AND HORTICULTURIST. 



33' 



Fruit and Vegetable GARBENm 



'"''G. 



SEASONABLE HINTS. 



Among the numerous varieties of new fruits 

 continually coming into market, it mtist puzzle the 

 novice which to select. The raiser of novelties — 

 as in the case of a grape introducer — whose 

 card is before us, tells us that he had his new 

 "seedling" alongside of the Concord, Salem, 

 Hartford, and a dozen others, which all rotted 

 and blighted, and " fizzled out " generally, while j 

 his glorious "Pride of Grapedom proved all that ; 

 could be desirable in a first-class grape." We ! 

 have a friend who is fond of growing numerous j 

 grapes. He has thirty kinds in full bearing and 

 more coming on. His opinion is that " so far as 

 doing well is concerned, I do not find that one 

 does much better than another, except perhaps the 

 Delaware and the Catawba. These do not al- 

 ways ripen very well. That is to say, some green j 

 or im.mature fruit will always be found among the 

 mature ones. They all do well. My plan is to , 

 plant in dry ground ; that is, ground in which the ! 

 water will surely run away rapidly. I like hard, i 

 solid ground. By digging about the vines some j 

 roots get cut, and these get fungus and molds on | 

 the bruised parts, and this communicates to | 

 the whole mass. And deleterious insects get into 

 soft ground much easier than when the ground is 

 solid and firm. I keep weeds and grass from 

 getting much headway by piling coal ashes 

 under the plants, and I give the vines as much 

 rich food as I can spare. They do not care how 

 much you give them. This is all my secret." 

 This is the experience of a successful amateur. 

 He does not grow for market, but for pleasure. 

 To some extent such a mode of culture could not 

 be applied on a large scale. But it goes to show 

 that when "every kind rots," and so forth, it is 

 to the cultivator and the cultivation, and not the 

 variety, that we may often place the blame. 



There is, however, always pleasure in watching 

 the progress of some new variety, and in testing 

 the improvements supposed to be made ; and 

 while relying mainly on well-known and well-tes- 

 ted varieties for one's main crop, a judicious ex- 

 perimenting with new kinds will be found to be a 

 source of great pleasure. 



In looking at what is now considered as sound 

 practice, and back on the advice we used to give 

 when such advice was heresy, we often congratu- 

 late ourselves on the success of our teachings ; 

 though few seem to remember to whom they are 

 indebted for what has been taught. Take, for 

 instance, the shading of fruit in order to get 

 them to perfection. When the Gardeners' 

 Monthly was first issued, the general belief was 

 that it required "sun and air" to ripen fruits well, 

 and the books teemed with directions to pull off 

 leaves, thin out branches, and tie up shoots, and 

 expose the fruit if we would have the best success. 

 We showed that the initial stages of maturity was 

 a vital, and not a purely chemical process; and 

 that this was better secured by shade than by 

 exposure. It was not good doctrine then, but 

 now the general practice with those who want 

 to get the very best bunches of grapes is to put 

 paper bags on them ; and some say that even 

 tomatoes are far superior when treated in this way. 

 But it is necessary that leaves should have the 

 full light, though the fruit may not ; and a few 

 good, large, healthy leaves are preferable to a 

 good number of small ones. By far too many 

 branches are left on most trees. When the tree is 

 in leaf, the one branch smothers out the other, and, 

 remembering what we have already said about the 

 value of healthy leaves, few leaves arrive at that 

 perfection necessary to perfect the best fruit. 

 Therefore, prune out enough of the weaker 

 ones to give the rest, every chance to develop 

 their leaves to the fullest extent. Also prune 

 so as to assist the plant to a conical form, as 

 this enables the light to act better on all parts 

 of the tree leaves. If trees have been neglected, 

 in pruning now severely to get them to this 

 shape, the result will be to make them throw 

 out. shoots still more vigorously from near the 

 parts cut away. When these shoots appear in . 

 spring, pull them out while young with the finger 

 and thumb. The current of sap will then flow 

 strongly into the shoots left, and the ratio of growth 

 will, in the end, be nearly equal through all the 

 branches. The flow of sap through a tree is 

 nearly like that of water through an uneven 

 country. A very little obstruction will turn tlie 



