1890. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



241 



ueijrlilim-luKHi, iind who do not object to 

 aniniKO iu the work when they reeiive S~' (HI per 

 diiy. The paeking is done in new whit*; baskets, 

 made fniiu uphinil Poplar, tlie fruit being jiacked 

 absolutely honest from top to bottom. They 

 then guarantee everything being Just right, and 

 ask and get 75 cents more a basket than the run- 

 ning priee. 



Trees for Planting. Mr. Hale stated that in 

 phinling their large orchards they have bought 

 more or less trees from other nurserymen, but 

 have always found a certain degree of mixture. 

 This he attriliutes to the common course among 

 propagators of taking buds from the nursery 

 stock instead of from liearing trees. Hcstrongly 

 urged nurserymen present not tn dt> this. He 

 knows that it is more trouble to procure buds 

 from bearing trees, but good cultivation and 

 thorough tillage wUl lead to a yield of suitable 

 buds. 



Financial Outcome. Although their experi- 

 ence in I'euch culture was very satisfactory and 

 promised excellent results, yet Mr. Hale did not 

 hesitate to say that if what they had accom- 

 plished was to be judged by the dollar and cent 

 returns for the e-xpenses Involved, then the 

 operations had not yet been the success they 

 have credit for. He stated that their large or- 

 chards up to two years ago were In debt over 

 Sfl.OOO. The crop of that year about equalled the 

 expenses. Last year they gathered 17,000 baskets, 

 which sold from §2.50 to f 3.00 per basket for No. 

 I fruit, and the cheaper for from SI.BO to $2,00 

 per basket The orchard average about 1.04 per 

 basket, making a total yield of $2n.0iM. They felt 

 proud of their triumph at last, when for years 

 there had been a cry against their undertakings 

 as being sure to result iu failure, 



A Caution to Imitators. Now his neighbors all 

 see this and are greatly impressed by the large 

 returns of fruit in the past few years, but they 

 know nothing about the work and the expense 

 involved. Their success, therefore has been the 

 means of leading many of them to plant very 

 extensively, and in all sorts of ways. Mr. Hale 

 believes that 100,000 Peach trees have been planted 

 this year in their section, but of these he thinks 

 80,000 will never bear a Peach. He gave quite 

 an amusing account of how the agents talk in 

 order to sell trees. One firm lays great stress 

 upon the fact that we are now coming around 

 to old time Peach culture, when every tree, pro- 

 vided it was the right kind, would bear im- 

 mensely. Such agents were prepared to furnish 

 these trees. They were propagated strickly from 

 the seed the same as In their grandfathers' time. 

 These agents sell many trees at gl.OO each or 

 glO.OO per dozen. His neighbors were gullable 

 and invested heavily, but the whole thing was a 

 fraud and a disgrace. 



Mr. Albaugh made some remarks to the effect 

 that there are two Peach belts in his state, one 

 near Lake Erie and the other south along the 

 Ohio river. He thinks the principal advantage 

 of the latter is the high hills. In this part of 

 Ohio they have had three or four successive 

 crops of Peaches. 



Mr. Albaugh also called attention to another 

 Peach belt in northern Kentucky and southern 

 Indiana. He mentioned one orchard of 30,000 

 Peach trees, one-third each of Salway, Smock 

 and Henrietta. The trees are in bearing, healthy, 

 no yellows, the trees bending to the ground with 

 three or four baskets of fruit from each tree, 

 and from which the growers realized after care- 

 ful picking at the rate of J3.50 per bushel. In 

 that vicinity there are over 200,000 trees in bear- 

 ing, and they have recently made the growers 

 rich. While in Ohio, Indiana and Illinois Peaches 

 have been a large crop for three or four years, 

 this year there is a break. 



CONDENSED GLEANINGS. 



Machine for Hilling Celery. The mold-boards 

 are ailjustable to suit the height of the plants, 

 and laterally to correspond with the width of 

 the rows, the machine being designed to crowd 

 the earth from the bottom of the furrows under 

 the leaves simultaneously upon both sides of the 

 rows. It has been patented by Mr. Maurice M. 

 Hanney, of Michigan. The side beams of the 

 frame are adjustable laterally upon the cross 

 beams, and from the under side of each side 

 beam projects a pedestal with an attached spud 

 axle upon which the drive wheels revolve. A 

 post extends downwardly, from a bracket on the 

 under side of each side beam, through a staple 

 and eye formed on a plate attached to the for- 

 ward end of the mold-board, each post being 

 stayed by a brace bar, and the eyes and staples 



lieing large enough to move freely upon the post. 

 For the vertical adjustment of the mold-boards, 

 a link connects the staple on the forward end of 

 the mould-hoard, each post being stayed by a 

 brace bar. .\nd the eyes and staples being large 

 enough to move freely upon the post. For the 

 vertical adjustment of the mold-boards, a link 

 conncts the staple on the forward end of each 

 with the forward end of a lever fuleruracd upon 

 an upright of the frame, a rack secured to one 

 of the side beams lieing provided for each lever, 

 which extends to within easy reach of the driver. 

 A stirrup is bolted upon the outer face of each 

 mould-board at its rear end, a chain from each 

 stirrup passing over a friction pulley Journaled 

 at the upper end of a rack secured to the center 

 cross beam, to attachment with a lever pivoted 

 on the forward cross beam, and extending to the 

 driver. The mold-boards are so hung that they 

 are quite a distance apart at their forward ends, 

 and nearer together at the rear, where the two 

 boards are connected by a 

 siiiral spring, which spring is 

 attached through short adjust- 

 able arms, whereby the spring 

 may be lengthened when it is 

 desired to only half hill the 

 rows. The driver, by resting 

 his feet In the stirrups of the 

 mouldboards, can adapt them 

 to any crookedness of the rows 

 or irregularities of the surface, 

 the machine being adjustable 

 to rows from three to five feet 

 apart and from six inches to 

 two and a half feet in height — 

 Scientific American. 



Superior Produce always 

 Pays. Of late very flue and 

 beautiful fancy Pansies have 

 been brought into the London 

 flower market, in large quanti- 

 ties, at 3d. and id. each at re- 

 tail, while scores of thousands 

 of good Pansies— fancy, bed- 

 ding, etc.— are sold at from 6d. to 9d. per 

 dozen during the season. The very fine strain 

 referred to is grown from seed sown about .luly, 

 dibbled into the best of highly manured soil, 

 slightly sloping, and over these as tlie spring 

 comes on are placed broad, low frames and lights 

 keeping the plants also well watered; they are 

 brought into bloom in rapid succession, and the 

 market is furnished over a long season. Of 

 course the fine quality of the flowers is primarily 

 due to the strain, but some of the size is mate- 

 rially due to cultivation, whilst covering them 

 with lights not only develops the blooms early, 

 but-evenly,so that with several ranges of frames 

 at disposal, a long .succession of flowers is main- 

 tained. The production of these beautiful 

 Pansies is but another evidence of the care and 

 forethought shown b.v some of our market 

 growers in catering for the requirements of 

 the public. The trade in them so far has shown 

 that good things pay best, whilst the public pre- 

 fer to be well served, even with such common 

 hardy flowers as are Pansies.— Gardening World, 



The Purslane Pest, The only weed that some- 

 times troubles me badly under my system of 

 management is the one known as " Purslane " a 

 near relative of the garden "Portulaca," with 

 its succulent leaves and stems and its indiffer- 

 ence to ill treament. Dry weather does not wilt 

 it ; a hot sun does not burn it ; cutting off with 

 hoe or cultivator does not generally kill it; and 

 the more you cut and mutilate it, the more you 

 do for its rapid increase. I can keep it in reason- 

 able subjection by the unceasing use of wheel 

 hoe or finger weeder between the rows, and by 

 pulling out from among the vegetables in the 

 rows, provided I have some one following me 

 with a basket to pick up and remove the plants 

 to the chicken-yard or hog-pen (hogs are fond of 

 the weed). But on larger areas, in Potato Helds 

 and patches of running vines, where the soil 

 cannot be frequently turned over or cultivated, 

 the stuff is hard to kill, and still harder to pre- 

 vent from seeding. But can we not invent a 

 sure and simple way of eradicating this garden 

 pest?— Farm and Fireside. 



Marketing Fruit. The following are a few of 

 the general rules which should be oqserved by 

 cultivators and shippers. 1. Send no fruit to 

 market but the best in quality; reject all imper- 

 fect specimens; and the man who becomes 

 known for always furnishing only the best, will 

 in time lead the market. 3. In picking and pack- 

 ing, do not touch, rub or chafe the fruit with 

 the hands ; preserve its bloom and freshness ; 



handle only the stems, as nearly as practicable. 

 3. Avoid the adoption of the absurb fallacy that 

 " good fruit must sell the poor." 4. Pack with 

 strictest honesty, and with as fine a quality in 

 the centre of the package or at the bottom as at 

 the top, which will not prevent you from giving 

 a smooth, handsome surface to the packages. 

 5. Thus by furnishing only the very finest fruit, 

 you can afford to stencil your name on every 

 package ; and in this way your name will become 

 a synonym for the Onest in all the market. — 

 Country Gentleman. 



Watermelon Sugar. There is at the eastern 

 edge of the San Joaquin valley along the foot 

 of the Sierra Nevadas much land subject to being 

 destroyed by deep washings of sand, on which 

 nothing will grow but Melons, only two being 

 allowed to mature on single vine. As the Melons 

 are gathered they are slashed upon with a big 

 knife, and a wooden scoop empties the pulp into 

 a vessel where the juice is expressed. This is 



A DAFFODIL SIEVE. 



boiled rudely and crystallized like Maple sugar 

 in the Atlantic states. The sugar sells at remu- 

 nerative prices, is light colored and sweet. Red 

 pulp Melons give a darker sugar; white pulp 

 is therefore preferred. We have in this state a 

 great area of land similarly destroyed every 

 year. This sugar Melon example is commended 

 to poor men, who can get the free use of the 

 space and proceed on small capital.— Natural 

 Wealth of California. 



The May Moss. One of the loveliest of our 

 Pine-barren plants is the May Moss or Pyxie 

 (Pyri'danthera barbulata). It belongs, botanic- 

 ally, to the order of Diapensiaces^, and in general 

 appearance very closely resembles one member 

 of the Phlox family, the Moss Pink, having the 

 same prostrate creeping habit and similar foliage. 

 The flowers are pure white and star-shaped, but 

 its greatest charm lies in its unopened buds, 

 which are globular, about one-eight of an inch 

 in diameter, white with a rosy blush, and dotted 

 thickly over the plant, nestling like gems among 

 the foliage. Several of these plants, which were 

 transferred to the greenhouse about the first of 

 January with a temperature of 60° to 70°, com- 

 menced flowering in three weeks, and on re- 

 moval to a temperature ten degrees lower, they 

 remained in bloom for weeks— Wm. F. Bassett 

 in Am. Garden. 



Georgia CoUards. What we want here in the 

 south is a Cabbage that can be safely carried 

 through late summer and be reliable for heading 

 in autumn and winter. The difficulty in this 

 has led to the almost universal use of the Collard 

 which by the by is no mean vegetable after frost 

 has made it tender. The practice of calling any 

 Cabbage that has failed to head a Collard has 

 given this vegetable a bad name with those who 

 have never tasted a real Georgia Collard. The 

 difficulty in raising the plants in hot summer 

 weather is one of the greatest obstacles to the 

 raising of winter Cabbage here, and it seems to 

 me that growers at the north or in the mountains 

 might make a good thing by supplying the low 

 country with plants for setting in August and 

 September.— W. F. Massey.in Garden and Forest, 



Daffodil Sieve. The Illustration shows some 

 workmen engaged in lifting and sorting the 

 bulbs of Daffodils in a nursery. The implement 

 is of simple construction, and in form a combi- 

 nation of hand-barrow and cinder-sifter, the 

 frame of wood and the sieve of wire, the bulbs 

 when dug up in dry weather with a six-tined 

 steel fork being shaken lightly about by hand 

 the adhering soil falling through, and all the 



