368 



THE GARDENERS" .MONTHLY 



[December, 



thinned in infancy, as all good cultivators do who 

 desire fruit of extra quahty, there is every reason 

 to believe that they would have been excellent. 

 That trees over-loaded as these were should pro- 

 duce such large, showy and very good fruit as 

 these are, is quite sufficient to stamp the variety as 

 one of the very best. — Ed. G. M.] 



The Best Pear and Apple.—" F.," Washing- 

 ton, Pa., writes: "I am an amateur with a small 

 garden, and want a few fruit trees to plant to get 

 fruit to eat and not to sell. I don't care for enor- 

 mous bearers, merely. I want, say, half a dozen 

 apples and half a dozen pears, and I only care for 

 one kind each. What would you recommend a 

 new subscriber to plant ? " 



[The Seckel pear and the Smokehouse apple. — 

 Ed. G. M.] 



Forcing Tomatoes. — "J. S. F.," Wilmington, 

 Delaware, writes : " Would you please write an 

 article in your Gardeners' Monthly on the cul- 

 ture of tomatoes in this latitude, under glass in 

 winter season. There does not seem to be any 

 treatise on that subject." 



[Tomatoes are not forced to any great extent in 

 this part of the world. So far as we know, Mr. 

 John Paget, gardener to Senator Cameron, is the 

 only one who makes a point to do so. Yet it is 

 remarkable that more do not enjoy this luxury ; 

 for those raised by Mr. Paget, and which come in 

 soon after Christmas, are, to our mind, desirable, 

 not only for the season when they mature, but for 

 their delicious flavor, which is superior to those 

 raised in their natural season in the open air. 



As a matter of profit, it is not clear that it would 



be a success, with the experience of other forced 

 fruits and vegetables before us. Hot-house grapes* 

 for instance, in late winter and early spring, 

 brought a dollar and a half a pound. Calcula- 

 tions based on these figures, made the business 

 profitable, but when large houses and immense 

 quantities were raised, it was found that nothing 

 like these figures could be had. With half a dozen 

 vines, one could take his crop in a hand basket, 

 and get his dollar and a half, but when he had 

 thousands of pounds, the services of others to sell 

 had to be called in. Transportation charges, agen- 

 cies, advertisements, commissions, middle men, 

 and hosts of other expenses, bring the final 

 dollar and a half down to seventy-five cents, at 

 which it will not pay. Cucumber growing and 

 similar other subjects of winter forcing have been 

 tried — all profitable enough when one has but a 

 few hundred dollars' worth to handle — but are 

 losses when grown on a large scale. 



If, however, one is disposed to try tomatoes, the 

 great requisites are great heat and plenty of light. 

 Without the latter the plants will not set their fruit 

 well. We should imagine that a steep-angled 

 double-pitch roof would be best for the purpose. 

 The plants should be started towards the end of 

 summer, so as to be pretty well advanced before 

 being placed in the rich beds of soil under glass 

 in September. A temperature of not less than 65° 

 would be desirable. 



If Mr. Paget could find time to give a few notes 

 from his wonderfully successful experience, they 

 would be read with great interest by numbers of 

 our readers. — Ed. G. M.] 



Forestry. 



COMMUNICATIONS. 



AMERICAN FORESTRY. 



BY professor J. T. ROTHROCK. 

 AVjbtrac-t of Lecture at Fairmount Park, Philadelpbia. 

 All things considered, the best timber the Eng- 

 lish Kingdom furnished was from the English oak. 

 Its strength and durability had passed into pro- 

 verb, and it had come to be regarded as synony- 

 mous with English naval dominion the world over, 



because from this oak were built the long-lived 

 ships that upheld England's honor in all seas and 

 in the face of all foes. Yet, as a matter of fact, 

 fair, impartial trial had shown that the American 

 white oak was equal in nearly all respects to the 

 British, and in some qualities was better. Thus 

 what very httle strength it lacked in comparison 

 with the English was more than compensated for 

 by increased length of straight pieces. 

 I Our timber has a special value, because there 



