174 



THE GARDENEIVS MOI^THLY 



IJune, 



•uperior to (lie .nvcrago of fruit from other trees. 

 Mr. Boileau, of New York, h:ul nice sperimens 

 of tniining on the Centenniiil grounds. 



Illustk.vtions ok Fuuit. —A fow years ago 

 there was quite a rage for ilhistrating fruits hy 

 outline drawings, or other forms of wood-cut*, 

 but these " new fruits" hecanie so lunnerous that 

 when one wanted to illustrate a new grape, 

 apple, strawberry or some other thing, a search 

 among the old cuts would be sure to find just 

 the old follow required to till the new place. 



To such an extent has this been carried that 

 few intelligent editors care to waste si)ace by 

 these sort of illustrations— at least we do not. 



Sometimes the editors do not always hit the 

 right cut in the "adaptations" of the old to the 

 new ; of this we saw a laughable instance in a 

 coteniporary recently, ^^'e were struck with the 

 appearance of our old friend the cut of the 

 " Brown's Wonder" strawberry, which we gave 

 to show how fearfully exaggerated a thing 

 could be made. " It is not possible," thought 

 we, " that this fraud is being pushed again." But 

 under the plate we read " Wilson's Albany seed- 

 ling strawberry ! " 



Packing Pears. — The pear is difhcult of trans- 

 portation. It rots easily by the slightest bruise. 

 This has been against its success as a market 

 fruit. But there are, no doubt, some pears as well 

 as some apples, that will transport better than 

 others, and it is worth while to look them up. 



It was at one time thought that apples would 

 not travel well, but it was found that by tigliihj 

 pressing them in barrels they did well. It is not 

 so much a bruise that hurts an apple, but the 

 air that operates on the bruised parts. If the 

 parts pressed continue prcHaed no damage is done. 

 Perhaps when this is generally understood, there 

 will be no more diflBculty in transporting pears 

 than there now is w'ith apples or grapes. 



Long'Continuous Bearing. — The Country Gen- 

 tleman tells us that near Niagara, Mr. Burdett has 

 an orchard (apple we suppose) of 2,000 ti*ees that 

 has been in continuous bearing for twenty years, 

 and that the sales have been as much as $6,000 

 in a single season. 



A White Dewberry is among the horticultu- 

 rists of Texas ; white Blackberries of the upright 

 or " high bush " kind, have frequently appeared 

 and have been named and distributed, but have 

 generally soon disappeared. The flavor is gener- 



ally more agreeable in these whites than in the 

 <lark kinds, but the faults have been that the 

 whites were smaller fruited, shy bearers and 

 more liable to winter kill. The Dewberry 

 has not been yet brought under culture, unlesa 

 we guess that the Wilson's Early is from this 

 species, but it is a good one to look after. 



Gary's " Hold on " Peach. — This very late 

 variety seems to be gaining in popularity in 

 Maryland. 



A Horse-power Vinevakd. — Mr. Smythe of 

 Burlington N. J., has a vineyard of two thousand 

 vines of the Concord grape. He buys old 

 horses, cuts them up, and gives a chunk to each 

 vine; and it is said the product is both prodig- 

 ous and profitable. 



Japaj^ Persimmon. — Mr. Henry Loomis of San 

 Francisco, tells us that this is found to thrive re- 

 markably well in California and is destined to 

 become one of their standard fruits. It hiis al- 

 ready grown large enough to fruit in some few 

 places in the State. 



Fertilizing Figs in Smyrna. — A correspon- 

 dent writes to the Pacific Rural Press: — " About 

 the end of July the first figs come to maturity. 

 The fig harvest lasts about six weeks. When the 

 fig is ripe, it will of its own accord fall from the 

 tree, only partly cured. Women and children 

 are employed to pick up the fruit into small 

 baskets, to be conveyed to a place in the garden 

 well exposed to the sun, where they are spread 

 on a bed of dry grass or matting, singly — that is 

 to say, not one on top of another — and are 

 turned every day, so as to get every side of the 

 fig exposed to the sun. After a few days expos- 

 ure to the sun, those figs which are considered 

 sufficiently dry are selected from the mass and 

 divided into first, second and third quality. Care 

 must be taken not to dry them too much. When 

 properly cured, the .skin ought to feel dry, but 

 the inside soft. Practice alone can teach to 

 what extent the drying ought to take place. The 

 grower then sends the figs to Smyrna, where 

 they are re-sorted and packed for shipment. 



" The male fruit about the middle of June con- 

 tains a large number of small flies, and is thrown 

 on the female trees ; these flies then get distrib- 

 uted over the fruit and convey the necessary 

 amount of pollen. The system is as follows : 



" When the female fig (first crop) is about the 

 size of a hazel nut, five or six of the male figs 



