1 886. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



A Handy Small-sized Fruit Drier. 



Within a few years the great Inisiiiess of 

 evaporating fruit has grown up, almost revolu- 

 tionizing the manner of dis|)osii)g of fruit. 

 With this step eanie the increased exportation 

 of fruit, opening up the world as a market for 

 fruit growers, instead of their dejiending on a 

 near and limited one for fresh fruit. But the 

 drjiug business has been largely in the hands 

 of those who grow fruit on a liig scale, the 

 farmer or land owner with a small orchai'd not 

 feeling, often, that there was anj'thing in it for 

 hijn, after countmg the cost of the improved 

 evaporators and equipments needed. 



To meet the want of small growers there is 

 now made a very handy and low-priced cook 

 stove fruit^drier, which we take pleasure in 

 calling attention to, also illustrating the same. 

 This is made by the American Manufacturing 

 Co., of Waynesboro. Pa., who, with being 

 among om- leading evaporator makers, have 

 come to time with this small drier to meet the 

 wide felt want referred to. We have tried this 

 evaporator in our house, with such gratifying 

 results that we would be very slow to part with 

 it could another not be procured. For dr)nng 

 not onlj- every kind of fruit, but such vege- 

 tables as Sweet Corn, Beans, Pumpkins and the 

 like, it is quick, cleanly and effective in its 

 action. A moderately hot stove or range is 

 all that is needed to heat it. 



As may be seen in the engi'aving, the drier 

 consists of eight trays, arranged one above the 

 other, over a metal base that stands on the 

 stove. These trays have bottoms of galvanized 

 wire screening, through which the heat from 

 the stove draws upwards, this being also regu- 

 lated by a damper in the base of the drier. 

 Each tray holds from one and one-half to two 

 quarts of fruit without obstructing the hot air 

 current. It is said that with good manage- 

 ment about two bushels of fresh Apples may be 

 dried in 13 hours with this cb'ier. 



A Hot-bed Heated with Pipes. 

 A chief obstacle to the makingof ordinary hot- 

 beds is the procuring of the needed manure 

 for the heating. This is especially true in 

 market gardens where the hot-bed area is not 

 only in individual cases often large, but about 

 most of our towns in the aggregate it is simply 

 enormous. A regular skirmish, sometimes even 

 assuming the aspect of a battle, for manure is, 

 as a result of this, a common thing to see in 



A HOT-BED HEATED WITH WATER PIPES, 

 every large town at the season when good hot- 

 bed manure is most in demand. 



But being the main use of the manure is to 

 supply heat by fermentation, why should it be 

 relied upon instead of regular fuel; We are 

 pleased to answei- that it is not in every ca.se. 

 Gardeners in many places are beginning to 

 apply such heatiug apparatus as flue and fur- 

 nace and hot water to hot-beds with the best 

 of success. It is a step in the right direction, 

 as all must admit. 



As bearing upon this matter, we recently 

 found in the Ami-rican. Florist an engraving 

 of a hot-bed heated by hot water, together 

 with a description of the same by the maker, 



Mr. D. S. Heffron, Washington Heights, 111. 

 Through the courtesy of the paper named we 

 are alile to reproduce the same here : The bed 

 is SO feet long by 4 in width, and was con- 

 structed a-s follows: After excavating to the 

 depth of i feet, cedar posts were set, and the 

 sides constructed of 3-inch plank; the pipes 

 were then laid as per diagram, on the down- 

 hill ])lan, 1-inch pipe being u.sed, which wa.s 

 connected with a small self-feeding hot-water 

 boiler at the end. One foot up a board bottom 

 was built to receive -I inches of soil. 



The bed was used the past spring for 

 growing Pansies, Violets and Daisies, the 

 boiler consuming only one scuttle of coal 

 per day when firing. This Mr. H. con- 

 siders much less expensive than using ma- 

 nure for heating. The bed faces east. 

 Another important use to be made of it this 

 fall is housing Chrysanthemums. For this 

 the intention is to build the front wall two 

 feet higher, reverse the sash (see dotted 

 lines), and the bed will be deep enough to 

 hold the taller plants. 



The boiler and piping for the 80-foot bed 

 cost only S75, and will in all probability 

 last for many years. The advantage of 

 the air space over laying the pipes in the 

 soil is that the bottom heat is more evenly 

 diffused from side to side of the bed. 



Before long we shall illustrate a small- 

 sized hot-bed for the amateur, heated by 

 an ordinary kerosene lamp. 



The "mystery" of pruning is a myth; let 

 no one by it be kept from slashing around with 

 saw and knife to clean up the fruit trees. One 

 principle, easj- to conipreheDd by any one, will, 

 if kept in mind, always keep the tree-pruner on 

 the right track. It is to prune for letting air 

 and light freely into all parts of the top; with- 

 out these fruit of the best quality and color 

 are impossible. It may necessitate the cut- 

 ting a\va.y of some large branches, but in so 

 doing you also get rid of over-much top, and 

 the natural bad consequence of overbearing. Of 

 course all dead ordyiug branches are to comeaway. 

 All limbs taken off should be cut close to the main 

 parts. Large scars must be coated with a layer of 

 thick paint or grafting wax. Go at the job any time 

 between leaf-fall and the middle of March and you 

 will not miss it as to season. But with Peach trees 

 it is perhaps better to wait until the buds start to 

 swell in the spring, for the fruit and leat-buds of 

 the.se can then be better distinguished. 



Asparagus. We don't know of one good reason 

 w'h.v every garden should not have a bed of Aspara- 

 gus, and a large one, too. Still many homes arewith- 

 out this. Once planted in good garden soil, and the 

 crop is certain for many years to come. The most 

 suitable soil is a deep, light loam and it should be 

 under-drained. Whatever labor and outlay is put 

 into its preparation to have it deeply worked and 

 manured will be returned again to the doer, and 

 with a high rate of interest. The more manure the 

 greater the product; at the rate of 50 two-horse 

 loads to the acre would be the right thing. Salt is 

 of no material good. Plant in rows 3 feet apart, 

 with the plants at 30 inches from each other. The 

 clumps should be set no less than 8 inches deep, 

 spreading the roots out horizontally with much care. 

 Fall planting answers well. 



Quality of Fruit Guaranteed. Honesty, is cer- 

 tainly the f I'uit-grower's best policy. Tricks in pack- 

 ing, that a poor article may appear a better one. 

 sooner or later revert upon the shipper himself. 

 The Fruit Growers' Association of Berrien County. 

 Michigan, desiring to have the full advantage of 

 offering an honest article in market, have formed 

 themselves into the Michigan Fruit Exchange, and 

 label each package of their fruit with an inspectors 

 stamp, which reads as follows: 



Inspector's Stamp.— The Michigan Exchange 

 hereby guarantees the contentsof this package to be 

 uniform and true to apiieai-anee; and the buyer will 

 confer a favor by reporting any fraud detected in 

 any package bearing this stamp. W. A. Brown, 

 Inspector. Benton Harlxtr, Jlich. 



Those marvelous reports about new fruits and 

 vegetables from their originators, but which then 

 are not borne out in general culture, do not neces- 

 saril,v mark the introducers as scalawags. The fact 

 that a fi-uit may possess great merit in the locality 

 of its origin, but nowhere else, may have to do with 

 the matter. Then again let us not forget that such 

 new pets receive a degree of care and culture from 



their originators rarely bestowed by others And 

 this tells if anything will. 



A word to the inexperienced about starting a 

 Strawberry bed : Set out only plants that have white 

 root.s. In lifting plants, some with black roots, 

 others with light-colored roots, will come up. The 

 former are old; the latter yotmg, and the oidy ones 

 fit for use We have heard of some short-sighted nur- 

 serymen sending out black-rnoted old plants to 

 customers; it is a shabby trick, and such plants 

 will be refused by readers of PopuuR Gardening. 



The enemy of the vine. Phylloxera, is declared 

 to be mightier in France than a German army, for 



A HANDY SMALL-SIZED FRUIT DRIER. 



the latter, once satisfied, goes home, but the former 

 stays forever. Creatures unconscious of what they 

 do terrify whole nations and give the lie to the 

 arrogance of man.— J. J. Smith. 



To speak of Baspberries, one point we do not 

 get far from, and that is that the old Doolittle or 

 American Black, stUl stands at the head for profit 

 with many growers. It is as hard to crowd out 

 as the Wilson among Strawberries. 



As to manures for Grapes, the upshot of the 

 matter is that stable dung incites a free growth of 

 canes and leaves, but not much fruit, while potash 

 and phosphate mantu'es tend otherwise and to a 

 superior article of fruit. 



Goosberries are not as a rule pruned close enough. 

 They need sunlight in the head. A good deal of the 

 old wood is better off than on the plants. Now is a 

 capital titne to prune them. 



This is an Illinois farmer's resource against moles: 

 Liver cut to the size of hickory nuts, with strychnine 

 in each piece, and placed in their runs. 



The Celery row neatly banked is a fine sight, 

 well worth the neat gardener's pains to secure. In 

 banking keep the stalks straight. 



Go to the market to find out what varieties to 

 plant for market, if you don't know. Those most 

 called for are the safe ones. 



A sloven is bad enough anywhere; as a planter 

 of trees he is at his worst, making waste of labor, 

 stock and the land as well. 



For a bruise or wound from a rusty nail go to 

 "Dr." Peach to be cured. The leaves mashed to a 

 pulp help quickly. 



The Blackberry set at three feet apart would 

 answer for a hedge in some i>laces. 



Thin-skinned fruits as a rule are the poorer keep- 

 ers, thick-skinned ones the better. 



Of good fruit the people are not in danger of 



soon getting too much. 



Seeds had better come up too thick than too thin. 

 Grapes must do their ripenining on the vine. 

 Manure had better not touch the tree roots. 

 Bean poles represent value— shelter them. 

 Beets may stny out until hard frosts. 

 A good time for surface manuring. 

 Fall spading is a good course. 

 Keep the Sjiinach bed weeded. 

 Sotten fruit spoils the cider. 



