378 



GARDENING. 



Sept /, 



demand at about $40 per ton. He thinks 

 his Bartlett pears will yield him fully 500 

 pounds per tree and he has about 2,000 

 trees. They call this an off year on 

 account of drought and late frosts. That 

 vicinity is greatly troubled with the 

 apple worm or codling moth and Mr. 

 Thompson says that it would be worth 

 hundreds of dollars annually to that 

 vicinity if they could find something that 

 would effectually destroy them. They 

 have used salt lime, sulphur solution and 

 Paris green, all without the desired effect. 



Cherries and plums have not paid for 

 picking this year. I saw both fruits so 

 thick on the ground that I could not take 

 a step in the orchards without stepping 

 on them and in places the plums were 

 four and five deep so that one could have 

 shoveled them up by the carload. 



I visited Mr. Burbank, at Santa Rosa, 

 and found the most interesting man that 

 I met on the Pacific coast. He is to fruits 

 and flowers what Edison is to electricity 

 and his new plum is one of the most 

 delicious that I ever tasted. His yellow 

 calla lily is a beauty and he showed me a 

 pure white tigrida, also a double mar- 

 guerite and many other new things which 

 were trul)' wonderful. 



I called at the Lemmon Herbarium and 

 found Professor Lemmon a very courteous 

 and instructive gentleman. 1 passed a 

 very pleasant evening among the pine 

 cones of the west, for his rooms are 

 covered with every variety of coneknown 

 and I brought away from his place a 

 bulb of Lilium rubescens, a very rare and 

 beautiful plant. E. E. Kennicott. 



THE FEAGtt TWIG BORER. 



This insect is described in a recent 

 farmer's bulletin of the Department of 

 Agriculture. It is said to be a serious 

 menace to peach growing from its habit 

 of killing the young tips of the branches 

 and thus checking the growth. It is 

 spreading to all parts of the country. 

 The kerosene emulsion spray, however, 

 effectuallv controls it. 



STRAWBERRY GROWING IN NEBRASKA. 



E. F. Stephens, of Crete, Neb., read the 

 following practical paper on growing 

 strawberries for market in Nebraska at 

 the recent union meeting of the Nebraska 

 and Iowa Horticultural Societies at 

 Omaha: 



Notwithstanding all that has been said 

 regarding the growing of the strawberry 

 and the effort our society has made to 

 spread correct information and encour- 

 age planting I noticed with some surprise 

 this summer that the markets of Lincoln 

 and the principal towns west through 

 the state were supplied to a considerable 

 extent with strawberries from Hood 

 River, Oregon, Utah and Colorado. As 

 a rule I noticed that Oregon, Utah and 

 Colorado strawberries sold in the vari- 

 ous towns visited at from 10 to 12 1 -.. 

 cents per quart. 



While careless and improper methods 

 have not yielded large returns in the 

 growing of the strawberry in the hands 

 of the average planter over a portion of 

 the state by what is called dry farming, 

 there has been developed in recent years 

 in our state so many successful irrigation 

 canals, covering about one million acres, 

 that all of these minor fruits can be 

 grown as readily in Nebraska as in Col- 

 orado, 1'tah or Oregon, since on this one 

 million acres of lands already under irri- 

 gation we have soil equal to any which 

 they have in the states above noted. 



The waters of the Platte, the different 

 forks of the Loup, and the Republican, 



with their tributaries, are more easily 

 led out into the valleys and lands border- 

 ing them than in any other state where 

 irrigation is attempted. The water sup- 

 ply is quite certain, abundant in amount 

 and very easily led out and applied. 



Under these conditions we should, at 

 least, supply our local markets a. id should 

 cultivate and develop these markets until 

 the) - use at least ten times as much small 

 fruit as is at present consumed. When 

 fruit can be obtained fresh from the planter 

 in the best possible condition and only a 

 few hours from the field, it will be con- 

 sumed in much greater quantities, and 

 likewise when abundant production 

 brings the price down to one-half the 

 prices now obtained for the small pro- 

 duct now sold, the profits will yet be 

 large and the consumption increased ten 

 fold. 



Lnder irrigation there is good profit in 

 growing strawberries at $1.50 per case 

 for the local markets, which saves express 

 charges and secures return of crates. 



As an illustration of the rapid increase 

 in the consumption of fruit under lessen- 

 ing prices, the Pacific Express agent at 

 North Platte stated to me this season, 

 that the reduction in price from $1.75 to 

 $1.10 per case on peaches enabled him to 

 increase the number of cases handled by 

 his company and consumed in North 

 Platte Irom about 300 cases annually to 

 2000 cases last season, all supplied by 

 one grower at Ogden, Utah. This gen- 

 tleman also stated that the consumption 

 of strawberries in North Platte reached 

 1000 cases in a single season. 



West of the line of Columbus I know of 

 only one party growing the strawberry 

 extensively for market, Throckmorton 

 & Griffith, of Albion, who are growing 

 more strawberries than any other par- 

 ties in the state of whom I have heard, 

 irrigating from Beaver Creek. West of 

 these gentlemen I have heard of only one 

 party who grows so much as an acre of 

 strawberries. W. L. Park, superintend- 

 ent of the North Platte division of the 

 Union Pacific grew this season a scant 

 acre of strawberries, from which he picked 

 4000 quarts, securing a net price of about 

 10 cents per quart, or $400. This was 

 Mr. Park's first attempt. With increased 

 experience and a narrower and better list 

 of varieties his men will no doubt secure 

 much better results. 



Avoid low wet ground and also lands 

 strongly alkalied. Choose rich, deep, 

 loam soil, although the sandy soils will 

 answer if heavily fertilized. Heavily 

 manure with fine old manure on any soil, 

 since on a crop which pays so much per 

 acre as the strawberry, it pays to grow 

 the utmost possible on each and every 

 acre. 



In preparing the soil plow and subsoil 

 to the depth of fifteen inches, more if pos- 

 sible. In selecting land prefer that which 

 has a very gentle fall, giving easier con- 

 trol of the flow of water as needed. 

 Plant in rows 3% feet apart and if the 

 plats are so prepared that the center of 

 the rows are a little above the general 

 level there will be less likelihood of flood- 

 ing the crownsof the plants in subsequent 

 watering. Cultivation should be weekly 

 or oftener, and watering may be needed 

 once in two weeks. Always cultivate as 

 soon as possible after watering. 



In covering lor winter use select hay 

 rather than straw, owing to the liability 

 of weed seed or grain in straw. 



The only drawback or serious risk in 

 the growing of strawberries in any quan- 

 tity in any of the irrigable valleys of the 

 state, is what we call the May freeze, to 

 which we arc liable. Accidental instances 



in great number seem to show that if 

 water can be turned on from the ditches 

 on nights when a cold wave is expected, 

 there is almost a certainty that the freeze 

 will be prevented. In every case I have 

 heard of so far where this was done, no 

 harm resulted from the freeze. 



Desirable points in the selection of vari- 

 eties might be named in the following 

 order: First, solidity and firmness; sec- 

 ond, brilliancy of color or attractiveness 

 in appearance; third, size. Flavor is of 

 less importance 



In picking plan to grade the crop, put- 

 ting only fruit of best quality in certain 

 boxes; everything inferior in other boxes. 

 Be careful to picrk with stems on and 

 without bruising. Employ only the best 

 help, that will pick and grade exactly as 

 desired. This secures the best possible 

 prices for 80 per cent of the fruit. The 

 remainder had better be sold at what it is 

 worth than to reduce the price of all of it 

 by being sold together. In our own 

 experience this season our first-class fruit 

 brought from 10 to 12% cents per quart 

 the season through. The inferior which 

 was graded out and sold by itself brought 

 us 8 cents. 



If the market is near at hand and fruit 

 can be taken directly to town no special 

 care will be required for cooling. But if 

 the fruit must be held twenty-four hours 

 before it is consumed, or must be shipped 

 ten to 100 miles or more it will be advan- 

 tageous to be prepared with a chill room 

 and cool the fruit carefully soon after 

 picking, to be sure it is cool when it starts 

 to market. If necessary to ship the fruit 

 aconsiderable distance after cooling (and 

 in cooling fruit remember it must be only 

 cooled and not chilled or nearly frozen) 

 the fruit will carry to market much bet- 

 ter if each quart box is wrapped in a 

 sheet of parchment paper, making almost 

 air-tight packages. The size of the sheet 

 suitable for this purpose will be 12x18 

 inches. When we have supplied our local 

 markets with all they can he induced to 

 consume we should then turn our atten- 

 tion to other and more distant markets. 

 For this work Nebraska has unequalled 

 advantages. The Union Pacific, Bur- 

 lington, Elkhorn, Rock Island and other 

 systems all run fast train service with 

 refrigerator cars carrying our fruit east 

 and west, north and south, giving us 

 unequalled facilities for reaching distant 

 markets as well as surrounding. Other 

 communities have had to wait for refrig- 

 erator cars and fast freight lines until a 

 large production of fruit brought such 

 service. We have it already established 

 at our doors. 



Miscellaneous. 



TAB AARRISII LILY DISEASE. 



In an official report dated July 13, Su- 

 perintendent G. A. Bishop, of the public 

 gardens of Bermuda, attributes the Har- 

 risii lily disease to heavy manuring with 

 farmyard manure, repetition of the crop 

 upon the same ground, reduced vitality, 

 bad selection of stock and in some cases 

 insufficiency of plant food. These render 

 the bulbs prone to attacks of fungi or 

 soft rot. It is stated that when the fungi 

 or rot has taken possession of the bulb its 

 roots and base become rotten, after 

 which it is liable to be attacked by the 

 eucharis mite. Mr. Bishop is led to these 

 conclusions by extensive investigations 

 on the ground and he prescribes a course 



