1889. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



81 



with one inch of soil. Do this before winter. 

 Next spring the seed will come up, and now 

 comes thinning out to about two inches 

 apart, and careful weeding and plowing 

 until fall. These seedling Apple trees, will 

 be from one to three feet high, with nice, 

 straight roots 12 inches long, and there will 

 be from 200,(HIO to .50(),tHKl on every acre thus 

 planted, that will sell readily for from *4 to 

 .<H) per 1,000. Talk to any leading nursery- 

 men about it, and see how quickly you can 

 contract for all you desire to raise. 



Pointers for Peach Growers. 



W. F. BASSETT, ATLANTIC CO., N. J. 



Making Peaches Pat axd the Reverse. 

 In reply to my question, what varieties to 

 plant, a successful Peach nurseryman said: 

 It depends as much upon the grower, as 

 upon varieties, whether large high colored 

 fruit of good quality, and abundant crops 

 are secured or the reverse. 



Trees of the same varieties have been 

 planted by two men in the same neighbor- 

 hood and one would have choice fruit and 

 large profits and the other inferior fruit and 

 a loss. The former fertilized and cultivated 

 well and kept the borers out, while the 

 latter cultivated rarely and perhaps tilled 

 deep enough to injure the roots in some 

 places and too shallow in others, took out 

 the borers once in two or three years and 

 allowed grass and weeds to overrun the 

 orchard. Some men with the best kinds will 

 never produce fruit larger than a Walnut. 



I recall the case of one man who planted 

 1,000 trees of common standard varieties, 

 Oldmixon, Stump, Crawfords Late, Rare- 

 ripe, etc. He plowed and harrowed from 

 April till September, to keep his orchard 

 clear, manured heavily with stable manure 

 every fall and allowed no borers in them. 

 The 4th year he sold his Crop for $1,000 on 

 the trees, the .5th year the same, and the 6th 

 for $950, upon same conditions, the 7th year 

 proved unfavorable in various respects, but 

 still the crop netted him nearly $600, and he 

 considered the orchard good for 7 years 

 longer; he had just cut down an orchard 

 which remained in good condition 17 years. 

 A neighbor of his set 1,800 trees of similar 

 varieties from same block, plowed his land 

 once a year, removed borers once in two or 

 three years and on naturally poor soil, fer- 

 tilized very little, in consequence of which 

 the trees are all yellow and small withered 

 fruit cling more or less to the pits. The for- 

 mer considers his 1,000 trees the best he ever 

 purchased, while the latter claims that he 

 was cheated in the stock. 



Vert Late Varieties. It is an un- 

 doubted fact that fine Peaches bring extra 

 large prices late in the season, but in re- 

 peated trials with such varieties I have 

 never made even a partial success, and the 

 very fact that extravagantly high rates are 

 maintained points to a want of general 

 success. The opinion of an intelligent and 

 successful grower of Peach trees on these 

 points and his reply was that very late va- 

 rieties had not proved generally successful, 

 but that in certain localities they seldom 

 failed to ripen up well. Moral: the grower 

 should invest very lightly in such varieties 

 if at all, unless known to succeed in that 

 particular locality. 1 am told that an Island 

 in Cumberland Co., in this State which was 

 formerly occupied as a truck farm, changed 

 hands, and the new proprietor set a few 

 Peach trees which produced abundantly of 

 very large fruit of extra quality and appear- 

 ance, and acting xipon this hint he had 

 planted the whole Island with Peaches and 

 is realizing very large profits. 



One Cause of Yellows. In a large 

 Peach orchard were a few old worthless 

 Apple trees, and in reply to the question, 

 why these were not removed, the owner 



said that if these trees were taken out the 

 decaying roots would produce Yellows 

 among the Peach trees near them, but that 

 while the trees remained no such effect 

 would follow. This may be a mere whim 

 with no foundation in fact, but I am toUl 

 that the Peacli growers iu a certain district 

 near the Hudson River generally consider 

 it an established fact. 



The Secret of Success. One Peach 

 grower in Mercer Co., whose Peach orchards 

 were observed to produce fine crops and re- 

 tain their health and vigor for a long time, 

 declined to explain the treatment which 

 ensured success, but it was noted that he 

 used large quantities of ground bone and 

 kainit. 



Moderate Productiveness versus Thin- 

 ning. Several rather extensive planters 

 here, have included in their selection, some 

 varieties which are reputed to be only mod- 

 erately productive, because they fully un- 

 derstand that a half crop will bring more 

 money than a full one, a basket of extra 

 fine fruit being worth very much more than 

 two baskets of ordinary quality, and the 

 cost of transportation, etc., being only half 

 as much. Thorough thinning at the proper 

 time would, of course, answer the same 

 purpose, but this is very apt to be neglected. 



Vegetable Rotation and Culture. 



WM. FALCONER, QUEENS CO., N. Y. 



Apropos of Mr. Abbott's remarks, page 55 

 I would say that while I believe in the rota- 

 tion of crops, I do not find it always practic- 

 able or convenient. I make it a point in the 

 summer season never to have an empty 

 patch of land; indeed, most of my ground 

 is carrying two crops at one time, that is, the 

 second crop is planted or sown before the 

 first crop is off, and if this cannot be done, 

 it the first crop is ofl" to-day the second is in 

 to-morrow. This often renders much rota- 

 tion impracticable. 



I have one patch of good rich ground that 

 for some reason or other won't grow Melons, 

 Celery or Cauliflower, but Lima Beans 

 thrive on it, so I crop it year after year with 

 Limas in summer and Lettuce or Spinach 

 in spring, and these crops seem to improve 

 rather than deteriorate. I have gro^vn Par- 

 snips for several years without intermission 

 on the same ground and with no apparent 

 evU effect upon the crop, but Salsify and 

 Scorzonera show their disapproval of such 

 a course of treatment. 



I have cropped one piece of ground with 

 Peas in spring and Celery in summer for 

 several years and these crops were finer this 

 year than ever before. 



With plenty of cultivation (before plant- 

 ing) and plenty manure, Corn and Snap 

 Beans seem to thrive most anywhere. I 

 cannot raise as good Potatoes in the fatted 

 ground for garden vegetables as in the less 

 fertile farm fields. 



Cauliflower is peculiar. Fifty miles east 

 of here— about Jamesport and Riverhead — 

 Cauliflower grows without any trouble. So 

 it used to here, but now-a-days it needs 

 some humoring on account of the club root. 

 In fresh, rich farm land it does well yet, but 

 in garden ground we have to be careful. 



Onions, till they become attacked by some 

 disease or trouble, can be grown success- 

 fully, year after year for many years in the 

 same ground, but should they be attacked 

 by the Onion maggot, which appears in 

 May, or thfe leaf tlirips which come in June 

 and .Tuly, it is time to stop cropping that 

 particular ground with Onions. 



We should be guided by rust in Celery, 

 maggots in Spinach and worms in Turnips 

 in the same way, only, iis the maggots infest 

 the Spinach in fall and the worms the Tur- 

 nips in the spring, clean Spinach may be 

 grown in spring and clean Turnips in fall. 



Native Nuts Commercially Con- 

 sldered. 



C. W. IDELL, NEW YORK CITV. 



In years past the Walnut, Hickoiy and 

 Chestnut were but little known outside of 

 the family circle where they occupied the 

 attention of all during winter evenings, but 

 now they have emerged from this obscurity 

 and become prominent articles of commerce. 



The Black Walnut is not a popular one in 

 our market and the few that arrive are gen- 

 erally sold at from 50 cents per bushel to one 

 dollar per barrel. The Hickory Nut is a pop- 

 ular one and large, quantities are sold 

 annually. They vary much in size and 

 shape but those known as Shell Barks are 

 preferred to all others, owing to their shape 

 and the color of the meat. This Nut is 

 bought and sold at .50 lbs. to the bushel. In 

 purchasing for our market one should select 

 those that are large and possess a light shell 

 as well as meat, for appearances have much 

 to do in disposing of them readily. The 

 large ones known as Bull Nuts, are not 

 sought for although at times they are sold 

 in quantities to confectioners to work up 

 in candies. 



The Chestnut is the most popular of all 

 nuts and has many peculiarities connected 

 with it. The larger portion of these Nuts 

 are bought by Italians for roasting and 

 during their season, which lasts until 

 Thanksgiving, they can be seen at almost 

 any street corner with their little roaster 

 devoting their time in preparing them for 

 their customers. If one were to stop to look 

 at them for a short time he would notice 

 that an x is cut on each Nut before being 

 placed in the pan to roast. One might be 

 induced to think they cut this cross through 

 a devotional consideration, for they are all 

 Romanists, but it is not so; it is done to ex- 

 pedite and improve their roasting qualities, 

 and just here I would call attention to a 

 mistake many speculators in these Nuts 

 make in holding them for a late market. 



When a Nut is thoroughly dried it will 

 not roast, consequently these Italians will 

 not buy them, there not being enough mois- 

 ture in them to generate the steam required 

 to pop the shell. When purchasing for our 

 market it is the better plan to ship often 

 rather than to retain them until a large 

 quantity is collected for then one can get 

 all the advantage of an early market and 

 best prices. Select the largest, brightest 

 Nuts, and I would advise them to clean by 

 sifting before shipping and if there are any 

 wormy ones among them, such should be 

 pains takingly thrown out. 



Chestnuts are apt to heat when kept in 

 bulk,and by sifting the refuse dirt and furze 

 is removed, permitting more air to circulate 

 among them. A good sifter can be made by 

 taking a width of wire netting with half inch 

 mesh ; one can make the length and height of 

 sides any size they choose, then place it on an 

 empty barrel, fill it only moderately full and 

 by taking hold of it at the side one can get 

 either a rotary or back and fore movement 

 which will soon remove the dirt and 

 also brighten the shells. 



The Nuts received from the Southern 

 States are larger than those grown Nortli 

 and are eagerly sought for when theNorthern 

 crop is generally small as they have been 

 this year, but they are more infected with 

 worms. In some instances when they meet 

 with a slow passage to market, there is so 

 much life developed in them, there being no 

 demand for fresh meat of this kind, that 

 they will not .sell for the cost of transporta- 

 tion. An instance this season was when a 

 lot of twenty barrels sold for *20, the cost of 

 freight being ^U. 



The common grass Cofl'ee bag is a good 

 one to ship Chestnuts in as they are open 

 and admit air freely. When sent in barrels 

 they should be well ventilated. 



