POPULAR GARDENING. 



163 



and if the fruit sets I will see that the cur- 

 culio doesn't spoil them this season. 



The Russian Apricot is in full bloom, 

 showing that the fruit buds can stand 14' 

 below zero, and to my astonishment we will 

 have a fine sprinklinK of Peach blossoms. 



The Nut Family. Is it not a little strange 

 that while the whole country is wide awake 

 to all the fruit we can raise that this family 

 has not received more attention:^ 11 is time 

 that the English Wal- 

 nut isbeingextensively 

 planted in the South 

 and in California, and 

 the Chestnuts are be- 

 ing waked up. Why 

 not pay some attention 

 to the finer Hickories 

 and Pecans also. 



Last week I grafted 

 on thrifty young Hick- 

 ory trees, from one 

 inch to three inches in 

 diameter, with jiaper 

 shell Hickory Nuts, :i 

 large native Pecan, :i 

 large Shellbark, ami 

 a few of Nusbaum's 

 Hybrid Pecan. This 

 latter will have a name 

 in the land in a few 

 years if the ^vriter of 

 this is not greatly mis- 

 taken. La.st spring a 

 friend sent me a tine 

 graft of it, which I suc- 

 ceeded in growing on 

 the common Hickory. 

 Took some fine grafts 

 from them and set some 

 more the last week. 

 It need not astonish 

 anyone if in a few years 

 we will see groves of 

 excellent nuts gi-owing 

 where now the trees 

 bear only worthless 

 nuts. On my place I 

 have one hundred of 

 such trees that will be 

 converted into valu- 

 able ones as fast as I can raise grafts enough 

 to work them with. Some I grafted cleft, 

 some crown, and some side gi'afting. The 

 success of this will be given to your readers. 



no difficulty after explaining, that by pre- 

 serving the hull and stem they fill up more 

 than enough fa-ster to make up for the extra 

 care: and once pickers are educated in this 

 way, they tind it .just as easy as the careless 

 way of pulling otf the hull, and spoiling the 

 fruit, as many do. I can tell, some distance 

 away, if a picker is pulling his fruit improp- 

 erly, by a snapping sound it gives in parting 

 from the stem. 



The Mistake of Improper Handling 

 of Market Fruit. 



BY J. N. STEARNS. K.VL.V5IAZOU CO.. JEKH. 



Next in importance to growing good fruit 

 comes the proper handling of the same and 

 putting it upon the market in the most at- 

 tractive shape. Sharp competition, if noth- 

 ing else, demands this if one would secure 

 the best prices. By rendering fruit attrac- 

 tive I do not mean that it be done by that 

 petty deception of putting the small fruit in 

 the bottom and the large on top of the pack- 

 age. What I do mean I will illustrate in the 

 care of the Strawberry. 



In the first place, the Strawberry plants 

 should be well mulched before ripening, to 

 prevent soil spattering on the fruit, and to 

 preserve its beautiful gloss. This latter 

 should further be preserved by careful 

 picking and handling. I never allow a picker 

 to take hold of the berry and pull it oft', for 

 this is sure to cause a bruise, if slight, on 

 two sides of it, and in hot weather hastening 

 decay. I instruct my pickers to take hold of 

 the stem close to the hull, and with the 

 thumb or finger nail pinch it, and with a 

 slight twist it is easily .separated, leaWng 

 the hull and about 34 inch of the stem, which 

 is a great protection to the fruit, and in ad- 

 dition to the perfect gloss, it adds nuiterially 

 to its appearance. 



.Some of the pickers ob.iect a little at first 

 to this mode of picking, but I usually have 



A FERN-LEAVED BEECH, BETWEEN 25 AND 40 FEET HIGH 



Each picker is provided with a carrier, 

 holding four boxes, and the fruit is assorted 

 as picked, which .saves one handling, as 

 every time fruit is handled over its beauty 

 Is more or less marred. For my first selec- 

 tion last sea.son I realized 12V.j cents net at 

 wholesale, while thousands of quarts, 

 equally as good fruit, were sold in the same 



I market for 8 cenLs, the difference being 

 mainly in the handling. I recall now a load 

 of berries I saw in market last season, that, 

 solely because of careless handling and 

 marketing, the producer found it difficult to 

 sell at any price; which, had they been well 

 ripened and properly handled, would have 

 sold readily for 1.5 cents per quart. I really 

 felt sorry for the man, and privately gave 

 him a few hints, and resolved to write a 

 few lines on this greatest mistake of the 

 fruit grower. The above idea should lie 

 carried out with reference to all the other 

 fruits as they come along. 



1 often hear it remarked, that I get better 

 prices for fruit than other growers in the 

 same vicinity. It may be, but from years of 

 experience I am satisfied it is not in the 



\ superior quality of the fruit, but in the at- 

 tractive manner in which it is put on the 

 market, as nearly everything brings its price 

 from its appearance to the eye of the buyer. 



j Some years since a New York commission 

 man wrote me that not over J^ of the fruit 

 received in that market was of the class I 

 term properly handled, while the demand 

 for such was fully ?4' of all the calls, there- 



J fore always bringing an extra price, and, as 

 he expressed it, he believed in that lay all 

 the protit in fruit growing. 



The Beeches for Ornamental Plant- 

 ingf. 



That the members of the Beech genus 

 have never reached a greater degree of pop- 

 ularity with American planters is unfortun- 

 ate, for no finer class of ornamental trees 

 for many situations can be found than 

 these. The reasons f(jr their comparative 

 scarcity is not difficult to di.scover; for they 

 are known to be not the ea.siest trees to 

 transplant, and when 

 successfully trans- 

 ferred are not remark- 

 able for rapid growth. 

 Such reasons may sat- 

 isfy the hasty planter, 

 who measures desira- 

 bility in a tree by its 

 ease of removal and 

 quickness of growth, 

 and too often feeling 

 satisfied with a Poplar 

 or Soft Mai)le, but 

 for the true lover of 

 arboreal beauty these 

 should have little 

 weight. To all sTU-h 

 we strongly comnu'iirl 

 the Beeches for lawn 

 planting. 



The American White 

 Beech ^Fnrn"< ftmi- 

 (liiii'ii) is the most 

 conunon native species 

 and a hand.some tree. 

 Among its chief- 

 characteristics are a 

 smooth gray bark, even 

 to old age, which im- 

 parts an air of neatness 

 to the tree that is 

 pleasing; the light and 

 shade like that of the 

 Kuroiiean and s o m e 

 other species is dis- 

 posed horizontally in 

 layers; the leaves are 

 dark, thin and glossy, 

 and so thickly set that 

 its shade is the darkest 

 of all the forest trees. 

 The European Beech (F. xyhmtica) is in 

 many respects similar to the last, but has 

 more spreading branches, and these in time 

 often droop gracefully almost to the earth. 

 This species is the parent of the numerous 

 other ornamental Beeches, which have done 

 so much to make this class worthy of great 

 attention from all intelligent planters. 

 Among its valuable varieties the following 

 are conspicuous : 



The Purple-leaved Beeches ; Of these the 

 common Purple-leaved Beech {var. piir- 

 piiiTo) has dark, reddish-purple foliage in 

 the spring, changing to crimson later on, 

 and then to purplish-green. River's Purple- 

 leaved Beech (vrir. iiiirpuiTo Riversii) is a 

 much darker, hence more effective, variety 

 than the last, and has grown to be perhaps 

 the most popular of all the Beech genus, for 

 ornamental use. Another improved variety 

 known as the Large-leaved Purple Beech 

 (viir. inirptdCd ma/o/) has remarkably large 

 leaves of a dark purple color, and smooth 

 and heavy. The Copper-leaved Beech (vai: 

 ciiprcii) resembles the Common Purple in 

 most respects, but has brighter-colored 

 leaves, with darker colored young shoots. 



In marked contrast with the purple-leaved 

 group of Beeches is the tiolden-leaved Beech 

 (tun: (iitrai iHirlexintn), which po.ssesses 

 leavesthat are in color deeply margined with 

 yellow, on a green ground, rendering the 

 tree singularly distinct and handsome. 



The Fern-leaved and Cut-leaved Beeches 

 present a distinct type of great value for 

 ornamental planting. That enthusiastic 

 grower of fine trees. H. W. Sargent, some 

 years ago .said that if he could plant but half 



