'895' 



' ■ ' GARDENING. 



279 



CALADIUM ARGYRITES 



locust stem, with leaves like an orange. 

 The epiphyllum grows stronger and is 

 less likely to suffer from over watt ring 

 when graft< d on this stock than on any 

 other, besides being held one or two feet 

 above the soil it is given a chance to 

 display its natural drooping .habit to ad- 

 vantage, resembling a weeping tree. The 

 pereskia is a rapid grower and roots 

 easily from cuttings. Notes on general 

 cultivation and lists of the most desirable 

 sorts will be given in a later issue. 

 Milton, Wis. C. K. Plumb. 



The Fruit Garden. 



MY BBRRIES. 



These include only currants, gooseber- 

 ries and strawberries, — the last not very 

 extensively grown. The gooseberries 

 and currants are planted in the 

 rows of apple trees in my younger 

 orchards, and thrive well under the 

 shade, without harming the fruit 

 trees in any way. They in number ex- 

 ceed two thousand plants, of different 

 years' planting, carefully cultivated; and 

 they suffer in noway from their positions 

 beneath the trees. The entire orchards 

 are manured from the barns each alter- 

 nate year, and beans are grown between 

 the rows. I have practiced this method 

 ior 25 years with entire success. Great 

 care has to be exercised in regard to the 

 currant worm, the eggs of which are laid 

 every spring about this time. The 

 young worms remain upon the leaf upon 

 which they were hatched for about a 

 week, and then spread at once over the 

 whole plant. Just before this time all of 

 the bushes are carefully sprayed with 

 very weak Paris green water,-^about a 

 level tablespoonful to a barrel of water. 

 A stronger mixture injures the foliage, 

 and is unnecessary. There is usually a 



second brood about two weeks later, 

 which is treated in the same way. The 

 berries are nearly all marketed in the ad- 

 joining village; an occasional crate Deing 

 sent away on orders direct from families. 

 The net price is from seven to eight cents 

 a quart. 



Strawberries are planted in the young- 

 est orchards, the rows of trees being 35 

 feet apart. The berries arc replanted bien- 

 nially, immediately after the picking 

 is over, in fresh ground, well enriched 

 with commercial fertilizer. Occasionally 

 a bed is allowed to run three seasons. 

 Only Wilson and Crescent are set. It 

 is hard to get good strawberry pickers, 

 and the fruit is much less profitable than 

 the currants and gooseberries. The ob- 

 ject in both cases is to get a profit from 

 the orchard ground from the start, tmtil 

 the trees come into pretty full bearing. 

 In some of the younger orchards we grow 

 potatoes for a few years, alternating 

 with our little northern yellow corn. 

 Subsequently the orchard crop is changed 

 to beans, which can be grown success- 

 fully until the trees are 25 years old, or 

 even longer. I have never seeded any of 

 my orchards to grass, as I get better 

 fruit, and more of it, in a tilled orchard. 

 The beans planted are an early-dwarf 

 yellow-eye, very nearly round, the pods 

 being also yellow until ripe. It was my 

 own production by selection of seed, as 

 the beans grown further south do not 

 ripen early enough for our locality. It is 

 important to have a bean crop fully ripe, 

 — the leaves all off— and harvested before 

 the fall rains come on. The brighter the 

 beans the better the price and the easier 

 to sell. 



Replying to yours of the ISth: I have 

 considerable numbers of the older varie- 

 ties of currants and gooseberries, but 

 since the introduction of the Fay currant 

 and the Red Jacket gooseberry I have 

 grown them with great satisfaction, and 



shall hereafter plant no others until some- 

 thing still better is revealed, which is by 

 no mea s impossible. No European 

 gooseberries are of any value here. There 

 seems to be practically no limit to the 

 demand for these berries; I sell them all 

 over the state, and out of the state; and 

 although I plant them by the thousand 

 and have been growing them since 1866 

 the demand still exceeds the supply. The 

 only rules of tillage are good land, in 

 good order, free from weeds, and due 

 attention, with plenty of hellebore for the 

 worms, applied freely and promptly as 

 soon as they are hatched. The eggs are 

 nearly all laid on leaves near the ground, 

 and about a week after hatching they 

 i-l)read themselves over the bush. That 

 is the time to do.se them. If something 

 cheaper than hellebore is wanted a very 

 weak Paris green water, say a teaspoon- 

 ful to a common water pail, does the 

 work. More will burn the foliage. As 

 to fertilizers, I use all kinds. The com- 

 mercial kinds of standard makers are all 

 good, but I buy all the cattle manure I 

 can get first. T. H. Hoskins. 



Strawberries are now in bloom and 

 setting fruit. See that they are well 

 mulched, and that the mulching is drawn 

 in to and under the plants to keep the ber- 

 ries clean. Straw, hay, sedge, lawn mow- 

 ings, excelsior, or anything of that sort 

 makes a good mulching, and it should 

 always be put on before the berries begin 

 to soften. Robins and catbirds want the 

 first taste ot the berries, and the way in 

 which they take a bite out of this berry 

 and that one all over the patch is quite 

 annoying; but after a few days they get 

 less troublesome. We set a fence of wire 

 netting around the patch, with a gate and 

 lock, and it has a wonderful effect in sav- 

 ing the berries. And as netting is quite 

 cheap now— we paid 60 cents a hundred 

 square feet for it — it doesn't cost much to 

 put a 4-foot fence around one's patch. 

 And, better still if you have thread net- 

 ting to throw over the patch to keep the 

 birds out, but this should be raised up over 

 the plants on a light skeleton frame of 

 posts and laths or strings of tar cord. 



Orchids. 



FflfllUS ORflNDIfOUUS. 



This fine old easily grown oichid comes 

 into bloom, with us, usually about Easter. 

 The flowers are borne on erect spikes and 

 last fully three weeks in perfection. As 

 soon as the plants are done blooming I 

 keep them rather dry for a few weeks and 

 then repot them. They are usually potted 

 inacompostot turfy loam and leaf mould, 

 in well drained pots. Last year I potted 

 a few, experimentall3', in a compost of 

 peat-fibre 2 parts and 1 part sphagnum 

 moss. Those that were potted in the 

 last named compost grew more vigorous 

 and were in every respect superior to 

 those potted in the loam. They require 

 plenty of light and are benefited by liquid 

 manure when coming into bloom. I 

 divide the large plants every _vear, as I 

 find that plants in S or 9-inch pots give 

 the best results; when the specimens be- 

 come too large they are crowded in the 

 ctnter with effete pseudo-bulbs; besides 

 they are not as handy for decorative pur- 

 jtoses. Wm. Fitzvvilliam. 



( )range, N. J. 



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