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THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE OF AMERICA. 



There is really nothing new to relate on the subject of 

 forcing fruits under glass. Anyone may go back many 

 long years and find excellent advice from fluent writers 

 on the subject, although I am safe in stating that the 

 growers of today certainly enjoy advantages that were 

 not obtainable thirty or forty years ago. I refer to the 

 greenhouse construction. What rapid advancement has 

 been made along those lines, until today we may say that 

 we receive full benefit from light at all angles. And from 

 my viewpoint, as each year rolls around, so also does the 

 improvement in greenhouse construction ; so much so that 

 I am almost persuaded to say that considerable brain 

 work and ingenuity must be applied to keep the pace. 

 However, in taking a glance back over the achievements 

 of the old school we cannot but admire the records that 

 many growers have left to their credit — records that stand 

 out pre-eminently as monuments to their skill, particu- 

 larly so with grapes, pineapples and the like. 



The old story is, competition is the life of trade, also an 

 incentive in keying up the producer to a high standard of 

 excellence. 



How about the improvements or bringing forward new 

 and meritorious varieties? Has the fruit specialist been 

 resting on his oars ? Contented with varieties of many 

 years ago, no excellent work has been accomplished .ilong 

 those lines. How interesting it is to watch the develop- 

 ment of any new fruit, whether it is an improvement over 

 the standard kinds or not. Our curiosity has been awak- 

 ened towards the new claimant for honors. Peaches, nec- 

 tarines and melons, I dare say, have been improved to a 

 greater extent than grapes. In comparing the list of 

 nectarines now with that of twenty-five or thirty years 

 ago, what do we find — the old list discarded for varieties 

 of more recent introduction. Thomas Rivers, of Saw- 

 bridgeworth, England, during his life if he had never 

 accomplished anything outside improving the nectarine, it 



A HOUSE OF MUSCAT Ol' ALEXAXUlvlA 



It is not difficult to trace up authentic records where 

 grapes have been produced with individual bunches 

 weighing from 15 to 25 pounds. Such feats are worthy 

 of repetition, and we may well say, while their manual 

 labors are over, such men have left monuments to their 

 skill for all time.' I dare say, though, it is within the 

 past fifty years that hothouse fruit has been grown so 

 extensively. However, here in the States there has never 

 been the rivalry among the growers of hothouse products 

 at our horticultural exhibitions the same as in Europe. 

 It is not an uncommon occurrence to find over there ten 

 or fifteen competitors for honors in the different classes. 



would have been sufficient to remember him for all linie. 

 But knowing the wonderful accomplishments that he ob- 

 tained with pears, apples, cherries, plums, peaches — too 

 numerous to mention — although one may well say while 

 his life's work is completed, he will be known through 

 his good work for many a long year to come. Take a 

 Peregrini peach or Duke of York ; they are fit subjects 

 for any range where fruit is grown, and none can deny 

 that they are handsome and, above all, flavor par excel- 

 lence. Rivers obtained his best results, I presume, with 

 hybridizing the peach with the nectarine, and vice versa. 

 Grapes, a new variety springs up once in a while. 



