136 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



March, 



clearly of the opinion that if we will pick our 

 berries in the cool of the day, or if picked when 

 warm we will at once send them to a cooling 

 room, and when thoroughly cooled pack them 

 in tight boxes or baskets, in crates where the air 

 will not directly reach them, berries will keep 

 twic« as long and in better condition than they 

 do now, in what we call our best yentilated 

 packages. 



It is usually good policy to conform to the cus- 

 tomers of the markets whose trade we seek. 

 However, where we find those that have not 

 attained a high standard, it may be well to humor 

 them to the extent of sending second-cliiss fruit 

 in the old style, and market our best in the most 

 approved packages attainable. It will attract 

 attention to our goods, and win favor and custom, 

 especially if we guarantee every package to be 

 as represented. We cannot afford to spend eleven 

 months of careful cultivation of our fruits, and 

 then accept inferior prices, simply for the want 

 of a little care in the details of marketing. 



Cranberry Growing in New England. 



[Extract of paper read by J. ir_ Stockwell before the 

 Massashiissetts Board of Agriculture .^ 



The color of the matured fruit varies from 

 the light red of the inland berry to Cape 

 Cod Black Caps. The lighter berries are 

 finer flavored, richer and more juicy. The 

 darker berries, having a thicker, coarser 

 skin keep better. This difference in the 

 color of berries is in the soil and culture 

 rather than in the varieties. The Black 

 Caps which grow on the Cape become 

 brighter on the rich meadow lands in the 

 interior of the state. 



The first requisite of success is a sure supply 

 of water for protection from the frosts in the 

 spring, insect pests in summer and early frosts 

 in the fall, as well as for covering the vines in 

 the winter. Next there must be a good supply 

 of coarse sand, free as possible from loam or 

 other impurities. 



Their should be a main drain with sufScient 

 incline to insure a quick flow when desired, and 

 into this should be cut cross drains to carry off 

 water after rains as soon as possible. On our 

 inland meadows with a subsoil of rich muck 

 or peat from six to ten inches deep, any bog 

 will be more satisfactory if it is smoothly turned 

 over with a flat furrow steel plow, drawn by a 

 strong team. The sand can be applied at most 

 any time of the year. A portable tramway with 

 only three or four cars will enable you to keep 

 a good working force at the bank and do the 

 work to the best advantage. 



The plants should be set in the spring, not later 

 than the first of June. I prefer the hill method. 

 The necessary tools are merely a home-made 

 marker, a pointed, round spud and a small 

 wooden towel or dibble for setting the vines, 

 W hen the ground has been lined off with the 

 marker, the spud is driven into the ground at 

 each intersection and carefully withdrawn so 

 that the hole shall not fill. The vines are then 

 set in the holes and the sand firmly pressed 

 around them. The \ines should be fresh and 

 thrifty and kept moist till placed in the hill. 

 They should be sorted by hand to be sure they 

 are free from any other root or grass, and when 

 straightened out cut into lengths of about ten 

 inches if the sand is six inches deep. After be- 

 ing thoroughly soaked in water they are ready 

 for planting out. 



The first danger now comes from variation of 

 temperature, and the bog is a source of anxiety 

 from the day the water is drawn off. May 10 to 

 15, until the last berry is picked. The danger 

 from light frosts is not passed until June 10, and 

 the susceptible tender shoots, contiiining the 

 blossom buds, must be carefully guarded. In 

 the fall it is not safe for the owner of the bog to 

 be off duty after August 15, though it is seldom 

 that injurious frosts come before the 25th. The 

 green Cranberries are very susceptible to frosts, 

 but grow more hardy as the fruit matures The 

 early frosts in September this year would have 

 had little or no effect had they not occurred 

 from September 15 to 20. 



Insect pests are the next trouble— the miller 

 and its result, the flre-fang, the fruit worm, the 

 cricket and the grasshopper. The unfailing 

 remedy is water applied when wind and current 

 unite to watt the insects safely over the dam as 

 the water is let off. 



A thorough, careful culture is essential the 

 flrst and second years, but the third should give 

 a fair crop of flrst-class berries, 150 bushels per 



acre being a fair average jield, though as high as 

 3.50 is not uncommon. 



The picking is done by hand, costing from forty 

 to sixty cents per bushels. Pickers will make 

 from $1 to S2 per day of about eight hours. There 

 is no more beautiful crop raised than the Cran- 

 berry. The bud and the blossom are a thing of 

 beauty, and a well—cultivated bog from June 15 

 to the close of the season is very attractive and 

 enticing, most so as the fruit approaches ma- 

 turity, taking on its crimson tint, the berries 

 crowding one another for sunlight, the air and 

 the heat. 



The CranbeiTy being an American plant, and 

 the berry as yet unknown in Europe, we have 

 no export demand, and must depend on the 

 home market; but the business if conducted on 

 the right principles and with strict attention to 

 details, is sure to make good returns for well- 

 directed labor. 



Fruit Grower and Commission 

 Merchant. 



{Itertis from a paper read by R. Morrill, before the 

 Michigan Horticultural Society,1 



Selling fruit at auction will soon be press- 

 ing the commission men hard. It has been 

 tried in various places and has generally 

 given satisfaction, especially so in New 

 York during the past season. I believe 

 some enterprising man will soon try it in 

 Chicago, and he will be well supplied with 

 produce, at least until the success or failure 

 of the plan has been determined. If not, 

 some combination of growers will undoubt- 

 edly try the experiment, and it should be 

 put to the test early next season. 



In dealing with our commission merchants, 

 there are a few things which we should not ex- 

 pect of him, yet which are too often asked. He 

 stands between two fires, one from the grower 

 and the other from the buyer, and we must not 

 expect him to protect us from our own iniquity 

 in any form. 



If we use "snide " packages we must not ex- 

 pect him to get as good prices as he would for 

 standard packages. 



If we will insist on stuffing the bottoms of our 

 packages with inferior fruit, we should not ex- 

 pect him to lose a customer on account of that, 

 but he should make the customer satisfied at 

 our expense, even if he has to even it up from 

 later shipments. 



We must not blame him, if we send him a con- 

 signment with strict orders to sell at once, if he 

 sells low; or, if not finding a buyer, he takes the 

 lot himself at its market value. I have frequent- 

 ly heard shippers complain that they receive 

 sales while they know the goods are still in the 

 store. Sometimes this is their own fault, as they 

 compel the merchant to take this course in order 

 to hold their trade, and we must expect him to 

 buy at a safe price. 



There is one feature of the business, which is 

 sometimes practiced, that we object to most 

 decidedly. That is the practice of making selec- 

 tions from consignments for storing, leaving the 

 seconds to be worked off, thereby injuring the 

 sale of the lot ; and in such cases proper prices 

 are seldom attached to the first selection. 



In the matter of commissions, I feel that the 

 time has come for our dealers to reduce our 

 expenses somewhat in this line. Chicago is 

 rapidly approaching New York in size and 

 volume of business, and certainly no citj' has 

 better facilities for handling produce. StUI. the 

 old war-time rate of ten per cent is charged^ 

 while I am told that such business is done in New 

 York and other eastern cities at five per cent. 



Another item in the account, against us, is 

 the cartage— a small matter it may seem to some 

 but in the aggregate it counts up. In the account 

 of sales of three commission houses for berries, 

 one charges one cent cartage, another one- 

 half cents, the third two cents. The one charg- 

 ing me one cent has sold for me many years. I 

 am acquainted with the man who has his carting 

 contract and he is very prosperous. I do not 

 know whether he gets all the cartage charges or 

 not, but he certainly gets no more. Now, regard- 

 ing the man who gets two cents. Does it actually 

 cost two cents'i' Why will they not reduce tbese 

 rates to actual cost, make it uniform, and relieve 

 us of the impression that our commission mer- 

 chant is taking an unfair advantage of us? Have 

 we not ten or more merchants who will join us 

 in an agreement to reduce commissions and 

 cartage to the lowest consistent rates for all 

 consignments? 



Massachusetts Horticultural 

 Society. 



I "CliT^santhemums." a paper by W. A. Martda, before 

 the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. I 



These deservedly popular plants have 

 been brought up to such a state of perfec- 

 tion that in their season they command the 

 sole attention of the flower-loving public. 

 In its native home, Japan, it is most care- 

 fully cultivated and esteemed as a national 

 flower and Japanese emblem. 



The ClasBes. The genus Chrysanthemum com- 

 prises nearly a hundred species. The one from 

 which all the present varieties have been derived 

 is supposed to be the Cluysanthemum Indicum, a 

 rather inconspicuous single yellow flower. 



The Chrysanthemums at present in cultivation 

 are divided into several classes, namely, the 

 Chinese, Japanese, Anemone and Pon^pon. Each 

 class is again sub-divided into several others, and 

 lately the hybrid varieties produced by inter- 

 crossing different types have brought forms that 

 are hard to class in any particular group. Thus 

 we have the Chinese incurved, Clilnese reflexed, 

 Japanese incurved and reflexed, Japanese anem- 

 one. Pompon anemone, mid so oa. The aim of the 

 raiser nowadays is to produce large flowering 

 varieties; the substance, color, stem and habit of 

 the plant seem to be secondary considerations. It 

 is especially noticeable that while hundreds upon 

 hundreds of new Japanese varieties have been 

 introduced every year, only very few of the 

 Chinese class have been added, while the Pom- 

 pons are discarded and rarely met with. 



Hybridizing, When hybridizing, the principle 

 object should be to improve upon the vigor and 

 color of any varieties more than the mere size. 

 A first-class Chrysanthemum should be of free 

 growth, with stiff stems, the foliage clean and 

 furnishing the stems up to the flower, while the 

 flower itself should be of good substance, well 

 formed and of pleasing color. The colors which 

 are yet to be obtained, aside from the impossible 

 blue, which I never expect to see, are a fine clear 

 orange and clear bright red, which are wanted 

 to brighten up our collections. 



A great number of the leading varieties of 

 Chrysanthemums have been from time to time 

 imported from Japan, and when the hairy variety 

 Mrs. Alpheus Hardy, made its appearance, it 

 raised a sensation among Chrysanthemum lovers, 

 and we hope that variety may be a parent of 

 quite a distinct class, although the seedlings 

 raised from it have not yet produced any that 

 were furnished with the glandular hairs which 

 give to that variety its peculiar beauty. The 

 majority of the Chryanthemums at present in 

 cultivation have been raised in Europe, and of 

 late years in America. Our country has started 

 late, but has made up for time lost, and at pre- 

 sent the most valuable and esteemed varieties 

 are American kinds. 



A new variety should never be finally judged 

 the first year, but must be grown at least two 

 seasons before it is well tested. Some of the 

 most promising varieties have proven total 

 failures the second year, while, on the other 

 hand, many that have been condemned the flrst 

 year have proven valuable when tried another 

 season. 



The hybridizing or cross-fertilizingot Chrysan- 

 themums is a very uncertain work as 'regards 

 results, owing to the mass of florets which are 

 gathered in one single head. It is very hard to 

 tell whether the floret has been fertilized with 

 its own pollen or cross-fertilized with the pollen 

 of another variety of the same class, but diflJerent 

 color, by the agency of insects, especially bees, 

 before the hand of the horticulturist has tried 

 his own work on it; and it is for this reasou that 

 no raiser of Chrysanthemums can say with any 

 degree of certainty that any variety is a cross 

 between such and such varieties, except when 

 kept separately from all other varieties of the 

 collection. In regard to the results it is also 

 misleading ; the colors of the supposed parents 

 are sometimes never reproduced, and if you 

 raise as many as fifty seedlings from the same 

 head of flower you may get all colors, but none 

 like the two parents. 



Vigor. In point of vigor of growth. Chrysan- 

 themums vary considerably in various sections 

 of the country, as well as in different seasons. 

 Thus many of the varieties cultivated in Eng- 

 land for exhibition cannot be grown here with 

 any success, and iHee i'ersfj; while last .year being 

 exceptionally wet, none of the Chrysanthemums 

 planted out of doors did as well as usual. As to 

 the various sections of this country, we find that 



