1889. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



275 



of the " Long .Inlin " ( shown at the left in 

 illustration ) wo have spoken before. Had it 

 liei'n intrudiieeii with the same vigor and with 

 tlic same high claims of superiority as were 

 Jewell and Jessie, and under a name more de- 

 scripti\e of the berry and less of the originator, 

 there can be no doubt it would have had a big 

 run, and certainly retained its popularity longer 

 than .lewell. The " Long .Johns " like the " Big 

 Bob " and " Jumbos " are dead failures in name. 



Mr. Burdctt, as a mitter of course, is very en- 

 thusiastic over this berry, and grows no other. 

 Of thousands of seed- 

 lings originated by him 

 in the course of a long 

 life, this is the only one 

 he has retained, and 

 his success with it is 

 phenomenal. But he 

 gives it good culture, 

 and close attention, and 

 markets his berries in 

 Ruffalo, the same morn- 

 ing they are picked, in 

 fancy packages, realiz- 

 ing fancy prices for 

 them. Mr. Jewett, an- 

 other intelligent fruit 

 grower of this vicinity, 

 also places the Long 

 John at the head as a 

 berr.v for our near 

 markets. The plants on 

 our grounds are vigor- 

 ous, almost too free in 

 producing runners, and 

 decidedly, prolifiic, giv- 

 ing us frjait until quite 

 late in the season. A 

 cljaracteristic of the 

 varieties is that all the 

 first berries on each 



plant are double, parting easily in the center, 

 and of the uniform shape, shown in illustration. 

 The late berries are single. Quality fair, some- 

 what reminding of Wilson. 



Neither of the two sorts is remarkable for 

 lirmness, and would probably not carry to dis- 

 tant markets in good shape. For a local market, 

 however, we think the.v certainly have points of 

 merit which entitle them to a careful trial. 



Useful Plant Boxe^. On the place of Mr. J. H. 

 Jewett a neighboring market gardener of La 

 Salle, we saw in use in the hot^bed during last 

 spring many transplanting boxes or trays similar 

 to the ones illustrated in the lower engraving on 

 this page. A is one the trays B. is another. They 

 are made of half-inch stuff of the dimensions 

 given or near this, and are used for starting the 

 plants of early Melons, Tomatoes, Pepiiers, etc., 

 up to planting out time from the last bud. As 

 each tra.v of about four compartments has but 

 one nailed side ( the other side being that of the 

 ne.vt tray against which it is set, B agaisnt A) it 

 is as easy in transplanting to slide out the block 

 of earth with its plant without breaking the 

 earth as ordinarily is the case with transplanting 

 l)Otted plants. 



The upper illustration shwos a box such as the 

 writer has used many of in greenhouses with 

 excellent enconomical results. It is designed to 



Notes by Judge S. Miller. 

 LU(i!ETi,\ Dewiieuky. So fiilTereiit Were 

 the opinions expressed upon this fruit that 

 I felt intlilTerent about settinK it, until the 

 spring ot isss. This season It is fruitinK 

 quite liberally, and in my opinion is a valii- 

 alile berry, very large and of e.xcelleiit qual- 

 ity. .Some say too sour. Not so when ripe 

 and a peculiar Cherry flavor will suit many. 

 This being so much earlier than any of the 

 high bush, Bramljle Blackberries is another 



A GREENHOUSE TRAY. 



VEGETABLE TRANSPLANTING TRAYS. 



take the place of earthen pots ; in which to grow 

 plants like Geraniums, Coleus, Ageratums and 

 other free-growers in the greenhouse, either 

 when brought along for flowei-s or in keeping 

 them over to provide propagating material, for 

 the next years stock. These boxes are made to 

 Hake out earth at the sides and ends, thus per- 

 mitting of readily renewing the earth if occa- 

 sion reimires. The advantages of these boxes 

 for many purposes are first their low cost being 

 made of cheap, rough lumber, second durability 

 as compared with pots, and third ease of handling. 



LONG JOHN AND NEW DOMINION STRAWBERRIES. 



valuable feature. On June 28 I picked as 

 fine Lucretias as I ever saw of any Black- 

 berry; some were ripe a week before. 



Conducting the young runners of two rows 

 together on the space between, gives every 

 alternate space bare, and allows a conven- 

 ient passage for picking the fruit. This 

 training Dewberry vines to stakes is thought 

 by some to be a new idea, but it is not, for I 

 did it forty years ago, and it is nearly that 

 long since I grew any Dewberries. It is an 

 interesting sight to see one of these pillars 

 while in bloom, and still more so with the 

 big black berries nearly equal to the half of 

 a middle finger in size, and plenty of them. 

 The coming winter I shall cover my vines 

 a little, for when Missouri takes it Into her 

 head, she can match the more northern 

 states for cold, .32° and 40° below zero haying 

 been recorded near here before now. 



Last fall I took up all the young plants 



and treated them in a bed to set out a new 



bed this spring. Did not cover the old vines 



as I wished to test their hardiness. Some 



of the new runners are sending out side 



branches two feet long already; these will 



be headed back to about six inches, 



the main canes to six feet, which will 



be tied to stakes next spring. 



Raspberuies. The crop was a 

 splendid one here, and Centennial de- 

 cidedly the best early Black Cap. 

 Gregg about the most valuable late 

 one. I like Turner for early red and 

 Colossal for late. Marlboro is a fail- 

 ure with me unless protected; Cuth- 

 bert nearly so. Henrietta is the larg- 

 est of them all, and of fine flower, 

 but must be laid do«Ti and covered in 

 winter, which so few are willing to do. 

 The Black liEKRV. The Lawton and Kit- 

 tatinny failed so completely with me that 

 they were abandoned. Snyder and Triumph 

 have taken their places. 



Snyder, it is true, is rather small particu- 

 larly as usually pruned; but of fair size 

 when well cut back, or rather the laterals 

 thinned out; for cutting back too close de- 

 stroys the finest berries. Its imntense pro- 

 ductiveness and hardiness make up for all 

 other defects. Triumph is a superb large 



one and productive, but unfortunately is 

 not proof against some ot our severe winters. 

 I formerly considered it perfectly hardy, but 

 have learned ditterently. 



Taylor's Prolific is all right in all respects, 

 but so repulsively thorny that I dislike 

 working about it. Stone's Hardy is I think 

 among the best. In quality it is very supe- 

 rior. The Freid Blackberry originated in 

 Potter County, is unquestionably one of the 

 most valuable in our whole collection, and 

 is extensively planted 

 when known. It has 

 the peculiarity of 

 growing a clump of 

 large berries in a 

 round bunch, a whole 

 hand full all ripe at 

 one time, of good 

 quality and quite 

 hardy. 



If any growers have 

 followed my sugges- 

 tion of training but 

 one shoot to the stool, 

 I wonder if they have 

 had my experience. 

 Although they were 

 looking grand, when 

 a storm literally 

 wrecked them. Here- 

 after, if this is tried, 

 each one must have 

 a stake to be tied to. 



Erie fruited for the 

 first time and is an 

 excellent berry; large 

 and n early round, 

 Minewaska has a few berries, not yet ripe. 

 A Wild Patch. Of the high bush Black- 

 berries I now have about an acre ot as fine 

 fruit as I ever saw, all seedlings, the seed of 

 which was distributed over the ground by 

 the birds from my planted patch, where 

 Snyder and Triumph are gro\vn. Mr. Riehl 

 ot Illinois recently stated that we had as 

 good wild Blackberries as the cultivated 

 ones, and in here we have this verified. 



Some berrries resemble Snyder, some are 

 like Triumph, while others seem to be a 

 cross. No small berries in the whole lot 

 such as is usually found wild. Some are 

 nearly half as long as my middle finger and 

 luscious. Here is a natural patch that is 

 valuable, and on which bushels will go to 

 waste. Simply because the market prices 

 would not pay the express charges. To 

 gather this fruit so far as we want it, it re- 

 quires passages to be cut through. 



Points In Quince Culture. 



The Quince under good culture is often 

 quite a profitable fruit, an<l this probably 

 for the reason that there are certain diffi- 

 culties to overcome beyond those we meet 

 in Apple or Pear culture. With a thorough 

 knowledge of these difficulties, and the 

 means how to overcome them, the task of 

 growing Quinces iu plenty becomes com- 

 paratively easy. Our friend, Mr. Augur of 

 Connecticut, says in a recent number of the 

 N. E. Homestead : 



There are several diseases of a fungoid 

 character which attack the foliage, fruit 

 and young wood of the Quince, such as leaf 

 blight and black spot on the fruit. As pre- 

 ventive measures, on land heavily manured, 

 an annual application of 20 to 30 bushels 

 per acre of slacked lime will he desirable in 

 early spring just before the first working ot 

 the soil. This will counteract accidity in 

 the soil. Ijime is also to a certain ex- 

 tent a fungicide. In addition to this, in 

 June, July and Atigust, dress the trees 

 with a mixture ot four parts ot lime to one 

 of sulphur, intimately mixed. This should 

 be dusted lightly and thoroughly all over 

 the foliage and fruit, as a fimgicide, or 

 rather preventive of fungi. 



