224 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



DRYING FRUIT. 



Messrs. Editor.s: — Permit me to describe a little 

 building 1 have on my {tremises for drying fruit. I 

 call it little, ibr it is only about eight feet square, and 

 the same in height. It has got a very pretty little 

 cornice on it, is painted, has a little green blind in 

 each gable, and a fhininey in it. Under it there is a 

 stone cellar, four feet deep, which is used as an ash- 

 house, and above we have hooks for hanging up meat 

 U) smoke, building the Are in the ashes below; so you 

 see there is no danger of setting our little building 

 on lire. " iiut," says one, " what has all this to do 

 with, drying fruit?" I have already told you that 

 we used this little building for an ash-house and 

 smoke-house. Now for the third use. In the first 

 place, we have boards the right length to reach 

 across the sills, to form a floor over the cellar, or ash- 

 hole, whicli we take up or lay down at pleasure. For 

 drying fruit, we have racks made of very light stuff, in 

 the following manner: We make a frame eighteen 

 inches wide, and long enough to reach from one side 

 of the buildiug to the other; then, on the under side 

 of the frame, we nail slats, about three- fourths of an 

 iach wide and one-fourth of an inch apart. This 

 forms a very good rack for drying all kinds of fruit 

 aot .strung. Now, we have a number of the racks, 

 and we nail brackets, or small blocks, on the sides of 

 the building, from the floor up. for the ends of the 

 racks to rest upon. We ther, fill the racks with fruit, 

 piit a \iJ,\e stove in the centre of the building, run 

 the pipe up into ihe chiniey above, and fire up, and 

 tiie way fruit diies in our little ash, smoke and fruit- 

 Urving hoii.ce is a caution ! C. T. 



Khigsville, Ohio. 



OLD VARIETIES OF FRUIT W.EAEING OUT. 



T;iE following e.vtracts from an article on this sub- 

 ject, by a corre.speadent of the London Cottage 

 Gardeaer, will be read with interest, even though 

 we are not di-sposed to adnnt the conclusions of the 

 writer. We should be glad to hear from our expe- 

 rienced readers on this point: 



"Bngidning with Stuawberries, it is somewhat odd 

 that K'jens' Seedling, a vai-iety that h.ns dons; thirty 

 yours' »ir mire hard r^eivice, should be as healthy and 

 Yvgorou3 aa ever, and ia by far the most popular variety 

 w^ have, while Wilmot's Superb, and some others 

 which followed it, are nowhere to be found. It is, 

 ;M;r!mp3, wrong to infrr that thc-^e were worn out; but 

 if we come to a nineli later variety, Myat'.s Biitish 

 Queen, we see unmistakable tokens of an exhausted 

 constitution, for there are many situations it cannot be 

 made to grow in, even by all the careful treatment 

 ttiat can be devi.-'ed, wheieas a few years ago it an- 

 swered moderately, though never so vigorous, certain- 

 ly, as Keen.s' Sceuliiig and some others. Maybe some 

 will be laying that it first came into existence with a 

 debilitated constitntion, and consequently cannot sur- 

 vive loivf. If that be admitted, the key of the whole 

 aTgnmorit is surrend.-red, foi- it is only a m.ittor of time 

 whether a vai'iety lasts five years or fifl^" years, or 

 whether one lasts the former period and another the 

 latter. 



'• Hnm.nn and animal life is governeil by like laws, 

 aTjd doubtless a time will come when Keens' Seedling 

 will cease to be us healthj', prolific and u.'^eful .as it is 

 now; but we hope to see its place taken by others of 

 equal if not superior merit Other examples of straw- 

 l»4]:ri«s might be given, but we pa«a on. 



" GoosKBERKiKS. — There being no lack of good varie- 

 ties of this fruit, few care what becomes of the old 

 ones ; but one old favorite kind is certainly consump- 

 tive, the old Warrington, or what, m the north of 

 En. land, is called the Ashtou Red. The limited growth 

 and uiihealthj' appearance of this tree, convey the les- 

 son that it has got one foot in the grave. Anoiher fa- 

 vorite old sort, the Green Gage, is still farther advanced 

 in disease ; and ihijugh the Warrington is itill grown, 

 because it has e.'^tablii-hed a name which we are unwil- 

 ling to part with, there are few extensive plantations 

 of it now, and the Green Gage gooseberry is all but 

 extinct among those who g 'ow for the market. Per- 

 haps the most common one grown about here, (Sta- 

 plehurst,) is a rough yellow one, early, but of no other 

 merit than being a heavy beare)', and the buds on its 

 shoots are less tempting to small birds than those of 

 other kinds. Large Rede, Greens and Whites are also 

 grown, but few Warringtons. 



" Pears. — Whoever has seen two or three good crops 

 in succession of Gansell's Bergamout, the fruit being 

 also good? or where is the Crasanne grown as perfect 

 as it was thirty years ago ? Probably thirty years 

 hence the Jargonelle will be a fruit known only to his- 

 tory, for healthy trees of this variety are few and far 

 between. Many other useful old varieties are fast ap- 

 proaching the same end. Green Chissell, Autumn Ber- 

 gamout, yt. Germain, Crawford and Chaumontelle ar^fl 

 rarely met with in the healthy condition they were 

 some years ago; and assuredly wo cannot attribute 

 their decay to any other source than the debility of 

 the tree — the soil, treatment and other things being 

 the same as before. 



"Applbs. — This is the fruit so often referred to for 

 examples, and numerous old kinds are significantly 

 pointed to as affording decisive proofs of deca\'. The 

 old Golden Pippin, Golden Reinette, several of tha 

 Pearmains and God! ins, aud a host of ethers, are no 

 longer to be met with in the healthy, jirofitable, bear- 

 ing condition they once were, while i-.ome ase discardwl 

 entirely. The Uibston Pippin and Golden Knob arc 

 fast following to the same end, and would, perhaps, 

 have been extinct before, only they being particular 

 favorites have been propagated wherever there was a 

 chance of their succeeding ; still the supply of tliem is 

 daily dinoinishing, and in a few years Ribstons will 

 cease to exisc in very many places. To account fOr 

 this on any other score than that of ' wearing out,' I 

 confess to bein<r unable ; and to suggest a remedy or 

 preventive, would be only recommending what had 

 been done over and over again with successive dieap- 

 pointments. 



" As it is needless to multiply examples, it is only- 

 necessary to take a glance at the condition under which 

 fruit trees are grown. Apples, for instance, are the 

 offspring of crabs, the best kinds being the produce of 

 I'epeated sowings of the seeds of improved varieties; 

 but be it remarked that this hnprovouent cannot be 

 effected without in some way sacrificing the constitu- 

 tion of the plant, and like the hreedirnj in and in of 

 animals, a deiieate race is the result, ditt'ei'ing more oi' 

 less in degree as the case may be, yet still bearing to- 

 kens of that effeminacy resulting from the artificial 

 position a grafted tree is in. This would be still mop* 

 so, were it liot for the vigorous nourishment it rieceivea 

 from the hardy stock it is worked on. Still this is not 

 sufficient to maintain in good health scions taken froiii 

 aged or long-propagated varieties, and each succeeding 

 generation getting weaker, an abandonment of thd 

 wdioie takes place, as is the case in the old apples no 

 longer cultivated. Some varieties threaten to be very 

 short-lived; the Hawthornden apple, for instance, is 

 seldom seen in good condition, and is often a complete 

 mass of canker." 



