300 



THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY 



[October, 



Fruit and Vegetable Gardening. 



COMMUNICATIONS. 



APPLES IN MEXICO AND TEXAS. 

 BY PROF. S. B. BUCKLEY, AUSTIN, TEXAS. 



In a recent number of the Gardeners' 

 Monthly it is stated on the authority of some one 

 that apples will not grow in Mexico. 



I have seen apples, and good apples, growing 

 at EI Paso, in Mexico, and have also seen apples 

 from the interior of Mexico in the market at 

 Laredo on the Rio Grande in this State. From 

 some Austin friends now at Saltillo, south of Mon- 

 terey, in Mexico, I learn that apples, pears, 

 peaches and strawberries are there, and that they 

 have a plentiful supply of them. In April, 1882, I 

 saw a fine-looking peach orchard at Lampazas, 

 in Mexico, seventy-five miles southwest of Laredo. 

 The trees were young and making a fine growth. 

 Young peaches on the limbs gave promise of good 

 fruit, which the proprietor assured me he had had 

 the previous year. 



I have seen many statements in print that apples 

 will not grow in Texas, especially in middle and 

 southern Texas. Fine apple orchards are in the 

 northern part of the State. Such statements are 

 made on the authority of old residents here, some 

 of whom told me a few years ago that it would be 

 wasting time and money to plant apple trees. 

 However I planted a few. They grew well, and 

 I planted more, and now have an apple orchard 

 of more than three hundred trees. From 

 these I have annual crops of fruit, there having 

 been only one failure since they began bearing, 

 about eight years ago. We have apples for home 

 use during nearly the entire year, besides many 

 bushels for the market. The Red Astrachans 

 and Early Harvest ripen during the last days of 

 May, for which there is a ready sale to dealers 

 at from three to four dollars per bushel. The 

 summer and fall apples sell at from one to two 

 dollars per bushel. Hence the planting of apple 

 trees here was a profitable investment, so profit- 

 able that others have planted them, from which 

 Austin will have a plentiful supply of apples 

 without importation. Our apples are equal in size 

 and flavor to the best grown at the North. This I 



know from large experience in growing apples in 

 western New York. 



Mexico is a large country and Texas is a large 

 State, and both Mexico and Texas have climates 

 ranging from the tropical to the temperate. Among 

 the mountains and table lands of these regions are 

 places and soils suitable for the fruits and vegeta- 

 bles of temperate climates. The lowlands of 

 Mexico and portion of Texas on the Gulf of Mexico 

 are suitable for and have tropical fruits and veg- 

 etables. 



To succeed with apples here the trees should 

 branch out near the ground, that the body of the 

 tree may not be exposed to the sun in summer. 

 Mulch the trees for the first two or three years, 

 until the roots be well established. Be careful 

 not to cultivate so as to disturb the roots of the 

 trees during the growing season, then with a good 

 soil apples can be successfully grown in this por- 

 tion of Texas. 



RANDOM NOTES. 



BY RUSTICUS, LEXINGTON, KY. 



In a former communication to your excellent 

 magazine I recommended as the proper applica- 

 tion of manure, surface and plowed under. My 

 reason for this was that vegetation might feed on 

 it with the two systems of I'oots, coronal and ger- 

 minal, upper and lower. There is another very 

 great advantage accruing from it, that is, in a dry 

 time the keeping of the earth loose. I treated my 

 main garden in this way, and throughout the dis- 

 astrous drouth we have had it has worked like an 

 ash bank. Gardens about me became so hard 

 that a spade would not enter them. I kept up the 

 cultivation of this garden throughout the drouth. 

 Quick growth is what is required for crisp, tender 

 vegetables. Well rotted manure promotes it. 

 Manure plowed under attracts the roots down- 

 ward. Herein is a very decided advantage. There 

 is abundant natural fertility deeply incorporated in 

 the earth. We should aim to reach it. From not 

 working to that end, and from not plowing deep, 

 this buried treasure is often lost. 



Mr. Henry Stewart informs us that it impossible 

 to really exhaust the soil. He writes: " The soil 



