26 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



November, 



Notes From a Rochester Fruit Farm. 



BT CHAS. A. GKEEN. 



The Apple Worm. In picking our Apples 

 we find that tlie codling moth has done most 

 damage in the lower branches, the higher 

 branches and top being more free from 

 blemish. Last year we sprayed the trees 

 once with a solution of Paris green and 

 water to kill the canker worm, a heaping 

 spoonful of Paris green to a barrel of water. 

 This appears to have destroyed many insects 

 as the fruit was free from defects, but this 

 year no Paris green was applied, and there 

 are many wormy Apples. I shall be in favor 

 of spraying every year hereafter, whether 

 there are canker worms or not. 



Pruning Apple Orchards. We are now 

 pruning our orchard planted 12 years ago. 

 If we could have our choice we would prefer 

 to prune next spring just before the leaves 

 appear, but that is such a busy season it 

 would hardly be possible to do the work 

 then. I should not like to cut off large 

 limbs at this season, as they will not heal 

 over as smoothly or quickly as when cut in 

 the spring, but with frequent pruning no 

 large limbs need removing. It is only 

 from neglect that such have to be removed. 

 The removal of such limbs is the cause of 

 decay in many Apple trees. Avoid it as far 

 as possible. With old trees, whose days of 

 usefulness are about passed, it may do 

 to risk removing large branches, for the 

 fruit on those remaining will be larger and 

 better, but the trees will not live so long 

 from the cutting. Young trees should be 

 visited with the pruning knife every year. 

 Then it is easy to keep them in good shape. 

 If there is too much top the tree over bears, 

 the fruit is small and defective, and it is 

 difficult to gather the fruit. Thin out the 

 branches and remove the lower ones that 

 are liable to be borne down with the weight 

 of fruit and interfere with cultivation. Do 

 not prune too much at one time. A neighbor 

 nearly ruined a productive orchard by cut- 

 ting too much at once. There is danger of 

 this. The longer the trees have been neg- 

 lected the more they must be cut it is thought, 

 but better do part now and part next year, 

 and in the future do not neglect to prune a 

 little every year. 



I find it difficult to keep the dwarf Angou- 

 leme Pear pruned to a proper shape. It 

 grows too rampant here, reaching double 

 the size of Anjou and others, and is not so 

 fruitful on account of excessive growth; on 

 less productive soil it might do better. 



The Successful Man. An active, thorough 

 going, farseeing business man will make 

 things lively even in the most stagnant 

 neighborhood. Let him undertake fruit 

 culture and swarms of pickers gather at his 

 door, and families move into that neighbor- 

 hood to get work. As his success becomes 

 known his neighbors follow his example, 

 not only in planting fruit, but in diligence, 

 thrift and enterprise and flnaUy the entire 

 town takes a jump towards better things. 

 Eternal vigilence and goaheadiveness are 

 the price of success as well as of liberty. 

 When such men appear upon the scene, slow 

 going people have to clear the track or 

 hasten their steps. In no pursuit is an active 

 man more in place than in fi'uit growing. 

 He must be a man to plan and to persevere, 

 to work and to wait, to act promptly and de- 

 cisively in order to secure success. But 

 what pleasures he must enjoy, in his favor- 

 ite occupation, surrounded with vineyards, 

 berry fields and fragrant orchards ! 



The Curculio. Plums years ago were 

 considered beyond the reach of our fruit 

 growers on account of attacks of curculio. 

 The fruit sold at fabulous prices. No one 

 planted it extensively. I remember years 

 ago when J. S. Woodward reported at our 

 Western New York Horticultural Society 

 that he had "put his foot in it," referring 



to the planting of a few acres of Plum trees. 

 He expected to be laughed at but thought 

 he would try Plum growing and see what 

 would come of it. If was then discovered 

 that in large orchards the curculios simply 

 gave the plums a healthy thinning, for 

 Plums naturally tend to over bear. Soon 

 Plums were plenty in market, and now 

 every one knows that they can be grown as 

 readily as other fruits, yet for years it was 

 supposed that the curculios had ruined the 

 Plum industry. How easy it is to be dis- 

 couraged at trifles. 



Effect of Dkainage on Fruits. I know 

 of no fruits that will succeed on low, wet, 

 undrained soil. Wlien I moved on to our 

 fruit farm I tested a few plants and trees 

 of almost all hardy fruits on a low piece of 

 undrained muck. All failed except the 

 Strawberry, and that was often cut with 

 late spring frosts. No water lay on the sur- 

 face here, but the subsoil was wet. Had I 

 planted largely here I would have lost all. 

 Where I have been called upon to explain 

 the cause of barren orchards I often find 

 them located on low soil that has not been 

 drained. I recently saw a field of Currants 

 at .loseph Harris' farm, near Rochester, 

 planted on lowish land, all tile drained, but 

 on one part the drains had become clogged. 

 On this clogged portion the Currant bushes 

 had dropped their leaves, had made but a 

 feeble growth, and had borne only a small 

 crop, while near by, where the drains 

 worked, the leaves remained on late, growth 

 was vigorous, and the crop enormous. We 

 put in tile drains every year, using round 

 tile with flat bottoms— no horseshoe tile for 

 us, as the weight of the earth presses them 

 into the soil and finally the water ceases to 

 run. I am placing tile in ditches long left 

 open, finding it too expensive cleaning out 

 open ditches every spring. Where there is 

 much water in the ditch designed to be cov- 

 ered you can use No. 3 sewer pipe. These 

 are pipes of any size desired that, bar un- 

 important defects, and are sold to fruit 

 growers at half price. They can be used for 

 constructing sluices across roads. If you 

 have an open ditch that you desire to bridge 

 put in a few lengths of these sewer pipe for 

 the water to pass through, and make a road 

 of earth over them. They should be large 

 enough to carry off the water freshets. 



Mulching the Fall Plantings. Plant- 

 ing at this season is becoming more popular 

 each year. There are many arguments in 

 favor of this season for planting. But all 

 who plant now need cautioning again and 

 again about the necessity of guarding 

 against heaving by frost. A little attention 

 makes the planting at this season safe, a 

 little neglect renders failure certain. I once 

 planted a large field of Blackberry tips just 

 before winter came on. Immediately after 

 planting I drove over the field with a load 

 of strawy horse manure and scattered a 

 little litter over the spot where each plant 

 was set— a large forkful would cover sev- 

 eral plants, and a load would cover half an 

 acre. This slight shading of the soil pre- 

 vented frequent freezing and thawing, by 

 keeping the soil frozen after the cold 

 weather began, hence there was no heaving 

 and aU was successful, and the plants re- 

 ceived an early start next spring. Had I 

 neglected the mulch all would have failed. 

 In the .spring I would have found the plants 

 out of the ground and dead. This covering 

 must be given to fall planted Grape-vines, 

 Strawberries, Currants, etc. Trees can be 

 protected the same way, but I generally 

 pile the earth one foot high about the base 

 of each tree when planted in the fall. This 

 is tisually protection enough. If a handfvil 

 of strawy manure is thrown on the sunny 

 side of the mound it will help. It is almost 

 impossible t« keep Strawberries in the 

 ground planted late in October, unless the 



land is remarkably well drained, or entirely 

 covered with straw, therefore I do not rec- 

 ommend fall planting of these. Neither do 

 I recommend planting Peach trees in the 

 fall at the North. Other trees and plants do 

 well at this season if properly cared for. 



Notes from an Oneida County (N. Y.) 

 Vineyard. 



That intelligent horticulturist, E. P. Pow- 

 ell, of the county named in the heading, has 

 recently given the following interesting 

 notes, dated Sept. 5, on the doings of his 

 vineyard, and which we reproduce from 

 the New York Independent. 



It is impossible to judge a Grape by what 

 it does in a single season. For instance, 

 last year I hardly got a Pocklington that 

 was fit to eat, although the season was late. 

 This year I am eating splendid Pockling- 

 tons September 5th. Last year they were 

 intolerably musky, this year but slightly so. 

 My notes so far for 1887 read: 



Lady ripe August 18th; not ripe in 18S6 until 

 August 2.5th. When thoroughly ripened stands 

 In quahty close to Brighton, a fair shipper; It has 

 several new points this year and will be one of 

 the few I shall grow more extensively. 



Picked Llndley August 29th, Massasolt Au- 

 gust 30th; not ripe last year until September 10th; 

 both fine shippers. They are a good deal alike, 

 I.indley much better when ripening, but Massa- 

 solt gains quality as it hangs on the vines. They 

 are neither of them as good bearers of fine clus- 

 ters as they ought to be. Massasoit is the only 

 grape in ray vineyard thar has ever rotted. I 

 wish we knew, or some one knew, all about that 

 vile disease. I intend to dig my vines and bum 

 them. The e\il may be in the air, but I think 

 the ■line is also at fault. At least out they go. 



Began picking Wordens August 29th, finished 

 September 5th; last year this grape was ripe 

 from September 1st to 15th. Worden cannot be 

 easily distinguished from Concord in color of 

 fruit, but the stem is more brittle and is less in- 

 clined to red. But as a grape Worden is fifty 

 points ahead out of a hundred. It is fine eating 

 when only lightly colored, while the Concord is 

 not eatable till ten days after coloring. There is 

 a fuU two weeks difference in time between 

 sweet Wordens and sweet Concords. 



Duchess, picking September .5th; will be a little 

 better, nearly perfect, in about three days more. 

 Duchess I mark exceedingly high; the bunches 

 are very fine, very showy, and the flavor is ex- 

 cellent; it is also an admirable shipping grape, 

 and will bear a good deal of rough handling. 

 The handsomest show of all white grapes is 

 made by Duchess. 



Martha. Picked some good, sweet fruit Aug- 

 ust 30th; picked the balance September 3d. This 

 variety is only a fairly good shipper. 



Pocklingtons are ripening finely September 5th; 

 should hang on five days longer. But. Pockling- 

 ton is never quite ripe— that is, while good, it is 

 never quite free from a taste of imperfection, as 

 if not entirely ripe. It is a capital shipper. 



Wilder is fair to-day, September 5th. Last 

 year not good until the 20th. 



Brighton is superb, as usual, and will in two 

 days be as fine as a perfectly ripened lona, 

 which vaiiety I think it closely follows after. 

 For very highest table quaUties Brighton must 

 stand first of its class, and is not a bad shipper. 

 While it has not given me heavy crops the \ine8 

 are not old and I understand it is a prolific sort. 



Jonas are very nearly ripe where open to the 

 sun; but take care about exposing this grape too 

 much. It needs f uU foUage. It has no superior 

 in the world. 



Walter has been eatable since September 1st, 

 but is a curious grape, that will two weeks hence 

 not seem (piite ripe. 



Roger's No. 30 will need about five days more. 

 For a meaty grape it stands first with me; it is a 

 grand grape and cannot be overpraised. 



Herljert I picked this year August 29th, which 

 is several days ahead of 188(i. My notes make 

 points favorable to Herbert, only that it is so 

 fai- with me a light bearer. 



Empire State not yet ripe September 5th. 



Concord can be eaten if the eater be not over 

 particular, but it is far from being truly ripe. 

 There is no reason for any longer planting this 

 variety; it is thoroughly and every way super- 

 ceded by Worden, in grai>e and in \ine, in time 

 of ripening and in quality, while for prolific 



