of Rural Aii and Taste. 



255 



forming were killed. Thus the crop of the 

 Delaware Penins^ila was shortened fully one- 

 half. From a personal visit to the strawberry 

 fields, we judge that the profits of the business 

 will not average over the cost of marketing 

 but $25 to S50 per acre, which certainly will 

 not pay for land, labor, manure and baskets. 

 In short, the strawberry season of 1874 is to 

 the grower one of decided dissatisfaction : no 

 profits and some loss. 



Ati E.cplanntion. 



The Cmmtry Gentleman asks why the 

 Delaware berry train of 1873, of 100 cars, 

 carried but 400,000 quarts, when the Chicago 

 berry train, of 23 cars, carried 100 tons, or 

 four times as much per car. The answer is 

 this : The Delaware cars are left at each sta- 

 tion to be loaded, and the train, as it comes, 

 picks them up, whether full or not, and passes 

 on without shifting or reloading into other 

 cars. Usually the cars average 3,000 to 5,000 

 quarts, but have a capacity of 400 crates, or 

 10,000 quarts. The Chicago cars are loaded 

 full, hence average more per car, but the 

 Delaware trains carry the most number of 

 quarts. 



The Hoolbre.uh Systein of h''fiiit Culture. 



A year or two ago a new system of fruit 

 culture, discovered by a peasant on the Dan- 

 ube, was introduced to the public by Les 

 Maudes. The system consists essentially in 

 training the branches of fruit trees, vines, etc., 

 so as to give them an inclination below the 

 horizontal line, in which case there is a great 

 increase in the fertility of the branch, which 

 in foct throws out leaves and fruit-buds in an 

 extraordinary manner. An essential condition 

 of the process consists in having the line of 

 the branch nearly straight, as, if curved, only 

 the buds at the top of the arch are developed, 

 while ihe rest remain in their original condi- 

 tion. In an instance related by Duchesne 

 Thoreau, he took four vine plants and trimmed 

 them so as to have one stem to each, arrang- 

 ing these vertically, obliquely upward, hori- 

 zontally and obliquely downward. He then 

 cut oif the limbs alike, and found that from the 

 limb inclined downward more than three times 

 as much fruit was produced as from the others. 



Demand for Seeds of I'utnous Trees. 



The interest in tree planting in California 

 is at fever heat, as appears from the following 

 statements of the Sati Francisco Bulletin: 

 " The demand for the seeds of the Sequoia 

 gigantea and the Eucalyptus globulus is un- 

 precedented. Half a million trees of the 

 latter were sold last season in this vicinity ; 

 and nurserymen predict that the demand the 

 ensuing season will cover three million trees. 

 A very large number of the other sorts of 

 gum-trees are sold for ornamental purposes, 

 many of them being more desirable for such 

 purposes than the blue gum. There are 

 twenty-seven varieties of the Australian gum- 

 tree grown in this vicinity. Some of them 

 are equal in every quality which constitutes a 

 good shade-tree, to any tree grown upon this 

 coast. The seed of the blue gum is now 

 retailing for about $3 an ounce. There are 

 about 3,000 seeds in an ounce. The seed of 

 the Sequoia gigantea retails for about the 

 same price ; and the demand at present is 

 ahead of the supply. It is now sent all over 

 the world. But the demand is the greatest 

 from Australia. Specimen plants are now 

 grown in most of the conservatories of the 

 Eastern States. There is also a good demand 

 for the seed of the Monterey Cypress. For 

 hedges and wind-breakers nothing has yet 

 been found in this country equal to this 

 species of cypress. When cut in and care- 

 fully trained it presents a soft, fine spicula, 

 and keeps its place admirably. If the tree is 

 left to grow in its natyiral 'state it makes 

 wood as fast as gum." 



Antwerp RnapherrieH. 



Dr. Hexamer in a letter to the Tribtme, 

 mentions an instance of large receipts by a 

 grower on the Hudson River, who speaks as 

 follows in a letter to the Dr. : " My rasp- 

 berries are what is commonly called ' Native 

 Red,' or 'Highland Antwerp.' This berry 

 was introduced here six or seven years ago 

 from a garden in Columbia Co., N. Y. It is 

 perfectly hardy — has stood the last five winters 

 in all exposures without burying. It has but 

 one drawback with me, and that is size ; it is 

 medium, yet on good ground and with gen- 



