i8»8. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



263 



III other iastiiiiees the upper part of 11 

 l)unch is safe in the sack, clean and sound, 

 while the lower part of it exposed is all rot^ 

 ten. One bunch in a sack is sound while one 

 on each side exposed are both rotten. 



That sacking will pay for the finer Grapes 

 there is no doubt,and serves not only to guard 

 against the rot, but to protect them from 

 birds and insects; a half-dozen cat-birds and 

 a few broods of orchard birds can demoral- 

 ize a whole acre of Grapes. Then, when a 

 colony of thirty stands of bees are within 

 one hundred yards of the vineyard the 

 sacks will be needed. Last season the bees, 

 following up the birds, hornets, yellow 

 jackets and wasps, used up a couple hun- 

 dred pounds of Martha Grapes in two days. 

 The bees cannot cut open the skin of a 

 Grape; but when it is cut they know how to 

 get the sweet juice. The only return I had 

 from my Marthaa was honey for the table 

 most of the year. Grow the large bunched 

 kinds, thin out well, and it will take fewer 

 sacks, less time to put up a given weight of 

 Grapes and secure them against depredators. 



If it were not for the rot, I might have 

 shown nearly one hundred varieties of 

 Grapes this season; as it is there will not be 

 half a dozen varieties fit for show. 



As the crop in these parts will be slim in 

 many vineyards, so that it will not be worth 

 the while to make wine, the juice can be 

 pressed out, boiled until clear, then bottled 

 and sealed while hot, and you have a delici- 

 ous drink the following summer. It will lie 

 too heavy alone, but diluted one-halt with 

 ice water is just the thing. This will be 

 better than fermented wine for many people. 



Grapes: A Market Record of 18 87. 



A careful computation from reliable data 

 and by a thoroughly competent person, 

 says the Vineyardist, shows that the average 

 market prices in the three largest cities in 

 the union, la.st year, (1887), were on Lake 

 Keuka Grapes, as follows — the dates ranging 

 from Sei>tember 1st to January 1st, and the 

 number of days for New York being 38, and 

 for Boston 3.5, and for Bhiladelphia 31, all 

 taken by chance; 



Citiai. Delaware. t'onconl. Catatvba. 



New York ..a, 7— 19 cts. 4, 8— .31 cts. 5,1— 7ots. 

 Pliiladelphl!i..5, 8—19 " 4, 8-31 " 4,S— 7 " 

 Boston 5, Il-IH " 1, 17—31 " .5, 2—7 " 



It will be noted that the Delaware com- 

 manded an average of about one cent a 

 pound more than the Concord, which clear- 

 ly shows the latter to have been the most 

 profitable, as its price is four-fifths that of 

 the Delaware, and its bearing capacity is at 

 least two-fifths more. The Catawba, not as 

 heavy a bearer as the Concord, and cannot 

 be grown over nearly as wide a range of 

 territory, sold nearly as low as Concord. 



The foregoing figures show that sweet 

 Grapes, like the Delaware, which are not as 

 acid in taste as either Concord or Catawba, 

 are preferred for table Grapes, even though, 

 ihey are in many cases put upon the market 

 before they are fully ripe; the Catawbas 

 were, in all probability, not as ripe and 

 sweet as they should have been, as they 

 were hurried from the vines, before the 

 middle of October, to escape a freeze. 



It is hoped that growers will, profiting by 

 the experience of the past, put no Delawares 

 on the markets until they are really ripe, 

 and then they will be in constant and large 

 demand, maintaining good figures, and not 

 demoralizing, but solidifying the markets, 

 for what are to come after. Let this rule be 

 followed in regard to all other varieties, 

 especially the Catawtja, or the prospects of 

 the Catawba crop will be greatly injured. 

 The first Grapes that went into the city 

 markets should have been held a week 

 longer on the vines, as they had Oie effect to 

 "sour the market" and depress prices from 

 September to January. 



There are good reasons to believe that a 

 different policy this year will give us a bet- 

 ter season record than that of 1887, as detail- 

 ed above; on that policy the future success 

 of Grape growing in (Central and Western 

 New York, very materially depends. 



Tomato Culture. In Answer to No. 

 870. 



MANSFIKI.D MILTO.N, M.^HONINO CO., OHIO, 



I do not know of an ejusier or a more 

 reliable vegetable to grow than the Tomato. 

 All it re(iuires is a sulficiently high tem- 

 perature, moderately rich soil and clean 

 culture during the growing season. 



For the market gardener to make money 

 out of the Tomato it is necessary to have 

 them in the market early. And in order to 

 get the plants in bearing, say by the first of 

 July in this latitude, they must have the 

 best of care from the lime the seed is sown 

 until the fruit nuit nres. Having been fairly 

 successful in the culture of early Tomatoes, 

 and growing them for the money returns 

 they bring me, I give in detail the methods 

 I have adopted to attain the best results: 



The first week in March, I sow the seed 

 in fiats in a greenhouse where the tempera- 

 ture at night selilom gets below m'. For 

 soil I use a mixture of sand and leaf-mold, 

 or sand, and thoroughly rotted barnyard 

 manure. I find that all kinds of vegetable 

 and flower seeds vegetate much sooner, 

 start with stronger growth, and are much 

 better transplanted wheu started in this 

 kind of soil than when it has a more reten- 

 tive nature; besides less "damping off" of 

 the plants in the sandy soil. As soon as the 

 .seedlings have two leaves they are trans- 

 planted into fiats, using soil composed of 

 manure, loam and sufficient sand to give it 

 porosity. In this they make a rapid growth, 

 when placed in a hot-bed, which is the best 

 place for them, securing stocky plants by 

 giving plenty of ventilation in favorable 

 weather. Spindling, weakly grown plants 

 being of no account whatever for the early 

 production of fruit; it is therefore impera- 

 tive to have paying results that the plants 

 be kept bushy and sturdy of growth. When 

 the plants begin to crowd each other in the 

 flats or Ijoxes, they are again transplanted 

 either into a hot-bed Ij inches apart each 

 way, or, what is better, put into .5-inch pots, 

 except that when grown in pots they require 

 more attention in watering than when 

 planted right into the hot-bed: but pot grown 

 plants are planted out with much less root 

 mutilation, than when lifted from the hot- 

 bed. The main requirement in growing 

 plants for early fruit is to maintain an 

 unchecked growth after the seeds have 

 sprouted until they are set out in the open 

 ground. Before setting out, where they are 

 to fruit, it is necessary that the plants be 

 well hardened off by judicious exposure to 

 the air, .so that the planting out does not 

 check their growth or cause the flowers and 

 small fruit— which cnight invariably to be 

 upon plants so grown— to drop off, thus 

 requiring them to make a fresh growth 

 before a crop of flowers and fruit can be 

 secured. Moderately rich soil is best for a 

 heavy crop; if too rich, an over abundance 

 of vine is the result, with fruit ripening late 

 or possibly none at all. The earliest and the 

 somewhat late Tomatoes are generally the 

 most profitable, as the latter are needed for 

 canning, catsup, etc. The seed for the later 

 crop is sown about the middle of April and 

 kept growing as cool as possible until set 

 out four feet apart each way for all except 

 the Champion, which from its compact 

 habit requires but three feet of space. 



L'ntil this season 1 have grown Acme for 

 early, with Favorite for the general crop; 

 but find by this season's trial that Champion 

 is ahead of the Acme from ten days to two 



weeks, prcHlucing fruit of medium size, per- 

 fectly smooth, of firm texture. Three years 

 ago W. .1. Green, of the Ohio Kxperimental 

 •Station, sent me for trial lii different varie- 

 ties and strains of Tonuiloes, and out of 

 them I chose the Acme and Favorite as the 

 best, but had 1 this season grown all Cham- 

 pions I would have been .several hundreds 

 of dollars ahead at thisdate; but I am always 

 diffident about growing largely of any 

 variety newly i)ut on the nuirket, be it ever 

 so much praised. 1, like every other exper- 

 imenter in new things, have been so often 

 humbugged that 1 deem it the best way to 

 try in small quantities at flrst. 



Tomatoes are seldom attacked with in- 

 sects. Plants grown in a dry atmosphere 

 are liable to be more or less injvired with 

 red spider. Potato bugs also are sometimes 

 injurious, eating fruit and foliage. Hand 

 picking is the only safe remedy. There is a 

 large green caterpillar that often destroys 

 the foliage of several plants in a short time. 

 Careful searching for them should be kept 

 up until they are all f<jund and destroyed. 

 Their excrement under and around the 

 plants is a sure indication of their presence. 



One word about market ing Tomatoes. Few 

 inarket gardeners realize the importance of 

 sorting out the ill-shapen and half rii)ened 

 fruit. Also the cleaning off of any dirt, 

 which may have got upon the fruit lying 

 on the ground or diished on by heavy rains. 

 A basket of well-sorted fruit, clean and 

 nicely arranged, with the stem side down, 

 will always command a better price than 

 where it is put into biuskets just as picked, 

 independent of dirt or general appearance. 



How to Sulphur Fruit. 



Concerning the best methods for drying 

 fruit by the sulphuring proce.ss, the follow- 

 ing information, said by the California 

 Fruit Grtiwer to have been derived from 

 successfiil experience, is of interest. 



The sulphuring box or clo.set must be 

 tight jointed all around, with the door well 

 battened at sides, top and bottom, the only 

 opening being a vent hole about six inches 

 in diameter in center of the roof. Without the 

 vent there is no current of air, and conse- 

 ((Uently no even distribution of the sulphur 

 fumes. A slide to regulate the draft should 

 be set in the vent hole. The width and 

 depth of the sulphuring box should be 

 adapted to the size of the trays in use in the 

 drying field. For height, eight feet is as 

 great as can be worked conveniently. 



Burn the sulphur outside the box in a 

 charcoal stove, such as is used for heating 

 flat-irons, covering the top of the stove with 

 a sheet iron hood tapering to about four in- 

 ches in diameter, where a pipe of four feet 

 length can be slipped on and off. This pipe 

 .should lead into the bottom of the sulphur 

 bo.\ at the centre, where the fumes will be 

 delivered at proper temperature to save 

 .scorching the lower trays of fruit. The 

 hood should have a door to take the sul- 

 phur pan in and out. To ensure a good 

 draft from the stove through the sulphur 

 box, the stove should be set below the level 

 of the box, and if the pipe trends upward 

 the draft will be increased proportionally. 



For sulphuring, the fruit contained in a 

 box 8 feet high by 3}i feet siiuare, two heap- 

 ing tablespoonsful of powdered sulphur 

 sprinkled upon a live coal and burned on a 

 pan set in the stove, with lower draft open 

 and hood door close<l, is sufficient. Good 

 results have been olitained from burning a 

 nuxture of two-thirds powdered sulphur, 

 and one-third powdered charcoal. From 

 twenty to thirty minutes is as long as fruit 

 should remain exposed to the sulphur fumes 

 to avoid deposit of metallic sidphur, and yet 

 produce bleaching effect. Practice will 

 train the eye to this, keeping in mind that 



