no 



THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY 



[April, 



This quince grows about as large as the Guava 

 shrub ; its raw fruit is to the taste, full as pleasant 

 as the Guava. I hope to see it as largely used. 



Bridgeport, Conn. 



THE FOREIGN GOOSEBERRY. 



BY BENJ. G. SMITH. 



If cultivators knew how easily a crop of 

 Foreign Gooseberries can be produced, I think 

 they would be inclined to try them. 1 have culti- 

 vated English Gooseberries, the past eight or ten 

 years with uniform success, and have had no 

 more difficulty in securing abundant crops than 

 from American varieties. Have received first 

 prize from Massachusetts Horticultural Society, 

 the past eight years. English Gooseberries do not 

 like our mid-summer scorching sun. I therefore 

 secured a location where they received morning 

 sun until about ten, and afternoon three and a 

 half to sundown. Our soil, originally stiff clay, is 

 underdrained and subsoiled to depth of twenty- 

 four to thirty inches, with plenty of sand and cow 

 manure added. I am convinced the very best 

 fertilizer for the gooseberry is cow manure, sup- 

 plied liberally, as it is a gross feeder. My prac- 

 tice has been to prune severely, and thin out half 

 or two-thirds of the fruit. We give annually in 

 early autumn, a heavy dressing of cow manure. 

 As you know, Mr. Editor, the Foreign Gooseberry 

 in England will stand neglect, and produce satis- 

 factorily, but not so in New England. We must 

 here regard its requirements and give it necessary 

 attention, and 1 beheve success will be secured. 



Cambridge, Mass'. 



WIRE AS A PLANT SUPPORT. 



BY T. BENNETT. 



Your note on " Lima Beans Without Poles," in 

 the February number of the Monthly, has in- 

 duced me to make a few remarks on the various 

 uses to which wire may be applied for gardening 

 purposes, as a support to plants. Also to give 

 my own experience in the matter. 



Wire in its various kinds and multifarious uses, 

 seems to have become not only a local, but a 

 national blessing ; and it seems might be much 

 more generally utilized for gardening purposes. 

 It might be more used for flowering vines and 

 ornamental work, as well as for grape vines. 



I have grown Lima beans on upright threads 

 between two horizontal wires for several years, 

 and found it a very good plan, and can recom- 

 mend it where poles are scarce ; not only in gar- 



dening, but for field culture also. Eight or nine 

 inches apart between the threads is better than 

 eighteen, and about si.K feet high to the top wire 

 is enough. 



By topping the vines at the upper wire they 

 will bear to the ground, and under ordinary cir- 

 cumstances yield a most abundant crop. One 

 vine to each thread is enough. We cannot have 

 too many Lima beans. They are an excellent 

 vegetable, will keep the year round, and may be 

 had green in their pods all winter, by picking off 

 while yet a little green, and spread thinly on a 

 loft or attic, or laid on shelves ; this retains their 

 summer flavor. 



I believe hops can be grown the same way ad- 

 vantageously by raising the top wire about three 

 feet more than for beans, or about nine feet high. 

 They should also be topped when the vine reach- 

 es the upper wire. 



Peas grow well on two or three wires stretched 

 along the rows, fastened at intervals to short 

 stakes ; and even one wire is preferable to letting 

 them lie on the ground, and will greatly increase 

 and improve the crop. 



Tomatoes are also very much improved by 

 some support of this kind, and in fact wire should 

 be more generally utilized for gardening purposes. 

 For the benefit of the readers of the Monthly, 

 I have visited the great wire establishment of 

 Cooper, Hewitt & Co., Trenton, N. J., to learn the 

 prices of the different sizes and grades of wire 

 adapted to these purposes ; and by the courtesy of 

 one of the firm, Mr. W. Hewitt, was shown over 

 that vast establishment. I saw many of the 

 numerous processes of wire making ; drawing and 

 reducing down to the size of a hair ; one pound 

 weight of which is capable of extending over a 

 distance of more than two miles. I learned also 

 from that gentleman, that two wires wrapped to- 

 gether, instead of one, are better for every kind of 

 trellis work where a strain is required, as the ex- 

 pansion and contraction from heat and cold, by 

 this means affects only the wrapping and not 

 the metal; thus preventing breakage by con- 

 traction ; and these two twisted wires may be had 

 for little more than the price of one single piece, 

 which is a double advantage. I also found these 

 gentlemen have invented and for sale, cheap wire 

 I trellises for peas, tomatoes, &c., as well as for 

 other kinds of ornamental fencing, each sort hav- 

 ing four or five double wires twisted around 

 laths and stakes, and which can be made and 

 formed to suit any purpose ; and the former can 

 be bought for about ly^ to 3 cents the running 



