November 7. L908 



HORTICULTURE 



603 



INDOOR FRUIT CULTURE. 



Pnper Rend by William Downs before the 



Gardeners' and Florists' Club of 



Boston. 



No doubt to many people it may 

 seem unnecessary in this land nat- 

 urally prolific in fruits to go to the 

 trouble and expense of growing fruits 

 in greenhouses. Still if we wish (at 

 least in the greater part of this coun- 

 try) to get fruit of the highest order 

 and greatest perfection, we must re- 

 sort to some method whereby we can 

 control the conditions as regards tem- 

 perature, moisture and feeding, to 

 achieve that measure of perfection so 

 greatly desired by that critical part of 

 the public who are always ready to 

 pay the enhanced price for the su- 

 perior article. 



Superiority of Forced Fruit. 



Fruit growing is not as yet very ex- 

 tensively carried on in this country, 

 but I venture to predict that in the 

 future it will be to a much greater ex- 

 tent. And the ever increasing travel 

 to the old world will play no small part 

 in that growth. So many of our em- 

 ployers see, whilst over there, what 

 is accomplished in the line of growing 

 fruit in greenhouses and realize how 

 much better flavored it is than the out- 

 door fruit, that they naturally want to 

 have the same in their own gardens. 



My employer said to me once that, 

 previous to eating peaches from her 

 greenhouse, she had never tasted one. 

 She had eaten what were called 

 peaches, but they were generally too 

 hard and unripe, or overripe. Again, 

 too, since forcing strawberries for the 

 table, she does not care for the out- 

 door ones. A gentleman, this last sum- 

 mer, to whom we sent our forced 

 strawberries, asked the name of them, 

 as he had never eaten such. At that 

 time he had the same variety in his 

 own garden. While we must, I sup- 

 pose, give the palm for general ad- 

 miration to our beautiful flowers, still 

 no doubt there is something in a well- 

 grown house of grapes or peaches that 

 no house of flowers can command. 

 Perhaps it is best explained by the 

 old saying, that "the nearest way to 

 a man's heart is through his stomach." 



Side Uses of a Fruit House. 



A point of objection sometimes 

 taken is, that fruit houses are for a 

 considerable part of the year of no 

 service. This may be true if they are 

 kept for fruit growing alone, (and 

 right here I would say if they can be 

 so kept so much the better), but with 

 judicious caie they can be made very- 

 serviceable in many ways. For in- 

 stance, in the fall they can be used 

 for finishing up bush chrysanthemums 

 and storing other stock of that nature; 

 again, in the spring many things can 

 be brought along when starting up, so 

 that they may be made as generally 

 useful as almost any greenhouse, for 

 any of them must necessarily be at 

 some season or other nonproducing. 

 Therefore on the whole, I think a 

 fruit house as useful as any other 

 greenhouse. 



While no doubt the subject of in- 



A GLADIOLUS OF MERIT. 



The flower shown (seedling 97), 

 one of E. D. Thompson's productions, 

 a seedling procured after seven years' 

 crossing on Gladiolus May, is a much 

 larger flower, pure white, suffused with 

 carmine btush on outer ends of petals. 



The brownish tinge on the two lower 

 petals in May is entirely done away 

 with. The color is even, not striped. 

 Full earlier than May, and a strong 

 spike. In intense sunlight, more color 

 shows. 



door fruit growing would include ap- 

 ples, plums, pears, etc., it is my pur- 

 pose tonight to speak of those we more 

 generally understand by the term — 

 grapes, peaches, nectarines and straw- 

 berries, — these being the main crops 

 so produced. 



Grapes. 



The first consideration in the grow- 

 ing of grapes, is the structure, aspect, 

 and location of the house. As regards 

 the location an open, dry and well- 

 drained piece of ground is necessary, 

 for while you can and must make your 

 house so that it can be perfectly 

 drained, it is so much easier to do so 

 when the ground is well drained nat- 

 urally. As regards the aspect, I think 

 a house running noith and south, in 

 the case of an even span, is thi 

 for you then get sunshine all over I he 

 house at some part of the clay. If it is 

 to be a lean-to, a southern aspect 

 would be the best, and while I have 

 seen good crops and fine fruit grown 

 in lean-tos, I should never advise 

 building such a house. I think they 

 are seldom built in thesf days, from 

 economy if nothing else, as it costs as 

 much if not more to build the wall as 

 it does to erect the other half of the 

 house. 



Now right here I am going to men- 

 tion a part of the subject with whi h 

 I have had no experience and shall 

 therefore not attempt to advise; but I 

 bring it into this paper with the object 

 of finding out if any one present has 

 had any experience in that line, — 

 namely growing grapes in a green- 



house in the natural soil without any 

 prepared border. I have heard of it 

 being done, and it is practised in the 

 Channel Islands, but their climate is 

 not ours. 



The House and Border. 



A house twenty-five feet wide makes 

 a good serviceable one, and the mat- 

 ter of length must be left to meet the 

 requirements, but generally from 

 thirty to fifty feet, this giving all the 

 fruit that can be used during its par- 

 ticular season, especially so in the case 

 of early fruit, for any ordinary family. 



The border is the next consideration 

 and in regard to this there has been 

 much discussion as to whether it shall 

 be partly inside and partly out or al- 

 together inside: my experience has 

 been that it can be best taken care of 

 and better control kept of it when al- 

 together inside. Some, however main- 

 tain thai with the outside border the 

 vines will la^t lunger, but unless great 

 care is taken to keep the outside bor- 

 der well coveied and warm at starting 

 time, a very indifferent break will be 

 the result. In very wet seasons some- 

 times, just when you need the mini- 

 mum quantity of water, yuiir border 

 tting soaked and cracked fruit is 

 likely hi lesult. as well as shank, that 

 most dreaded trouble of grapes. The 

 border should be excavated to a depth 

 <u lhiee feet and a layer of concrete 

 six inches thick laid over it, sloping to 

 a central point for drainage, the walls 

 completing the receptacle for the bor- 

 der. 



I To be continUi d) 



