116 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[April, 



the one famous spot on the Hudson River 

 where it found itself at home, still keeps up a 

 good supply for England. It is extremely rare 

 to find a barrel on sale in the Philadelphia 

 market. 



Burdock Roots. — It is said these make a fair 

 vegetable when cooked. The flavor resembles 

 salsify. The Japanese have improved the wild 

 kind till it has become much superior to the 

 original. 



The Ribston Pippin Apple. — This has long 

 been the most popular of English apples, but we 

 judge by the remark of the Garden, concerning 

 a recent exposition, that the " Ribston is still 

 often seen in good form," that it is regarded as 

 on the downward track. 



Profitable Peaches. — It is a nice thing to 

 have peaches to sell when your neighbor has not 

 any. The winter of 1880-81, which destroyed so 

 many fruit buds, made a fortune for the owner 

 of trees which escaped and thus furnished a new 

 illustration of the old story about th6 bad wind. 

 Last autumn, Mr. Aaron Rhodes, of Highland, 

 received $721 from ninety-five Stevens Rareripe, 

 set out in the spring of 1879. The number of 

 baskets was 143 — being a trifle over $5 each. 

 One shipment, October 6th, 14 baskets, (14 quarts 

 each basket) brought just $100 as follows, one 

 basket $8, two baskets $7.20 each, 11 baskets at 

 $7 each. Mr. Rhodes has 650 trees which cleared 

 $3,300. Mr. Charles Downing, struck by the 

 figures, made some inquiries and has reason to 

 believe that they are strictly correct. 



The Baldwin Apple. — One of the reasons for 

 the extensive planting of this apple in Mass., is 

 that in does well on high dry soils, where 

 other more surface rooting kinds compara- 

 tively fail. 



Over-cropping. — President Barry tells the 

 members of the Western New York Horticul- 

 tural Society that '' In the management of fruit 

 trees over-cropping is a great and very general 

 evil. A tree overloaded with fruit can neither 

 perfect the fruit nor ripen its wood properly and 

 in a severe climate is quite likely to succumb to 

 a degree of cold, which under proper treatment, 

 it could have resisted perfectly. It is safie to say 

 that millions of trees are annually ruined in this 

 country by overcrops. The grape is very sensi 

 tive in this respect, if overloaded the fruit will 

 not color nor ripen, nor will the wood ripen. It 

 is not uncommon to hear people complain of 



their grapes not ripening and the vines being 

 killed and ascribing the trouble to every cause 

 but the right one, over-cropping. This is an 

 error committed not by novices only." 



SuBSOiLiNG. — Mr. Barry advocates subsoiling 

 for fruit trees, and all farm and garden crops. 



Lemon Trees. — It is surprising that more per- 

 sons do not grow these in pots and tubs aa room 

 ornaments. A comparatively young plant will 

 grow from twenty-five to fifty lemons a year, and 

 usually they are much better than those we buy. 

 We saw a test recently where one was taken from 

 a tree which yielded double the quantity of juice 

 to a first-class store fruit. 



Remedy for the Currant Worm. — Mr. Long- 

 streth of Dayton, Ohio, believes that the best 

 remedy is a strong tea of the white hellebore, 

 applied with a syringe to the young wood and 

 under surface of the leaves before the insect is 

 hatched, when they will turn white, drop 

 ofi", and the bushes and fruit will mature ad- 

 mirably. 



Value of Worms.— Dr. Storer of Harvard 

 University, has entered the list against Darwin's 

 views of the value of the earth worm. He 

 concludes a long paper in the Country Gen- 

 tleman, by asserting that though they may 

 sometimes do good, they may also work to 

 cause sterility. 



Raspberry, Reder. — This is of unknown 

 origin, at least it was seen to be something differ- 

 ent from the rest in a bed of some kind, at 

 Bayview, Mich. It has some repute in the 

 Chicago markets. 



The American Wonder Pea. — This variety 

 introduced by the Messrs. Bliss, is holding its 

 ground admirably in England, where the pea is 

 a standard crop, and good varieties in constant 

 demand. 



Strawberries in Michigan. — According to 

 recent reports, the most popular strawberries in 

 the State are Wilson and Crescent. The Michi- 

 gan Farmer suggests they are popular because 

 they are the " Lazyman's " varieties. 



Mulberries for Chickens. — The fruit ripening 

 and falling so long in succession, makes the tree 

 an excellent one for planting in chicken yards. 

 The birds are very fond of the fruit. The White 

 Mulberry or perhaps the everbearing sorts, will 

 be the best to have. 



