord, extra strong, two year, 1 cents each. For prices of other grape vines and descr. tions, see catalogue. i ; : ‘ Strawberries—Jas. Vick, Daniel Boone, Manches- ter, Bidwell, Mt. Vernon, Lenig’s White, Sucker State, Primo, Wilson, Finches’ Prolific, Sharpless, Cum land, Crescent, Kentucky, Charles Downing, W Chief, Old Iron Clad (Phelps’ Seedling), Pipers’ S ling, Big Bob, Nigh’s Superb, 25¢ per 12; 75¢ pez Jersey Queen, Woodruff’s, Atlantic, 50c per 12 ; $ roo. Parry, $2 per 12; $12 per 100. Cornelia, § 12; $15 per 100. ni Sy agua pak Red Raspberries—Cuthbert. Lost Rubies, Re Barly Prolific, 25¢ per 12; $x per 100; $10 per Shaffer's Colossal (our most profitable red ras) (pied © soc per 12; $2 per 100; $18 per tooo, | Hansell, $x per ears ce An ees Mont Clair, soc. per 12. Crimson ‘Beauty, 75c. per 12; $5 perico. : Brinckle’s Orange, aR piers oy Et , ' Marlboro—The most profitable of all, $z each ; 6 for $5 ; 12 for $o; $25 per roo. Caroline (yellow) Beebe’s Golden, soc. per 12; $2.50 Al per 100. | Black Raspberries — Tyler, Souhegan, Ohio, Gregg, 25 cents per 12; $x per1oo. Nemaha, $2 A per 12, fro per 100, $80 per tooo. Blackberries — Stone’s Hardy, 7s5c. per ze; $4 per } Agawam, Taylor’s Wachu- setts, Early Harvest, 75 cents per 12; $2 perzoo. Snyder, Kittatin- ny, etc., 50 cents per 12; $1.50 per 1oo. Early Cluster, 40 cents Wilson, Jr., 30 cents each; $3 ‘ MARLBORO. “each ; $4 per te. per 12. Currants—Fay’s Prolific (strong plants), 35 cents each. Victoria, Cherry, White Grape, Lee’s New Black Currant, etc., 50 cents per t2; $3.50 per roo. Gooseberries — Downing, Smith’s, $1.00 per 12. -Houghton, 50 cents per'tz. All two years, strong. For other Fruits and Ornamentals, send for Cata- logue, sent free on application, or with chromo col- ored plate for five cents. The new book, ‘t How to Propagate and Grow Fruits,’ will be sent free to all ordering plants or trees to the value of $1 or more. Plants or trees will be sent by express, with orders to | collect dues on delivery, providing one-fourth of the | amount of billis paid in advance, Address, GREEN’S NURSERY CO., Box 562, Rochester, N. Y. JUST PUBLISHED. “How to Propagate and. Grow Fruit.” . BY cies A. eae - If CONTAINS OVER Firry ILLUSTRATIONS AND Two Beautirur LirHoGRAPHIc COLORED FRUIT PLATES. Tips of Raspberry Layered. - A‘sixty-four page book, price fifty cents, telling how to propagate and multiply Strawberries, Raspberries, _ Blackberries, currants, Gooseberries, Grapes, Quince, ‘Peach, Apricot, Plum, Cherry, Pear and Apple. It tells how to lay outa garden or fruit farm, how to - plant, cultivate and trim, and all about the best methods _ of successful fruit growing up to this date. ; OVER ONE HUNDRED TOPICS are discused by those who are fitted by experience to advice. Price fifty cents by mail post paid, Pee Sih Seas setae } | desire to sell our trees and plants. GREEN'S NURSERY CO., ROCHESTER, N. Y. TO AGENTS AND TREE DHALERS. We réceive numerous applications from those who We would be glad to have some person in every town sell our stock, but me enploy no agents. \Our method is this :-—-Take or- ders in your locality at prices something in advance of our catalogue prices—this is necessary for you will have something’ to pay for freight, After yon have made some sales, send us a list‘of the items sold. We will attach the lowest wholesale price possible. and return it for your approval. If prices are satisfactory send on your order, ALWAYS VERY EARLY and mark it DEALER’S ORDER, and we will give it immediate atten_ tion. Your ourtrir (colored plate book with 35 plates, order book, etc.,) we can. furnish for $4.00. Do Nort THINK that youcan, without experience, go from house to house and sell rapidly right and left. Nothing is accomplished without work, and good agents often go all day and sell nothing, yet the next day sell enough to make the week’s or month’s average good. Most agents fail the first few days by getting discouraged, If you begin by selling a few the first season, the business will gradually increase until your get a reputation and you will find yourself getting an extensive trade, sPEOPLE ABOUT TO ORDER of us will do well to look about and see if they cannot influence some sales to their neighbors, and order all sent’ at once. Our re- tail prices are not half so high as agents Sell at, thus you will be doing them a favor by securing good stock, true to name, at less than they could buy elsewhere. REMEMBER that large standard Pear, Cherry and | Baldwin and Greening apple trees are very scarce and high-priced. Most agents write us for a wholesale list to begin with. This does not amount to much as all depends on the amount of your order,and the amount of stock on hand at the time your order comes. Rely on a fair profit if you sell at an advace over our catalogue rates. GREEN’S NURSERY CO, Box, 562. Rochester, N. Y. Green's New Catalogue and Hints : N on Fruit Culture FREE ! It contains more information ythan any other ever published. git is a COMPLETE GUIDE for growing all kinds of fruits. A sample copy of that sprightly paper, a breen's Fruit Grower Illustrated, edited by CHAS. A GREEN, will also be sent free on applica- tion. We offer a fine stock of ah vines, plants, and trees, at low MARLBORO. prices. The great Marlboro Raspberry, Kieffer Pear and Lord Nelson Apple are specialties. Send your address on a postal card for our Catalogue and paper, both free. Address, QREEN’S NURSERY €0., Box 662, Rochester, N. Y. Marlboro Raspberry Combination Offers, The person ordering any one of these four combina— tions is entitled to the new book, ‘‘ How to Propagate and Grow Fruit.”’ 1 Marlboro Raspberry 6 Nemaha Slack Cap.,.....:........ : 1o Crimson Beauty Raspberry........ 10 Shaffer’s Colossal Raspberry...... J 5 6 Marlboro Raspberry............... 7 10 Crimson Beauty Raspberry....... | 10 Shaffer’s Colossal Raspberries... 6 Nemaha Black Cap. .....-........ 3 I Duchess Grape, white............. ! $6.00 i Pocklington Grape, white........: | I Prentiss Grape, white............. | 1 Cottage Grape, early black........ 1 I Agawam Grape, early red......... J 12 Marlboro Raspberry .............:) 12 Hansell Raspberry}. 9202530 0 | iaeCrimson Beauty oy. 20.. 2.4 co ece se | 6 Nemaha Raspberry... ............ Mrs. Garfield Strawberry......._- I Pocklington Grape..... ...,....... SI 1.00 reDuchéss Grape. i... 0.066. ets | 1 Fay’s Prolific Currant............, J GREEN S NURSERY CO., ROCHESTER, N.Y. 50 Marlboro Raspberry.....:...... roo Hansell Raspberry............... zoo Crimson Beauty Raspberry...... 12 Nemaha Raspberry:.......... bas 50 Shaffer’s Colossal Raspberry.... For all other Small Fruits, Trees and Vines, send for our Descriptive Catalogue. GREEN’S NURSERY CO., .- Box 562, Rochester, N. Y. CLUBBINC LIST. Two Papers and a Book for the Price of One Paper. These prices include a year’s subscription to the FRUIT GROWER and toa copy of the New Book, ‘How to Propagate and Grow Fruit,’’ and to the paper named. Any American publication furnished -at reduced rate, American Agriculturist, $1.25; American Field. $3.25; American Poultry Yard, 1.25; American Garden, $1.; American Rural Home (new) $1.; Bee Journal, (week- ly) $2.10; Bee Journal (monthly), $1.10; Bee Keeper’s Magazine, $x. Cultivator and Country Gentleman, $2.25; Colman’s Rural World, $1.50; Century Maga- eine, $3.75; Dairy and Farm Journal, soc; Drainage and Farm Journal, $r1.; Demorest’s Magazine, $2.; Empir $25.00 State Agriculturist. 60c; Farmer’s Review, $ri25; | Farming World, 75@; Farmer’s Home, 6oc; Farm Im- nlemeni, 75¢; Farmer and Fruit Grower, $t.20; Farmer nd Manufacturer, 60c; Forest, Forge and Farm, 75c; armer’s Companion, 60c; Florida Despatch, $1.75 ; } arm Economist, 60c; Farm and Fireside (Ohio), 75; Ferm and Fireside (N. C.), $1 25; Farmer's Home Journal, $1.25; Farmer’s Advocate, $1.; Farm Journal, soc; Godey’s Lady Book, $2.; Gardener’s Monthly, $1.65; Home and Farm, 75c; Home Farm, $1.50; Hus- bandman (Elmira), $1.15; Harper’s Weekly, $3.50 ; Harper’s Monthly Magazine, $3.50; Household, (Brat- tleboro) $1.; lowa Farmer, 75c; Indiana Farmer, $1.60; Journal of Agriculture, $:,50; Kansas Beekeeper $1.25; Kansas Farmer, $1.40; Kansas Spirit, 90c; Kansas Ag- riculturist, *».50; Ladies’ Floral Cabinet, $1.20; Live Stock Monthly, 75c ; Labor World, $2.00; Maryland Farmer, $c.; Mirror and Farmer, $1 05 ; Nebraska Farmer, $1.20; New York Tribune, $1.25; National Poultry Monitor, $t.os; Orange County Parmer, $1.55; Ohio Farmer, $1.25; Ontario Hornet, Soc; Oregon Col- onist, 65¢; Purdy’s Fruit Recorder, 75¢ ; Poultry World, $1.; Prairie Farmer, $1.60; Poultry Nation, 75¢ ; Poultry Messenger, 60c; Pl: nter’s Journal, $1.75; Poul- try Advertiser,.6oc ; Poultry Monthly, $1.05; Poultry Bulletin, $1.50: Poultry and Farm Journal, $1.; Rural Record, 75c; Roanoke Patron, 75c; Rural Californian, $1.50; Rural New Yorker, $2.25; Seed Time and Har- vest, 50c; South and West, 6oc; Southern Planter.$:.25; Southern Cultivator, $z.25; Sunny South, $1.; Tribune and Farmer, $1.; Vick’s Monthly Magazine, $1.10: Western Rural (and seeds), $2.; Wallace’s Monthly, $2.75: Western Cultivator, 75c; Western Agricuiturist $z.; Western Plowman, 6oc; Western Horticulturist 65c; Youth’s Companion (new subscribers) $1.50 . Youth’s Companions (renewals) $2.00; American Cul- tivator, Boston, 2.50. GREEN’S FRUIT GROWER. Box 562, Rochester, N. Y. NEW APPLE SEED |! $6 Per Bushell. Apple, Pear, Me Cherry and Plum Seedings at Low Prices. GREENS’ NURSERY CoO., Box 562, - - Rochester, N, Y. Meech’s Prolific Quince. There has been some doubt in the minds of a few as to this being a new variety. While visiting Newburg, I took particular pains to get Mr. Downing’s view regarding this, and he appeared to have no doubt that it was a new variety. | promising variety.” He says in a letter | to the introducers: ‘‘It is certainly, a The bark of the past season’s growth is of a yellowish brown color unlike that of most quinces. ee ss Mr. P. M. Augur, of the Connecticut Board of Agriculture, a well known:pomo- logist says : Mor "Bs The Meech’s Quince exhibited at the | Waterbury meeting of the Board of Agricul- ture, struck my attention at once. The pho- tographs showing the growth of the trees. and their prolific bearing were indeed re- markahle ; and from the testimony of com- mission dealers who have sold the fruit, I am led to belive it must be a remarkable fruit. I do not hesitate to give it trial as — soon as it is placed in market. J believe it — will be a great acquisition. te Last October I had the pleasure of visiting | the grounds of the Rev. W. W. Meech, of this place, where he showed me nearly 100 _ Quince trees loaded with very fine fruit, re- markably fair, and of uniform size, and a deep rich orange color. Mr. Meech is quite confident that he has in this fruit a new variety of quince, which he has named — ‘« Meech’s Prolific.” ‘His method of trim- ming and cultivating the quince, as well as this particular variety of the fruit, is es- | pecially worthy the notice of those about to grow the quince. §S. P. ToMLINGSON, Pres. Vineland Fruit-Grower’s Union. Price, $1.50 each. PREMIUM LIST! FOR GO CHNTS WE WILL MAIL YOU ; GREEN’S FRUIT GROWER ~ ONE YEAR, also the new book, ‘‘\ How to Propagate aud Grow Fruits,” and either of the following premiums, Please mention the one you select dy number only : No. 1—3 Plants of Nemaha new Black berry. 2—6 Shaffer’s Colossal Raspberries. i 3—6 Mrs. Garfield and 6 Daniel Boone Strawberry Plants. (ove ee 4—6 Daisy Miller and 6 Woodruff No. I © Strawberry plants. 1 Rasp No. No. No. No. 5—1 Pocklington white Grape and I Cot- i tage early black Grape. =H No. 6—6 plants Lee’s Prolific New Black 4 Currant. No. 7—6 plants of White Grape Currant. No. 8—6 plants of Cherry Currant. is No. g—1 Fay’s Prolific New Red Currant. No. 10—4 plants of Hansel Red Raspberry. 11—4 Kieffer Pear Treesin dormant bud. 12—1 Marlboro’ New Red Raspberry, the greatestof all, and one subscrip to FRUIT Grower, also the new ~ Book, ‘‘How to Propagate and Grow — Fruit.” all by mail for. $1.00 PR NOTICE — These offers are good only if accepted now. Plants are sent to you by mait postage paid by us. Noworlater = GREEN’ FRUIT GROWER, | _ Green’s Fruit Grower, ne ROCHESTER, N. wv. “A PAPER DEVOTED TO GARDENING AND FRUIT FARMING. PRICE 50 CENTS PER YEAR. EDITED BY CHAS. A. GREEN. This paper is edited by a man who has devoted many years to practical fruit growing who liveson a 134 acre fruit farm, and knows from experience whereof he speaks. Every issue of the FRUIT GROWER is intended to be worth the cost for a year. But we offer Pre- miums of Plants and Books to each subscriber fully as valuable as the paper. SEND FOR A FREE SAMPLE COPY, And get information regarding these Premiums. We have sent out many valuable New Mruits as Premiums that have often been worth a hundred dollars to individual “subscribers. x WE AIM TO BE IN ADVANCE OF THE TIMES. _ (> Senp FOR SAMPLE Copy. oe rie Address, GREEN’S FRUIT GROWER, Box 562, Rochester, N. Y. )) LIBRARY OF CONGRESS [eves Se Aes ii Holi: Hollinger Corp. pH 8.5