I20 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



March, 



Notes on Blackberries, Winter Pro- 

 tection, etc. 



W. A. SMITH, BERRIEN COITNTT, MICH. 



Some Fallacies. — The fallacies of the plan 

 given in Walks and Jottiug.s in the Decem- 

 ber issue are, first in setting out the plants 

 " all the roots should be turned in one direc- 

 tion, to one side of the row." The object of 

 this plan is doubtless to keep the roots on 

 one side, and lay the canes on the other. It 

 is needless to say that where plants of this 

 kind, or almost any other, are set out, they 

 have but few roots and not much cane. 

 Therefore placing them on one side of the 

 row would give no assurance that they 

 would remain on that side. The Blackberry, 

 on good soil, is a rampant grower, and there- 

 fore a gross feeder; and in two years, or less, 

 the entire space between the rows, if not 

 more than eight or nine feet apart, will be 

 filled with roots and rootlets no matter how 

 they are set. 



Another fallacy of said article is the plow- 

 ing deep on one side and hoeing shallow on 

 the other. It would be something of a task 

 to hoe one-half of a ten or twenty acre field. 

 Another fallacy, worse than either of the 

 others, is opening a trench to receive the 

 canes in laying them down. Too much 

 labor, and the danger in a wet season of 

 water settling in a trench. 



Planting Small Fruits, etc.— In 20 years' 

 experience, and without a single failure in 

 this time, I would, in setting out Blackber- 

 ries, Raspberries, or even small trees, in 

 large quantities, draw deep straight furrows, 

 going once, twice, or oftener if necessary, 

 for the same row, not less than eight feet 

 apart for bush berries, and on a strong soil 10 

 feet is better, with a good team; then spread 

 the roots well in the furrow, a little deeper 

 than in the nursery, from 214 to 3 feet apart, 

 and pack well with surface soil. For small 

 trees, especially in a heavy clay soil, I much 

 prefer the plan to digging holes. The fur- 

 rows in a heavy soil admit of soil draining, 

 while the holes are mere water-traps, in 

 which the trees in a wet season are apt to 

 perish. Our plan in berry culture is to 

 do all the work we can with horse-power, 

 and follow with the hoe to clean up. The 

 object of fruit growers these close times and 

 short margins is to economize time and 

 money in the production of crops. 



IjAying Down foe Wister.— In laying 

 down Blackberry canes for winter protec- 

 tion several plans may be followed. For 

 strong, heavy canes like the Lawton, Kit- 

 tatinny, etc., a little soil should be removed 

 from the side on which to bend the cane or 

 bush, and cover it lightly with soil, enough 

 to keep it weighted down during the winter. 

 With the Wilson, Early Harvest and canes 

 of that character I prefer to plow the soil 

 well up to the row from each side, then pur- 

 sue the same course as in the other case. 

 This saves time and labor and is entirely 

 satisfactory here. 



Heading Back.— The heading back I pre- 

 fer doing in the spring after the canes are 

 taken up; and in laying them down it is 

 better and more convenient to lay them to 

 the side to which they incline, and thereby 

 avoid breaking the canes. The orange rust 

 has about used up the Kittatinny and is 

 fast taking the I^awton. The Early Harvest, 

 a recent introduction, is considerably af- 

 fected. The Wilson so far has been com- 

 paratively free from rust. 



New Vauietiks.— Of the many new varie- 

 ties of fruit and novelties boomed by the 

 originators and their assigns, it is well to go 

 slow. Out of 20 that are offered and sold at 

 fancy figures to the uninitiated tyro, hardly 

 one will stand the test as a general purpose 

 fruit. The Early Cluster Blacklierry was 

 introduced here a few years since and proved 

 so far a total failure. The Niagara Orape, 

 although claimed to Ije perfectly hardy in 



this latitude, has winter-killed to the ground 

 (in a light, sandy, gravely soil) for three 

 consecutive winters. Every State and Terri- 

 tory ought to have a central experimental 

 station, with half a dozen branches in 

 different localities. Many fi-uits and cereals 

 that are adapted to one state or locality 

 will not be a success in others. 



Strawberry Yields— An Interesting 

 Test of Varieties. 



Plants of the following list of Strawber- 

 ries were set out in the spring of 188.5, with 

 three exceptions, at the New l^ork State 

 Experiment Station, and the report given 



The Ontario was planted October 1, 188H. 

 The plant and fruit resembles the Sharp- 

 less; the fruit is perhaps a little more uni- 

 form in shape. 



The fruit of the James Vick Strawberry, 

 like the Wilson, is not fully ripe when it 

 first colors. The fruit should be allowed to 

 become fully ripened before picking, and 

 the flavor will be delicious. 



Siberian Crab for Stocks. 



F. K. PHCENIX. DELAVAN, WIS. 



Are not the Siberian Crab trees, in- 

 cluding the cultivated hybrids and thrifty 

 iron clad seedlings, useful more especially 



steawbebries. 



Covin's Early... 



Bidwell 



Ohas. Downing., 



Cornelia 



Daisy MUIer 



Garretson 



James Vick 



Jersey Queen 



Jueunda 



Jumbo 



Kentucky 



Legal Tender 



Lennig's White. . 



Longfellow 



Manchester 



Manchester (duplicate) 



May King 



Mt. Vernon 



Mrs. Oarfleld 



Ontario 



Parry 



Piper's Seedling.. 



Prinio 



Prince of Berries. , 



Sharpless 



Wilson 



Woodruff No. 1.... 





23 



34 

 25 

 26 

 28 

 28 

 25 

 26 

 23 

 32 

 28 

 ■23 

 35 

 30 

 31 

 28 

 26 

 24 

 24 

 31 

 31 

 23 

 24 

 24 

 18 

 24 

 29 



below of their yield appeared in the recent 

 report of the Assistant Horticulturist of the 

 Station, and our contributor, Mr. M. H. 

 Beckwith. Two rows of each variety were 

 planted, the rows 50 feet long and four 

 feet apart, and 2.5 plants in each row. The 

 matted rows were from three to five feet in 

 width and thickly filled with plants in the 

 rows, grown in hills. The runners were cut 

 off and not allowed to form plants. 



The yields of the rows grown in hills are 

 computed for 25 plants or 50 feet of row; 

 the yields from the matted rows are com- 

 puted for the same length of row. The 

 fruit picked from ten feet in length of the 

 matted row was used in computing the 

 yield. The average number of berries per 

 ounce for each row, also the yields in quarts 

 as computed, allowing 20 ounces of fruit 

 per quart, together with other data, are 

 given in the table. 



It appears that CoviU's Early was the 

 earliest in this list, and Cornelia and Jersey 

 Queen the latest to ripen. 



The Lennig's White and Jumbo remained 

 in bearing the greatest and the Sharpless 

 the least number of days. 



The greatest number of berries was ob- 

 tained from the matted row of the Mt. Ver- 

 non, t\ie least from Lennig's White. 



The hill row producing the gi-eatest num- 

 ber of berries was the Wilson, the least 

 Lennig's ■\\Tiite ; Woodruff' No. 1 the great- 

 est weight of fruit, and Lennig's White the 

 least weight. 



The average number of berries per ounce 

 from the matted rows was 9.3, from hill 

 rows 8.1. 



Average yield per matted row 32 quarts, 

 per hill row 7.3 quarts. 



Covin's Early.— Plant dwarfish, vigorous; 

 leaves dark glaucous green ; fruit medium 

 size, somewhat resembles the Wilson in 

 form, dull reddish color; seeds light yellow, 

 very prominent, giving the berry a rather 

 uninviting appearance; flesh very firm, 

 bright scarlet color ; flavor only fair ; fruit 

 stalks short; season early. Slightly blighted. 



in severe climates for nursery, stem and 

 orchard top working the choice but far less 

 hardy dessert Apples on? 



This is a vast, new, and I believe for us in 

 the cold Northmost promisingfleld. Selected 

 rather slender growers as Golden Russet, 

 Romanstem, Jonathan and Rome Beauty 

 will doubtless be less liable to overgrow the 

 slower growing Crab stocks. Some sorts of 

 cultivated Apples will do better than others 

 on Siberian stocks. But if I had more trees 

 of any sort of Siberian than I needed for 

 fruit, I would certainly top graft them this 

 coming spring. 



Of course your readers all know how to 

 bud or graft successfully. If not. they should 

 hasten to learn this spring or summer with- 

 out fail. For cleft grafting in the cold north 

 choose limbs not over an inch in diameter. 

 Whip or splice grafting small limbs the size 

 of cion or a little larger makes a perfect 

 union the same season. 



As to best varieties to be grafted on Siber- 

 ian trees in the present dearth of knowledge, 

 I would graft besides those above named 

 Chenango, Strawberry, Mother, Stark, 

 Wealthy, Fameuse, Willowtwig and any 

 others I wanted. Such as Swaar, Rhode 

 Island Greening, Fall Pippin might over- 

 grow and be less sightly or durable, but I 

 think are worthy of trial. Experiments 

 with Siberian stocks are now in order. 



Hints on Peach Culture. 



.1. LUTHER BOWEIW. HERNDON, VA. 



' The writer's experience after 35 years of 

 successful culture has been: To get fine 

 large Peaches the soil should be cultivated 

 every year and kept free from weeds. If 

 old neglected trees are cut back so as to 

 form new sprouts, and these each succeed- 

 ing year cut back one-half to two-thirds, 

 finer fruit will be obtained. 



The best time to prune here is as the leaves 

 begin to fall. By cutting away surplus 

 wood at this time the vital powers of the 

 tree are better prepared to push forward a 

 vigorous growth in the spring. If pruning 



