270 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[ September, 



what he can, which often means growth at a 

 loss. These laws are often apgnivated by sea- 

 sons of general loss, and i-onsetiuent inability to 

 buy by those who are usually customers. Still, 

 in these cases, it is the weakest which are 

 ruined. The strong grower stands the loss and 

 keeps on with his business, keeping it up to the 

 staidard. The good times come, and he fills his 

 pockets rapidly. These laws have been so uni- 

 versal, and will prevail .so surely to the end of 

 the world, that we would not be surprised to 

 find very extensive planting going on by the 

 prudent and flir seeing, instead of the little which 

 some people anticipate. 



At any rate the j)lanting for one's own u?e 

 will go on as heretofore, and this, perhaps, to an 

 extent hardly ever known before, for with little 

 money to buy, people find out tiie advantage of 

 growing as much as possible for themselve?. 

 September is, of course, rather early to plant 

 fruit trees of any kind, but it is a capital month 

 to send for catalogues and study the varieties 

 offered, and then to look around and find out 

 how such kinds succeed in your own vicinity. 



bush is perfectly hardy, and the sprouta kill aa 

 easily as any weeds by cultivation. With Black 

 Caps I have seen nothing to surpass the Seneca 

 in hardiness, size or fiavor, and with me it is 

 more prolilic than Mammoth Cluster. The 

 bush is more like a blackberry, rampant and 

 thorny, and the berry has the flavor of a black- 

 berry, sweet and luscious. The Davidson's 

 Thornless did well for a few years, but a kind of 

 aphis, or bark louse, attacked it last year, and 

 now there is scarcely a vine in this vicinity. It 

 is evident that for advice in raising fruit one 

 must not go far from home, for if I should fol- 

 low the advice of Coleman, in the Christian 

 Vnion, and plant the Davidson's Thornless for a 

 single variety, I should never have any l>erries. 

 and very likely the Elm City may not be worth 

 cultivation in the East. 



COMMUNICA TIONS. 



WHICH IS, THE BEST RASPBERRY? 



BY MR. G. WRIGHT, ROCK FALL.^, ILL. 



Mr. Galusha lives at Normal, in the centre of 

 this State, and says all varieties except Turner 

 ■were killed by the cold of last Winter. I live in 

 the northern part of Illinois, and never saw the 

 Philadelphia winter-killed when planted on 

 poor ground, but on low or rich ground I could 

 never get but one crop, whether the Winters 

 ■were mild or severe. They invariably were 

 killed nearly to the ground, while a few bushes 

 on a dry, sandy knoll have borne abundantly 

 without fail for nine j'ears. So I planted a row 

 near a row of Lombardy Poplars, which have ex- 

 hausted the soil of moisture and fertility until 

 nothing else will grow, and the Philadelphias 

 have borne for three years such crops as I never 

 saw in any other berry, and this season they 

 seemed to surpass themselves. But for all that, 

 I can make more money from the Elm City 

 than from Philadelphia, for the reason that Elm 

 City ripens immediately after strawberries, and 

 is gone before the Philadelphia is ripe. Besides, 

 it is a better flavored berry, and is as firm as any 

 Black Cap, either for canning or shipping. The 



FRUCTIFICATION OF THE FIG. 



BY EMMA C. BREWSTER, KIXGSrON, MASS. 



In a recent issue of the Monthly, I saw an ac- 

 count of the " Fructification of Figs in Smj'rna,'' 

 upon which I wish to say a few words. The 

 writer stated that in order to make the fruit set, 

 strings of figs were taken from a pistillate tree and 

 hung across a staminate tree, that the flies which 

 are within pistillate figs might carry the pollen 

 from them to the staininate ones. Otherwise, 

 tlie fruit would drop off. Now, in my Massa- 

 chusetts home we have raised figs in the open 

 ground for more than twenty years. Father 

 began with one tree, and increased his stock by 

 off"-sets until they numbered fifty trees. Then 

 we sold $20 worth, and this year have again sold 

 as many. We have no more to sell n(»w — so 

 this is not an advertisement. I make this state- 

 ment only to show that I have had considerable 

 experience in raising figs ; and although we 

 have several crops of the delicious fruit every 

 Summer, we have never hung a chain of figs 

 across the branches. Are all our trees pistillate? 

 Nor are they infested by any fly or other insect, 

 and I hope they never will be. The fig tree does 

 " cast her untimely figs when shaken by the 

 east wind," to prevent which the trees are set 

 upon the west side of the house in dry sea- 

 sons ; wherefore the figgery is near the kitchen, 

 that all the waste water may be bestowed upon 

 it— much more effectual preventives than string- 

 ing fruit across their branches. Had the writer 

 stated that this course was pursued to impreg- 

 nate the seed when it was desired to raise new 



