320 J^ruit JSTotes, 



to be applied at this season of the year, is a top-dressing of manure, to give the 

 trees an early start next spring. The earlier in the autumn that this application is 

 made, the better will be the result. The autumn rains will wash out the soluble 

 parts and carry them into the soil ; and the fibrous portions of the manure which 

 remain will protect the surface of the earth from severe freezing in winter. This 

 topdressing is useful even if applied late in autumn, or even after the ground is 

 frozen. 



The objection which we sometimes hear, that the manure will wash away on frozen 

 ground, contradicts itself. For if the weather is warm enough for rain to fall, or 

 for sujw to melt, or for the thawing of the manure heap, it will at the same time 

 be warm enough to thaw the surface of the ground, and enable it to absorb all the 

 fertilizing portions of the liquid manure. We speak from our own experiments, 

 and never in any case could discover that this washing extended beyond the roots of 

 the trees. 



Cranberries in 3I(tssnchuselts, 



A company was formed a few years ago to raise cranberries on a certain field of 

 marsh land purchased as adapted to that culture. One hundred acres were pur- 

 chased for §23. 



About 22 acres, including a part of two of these swamps, have been prepared by 

 ditching, turning over the turf, and covering it about seven inches thick with gravel 

 and then setting out the vines about a foot apart each way, the work being all under 

 the charge of the Brothers Stockwell. Last autumn they gathered from these 22 

 acres over 400 bushels of cranberries, sold in Millbury, Worcester and Webster for 

 $10.50 per barrel, three bushels to the barrel. The yield in some places was very 

 large, 15 bushels being picked from one square rod, and 15 square rods yielded at 

 the rate of 330 bushels per acre. A plot of six acres yielded at the rate of 325 

 bushels per acre ; 15 or 20 men, women and children, were engaged in picking at 

 two cents a quart, many earning two dollars a day. One man picked four bushels 

 in a day. It is expected, when the ground is well covered with vines, that the yield 

 will be much larger than it was last year. There are three dams and a reservoir. 

 W^hen there is any danger of a frost, all the ditches that surround the squares in 

 which the plots are laid out can be at once filled with water, which prevents any 

 injury to the fruit and vines ; and all can be easily flooded through the winter, which 

 not only protects the vines from freezing, but saves them from the cranberry worm. 

 The company had last autumn expended $18,000. But experience will enable them 

 to prepare the rest of the ground at a much cheaper rate. They have 75 acres, out 

 of the 100 purchased, suitable for cranberries They have cultivated four different 

 kinds of berries, viz., the Kirke Fiske, which is the earliest, the Cherry, the Bell 

 and the Sutton, which is the largest and the handsomest, but is the latest. 



Jtest Morrello Cherry, 



The Cleveland Herald says, that the Louis Phillippe is the best of all the sour 

 or half sour cherries. Downing, in his great American Enoyclopsedia of fruits, says 

 the fruit is large, of a rich dark, almost purplish black red, with a red flesh 

 which is juicy, tender, sprightly and mildly acid ; quality very good or best. Free, 

 vigorous and very productive. Barry in his Fruit Garden, says it is ripe from the 

 middle to the last of July, and is a very valuable sort for dessert, canning, cooking 

 or market. 



fear Trees and Oxide of Iron. 



The Scientific American says, the practice of mixing iron scraps, filings, or drilling 

 chips from machine shops, in the soil about the roots of pear trees, is becoming 

 general with some of our best fruit-growers. The health and productiveness of the 

 trees are greatly promoted thereby. Pieces of iron hoops, old scythes, and other 

 useless bits of iron, have long been used by the most successful growers. 



