40 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



December, 



A Folding Crate for Long Distance 



Shipments. 



When Mr. John Colviile, of Brunswick, 

 Georgia, set about getting up the fruit and 

 vegetable crate herewith figured it was with 

 a special view to reduced freights on the empty 

 crates when returned over long distances. Be- 

 ing a resident of the Southern States, where 

 the distances of the market and fruit gardens 

 from the best markets are usually great and 

 transportation charges enormously high, he 

 felt the need of an improvement here, as many 

 in the North do not where "emptys" 

 are returned free by the railroads. 



The distinctive feature of this crate 

 is that it may be taken down and 

 folded up to occupy the least possible ^. 



space in being returned to the original J' 

 shipper. In the illustration one of < 1- ■ 

 the views is in perspective, showing "j 

 the crate set up, while beneath is a i^; 

 representation of one of the sections as ^S^ 

 it appears when unpacked, to be folded 

 tor return to the shipper. 



As may be seen the crate is composed 

 of side and end bars, which meet at the 

 four angles, where they are overlapped 

 and held in place by a long rod which 

 passes through the ends of the bars, 

 being formed at one end with a head 

 and passing through a plate on the 

 other, above which plate the rod is 

 flattened out by riveting, so that dis- 

 placement will be prevented. 



Upon either end of each set of side 

 bai-s there are cleats which serve as braces and 

 as retaining cleats for the bottom and cover 

 of the crate. In the longitudinal center of 

 the crate there is also a partition formed by 

 bars inserted and held in place by rods after 

 the same manner as the crate is otherwise 

 held together by the rods at the corners. 

 This crate has been patented. 



to avoid removing large branches when the 

 trees are large. It is a mistake to over prune ; 

 leaves are to a tree what lungs are to the body. 



It is a mistake to let too much fruit grow on 

 young trees or vines. It is a mistake not to 

 thin out heavy crops on any trees; thin the 

 fruit and then never prop a limb. 



In grafting it is a mistake to saw off too 

 large limbs or hubs, to set poor scions, to graft 

 limbs in the center of the tree, to use poor wax, 

 to neglect looking after the scions after the 

 work has been performed. It is a mistake to 



Mistakes in Fruit Raising. 



The lighthouse guarding from danger is 

 quite as important to the mariner as the com- 

 pass which keeps him on his right course. So 

 in fruit growing a holding up to the gaze of 

 planters the mistakes that are apt to occur may 

 be of as much or of even far greater value than 

 to speak all the while of successes. From two 

 valuable papers, the one read Vjy A. M. Smith 

 before the Fruit Growers' Association of On- 

 tario, the other by D. P. True before the Maine 

 State Fomological Society, and set forth in the 

 reports of these societies respectively, we com- 

 pile the following array of common mistakes : 



It is a mistake to plant too many varieties— 

 or only one variety— or a variety because some 

 tree agent advises you to: or to plant every 

 variety oflrered you before it has been thor- 

 oughly tested in your locality. Different lo- 

 cations require different varieties. It is a mis- 

 take to set cheap or poor trees, picked up 

 from the culls or from neglected nursery stock, 

 trees covered with bark lice or stunted. All 

 such trees are very unprofitable. 



It is a mistake to plant in "post holes." It 

 is a mistake to put trees in old worn-out fields 

 and neglect them. Such cases end in miserable 

 failure. It is a mistake to place mulch so near 

 the trunk of a tree and so much that it will 

 heat and kill the tree. 



Mistakes are common in the distance of plant- 

 ing. If one has much land do not set near ; if 

 land is costly set twice as thick as needed; when 

 the trees cover the land remove half of them. 



It is a mistake to think that trees once planted 

 wiU care for themselves. It is a mistake to 

 turn young trees out to grass. It is a mistake 

 to think they don't want just as good cultiva- 

 tion as Corn or any other crop to succeed well. 

 It is a mistake to try and raise crops year after 

 year from an orchard without returning any- 

 thing to the soil; trees want feeding just as 

 well as pigs or cattle do. 



It is a mistake to trim by horse or cattle 

 power. It is a mistake not to trim when young. 



A FOLDING CRATE FOR LONG DISTANCE SHIPMENTS, 



turn sheep and lambs into a young orchard [ 

 without taking the precaution to coat the 

 trunks of the trees with manure. Oxen and 

 large cattle prove very fatal to young trees. 



It is a mistake to market your fruits in flour ' 

 or meal bags instead of putting in good clean 

 baskets or barrels. It is a mistake to try to put 

 a quart of berries in a pint and a half basket, 

 or a half bushel of Peaches or Pears into a 

 twelve-quart basket. It is a mistake to put all 

 the small samples in the bottom of the basket; 

 most people take them out as they use them. 

 It is a mistake to send soft fruit to a distant 

 market. It is a mistake to send fruit to a com- 

 mission man whose honesty you know nothing 

 about, or to expect prompt returns from every 

 such man. It is a mistake to send olf fruits 

 to be sold if you can get a fair price near home. 



It is a mistake to think that nurserymen 

 never make mistakes, or that they are not will- 

 ing to rectify them when they can. It is a mis- 

 take to think they are responsible for the death 

 of all the trees that die before coming to ma- 

 turity. It is a mistake to think they don't 

 want to sell all their surplus stock, and that 

 tree agents don't often buy it and without their 

 knowledge, re-label it just what their orders 

 call for and send it out, and when it bears 

 nurserymen get the cursing. It is a mistake 

 to think all tree agents are rascals. 



It is a mistake not to clean all the rubbish 

 away from your trees before winter and bank 

 them up with earth to protect them. 



It is the greatest mistake of all if you are 

 not a member of a Fruit Growers' Association, 

 and do not take a live horticultural journal. 



plan Is now in use with our friend, Mr. Packard, 

 of California, who reports that it improves the 

 fruit, makes the vine more hardy, and gives 

 to it new hfe. With this system it is believed 

 that we will be able to grow any American 

 Grape in all parts of the United States. 



I have been grafting some on the wild root 

 and notice a great difference in favor of the 

 grafted vines over those not grafted, both in 

 vine and fruit. At present I am growing a 

 large lot of stock from wdd layers for grafting. 

 If by cultivation we have run the vine down, 

 we have also at the same time im- 

 proved the fruit vastly. This much 

 gained, we now want to bring the vine 

 up again, and there is no better course 

 for this than by grafting upon the wild 

 or some other hardy, vigorous stock. 



As to soil and fertility, anj' kind of 

 the former will do, that is not wet or 

 cold ; if it is not naturallj' rich it can 

 be made so. The most healthy vines I 

 have ever seen were on lime-stone 

 land, and this leads me to believe that 

 lime is a good fertilizer for the vine. 

 In manuring I have had better success 

 with compost than with anything else 

 ever used. It keeps the ground loose 

 and don't wear out in a season. There 

 is but Little danger of too much. 



In regard to Grape rot, I believe the 

 cause lies much in crowding the vines 

 and letting them run to the ground, 

 filling all the space from the ground 

 up, and sometimes a cluster of grass 

 and weeds mixed with it. I saw an example 

 of this near me this summer, where there was 

 a regular tangle of vines, grass and rotted 

 Grapes. Let the vines be kept off the ground 

 and let them have the morning sun and free 

 circulation of air. The leaves should not be 

 taken away from about the fruit, as they 

 protect it from the dew. 



If vines were given more room — not planted 

 so close, as has been the custom — they would do 

 better and last longer. I have at times taken 

 up Grape-roots over 30 feet long, which con- 

 vinces me that ample room is what they need. 

 I give to each vine over 101) square feet of area. 



On Improving the Grape. 

 M. A. CAIN. 



In its native state the Grape in some of its 

 species is found growing in all kinds of soil 

 and in all latitudes, and always healthy. Here 

 it finds its own food and asks nothing more 

 than to be let alone. It cannot be said even to 

 be particular about the kind of soil, but will 

 grow almost any place where the seed may 

 happen to drop. 



In subjecting the wild vines to cultivation it 

 is seen that they undergo certain changes and 

 suffer certain effects, indicating that the laws 

 of Nature have been interfered with. I in- 

 cline to believe that the proper way to grow 

 iron-clad stock is to grow our roots from the 

 wild Grape and then graft on them. This 



The Cultivation of Dwarf Apples. 



As the American Cultimtcr remarks, since 

 standard orchards have become so uncertain in 

 bearing, dwarf Apples will often do much 

 better than standards as usually managed. 

 The}' can be readily planted ten feet apart each 

 way, allowing more than four hundred per 

 acre, and if the soil is well manured, as it 

 should be, a crop of berries or other crops re- 

 quiring cultivation may be better gi-own be- 

 tween the rows than in a young oi'chard of 

 standard trees planted farther apart. A large 

 collection of varieties, in cases where this is 

 desirable, can also be gi-own on a small area by 

 planting this class. 



Dwarf Apples not only occupy but little 

 space, but they come early in bearing, varying 

 somewhat with the variety to which they are 

 gi-afted. The fruit with proper attention to 

 pruning and thinning out is superior to that of 

 the standard ; and the fruits are both easier to 

 get at and less liable to damage from being 

 blown from the trees. The Red Astrachan is 

 one of the eai-liest bearers, and on Paradise 

 stock it may produce a few fine specimens the 

 third year after grafting. 



The Apple is dwarfed by grafting on two 

 different stocks, the French Paradise and the 

 Doucin. Of these the former is considered by 

 long odds the most valuable, and few nursery- 

 men now keep trees of the other for sale. The 

 Paradise stock of itself grows only three or four 

 feet high and is usually propagated by layei-s. 

 This makes it moreexpensive than stocks from 

 seed, such as standard Apples are grown upon, 

 and this fact disinclines nuserymen from urg- 

 ing the sale of dwarf Apples as their merits 

 deserve. Another thing that has tended to 

 hinder the culture of dwarf Apples is the Ul- 



