24 HOME FRUIT GROWER 



to be dug over annually with the spade. The walk is permanent, of 

 clean cinders, dry and weedless. It should be used to avoid walking 

 on the plowed soil. The strip between the walk and the fences will 

 not be plowed as there is not room to turn the horses; so it is filled 

 with permanent plants as a boundary planting, but instead of flowering 

 shrubs and herbs we have Asparagus, Blackberries, Raspberries, 

 Currants and Gooseberries. 



This lot is large enough for a few fruit trees, and fruits are fully 

 as valuable a home product as vegetables. The trees also give height, 

 shade, interest and accent to the garden, just as purely ornamental 

 trees will do, flowers in Spring, and most useful fruit in Summer and 

 Fall. The choice of varieties is a personal affair, and must be modified 

 for each section of our country. For home use I have planted one 

 Bartlett Pear, one Transcendent Grab, one Crawford Early Peach, 

 and one Orange Quince these four more for the preserves than the 

 fresh fruit and three Japanese Plums (Red June, Abundance and 

 Satsuma for succession) to be eaten from the tree; for I don't care 

 for cooked Plums. One of the Plums might be a Sweet Cherry, but the 

 tree will get too big, and I can get more fruit in proportion from a 

 Plum. 



For fresh fruit the year round I depend upon four Apple trees, 

 placed 40 feet apart, the other trees being used as fillers. The Apple 

 trees may shade too much of the garden some day, but perhaps Onions 

 and Potatoes will be cheaper by then. I want Apples every month, 

 so I got four young Baldwin trees and grafted upon each a branch of 

 an early, a mid-season and a late variety, getting the scions from 

 orchards in the town. One tree is thus equally Williams Favorite, 

 Gravenstein, Roxbury Russett and Baldwin; the second, Yellow 

 Transparent, Mclntosh Red, Yellow Bellflower, and Baldwin; the 

 third, Golden Sweet, Porter, Tolman Sweet and Baldwin; and the 

 fourth, Red Astrachan, Snow, Wealthy and Baldwin. Thus I shall 

 be certain to have plenty of Apples each year, though each variety 

 bear heavily but every third year, and no season shall I get such loads 

 of fruit that a large part is wasted. [This idea is a very practical one 

 and not only for Apples, but for other tree fruits.] 



Around the walk on its inner side, as it is not easy to plow close 

 to the fruit trees, there are strips of perennial salad and sweet herbs 

 Rhubarb, Curly Dock, Horseradish, Dandelion, Lovage, Sage, Thyme, 

 etc. and the more temporary bush fruits, as Blackcap Raspberries 

 and Wineberries. 



The true vegetable area is in three parts, to be plowed length- 

 wise, the rows running north and south. The area farthest from 

 the house is given to Strawberries, a good early and a late sort, with a 



