i887 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



27 



bearing' the two giupes il(i not differ. The Con- 

 cord i-liiss, including Worden, have tender skins 

 and are poor keepers. 



Agawam is another grape that surprises me 

 this year by early ripening, being nearly ready 

 at the present time. 



Prentiss this year has not proved very refrac- 

 tory in an>' way, e.veept that it does not give 

 large crops, and needs too much covering and 

 nursing: it should be discarded. 



best; Delaware is fine, Concord is good, 

 Worden is l)etter, For porches there are no 

 better than Agawani, Worden, Herbert. 

 The foliage of Agawam is peculiarly dense. 



THE POTTAWATTAMIE PLUM. 



Barry is much like Wilder, but is not so g(jod; 

 it should be discarded. 



Moore's Early I mark down and do not see any 

 good reason for planting it: it barely precedes 

 Worden and bares light crops. 



Niagara is really grand, but leaves an unpleas- 

 ant taste in the mouth. 



Hayes I have not yet fruited, but believe it to 

 be one of the best tor early market, and if I had 

 not already planted it largely should do 90. 



Herbert is an excellent shipping grape, com- 

 pared with most of the black grapes of similar 

 size. Its skin is rather too tough for eating, yet 

 I find it a favorite with almost all my visitors. 



Jefferson is one ot the \ery best in i|uality, but 

 I have fruited onl,\' a small bunch or two, and 

 cannot tell its shipping quality. 



Of ray newer sorts, not fairly tested, 1 think 

 best of Golden Gem, Poughkeepsie Red, Hayes, 

 Ulster, Jefferson, Niagara, Jessica, Empire State, 

 and hope great things for Moore's Diamond. 



It compelled to make a narrower selection 

 of roots for general culture. I should be sure 

 to include Worden, Rogers 30, Herbert, 

 Duchess, Lady. lona. Brighton, Wilder or 

 Salem, or both, Delaware, Goertner, Aga- 

 wam, Lindley. I shall make my fall plant- 

 ing of Lady, Rogers 30, Brighton, and Faith, 

 in planting a vineyard there is all of five 

 days diflfereuce in the ripening from vines 

 on a southeast exposure and from vines on 

 a west or north exposure. The ground tii list 

 be thoroughly drained, well enriched, and 

 kept well tilled. In my own vineyard I 

 plant Currant bushes between rows, and 

 from them alone get full profit for land used. 

 Sometimes I grow Strawberries under the 

 Grape trellises. The Strawberry vines mulch 

 the Grapes, but they demand all the more 

 manure, and it is questionable whether it be 

 advisable to allow them to occupy the 

 ground: yet they yield finely. 



I would plant a few vines, at all events, in 

 any locality, and with any soil or exposure, 

 but I would not plant a vineyard before I 

 liad tested my chances. Invariably buy 

 two-year-old vines, of a first-class dealer, and 

 cut them down to a single eye. In two years 

 you get a few grapes, in four a full crop. 

 But it is indispensable to ctitbackthoroughly 

 the first two years. Even then some year's 

 growth will be double others. 



The Grape crop is the one above all others 

 easy to grow, and the amount raised might 

 be doubled without trouble. I shall pick 

 five bushels from the west side of my bam 

 of the best Concords, besides fifty pounds of 

 Lindleys from a smaller vine on the east 

 side. Nature arranged this vine for this 

 special purpose of giving abundance of fruit 

 in small space. To cover barns and houses, 

 long jointed vines like Lindley are not the 



Two Recent New Fruits. 



The Pottawattamie Plum. Of this new 

 Western seedling, supposed to be a cross 

 between the Chickasaw and 

 the Swedish Sloe, Professor 

 Bndd, of the Agricultural 

 tJollege at Ames, Iowa, has 

 very recently said, com- 

 paring it with the Wild 

 Goose: " We had speci- 

 mens, when they came, of 

 the Wild Goose in same con- 

 dition as to ripeness. The 

 Pottawattamie is about the 

 same in size and mtich the 

 same in color, but far better 

 in quality. There_ is abso- 

 lutely no astringency in the 

 skin or pulp. We regard it 

 as a great acquisition, if the 

 tree, on all soils, proves as 

 hardy, or hardier, than the 

 Wild Goose." 

 Messrs. Howard & Latimer 

 of Shenandoah, Iowa, who are making a 

 specialty of this Plum, pronotice it perfectly 

 hardy and an immense early annual bearer. 

 Four-year old trees have borne a crop 

 of two bushels to the tree. It is a strong 

 and vigorous grower tip to its fourth 

 year, and from that on the immense 

 crops of fruit gives it a dwarfish habit 

 and pendulous form of growth. Those 

 who eat the fruit for the first time fre- 

 quently remark, " It has a Peach taste." 

 It has no acrid taste, and when scalded 

 the skin, which is very thin, peels ofT like 

 that of a Tomato. It is said to begin to 

 ripen in Iowa about the 3.5th of July, and 

 the season lasts three or four weeks. The 

 sting of the curculio does not make the 

 fruit drop, but every Plum ripens evenly 

 and jjerfectly. 



The Wilder Pear. "This new variety," 

 writes Charles A. Green, of Rochester, N. Y. 

 to us, "was sent me for trying last year. I 

 was favorably impressed with its flavor and 

 beauty, and requested more specimens. 

 This summer I received a large basket of the 

 Wilder. They came July 30th and kept in 

 good condition in my warm office until 

 August 8th, probably two weeks after pick- 

 ing, a remarkable thing for an early Pear. 

 It showed no signs of rotting at the core. I 

 sent specimens to John J. Thomas, who 

 gave me a careful description of it and 

 seemed favorably impressed. He described 

 the quality as excellent, or very good. I 

 carried a basket of the Wilder to EUwanger 

 & Barry's office and compared them with 

 the Gitlard and Andre Uesportes, then ripe 

 at Rochester, and evidently a little earlier 

 than Wilder. Wilder was superior in flavor 

 to either, and about the same size as the 

 above two. Wilder was much larger last 

 season. The drought of this summer afl'ected 

 its size. It has no superior in flavor among 

 the early Pears, if it has among any. I re- 

 gard it as exceedingly promising." 



Canning Factories in tlie West. 

 The canning factory in Bloomington, 111., 

 according to a recent article in the local 

 paper of that place, was at the time of writing 

 running at full blast. From five to sLx hun- 

 dred Imshels of Tomatoes were daily hauled 

 to the rear door, were picked over (and 

 spotted ones at once rejected), then scalded 

 and piled into buckets to await the peeling 

 process. The number of those employed in 

 the factory amounts to 1.50, nearly all of 

 whom are girls. These girls had each a 

 great bucket of scalded Tomatoes before 



them constantly, and the speed with which 

 I he skins were hustled off and the Tomatoes 

 sent to the waiting cans, was remarkable. 



About 1.5,(K10 cans were filled each day fi-om 

 then until the end of the season. The factory 

 can hardly be said to have been running at 

 full capacity, as help was lacking, but with 

 fifty expected new hands the limit of 

 capacity was to have been reached. 



The seeds and plants were furnished in 

 the spring by the canning company, and the 

 Tomatoes were brought to the factory for 

 *t!..50 a ton. The two kinds of Tomatoes 

 used were the Beauty and the Perfection. 

 The greatest care, neatness and dispatch 

 are used in canning them, and the result is 

 mountains of shining cans filled with the 

 luscious vegetable, all contracted and await- 

 ing a lull in the rush of business to have 

 their labels pasted on and to be shipped. 



" I do not know of any investment which 

 pays better than a canning factory," said 

 Mr. N. S. Storrs, of Vernon Co., Mo., a man 

 experienced in the canning business, re- 

 cently. " Ordinarily they \vill return from 

 3.5 to 40 per cent, and even more where 

 judiciously managed. 



" You can dispose of the goods just as fast 

 as they are ready for the market, and that 

 feature enables you to transact the business 

 with a comparatively small capital. As the 

 work is done in summer, a cheap building 

 will answer all requirements, and that to- 

 gether with the machinery for a large busi- 

 ness will not cost over $3,000. That money 

 would provide a factory giving employment 

 to one hundred women and girls, and the 

 disliursement each week for vegetables and 

 labor would run from .*800 to *1,000. An ac- 

 tive woman earns about one dollar per day. 



" Tomatoes, Corn and Peas are the staples, 

 One acre of Tomatoes will ordinarily pro- 

 duce 400 bushels, which at twenty-five cents 

 per bushel will yield $100. Sweet Corn is 

 bought in the husk at »T..50 per ton. Peas 

 are bought at fifty cents per bushel. 



" In .January the company sends a man 

 out among the farmers and contracts for the 

 growth of the supplies, thus ensuring cer- 



THE wilder pear. 



tainty of production. The company fur- 

 nishes all the seed. 



" A company can make its own cans at 

 less than two cents each, and one bushel of 

 Tomatoes will make twenty 3 lb. cans. The 

 cost of labor, labels and boxing in canning 

 is very small on one can, and Tomatoes are 

 now wholesaling at $1.30 per dozen, a price 

 unusually high on account of the scarcity 

 of the [iresent season's crop. But at $1.00 per 

 dozen, the usual price, there is a large profit 

 in the business. There is even a larger profit 

 ill Corn than in Tomatoes." 



