i886. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



23 



single specimen, the picker must be raised into 

 the tree and lowered again each time one is 

 picked: if made to hold several apples, or the 

 like, the weight at the end of the pole becomes 

 increased, and in Iwth cases the work, beyond 

 a very limited degree, is slow and irksome. 



Lately there has been invented, by W. B. 

 Mayfleld, of South West City, Mo., a picker 

 that is designed to overcome the objections 

 referred to. We show this picker in the ac- 

 companying engraving, which, without any 

 words of ours, pretty well explains its form 

 and working. 



Aside from a very light contrivance of two 

 bows, from one of which pins pro.iect for 

 gathering the fruit, the essential feature of the 

 picker is a tube made of any light fabric, and 

 extending down the pole to a bag that hangs 

 on the shoulder and for conveying the fruit 

 from the tree to the bag. To check the passage 

 of the fruit downwards somewhat it would be 

 only necessry to have this tube pass over, in- 

 stead of, as our artist has shown, under the arm. 



Altogether the affair is very simple and light, 

 the conducting tube adding but a trifle to the 

 weight. The pole is made in two sections, con- 

 nected by a ferule ; when not in use the picker 

 can be folded vei-y compactly. We have not 

 leai'ned the price of this jjicker, but from its 

 simplicity we should .iudge this ought easily 

 to be within the reach of every fruit grower. 



The Dewberry in Cultivation. 



The question has more often been asked than 

 answered, why the well known wild Dewberry 

 or Trailing Blackberry, Huhiis Canadensis, 

 has not been brought into general cultivation 

 and under the improver's hand. As ordinarily 

 found it is quite a productive plant, bearing 

 large, sweet, black fruit ; it is indigenous to a 

 great ai'ea of our counti'j', and nothing would 

 seem in the way of its development into a valua- 

 ble garden fruit, if only it were given fair play. 

 No doubt it has been unduly neglected. 



But a change is now in the way of taking 

 place regarding this plant, the indications be- 

 ing that hereafter it will have its due place in 

 the catalogues. One thing pointing to this is 

 the fact that a remarkably fine variety of the 

 plant, that was some years ago discovered in 

 the hills of Western Virginia, has been brought 

 into cultivation, its merits throughout tested, 



the Blackberry and Raspberry, more nearly 

 resembling the former than the latter. Its re- 

 quirements in cultivation are similar to those 

 fruits. A peculiarity of the species is its trail- 

 ing habit, in which respect the Lucretia variety 

 is no exception. We saw 

 some branches of the un- 

 ripe fruit of this variety 

 at the Nurserymens' Con- 

 vention, in Washington, in 

 June last, and while its 

 botanical identity was at 

 once apparent, we were 

 astonished at itsprolificacy 

 for a Dewberry, and the 

 large size of the fruit. 



Those who have eaten 

 of the ripe fruit of Lucre- 

 tia say its <iuality, like 

 that of the onlinary wild 

 fruit, is very fine, being 

 sweet and delicious 

 throughout and having 

 no hai'd center. The ber- 

 ries are of a bright, .shiny 

 black, and as to size it is 

 no strange thing to find 

 them even larger than 

 those shown in the accom- 

 panying engi-aving. The 

 Messrs. Albaugh claim 

 that the Lucretia is as 

 hardy as the Taylor Black- 

 beiTy, as productive as 

 Snyder, larger than Law- 

 ton, and as early as the 

 earliest. Were there any danger whatever 

 of its winter killing in any section, the fact of 

 its being of low trailing habit would render 

 covering one of the easiest of matters. 



Inasmuch as this fruit is now attracting con- 

 siderable attention, and the plants promise to 

 have a wide sale, we would caution our readers 

 who desire to grow it to procure their plants 

 from nurserymen of known reliability. The 

 wild form of the plant being so generally 

 abundant, it would not be strange if some un- 

 sci-upulous persons would be offering of those 

 for the Lucretia. Indeed it has come to our 

 ears that this has already been begun. 



soil when it is wet so that it leaves the spade in 



clods is no fletriinent. Pon't break up these clods. 

 Quince trees are «iriianiental in flower aiM fruit; 

 tiicy arc sure l>earers and the in'odnct of the trees 

 is prized liy all housewives. The fruit Is also sala- 

 ble and hears shipment well. Witli careful hand- 



FRUIT PICKER WITH A DELIVERY TUBE. 



and it has received the endorsement of lead- 

 ing pomologists as an important addition 

 to our garden fniits. The variet}' referred 

 to has been named the Lucretia Dewberry, and 

 Messrs. B. F. Albaugh & Sons, of Covington, 

 Ky. , are its introducers and disseminators. 



The Dewberry, as our botanical readers no 

 doubt all understand, is of the same genus as 



Jack Frost, so often a terror to the gardener 

 and fruit grower, is also a friend if one but knows 

 how best to use him For in- 

 stance, turn over the garden soil 

 with plow or spade deep now 

 before winter, and he will fine it 

 up before next seeding time 

 better than the best tool.patented 

 or otherwise, that could be put to 

 the same task. But his work 

 will do more than this. The soil 

 is a store-house of plant food, 

 organic and chemical, and by tlie 

 action of freezing and of expos- 

 ure to the air and sun these 

 elements as well as any newly 

 added manure are reduced to 

 available forms for the use of 

 plants more rapidly than in any 

 other way. One needs but to 

 compare a newly worked-over 

 piece of land, the surface in 

 clods and rough loose ridges 1 the 

 best form to leave it in before 

 winter), with an unworked piece 

 to see how much larger is the 

 actual surface of soil particles 

 exposed to the elements in the 

 one case than in the other. In 

 proportion a.s such exposure is 

 greater through late plowing or 

 spading the future benefits to the 

 crops will also be greater. Nor 

 are these all the gains. The best 

 remedy known to-day for destroying the common 

 white grubllarva? of the May beetle) and othel" larva? 

 or ''worms" is a late turning up of the soil; they are 

 disturbed from their quarters and must die before 

 spring. If sod is to be turned over there is some ad- 

 vantage in doing so early enough that the sod may 

 partly rot this fall, but for cultivated land any time 

 before the ground freezes hard will answer for this, 

 in fact the later it is done the better. To work the 



THE DEWBERRY IN CULTIVATION; THE LUCRETIA. 



ling there is no trouble in keeping it until Christmas. 

 The variety generally grown is the Apple-shaped 

 or Orange, the fruit being large and freely pro- 

 duced. The Angers, the sort used for budding the 

 Pear on for dwarfing, is a stronger grower than the 

 last. The tree does not bear as young, but once it 

 begins is a good regular bearer. The Rea is one of 

 the more recent varieties, and concerning which, 

 good accounts reach us. There are some others 

 also, but which call for no special notice. The trees 

 should be planted to have from 8x8 to 8x12 feet of 

 space each. In orchard culture for market on a 

 small scale Quinces are most always profitable. 



Nitrate of Soda in a liquid form is one of the 

 most convenient fertilizers we know of for Straw- 

 berries and all garden crops, lawns, pot plants and 

 so on To make it, use one pound of nitrate to 13 

 gallons of water, and this quantity would for lawns 

 or crops go over a square rod of earth Applied 

 even to vacant land it is of great service in destroy- 

 ing slugs and other garden pests. 



We store our Cabbage for family use in a barrel 

 set uprightly in a sheltered spot, and banked to its 

 top with earth. All the cover given is two thick- 

 nesses of boards nailed together and laid on the top. 

 The Cabbage is always accessible and there is little 

 loss of any kind. A Subscriber. 



Freezing hurts Pears even more than Apples, 

 and neither will stand handling in such a state. But 

 Apples in a frozen condition, if kept so and not dis- 

 turbed, will come out all right in the spring, still 

 Popular Gardening cannot recommend this way 

 of keeping Apples. 



There are five musts in Apple growing for profit; 

 Must cultivate well, must feed the land, must fight 

 the codlin moth and other insects, must thin out 

 the fruit when it sets too thick, must cull and pack 

 with painstaking. 



Seeds of root crops are among the easiest to 

 raise. So gather out some of the finest specimens of 

 the different kinds for this purpose now at the fall 

 handling of these. 



In burying roots, like Carrots, leave away the 

 layer of straw usually recommended for next to 

 them. The soil against the roots is better. Old 



(lARHENER 



One Cranberry marsh at Berlin, Wis., gives em- 

 ployment to 1100 pickers. Fire has i-ecently done 

 unicli djiMiagc to the great fields of that State. 



The Onion yield in many places is light enough 

 so that prices can liar-dly be otherwise than good. 



Celery keeps better for not being much blanched 

 by th*' storing away time. 



Horse-radish will be wanted, (ietsome rootsinto 

 the cellar. 

 Even Cabbage sells better for careful sorting. 

 Plenty of manure makes tender Rhubarb. 

 Let neatness .now adorn the garden. 



