138 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



September, 



A. M. PURDY'S DEPARTMENT. 



Postoffice address, ■ ■ Palmyra, N. Y. 



WELCOME, 



Subscribers of the " Fruit 

 Recorder." 



To the many subscnhers of the " Fruit He- 

 corder and Cottage Gardener^^ our ntarmest 

 greeting. We bid you welcome into the ranks 

 of the Popular Gardening family. You 

 shall not be made to feel as strangers with us, 

 for your good and trusty friend, Purdy, is on 

 hand before you and joins us in extending to 

 you a gla<l welcome here. He advanced early 

 and with great caution to spy out the land, and 

 finding it fruitful and promising now bids all 

 of his old readers "Come with us here." His 

 editorial work in your behalf, as well as of all 

 the family, will be kept up much as it has been 

 in the past, but with this advantage : He will 

 be spared the multitudinous cares of a pub- 

 lishing business, and on that account will be 

 able to do even better work in writing about 

 fruit and fruit cultm-e. And if with such 

 relief the too visible signs of past overwork 

 upon his brow may lie smoothed away, no one 

 can, along with us, he tetter gratified than 

 jou, his old subscribers. 



A word about Popular Gardening: The 

 paper speaks for itself. But we desire to say 

 that with making room for Mr. Purdy's de- 

 partment in the present issue (old size) some of 

 the regular departments have been badly cur- 

 tailed or else crowded out. Next month with 

 the enlarged paper all will appear again, some 

 to be larger than ever before. Popular Gar- 

 dening will be sent to each Keeorder subscriber 

 for his or her full unexpired time. 



Popular Gardening Pub. Co. 



Mr. Purdy in His New, Yet Old Role. 



We did think when the sale of the liemrder 

 was contemplated to perhaps throw aside the 

 editorial harness entirely. But really our love 

 for writing and our desire to impart to others 

 the results of an extensive practice in fruit 

 growing compels us to keep on in the new and 

 enlarged enterprise which presented itself in 

 Popular Gardening. Unembarrassedaslnow 

 am with the many small perplexities of publish- 

 ing I shall, in connection with caring for over 

 two hundred acres, mostly devoted to fruit 

 growing, here and at the South, do my full part 

 towards making the joint paper such a complete 

 success that not only will all of the old Recorder 

 subscribers renew to this paper at the expira- 

 tion of their time, but also a large number of 

 new ones be added to the list. Success to the 

 new enterprise. A. M. Purdy. 



Hold on to the Evaporated Fruit 

 This Year. 



Be in no hurry to sell. The Apple crop is ex- 

 ceedingly light in most sections, and especially 

 so in the great fruit region of Western New 

 York. As to Peaches, the crop is a very short 

 one north of Delaware, and evaporators are 

 scarce south of that point, so it may be put 

 down as a certainty that but few evaporated 

 Peaches will find their way to market. 



It is really amusing to see how the circulars 

 of certain commission men report ' 'an excess- 

 ive large harvest of Raspberries in Western 

 New York," when the truth is over one-half 

 the crop has not been gathered because of con- 



tinual midsummer rains, forcing rapid ripen- 

 ing; and then a scarcity of pickers and lack of 

 facilities for handling. Whole plantations in 

 Wayne County— the largest producing county 

 in New York — have gone without picking for 

 the above reasons. 



Some of these men, with their sharp pencils, 

 will work hard to get a " corner" on the evap- 

 orated Raspberry stock by buying the^i up for 

 13 to 15 cents a pound. Let growers hold on 

 to their stock ; they will see a big bound up- 

 wards in price within the next three months. 

 We ourselves have 10,000 to 13,000 pounds and 

 we expect to obtain not a cent less than 2.5 to 

 88 cents per pound for them before next spring. 



No person, either, can afford to grow and 

 evaporate the Black Raspberry for less than 18 

 to 30 cents and the Reds for 35 cents, for look 

 at the matter : It takes 3 to 3 1-4 quarts of the 

 first and four quarts of the last to make res- 

 pectively a pound of the dried article. 



Shall we Plant Small Fruits for 

 Market. 



The question whether or not it will pay to 

 grow small fruits for market is a frequent one. 

 In a general way we can sum up our answer, 

 based on a long experience at a point some 

 distance from the large markets, as follows : 



1st. If you can be sure of getting at least 5 

 to 6 cts per quart for Strawberries, 5 cts for 

 Black and C> cts for Red Raspberries, and the 

 last figure for Blackberries, you can make it 

 pay, providing you are in sections where these 

 stand the winter. All that can be realized over 

 these prices you can count-on as clear profit. 



Black Raspberries will succeed on any soil 

 suited to Corn and Potatoes; over-richness is 

 not desirable. The same may be said of such 

 Red Raspberries as Turner, HanseU, Crimson 

 Beauty, Herstine, Brandywine and Cuthbert. 

 The Crimson Beauty and HanseU are the 

 earlist of all, and the Cuthbert the latest. The 

 last is a marvel for large crops and hardiness. 



In sections where the Peach will not staml it 

 is not safe to plant Blackberries like the Kitta- 

 tiny, Lawton, Early Wilson and Dorchester, 

 but only such sorts as Snyder, Taylor's Prolific, 

 Stone's Hardy, Wachusett, Western Triomphe 

 and Wallace. The Gregg Raspberry is a little 

 tender in such localities, while the Tyler and 

 Ohio are perfectly hardy. 



3d. One important item towards success is to 

 he .sii re you can get plenty of pickers. Another : 

 Plant hardy, well tried sorts, like those named. 



3d. Don't go in too heavy at first. 



As to time of setting, if the ground is high 

 and dry we prefer fall, as we then have more 

 time to do it well — covering each hill with a 

 forkful of coarse litter, to remain on through 

 the winter. That to fall setting for all kinds 

 of small fruit but Strawl>erries, which we 

 always advise to set in the spring, unless a few 

 for family use. Of course, if they cannot be set 

 in the fall, then set in the spring— as soon as 

 frost is out and the ground well settled. 



4th. Our plan of setting Raspberries and 

 Blackberries is to prepare ground well, then 

 take a corn-marker and mark out one way 3 or 

 3 1-2 feet apart, and with a one-horse plow 

 make furrows 6 or 7 feet apart the other way 

 and set plants in these furrows wherever they 

 cross the corn-marker's marks. By this plan 

 we can cultivate them both wa3-s the first year 

 and thus save a gi'eat amount of hard back- 

 aching work in hoeing. 



We propose in future numbers to give in- 

 structions needed for their care and trimming. 



Questions Asked and Answered. 



What shall I do with my Raspberries and 

 Blackberries? Why, the new growth is grow- 

 ing out of all bounds ! 



My friend, you made a mistake in not nipping 

 that new growth off at tip ends weeks ago, 

 when not over 3 to 3 feet high, owing to age 

 and stockiness of bush, but as that has not been 

 done go through them at once, or cut them 



back one-third to one-half, and as side branches 

 grow long and spindling cut these off also. 



We here wish to say that if you are growing 

 for fruit the more branches and tips you can 

 make, the larger your crop of fruit. 



Another asks. Will I get as much fruit next 

 year if I layer my plants now for new plants ? 



No ; for the reason that you should stop nip- 

 ping by August 1st, to allow tips to get long 

 enough to reach the gi'ound. While if not to 

 be layered, the tip ends of branches can be 

 repeatedly nipped till in October, thus adding 

 to the number of tips and wood to produce 

 fruit next year. 



Another says: My Raspberries are growing 

 every way ; what shall I do ! We answer, cut 

 back and nip off as we direct and soon go 

 through with stout string and tie around the 

 three or four stalks part way up, thus making 

 them support each other. 



Another says. My Red Raspberries are grown 

 to eight feet high; what course shall I take 

 with them I 



Take a com knife and go through the 

 rows now and cut them back to the height 

 of your head if you are, say, about 5 to feet 

 high, and next winter or now, as you may have 

 the time, clean out the old wood and with stout 

 string tie the tops of three to four stalks to- 

 gether. Then they are made self supporting. 



Another asks. Is it well to take old wood 

 out now or leave it in? 



We have generally advocated taking it out 

 as soon as through bearing, but we find when 

 that is done the new growth, which is very 

 tender at this season of the year, is twisted and 

 broken off ; but by leaving old wood in a few 

 weeks, or even till winter sets in, and then <'lean- 

 ing it out, the new growth having ripened and 

 become hardened, stands better and besides all 

 have more time to do it then. 



Would you advise manuring Raspberries ? 



Yes ; we have done so for years, throwing a 

 small forkful aroimd in each bush after fruit. 



The sooner Red and Black Raspberries, Black- 

 berries, Currants and Gooseberries are set 

 the better. Early planting induces strong root- 

 ing before the winter sets in, with large gi-owth 

 next season. 



When Cultivating Strawberries, where strong 

 new fruiting plants are wanted along the row, 

 run the same way every time, otherwise you 

 are likely to tear out young plants that are 

 rooting. The same may be said of Black Rasp- 

 berries where you are layering the tip. To run 

 both ways is to twist off the young plants. 



Strawberries should be well worked and 

 manured now, for the larger the fall growth 

 the more fruit next year. Night slops and 

 wash water are excellent for this fruit; the 

 former especially must be well reduced, as too 

 strong does harm. If an old bed of plants are 

 matted over the ground spade or plow under 

 the older plants, leaving rows of new plants 

 half-way between. 



Fruit in Western New York. The Apple and 

 Peach crop is very light, not enough for home 

 consumption in the fresh state. We passed 

 through one large Apple orchard the past week 

 of over 300 trees that will not give to exceed 35 

 bushels of Apples. The same may be said all 

 through this great Apple section, and as for 

 Peaches, there are none. In our young orchard 

 of 4,000 trees we will not get one-half bushel. 

 Pears and Plums are a good crop with us. 



It Worked Well. We refer to the plan of 

 ours in transforming an old Black Rasjiberry 

 plantation into a new Blackberry field. It was 

 a year ago la.st spring that we had a plantation 

 of Kentucky Raspberries ( black ) that was 

 running out. Knowing we could expect a fair 

 crop or two yet, but not more than that, we 

 entered upon the plan of setting the Snyder 

 Blackberry half way between the former in 

 each row, and when they got to bearing well 

 to cut out the Raspberries. So far th e outcome 

 has been good, thus getting a good crop of 



