302 



THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY 



[October, 



are sold to dealers either on the tree or packed in 

 boxes. They begin to ripen in the fall — in Octo- 

 ber and November, and can be gathered at any 

 time from November to March, and many of them 

 will hang on the trees much later. They do not 

 fall from the tree when they ripen, but will remain 

 on the tree until spring. It is best, however, to 

 gather in the late fall or winter as the trees begin 

 to bloom again in February." So says Judge 

 Cheney, of Winchester, Ohio. 



Apple Buttkr. — Mr. Garber says the juice of 

 the Sand pear, mixed with cider, makes the most 

 delicious apple butter. 



American Blackberries in England. — I see 

 you say at page 520, last volume, that these do 

 very well in this country, but I am inclined to 

 think that the instances of their successful culture 

 are few and far between. My e.xperience of them 

 tallies with that of your correspondent "J. E. D., 

 Devon," as ours have grown luxuriantly, but the 

 fruit is miserable compared with the illustration 

 and our own expectations. When the Kittatinny 

 variety was brought in it was planted in rich soil 

 and the best of positions to secure sunshine with 

 shelter on all sides from destructive winds, and we 

 expected to see the produce something better than 

 that commonly seen in the hedgerows, but it has 

 never been so, and now we only keep them to 

 point out their deceptive qualities. I should have 

 thought that they would have done in either De- 

 von or South Wales, but it appears not, and it 

 would be interesting to know the position in which 

 they do succeed. Are the instances of the descrip- 

 tion so numerous as to warrant any one advising 

 their general culture? I think not. Probably some 

 may grow them against the wall, and then I would 

 say it is good space badly used. Nothing which 

 can be said or shown in their favor will induce 

 me to have anything further to do with them. — 

 y. Muir, in Journal of Horticulture. 



Packing Apples for Export. — The London 

 Garden says: " In speaking to Mr. Walter Draper, 

 of Covent Garden, the other day of the state of 

 the packing of the enormous number of apples 

 coming to us from America during the past season, 

 he referred to the great loss and disappointment 

 incurred from bad packing, brands found to be 

 deficient in that way being evaded by the pur- 

 chaser. He said there would be no objection 

 whatever to the apples being classed, and that 

 sales could be readily found for more than one 

 class, but the ones, twos and threes should be 

 rigidly and conscientiously separated, and kept so 



in the barrel. The Canadian apples are much 

 better. As it is to Mr. Draper's firm that most of 

 the apples coming to the London market are 

 shipped, his opinion may be worth mentioning to 

 our American readers." 



James Vick Straw herry. — Reports from 

 Rochester indicate that this variety proved remark- 

 ably productive this year. 



The Marlhoro Raspberry. — The American 

 Garden is favorably impressed by this new red 

 variety. It is one-fourth larger than the Hudson 

 River Antwerp, and free from its musky aroma. 



Columbia Grape. — This is a white variety, 

 raised in the vicinity of Washington; it is said to 

 have rather oval berries three-quarters of an inch 

 in diameter, and to ripen in the middle of Septem- 

 ber in the District of Columbia. 



How to Destroy the Cabbage Worm. — A 

 correspondent of the Fruit Recorder \sn\\n<g from 

 Port Huron, Michigan, says that he commenced a 

 series of experiments for the purpose of discover- 

 ing something that would kill the v/orms and yet 

 not be poisonous to human beings, and finally- 

 found that a solution of common alum, made by 

 dissolving one pound of alum in three gallons of 

 rain water, would kill the worms. 



His mode of proceeding was to dissolve the alum 

 in a small quantity of water by heating the water, 

 and then add sufficient water to make the whole 

 three gallons. When this was cold he put it into a 

 common watering-pot having a rose spout, and 

 sprinkled his cabbage and cauliflower plants, 

 keeping up this sprinkling as long as any of the 

 insects were about, from the time that the white 

 butterfly began to lay her eggs. He says that he 

 watered them almost every evening, and thus kept 

 his cabbage and cauliflower perfectly clean. 



He also tried the alum solution on his currant 

 bushes and with equally successful results, and 

 recommends it for washing the trunks of young 

 fruit trees, for the reason that it is a cheap, effectual 

 and non-poisonous insecticide, acting instantane- 

 ously on the worm or caterpillar by means of its 

 astringency and so contracting their tissues that 

 they cannot breathe. 



The Vegetable Garden at Frogmore. — We 

 get very good vegetables and fruits in our markets, 

 but these seldom compare with those raised by the 

 deep culture of the spade or digging fork in an 

 amateur's garden. We have thought it would be 

 of interest to give a sketch of the vegetable garden 

 of (2ueen Victoria, from which the royal table at 



