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GARDE^ERS• CHRONICLE 



JELLY FROM WILD FRUITS 



T X nearly every eomnuuiity there go to waste each year 

 quantities of wild fruit suitable for jelly making;, that 

 might be had for the asking. Wild apples, wild plums, 

 wild cherries, Japanese ijuinces, hawthorns, wild graijes, 

 cornelian cherries, barberries, and elderberries all make 

 good jelly. Some of these can be used alone, while some 

 are best when combined with other fruits. A mixture of 

 wild apples and hawthorns, with a sprinkling of wild 

 g;raf)es, wild plums and elderberries gives a beautiful 

 rose-purple jell)- of excellent flavor. 



The cultivated ap[)le has been naturalized in many parts 

 of the country, jxirticularly in New England and New- 

 York, where it is commonly found along roadsides and 

 country lanes. Landowners will usually give permission 

 to pick the frtiit, and though usually gnarled and sour, 

 it makes excellent jelly. Pyrus ioensis and Pyrus coro- 

 naria, our native American apples, are common around St. 

 Louis. Their small, yellow fruit is sour and somewhat 

 astringent, yet it makes delicious jelly, particularly when 

 used in combination with the large-fruited hawthorns. 



The common elderberry, Sambucus canadensis, with its 

 broad panicles of white flowers followed by deep purple 

 fruit, is a familiar sight in eastern North America, and the 

 fruit is commonly used in small quantities for wine and pie 

 making. Combined with wild phuns and wild apples it 

 makes delicious jelly, while the addition of a few heads of 

 elderberries will give crabapple jelly a beautiful rose- 

 purple color without apj^reciably changing the flavor. 



!Most of the native plums make good jam and jelly. 

 Several of the better forms have been introduced into 

 cultivation and are the more valuable since they will 

 succeed in regions where no other fruit will grow. The 

 common barberry, now outlawed in the ^Vest because of 

 its relation to the wheat rust, is still cultivated in many 

 parts of the country and has run wild in the Ea.st. In 

 combination with other fruits it gives a good color and 

 flavor to jellies, and when used alone it produces a clear 

 red jelly quite like that made from red currants. 



The several sjiecies of wild grapes native to North 

 America are excellent for jelly making, some of them 

 being superior to the cultivated one in this respect. Though 

 thev are not as often neglected as many of the other wild 

 fruits, large quantities go to waste every year, even in 

 thicklv settled regions. Good grape juice can be made from 

 the juicier kinds, but it is apt to have a "stemmy" taste and 

 seldom equals that made from the cultivated varieties. 

 Fence-rows, riverbanks, and the edges of wood lots are 

 likely peaces to find the vines. 



Many different species of hawthorns arc found in Mis- 

 souri, and in late years some of the more handsome forms 

 liave been planted for the beauty of their white flowers 

 and red fruit. The fruit varies in size in the different 

 species from smaller than a pea to that of small plums. 

 Those with bright red, medium-sized, sub-acid fruit 

 (Crataegus mollis and allied s])ecies) are the best for jelly. 

 In cooking they lose the unpleasant flat taste so character- 

 istic of hawthorns and the jelly is much like that of crab- 

 apples. 



Each year the common rum cherry ( Prunus serotin;i ) 

 produces large quantities of red-purple fruit which is 

 seldom used, although in combination with wild apples it 

 makes a delicious dark red jelly, semi-opaque, resembling 

 plum jelly in consistency and flavor. 



None of these fruits require any special treatment. After 

 a thorough washing they should be covered with water, 

 the juicier fruits requiring less water, and boiled until soft. 

 The juice is then strained through a jelly bag, and if the 

 resulting ixmiace has not lo^t all its flavor more water 

 may be added and the process repeated. fCrabapi)les can 

 be cooked up in this way four or five times, though the 



later boilings sometimes produce a cloudy jelly.) The 

 juice should be measured, and an equal weight of sugar 

 added after the juice has boiled from ten to fifteen minutes. 

 Tests should be frequently made for jelling by trying 

 a small amount on a cold plate or by noticing the way 

 in which it dri])s ofl' a spoon. — Missouri Botanical Garden 

 Bulletin. 



RHODODENDRONS THRIVE IN SOIL 

 TREATED WITH ALUMINUM SULPHATE 



A METHOD for making the ordinary garden soil suit- 

 ■^^ able for rhododendrons has been discovered by Dr. 

 Frederick V. Coville, botanist of the United States De- 

 partment of Agriculture, which although still in the ex- 

 perimental stage, will be welcomed by nurserymen and 

 others interested in growing ornamental shrubbery. 



Native rhododendrons unlike most plants and crops 

 require an acid soil and will not thrive in the ordinary 

 fertile garden or greenhouse soil, but they grow with great 

 luxuriance in aand mixed with iieat, with rotting wood, 

 or with half-rotted leaves. Experiments have made it 

 clear that rhododendrons thrive in this kind of soil be- 

 cause its chemical reaction is acid, and they die in the 

 ordinary fertile soil because its reaction is neutral or 

 alkaline. 



Dr. Coville's experimental work which has been done 

 in the greenhouse has shown that aluminum sulphate 

 when applied to an ordinary soil is an effective and inex- 

 pensive method of changing the soil reaction from neutral 

 or alkaline to acid. Where soils have been so treated the 

 stimulation of growth of the rhododendrons has been very 

 great, as much as 250 per cent increase in the diameter 

 of the rosettes of seedling rhododendrons having Ijeen 

 secured. Crude aluminum sulphate is used in the chemical 

 industries, is not expensive, and in Targe (juantities can 

 be purchased from dealers in chemical supplies at about 

 $5 per hundred pounds. 



Experiments that have been in progress for several 

 years past have shown that soil acidity is required not 

 only for rhododendrons but the azaleas, kalmias, and 

 practically all the plants of the heath family, besides many 

 orchids and numerous other plants of ornamental horti- 

 culture that are commonly regarded as difficult of cultiva- 

 tion. There is every reason to expect, said Dr. Coville, 

 that these other plants also can be made to thrive in or- 

 dinary soils through the use of aliuninuni sulphate. 



Experimental work in this matter has not licen carried 

 on for sufficient length of time to be certain that long 

 continued treatment with aluminum sulphate may not lead 

 to the development of unforeseen difficulties, such as the 

 formation of hydrogen sulphide or other compounds of 

 suliihur injurious to this type of plants. For the present 

 the aluminum sulphate treatment should be regarded as 

 ex]X?rimenlal. 



Large rhododendrons growing in the deeper soils of 

 outdoor plantings were not tested in these experiments, 

 but for such situations, it is believed, amounts of alumi- 

 num sulphate up to half a pound per square yard may ht 

 ai)]>lied advantageously and safely, if the soil is of the 

 ordinary fertile tyi>e, the api>lication being repeated if the 

 soil is not made acid by the first application. 



In an ideal rhododendron soil aluminum sulpli;ite is 

 unnecessary and useless. Persons desiring tn cx]>criment 

 with sickly outdoor rhododendrons are advised to apply 

 the aluminum sulphate to only a portion of the plantings, 

 always leaving another ]>ortion untreated for comparison. 

 — National Nurseryman. 



Accuse not Nature : she hath done her part : 

 Do thou but thine. — Milton. 



