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POPULAR GARDENING. 



245 



plantinif so lateV I think that the planting 

 should bo done very early in thesprinM; or in fall. 



Mr. Harris said:— The critical period seems to 

 he the tlrst winter after they are put out. 1 1 the 

 growth of the tree starts late, the tree will never 

 be a healthy one, and anything that serves to 

 start the growth early is an advantage. 



Mr. Tuttlc said he had seen whole orchards set 

 out in the fall, and they were killed. If the win- 

 ter is mild it is all right. If the trees are planted 

 in the tall, the farmer will most likely let the 

 planting go too long. Plant in the spring, but 

 plant very early. The moisture should be kept 

 in the trunks of the trees. The trouble is that in 

 a long period of freezing the moisture is driven 

 from the trees, and they then freeze to death. 



Mr. Thayer thinks the critical period in tree- 

 planting is the second season. The trees do not 

 get root the first year to carry them through, 

 and they have to live the first year on what they 

 already have stored up within themselves. Has 

 had better success by ordering his stuff in the 

 fall and planting when the ground is in condition 

 than in any other way. What kills is the drying 

 out of the moisture by the winter winds. 



CONDENSED GLEANINGS. 



Fruit Houses and Fruit Booms. Such houses 

 may be constructed at moderate expense, which, 

 with properly selected varieties, will afford fruit 

 through nearly the whole year, if the circle is 

 completed by early Cherries and early Straw- 

 berries. It is not necessary to employ ice for 

 maintaining a low temperature in hot weather, 

 such houses being adapted to large establish- 

 ments and requiring constant care and much 

 skill in their management. For the smaller and 

 cheaper structures the essential requisites are 

 non-conducting walls and ventilating windows, 

 provision being made for the admission of cool 

 air on cool nights, to maintain a temperature 

 slightly above freezing, and thus preventing de- 

 cay during warm seasons. With such a provision 

 we have found no difficulty in keeping such 

 Apples as the Baldwin and Newton Pippin 

 through winter and into the middle of .Tune, and 

 such winter Pears as Nolis, Lawrence and Malines 

 into February and March. A common practice 

 is to erect a frame of six-inch studs, and cover 

 holh sides of these with lioards, filling the space 

 between the boards with sawdust; but a better 

 way is to nail on the building-paper studs before 

 the boards are applied, the studs being placed 

 just far enough apart to give a slight lap to the 

 paper as the rolls are successively applied. The 

 sawdust is omitted, as it is liable to cause crevices 

 by setting, and to be attacked by rats and mice. 

 It this air space and the two covers with boards 

 and building-paper are not sufficient to make a 

 good non-conducting wall, nail vertical strips on 

 each lath and add another covering of paper and 

 another boarding. The roof is to be made non- 

 conducting in a similar way, and the room is to 

 be protected with double doors and double win- 

 dows. The natural heat from the earth floor, 

 with these protecting walls, will prevent the 

 room from freezing. Fig. 1 in illustration rep- 

 resents the cross-section of a fruit-room, and 



is double, with an air-space as a non-conductor 

 of heat, and with a free connection with the 

 earth below through board registers or through 

 slatted work. The ventilator is readily con 

 trolled by the hanging buttons The piles of 

 fruit boxes arc filled with fruit, and being placed 

 one above another, operate as separate covers 

 for each other, and whenever assorting is neces- 

 sary for removing decayed specimens, they are 

 successively lifted off and new piles thus 

 formed.— Country flentleman, 



A Conservatory Window. The upper and lower 

 sash are both taken out and 

 the conservatory window is 

 fastened on to the outside of 

 the house and rests on strong 

 brackets of wrought iron made 

 by our village blacksmith. It is 

 made entirely of sash except 

 the bottom, which is of two 

 thicknesses of boards with paper 

 between- Tt is five feet wide, 

 two feet deep and six feet high, 

 with a sloping glass roof with 

 hinges, so that it can be raised 

 when the sun shines in too hot. 

 This roof is covered with halt- 

 inch mesh netting to protect it 

 from icicles falling from the 

 roof of the house. The shelves 

 are made of this netting tackeil 

 to light frames, which does not 

 prevent the light or water 

 from reaching those below. 

 There are three shelves and 

 I had l.W pots of plants, all 

 doing well, and they were in 

 bloom nearly all winter. 1 have 

 succeeded much better with them in this window 

 with much less care than on the shelves in front 

 of the window in the rooms, for now the.v have 

 the sunlight on three sides of them and from the 

 top All the care I give them is to water them 

 once or twice a day by showering those on the 

 upper shelf and the water drops on to those be- 

 low, which keeps them free from dust and the 

 red spider. The lower shelf being much cooler 

 and damper than the others, is particularly 

 suited to Fuchsias. I have had no trouble in 

 keeping the plants warm. The temi)crature of 

 the room during the day is 70 and atnight 50, and 

 when the sun is warm the roof has to be raised. 

 I did not have to cover the window at night or 

 put anything between the plants and the glass. 

 It is on the south side of the house and sheltered 

 from the wind. There is a pipe which carries off 

 the water from the bottom of the window. It 

 could be Improved by a zinc bottom. The entire 

 cost was $2.5. It is fastened on to the house by 

 screws and as soon as the plants are taken out I 

 have the window taken down until it is time to 

 an it again in the autumn.— Mrs. N. S. Piatt in 

 Farm and Home. 



Fruit Evaporator. It is built of wood. All 

 the frame required is the upright, 3 by 2-inch 

 posts and the 2 by 3-inch horizontal drawer rests. 

 The drawer rests are placed flatwise and be- 

 tween the posts, rabbeted one half inch on each 



lation of air. The end drawers are 4 inches deep 

 and 5 feet long, and are used to finish on. Have 

 four extra drawers, and have some extra front 

 pieces to put in and close up the openings when 

 the drawers are out. The sheet-iron fenders, 

 A B, extend the whole length, to distribute the 

 hot and cold air. The cold air enters the ventila- 

 tors below A, and is divided by B. The arch c is 

 sheet iron, with a 2-inch flange, resting on the 

 wall of the furnace, which is 2 feet high and 2 

 feet wide, laid in mortar. The top course of 

 brick Is laid in mortar, on the flange, to prevent 



CST 



■.;.<o ■ , 



Fig.l. 



Fruit House and Fruit Bnnms. 



Fig. 2. 



showing the ventilation. The dotted lines and 

 arrows show the entrance of the cold air at a side 

 window, and the escape of the warmer air into a 

 vertical chimney in which some upward current 

 is kept by a stove above, or by the ventilator cap 

 at the top. This window is closed as soon as 

 enough air is admitted. The air space beneath 

 the slatted floor receives the warmth of the earth 

 during cold weather in winter. This figure more 

 particularly represents a fruit-room in the dwel- 

 ling; the floor is double to prevent the passage of 

 heat. Fig. 2 is the cross-section of a fruit-house 

 built wholly above ground. The under-pinning 



side to receive the drawers. The sides and back 

 of the drawers are IK inches wide; the front is 

 2 inches wide, with a K-inch rabbet above and 

 below, on the inside, and there are corresponding 

 rabbets on the siding of the hou.se, so that when 

 the drawers are pushed in, the outside surface 

 will be smooth. The bottoms of the drawers are 

 made of galvanized wire cloth. There is a false 

 front to each drawer, three inches back. The 

 upright i)osts are two and one-half feet apart. 

 The drawers are :% feet long, and. with the false 

 front, three inches back; this gives a three-inch 

 space at each end of the drawers for free circu- 



uOD EVAPORATOR. 



the escape of smoke. The building is 10)4 teet 

 long, 7 feet high and four feet wide, d d are 

 connecting rods attached to the ventilators. The 

 furnace can be built below the surface on slop- 

 ing ground. The amount of heat is great, and 

 the thing to be observed closely is to admit 

 plenty of cold air through the ventilators. The 

 illustration, without going into details, gives 

 enough to enable a good workman to construct a 

 cheap and good evaiiorator that will do more 

 than twice the work of some of the high-priced 

 machines.— J. W. Reach in Farm and Fireside. 



Points in Apple Culture. One thoroughly re- 

 liable variety is worth more than a hundred of 

 doubtful character. With good mellow soil, all 

 needed preparation is to manure with no stinted 

 hand, and then plow deep and thoroughly. It is 

 of the utmost importance that the young orch- 

 ard receive a good send-olT; after that, if culti- 

 vated carefully for a few years, meanwhile 

 cropping with vegetables, there will be no cessa- 

 tion of growth in the trees. This part of the 

 programme is generally carried out, but, after 

 cropping with vegetables ceases, how many 

 people ever fertilize the soil or care for the trees? 

 More failures result from this cessation of sur- 

 face culture and proper pruning, than from at- 

 tacks of insects, which, under preventives and 

 treatment of recent years, are not considered a 

 serious obstacle. How to place one's fruit prop- 

 erly on the market may seem a minor point, but 

 when we perceive cilstomers calling, year after 

 year, for packages bearing the imprint of some 

 noted orchardists, there must be a reason for it, 

 and the solution is, that the fruit is carefully 

 and evenly selected, preserved in first-class con- 

 dition, and is, in short, just what the invoice 

 calls for.— Josiah Hoopes. 



Wrinkles in Greenhouses, in the new houses 

 erected by E. G. Hill & Co., Richmond, Ind., 

 wrought iron pipe was used for purlins as well 

 as for the upright supports. The purlins were 

 fastened to the sash bars by strips of metal. Hut 

 a new use has been found tor this purlin, and it 

 seems strange that no one happened to think of 

 it before. The pipe purlin is utilized to carry 

 the water to every part of the house. This not 

 only saves the expense of another pipe to carry 

 the water, but being close up under the roof the 

 water that stands in the length of pipe is warmed 

 sufliciently to take the chill of it, and this is an 

 advantage at times. The majority of the upright 

 supjiorts are attached to the purlin by T's which 

 have been reamed out so that the purlin passes 

 freely through them and pipes of full length can 

 be used without cutting, though the supports 

 arc only eight feet apart. But at stated inter- 

 vals a regular pipe connection is made which 

 carries the water down the pipe support and to 

 which a water cock is attached. Another new 

 departure is the use of sheet-steel siding for 

 weather boarding. This is said to be about as 



