1891. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



235 



is of greatest luxuriance and thrift, is not 

 to be wondered at. 



Eakly Celekv. Mr. Wliite has been 

 shipping Celery early in July. How is the 

 crop produced so early? 



The plants are started in greenhouses. 

 Seed is sown in flats in February, the young 

 plants pricked out in cold frame the middle 

 of March, and planted in open ground in 

 April. Rich soil, irrigation and good culti- 

 vation do the rest. 



White Plume is the variety almost exclu- 

 sively grown for early market. The Golden 

 Self-bleaching is not found reliable, and 

 Mr. White will not plant It again. Of course 

 even these varieties are bleached by earth- 

 ing up same as any of the ordinary sorts. 

 Bleaching by boards is here practiced only 

 to a very limited extent. The soil is so loose 

 and easily handled that earthing up is found 

 Ijy far the simplest method. 



The whole business, of course is carried 

 on in a most systematic way. Everything 

 goes like clock work, and nothing is left to 

 hand labor that can possibly be done by 

 horse and machinery. The cost of growing 

 the crop has to be reduced to lowest possible 

 figure, and the smallest item in saving ex- 

 pense, in these extensive operations, amounts 

 to a considerable amount in the aggregate. 



Take for Instance this matter of firming 

 or handling, which until recently was done 

 wholly by the slow and tedious hand process 

 —on hand and knees, and which required 

 an outlay tor labor of hundreds of dollars. 

 Mr. White has found a way to dispense 

 with the old plan altogether, and four men, 

 each provided with a simple tool of his own 

 construction, now do the work formerly re- 

 quiring thirty men. Let the reader draw 

 his own conclusions as to the amount saved 

 in making this improvement. The tool will 

 be described and illustrated in next number. 



The larger share of the work in earthing 

 up is done with shovel-plow and the hand 

 tool mentioned; and only the finishing 

 touches are applied by means of the shovel 

 or spade. The rows are three and one-half 

 feet apart. 



Late Celekt. Plants for fall and winter 

 Celery are grown in the ordinary way out 

 doors. The variety grown almost to the ex- 

 clusion of all others, is Golden Heart, al- 

 though Mr. White thinks very well of the 

 red or pink sorts like New Rose. Apiece of 

 land from which a crop of Early Celery 

 (White Plume) had been taken off during 

 July, was again planted with Celery. It is 

 the first time in Western New York proba- 

 bly that an attempt has been made to grow 

 two crops of Celery on the same land in one 

 season, on an extensive scale. 



Price of Celery. The crop is sold by 

 the dozen roots. The earliest, in July, 

 brought 50 or HO cents per dozen; gradually 

 the price dropped, until now Mr. White sells 

 on the farm for 30 cents per dozen bunches, 

 or about the same figure which it nets him 

 when shipping to Buffalo or other city mar- 

 kets, where it is now selling at 40 cents per 

 dozen. 



Winter Storage. This is yet the great 

 problem. Heretofore the crop for winter 

 sale has been stored in the ordinary Celery 

 pit; but the drip from the low roof, causing 

 rot, and other features, were an objection, 

 and Mr. White has been looking for better 

 storage methods. The simple condition 

 needed for winter storage are to keep the 

 roots moist and the foliage dry, and the 

 whole out of the way of harm by freezing. 

 Mr. White is now putting up an immense 

 structure, three stories high, with double 

 walls a foot apart, and space filled with saw- 

 dust. We hope to be able, at no distant 

 day, to give our readers the results of Mr. 

 White's efforts in finding an improved way 

 of keeping Celery thiough the winter. 

 (To be continued.) 



Field Notes of a Horticulturist. 



L. B. PIERCE, SCMMIT CO.. O. 



On June 3d we moved some Norway and 

 American Spruces. They were purchased 

 four years ago, of a Michigan man, and or- 

 dered early in May. For some reason they 

 were not shipped until late and suffered 

 considerable delay at the station. They 

 were nicely packed in an oblong box, long 

 enough for two trees packed root to root. 

 Plenty of sphagnum had been used, and a 

 broad board was nailed across the center to 

 hold all snug, leaving the tops exposed. 



The station agent, thinking to do me a 

 kindness, had wet the exposed portion (that 

 is the tops) several times, and the result 

 was a hot, rotten mass. I planted out the 

 1.500 trees, but had little hopes of their liv- 

 ing. Now we have been transplanting what 

 did live, and there was 67 Norway s out of 

 500 and 36 American out of 1,000. The re- 

 sult was so poor that I partly lost Interest 

 in the trees, and other pressing work caused 

 the transplanting to be neglected until this 

 year. The trees had all made about an inch 

 of new growth, and, from not having been 

 moved, were poorly furnished with fibrous 

 roots. Under the circumstances, the pros- 

 pect of their living was dubious, but I cut 

 back last year's growth two-thirds and 

 trimmed into shape, also removing super- 

 fluous Ijranches entirely where the growth 

 was exceptionally thick. This severe pruning 

 will help very much toward making them 

 live, and a pouring rain in the night has 

 straightened up the wilted tufts of new 

 growth and probably all will live. Very 

 few practice cutting back Evergreens in 

 transplanting, but it is more beneficial than 

 cutting back deciduous trees, inasmuch as 

 the foliage is all in working order and 

 rapidly pumps the moisture out of the roots 

 before the latter have time to make connec- 

 tion with the earth. Many have an idea 

 that cutting back the leader or other 

 branches permanently disfigures the trees, 

 but such is not the case. It is natural for 

 Conifers to grow conical, and one branch 

 near the top will become a leader. Some- 

 times there will be a strife between several 

 branches, but a little pinching back or cut- 

 ting out of those not wanted for a leader 

 will soon give the supremacy to the re- 

 quired branch and after that there will be 

 no farther trouble. I might add that cut- 

 ting back, coupled with wet weather, makes 

 it possible to move Evergreens at any time, 

 provided the exposure of the roots is brief, 

 say not more than a couple of hours. 



The weather in May was very catching 

 with frequent heavy showers, and we have 

 made use of it by filling the Strawberry 

 vacancies. AprU was a very trying month 

 for transplanting, with cold, drying winds 

 that gradually ended in a three weeks' 

 drouth in May. The first Strawberries 

 set out all grew save fifteen in a thousand, 

 but the last required ten times as many, or 

 1.50 per 1,000. All were set with equal care, 

 by myself, two men digging and trimming 

 while I planted. The weather was so un- 

 favorable that we stopped and set about 

 4,000 plants, after heavy rains about May 

 30th changed the conditions; and these are 

 all thriving. It is amazing to have to dig 

 plants with berries hall grown, but it is 

 highly desirable to have complete rows, so I 

 do it. There is one advantage, however, 

 and that is you can be sure that your plants 

 are genuine. I have, sometimes, when 

 plants got mixed by accident or with wild 

 seedlings, started entirely new with a variety 

 by taking up half a dozen plants in fruit, 

 removing the fruit and then planting under 

 favorable conditions and propagating from 

 these plants. It doesn't take long for the 

 progeny of six Strawberry plants to amount 

 to many thousands, and in this way all will 

 be alike and unmixed. 



Our Fruit Exports and Imports. 



This country is a land of fruit. We may 

 talk of under-consumption (as a cause of 

 low prices) rather than over-production, yet 

 the fact remains that our people are greater 

 fruit eaters than those living in any other 

 coimtry in the same latitude. Notwith- 

 standing our immense home production, 

 we are still dependent to a considerable ex- 

 tent upon foreign countries for supplies. 



According to Bradstreet's, our shipments 

 last year of green , dried and preserved fruits 

 were valued at :W,031,68tj. Our surplus pro- 

 ducts are taken mostly by European 

 countries, the states of Central America, 

 Cuba and the British West Indies, which 

 supply us with a large part of our tropical 

 fruits, importing in return but very little 

 from this country. In 1890 we exported 

 20,801,463 pounds of dried Apples, of which 

 2,804,860 pounds went to Belgium, 8,739,.553 

 pounds to France, 4,880,123 pounds to Ger- 

 many, 1,.545,778 pounds to England, 2,047,811 

 pounds to the Netherlands, .52,750 pounds to 

 Norway and Sweden, 118,880 pounds to 

 Scotland, leaving but 673,718 pounds taken 

 by all other countries. Of the 4.53,.506 barrels 

 of green Apples exported in 1890, .380,174 

 barrels were shipped to Europe, 3,710 barrels 

 to Central America, 4,809 barrels to South 

 America, 3,938 barrels to Cuba, and 1,493 

 barrels to the British West Indies. 



Australia is a large consumer of our ex- 

 ported fruit. In 1890 she took .531,145 pounds 

 of dried Apples, valued at $34,010; 19,730 

 pounds of green Apples, valued at 163,934, 

 and -J140,309 worth of canned fruit, or about 

 one-fifth of our total shipments. We shipped 

 in 1890 to Central America canned goods to 

 the value of $34,411, and to South America 

 •fl8,.341. England is the largest single im- 

 porter of our canned fruits. Her receipts 

 last year from this country amounted to 

 $273,3.54, which was more than two-fifths of 

 our total shipments. 



The following table gives our exports of 

 fruit for ten years: 



1881 $4,439,719 I 1886 $3,308,308 



1882 1,7.50,398 11887 2,669,96.5 



Wm 3,005,942 11888 3,482,424 



1884 1,746,418 11889 5,039,224 



1885 3,515,708 11890 4,031,686 



Countries which impose duties upon these 

 products of the United States are France, 

 Germany, Spain and Sweeden in Europe, 

 Nicaragua, Honduras and Salvator in Cen- 

 tral America, all of the South American re- 

 publics, Mexico, Hayti and Porto Rico. 



The major part of our imports of fruits 

 and nuts are dutiable. Our total receipts 

 last year were valued at .?18,310,007, of which 

 Bananas constituted the largest single im- 

 port, amounting to $4,653,779. The imports 

 of all fruits into the United States since 1883 

 have been as follows; 



1884 $17,830,022 | 1888 $18,302,045 



1885 14,929,125 11889 15,870,167 



1886 15,421,464 11890 18,310,007 



1887 18,508,851 I 



Bananas, Cocoanuts and Pineapples came 

 mainly from the West Indies, Central and 

 South America; Oranges and Lemons from 

 SicUy, Spain and Italy; Almonds from 

 France, Spain and Italy; Prunes from Aus- 

 tria, Hungary and France, and Raisins 

 from Spain. 



It may strike us that with the ease with 

 which we produce a long list of most excel- 

 lent fruits, these figures do not make a 

 favorable showing of the enterprise and 

 push of our people, and that the eighteen 

 million dollars' worth of fruits now im- 

 ported should all or for the most part be 

 produced at home, also that our exports 

 should be largely increased. 



The latter will undoubtedly be the case. 

 When all the orchards and vineyards, etc., 

 now planted, wiU be in full fruiting, we 

 shall have vastly more fruit and fruit pro- 



