THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY 



[April, 



Fruit and Vegetable Gardening. 



COMMUNICATIONS. 



A VISIT TO A PEACH ORCHARD IN OYS- 

 TER BAY, QUEENS CO., L. I. 



BY ISAAC HICKS. 



Last autumn I accepted an invitation to visit a 

 peach orchard. The proprietor had tried an ex- 

 periment which was so successful that he was 

 pleased to have his fruit-loving friends examine 

 and admire it too. Some five or six years ago he 

 took a piece of new land recently cleared of trees, 

 planted three acres with peach trees. Said piece 

 was nearly surrounded with woods or trees, with a 

 southeastern exposure, and the soil a light sandy 

 loam with a portion of clay intermixed one or two 

 feet below the surface. Although Long Island is 

 a large and rather valuable moraine cast up by 

 that immense glacier that covered New England 

 in periods long past, we find occasional patches of 

 clay scattered amidst the strata of sand and gravel 

 of which our island is composed. Our friend 

 plowed and tilled his new land as best he could 

 among the stumps, raising crops of vegetables 

 while the trees were small, and above all, not al- 

 lowing a weed to grow. His instruction to his 

 men was to destroy every weed they saw at any 

 time they saw it, and the purslane— they must put 

 it in their pocket and throw it over the fence. And 

 the trees were the most beautiful and thrifty we 

 had ever seen. He had cut back a part of every 

 year's growth, manured it moderately with the ad- 

 dition of phosphates and ashes lightly every year, 

 I think he said, and they had grown from eighteen 

 inches to two feet this year, although bearing full 

 crops this year and last. A few were showing the 

 appearance of the yellows, but several of these 

 bore full and finer fruit, ripening earlier and color- 

 ing finer than others. He had spent about two 

 weeks in thinning the fruit when small, so that no 

 tree should overbear; the fruit'was of even size 

 — little inferior fruit to be seen. He was a novice 

 in peach-growing, and was much interested in se- 

 lecting' the most profitable sorts when they were 

 purchased. The results may be interesting to 

 others. The early peaches were not profitable ; 

 some rotted sadly, were of small size, and brought 

 small prices, too. The Mountain Rose, Crawford, 



early and late, and the Barnard, a yellow peach, 

 and rather late, were very satisfactory. But none 

 were so beautiful and good, that we saw, as the Old- 

 mixon free ; large, rich color, luscious, they filled 

 every requisite of a good peach, and were ripen- 

 ing, when we were there, in all their glory. Later 

 kinds than the Crawfords were not profitable ; so 

 many do not ripen up unless we have a fine warm 

 season on Long Island. Ward's Late was not val- 

 uable to raise for market. Susquehanna is large 

 and very fine, but not enough of them. Yellow 

 peaches at present sell better than white of same 

 size. The sales in 1881 from three acres amounted 

 to $950, or near that. The present year (1882) he 

 would not realize so much ; the price was less. 

 The sheltered position, protecting from the severe 

 cold winds in winter, and the virgin soil, united 

 with the best of care, were the secrets of success, 

 and the question is, who will or can do likewise 

 and enjoy so great a reward ? 



TO DESTROY CABBAGE AND OTHER 

 WORMS. 



BY GEORGE GEDULDIG, NORWICH, CONN. 



Your February number quotes an English paper 

 as advising to pick off the cabbage worm or cater, 

 pillar by hand — a good piece of work at high 

 wages! I will give a better way to get rid of any 

 caterpillar or slug on any plant, no matter how 

 tender, or whether in flower. Take a handful of 

 hellebore, sieve it fine into a large water-pot, pour 

 three quarts of boiling water on it, stir it well and 

 fill the pot full with cold water. Take a syringe or 

 the fine rose of a water-pot, and put the liquid on. 

 In twelve hours the worm is gone. 



STRAWBERRY RUNNERS. 



BY A. A. BENSEL, NEWBURG, N. Y. 



Many of the small fruit catalogues contain items 

 of information to growers which may prove of im- 

 portance. Instance the following, which I ven- 

 ture to say has seldom been the subject of thought. 

 I take it from " Strawberry Culture and Catalogue," 

 of Matthew Crawford, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio: 

 " All who have cultivated strawberries must have 

 noticed how inconvenient it is to have the runners 



