56 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



December, 



Raspberries from patches where fruit is 

 obtained under most adverse conditions.— 

 [Bulletin from the Guelph (Ont.) Agricul- 

 tural College. 



Our English Cousins Air their Know- 

 ledge on Fruit Marketing. 

 At a recent conference of more than fifty 

 of the leading English fruit growers, held 

 in Sydenham, near London, the following 

 points were brought out as reported by the 

 Gardener's Chronicle. We also present 

 several illustrations of fruit pacliages 



Pig. 1. Crate Complete tmth Trays. 



recommended at this meeting. Fig. 1 show- 

 ing a case of trays for holding the fruit, 

 Fig. 3, one of the movable trays previous to 

 placing in the case. 



Ignorance as regards packing and the con- 

 dition in which fruit should be marlteted 

 are the principal causes of loss to the fruit 

 grower. We frequently send it too ripe, 

 and make use of any package that may 

 come to hand, with little regard as to 

 whether it is too deep or too shallow, or is 

 otherwise suitable. Packing is an import- 

 ant factor in securing good prices; what is 

 the use of growing the best fruit in the 

 world if it be spoiled in transit '! Never 

 send fruit too ripe. Peaches and early 

 Pears especially should be packed hard, as 

 they travel better in that condition, and are 

 rarely used by the retailer for several days 

 alter purchasing. If possible, never send 

 fruit for Saturday's market, except small 

 fruits. Monday and Tuesday for the first 

 part of the week, Wednesday and Thursday 

 for the latter part. All fruit should be 

 sorted into bests and seconds, and in some 

 cases into thirds. There are always buyers 

 of first and other grades, but seldom of 

 mixed qualities. 



Anyone could grow fruit if they had the 

 . trees, land, and climate; but not everyone 

 could get the best price for it. "To put the 

 best side towards London," is very unfair 

 to the salesman and the customer in town. 

 This is the reason why many complaints 

 were made of certain growers receiving 

 poor prices. 



But did the English fruit growers ever 

 trouble whether the fruit was bruised or 

 not? No; in nine cases out of ten all he 

 cared about was getting it off the trees and 

 into market, many times without consider- 

 ing which sort ouglit to go first. One grow- 

 er's packing wouUi make double the price 

 of another's if his mark had become known 

 as an honest packer. The French often 

 realized more for one ton of tlieir fruit than 

 English growers for two tons, because they 

 did not begrudge employing labor. Labor 

 would and must pay. 



None but the finest fruit should be put in 

 the trays,(shown in Fig. 3). With respect to 

 marketing, fruit must be disposed of in the 

 most economical way, and also having 

 facilities for preserving fruit and vegetables 

 in superabundant seasons, besides, the sur- 

 plus left from each day's sales must be 

 utilized, for it is to this surplus that the 

 growers iu extended fruit cultivation must 

 look for the profit. 



As regards Apple packing, it was said 

 that if English growers wished to compete 

 successfully with American fruit, more 

 attention must be paid to this matter. 



Notes from the Germantovi^n. Pa., 

 Nurseries. 



VV. FALCONER, QUEENS CO., N. T. 



If Professor Thomas Meehan were not so 

 great and good and esteemed a citizen the 

 City of Brotherly I>ove, no doubt would let 

 him stay home and mind his own business, 

 and not insist upon his presence in their big 

 town to mind theirs, But they have heaped 

 well deserved honors upon his head and 

 every gardener in broad America feels a 

 personal pride in the honors bestowed upon 

 Prof. Meehan, always our friend and 

 teacher. While I was rambling through 

 his nurseries the other day, he was sitting 

 in the Council, in Philadelphia, but his son 

 Thomas, and his brother Joseph were my ca- 

 pital companions. In an old established nur- 

 sery like this, and especially the home of a 

 botanist, we are sure to find many trees and 

 shrubs, and lesser plants not generally 

 grown in other nurseries. The following 

 notes are about some things I noticed. 



Of Halesia Diptera. A bushy plant, lb 

 or 17 ft. high, on a sloping bank and closely 

 shelteretl by a clump of other trees, is now 

 bearing a cup of seed pods, and this for the 

 first time. Many evidences of tenderness 

 exist in the form of stubs of old kilied-back 

 branches. But if we cannot rely upon this 

 species, we find in the commoner and more 

 northern Snowdrop Tree, (H. tetraijtcra,) a 

 hardy and lovely flowering shrub tree. 



The Supple-Jack, (Bcrckemia volubilis) 

 of the south also shows evidences of hard 

 battles with former winters, but as we have 

 many handsomer vines that are perfectly 

 hardy with us, we can well spare this deni- 

 zen of oiu- southern swamps. 



Of Ilex monticola, I observed several 

 nice thrifty plants. This species is indige- 

 nous to the mountains of North Carolina 

 and behaves as if it were hardy enough 

 about Philadelphia and New York, at least 

 our plants on Long Island have survived 

 the winter unscratched. It is a deciduous 

 species and highly recommended by those 

 who have seen it in its mountain home. 



The Gordonias. Handsome shrubs from 

 the Southern States. The Loblolly Bay 



(G. Liisian- 

 thus) bloom- 

 ed this year 

 for the first 

 time in this 

 nursery. The 

 Frankllnia 

 (Q. pubes- 

 censj has sev- 

 eral flowers 



Fig. 2. Character of the Trays. Open nOW 



(Oct. 31,) and that too on plants not over 

 two feet high. But at this time of the year 

 it is not the white blossom but the crimson 

 foliage of these Gordonias that is so attrac- 

 tive, and nothing now is brighter. But 

 Gordonias are rather tender in their youth 

 and require some nursing in the way of care 

 and shelter for tlie first few years. 



The Russian Ivy, (Hedcra Tauricaj is a 

 pretty little Evergreen Ivy and said to be 

 perfectly hardy. It is running over a rock- 

 ery at the office door and climbing up a tree 

 near at hand. 



Mr. Meehan has received a good many 

 complaints to the effect that the Weeping 

 Flowering Dogwood (Comitsflorida) is hard 

 to transplant successfully. Why should 

 there be more difficulty with it than with 

 the typical form I cannot see, for isn't it 

 grafted on the common species ? But I can 

 guess. In transplanting deciduous trees 

 and shrubs we should cut the tops well 



back in order to Insure success; in the case 

 of this Weeping Dogwood we may hesitate 

 to cut the tops back least we remove all 

 the wood that shows a weeping tendency 

 our hesitation often being rewarded by the 

 death of the object of our consideration. 



The Pin Oak, (Q. pahistiis). Mr. Joseph 

 Meehan considers this one of the easiest of 

 the genus to transplant, and 1 believe it is 

 one of the prettiest. There is an individual 

 contour to this species by which you can 

 tell it almost a quarter of a mile away. 

 We have an avenue of these Pin Oaks which 

 from the .5th t« the end of October was a 

 sight worth seeing on account of their crim- 

 son-tinted leaves. The great objection to 

 them is that they always have a deal of 

 dead, twiggy wood among their branches. 



Other Oaks. There is a good demand 

 for American Oaks. Some of the higher- 

 class landscape architects have a strong pre- 

 ference for American trees, and Oaks in 

 particular. The general public who visit 

 the nurseries and select their trees, lean 

 with most favor to the Scarlet Oak, with 

 Red Oak as next choice. 



Berberries Thunbergii. A very pretty 

 mat of color, crimson and gold, is a bed of 

 little seedlings of this Japanese species, 

 which, I think is the finest of all deciduous 

 Barberries. Mature plants are 3 to 4 feet 

 higli, more than that across, of dense habit, 

 with arching very leafy branches, and oval 

 scarlet fruit that will hang upon the bushes 

 tiU the new leaves appear the next spring. 



Benthamia Japonica is in thrifty condi- 

 tion and more than ever resembles our Flow- 

 ering Dogwood,_ the leaves of both plants 

 are much alike in general appearance and 

 color. I saw larger specimens of this plant 

 in bloom at Flushing last summer, and the 

 flowers had a striking resemblance to those 

 of the Flowering Dogwood, although borne 

 two months later in the season. 



Idesia poltcarpa, from Japan, holds up 

 its head as if it meant to make its home here. 

 Should it prove hardy it would be a desider- 

 atum. It is a very striking large-leaved tree, 

 but about Boston and New York it has 

 despised our hospitality, being too tender. 



Both here, and elsewhere, around Phila- 

 delphia, 1 noticed some large plants 8 to 10 ft, 

 or more high, of the Japanese Red Bud (Cu- 

 cis Chincnscs). It assumes more of a shrub 

 than a_tree shape, and is not so handsome a 

 plant as is the American species (C. Cana- 

 densis,) but its larger and brighter flowers in 

 spring and the great profusion of them 

 cause it to be much esteemed. 



We seldom come across so large and full 

 a plant of Cornelian Cherry (Convus Ma.s.) 

 as one that is growing near Mr. Meehan's 

 house. From its appearance now, so full 

 of little buds, it must be a handsome sight 

 next March and April, when its leafless 

 branches shall be sprinkled all over with 

 yellow blossoms. Indeed I think we might 

 use more of these early blooming shrubs 

 than we do with advantage. We also have 

 Spice Bush, Fragrant Sumach, Corylopsis, 

 Mezeron and Fragrant Bush Honeysuckle to 

 be quickly succeeded by Forsythias, Japan 

 Quince and other more showy shrubs. 



Mr. Meehan got some plants of " Vibur- 

 ii.wm varicgatutn" from California, but al- 

 though the shrubs have grown well enough 

 none of them have shown any sign of varie- 

 gation. Well, this IS all right. No doubt 

 the plants are V. rotund ijollumvarlega- 

 tum, a Japanese Snowball of great excel- 

 ence in the way, of but a little earlier than 

 V. plicatum. In fair-sized plants a few of 

 the leaves, but never allot them, show vari- 

 egation. The Variegated Ginkgo is another 

 case in which similar sparse and uncertain 

 variegation is shown. Natiu-ally enough a 

 customer buying a Variegated-leaved Snow- 

 ball shrub would expect to find some varie- 

 gation in the foliage, and would consider he 



