POPULAR GARDENING. 



October, 



iNE RRym 



A. M. PTIEDT'S DEPARTMENT. 



Postoffive address, - • Palmyra, N. Y. 



To " Fruit Recorder " Subscribers. Hereafter 

 send all letters about missiug numbers, speciuiens, 

 etc., as well as renewals, to the office of Popular 

 Gardening, Buffalo, N. Y. 



Mr. Purdy's Exchanges should be continued as 

 heretofore directly to his home at Palmyra, N. Y. 



Walks and Jottings About the Fruit 

 Farm. 



There is some talk as to Strawberries beiug 

 unprofitable in this section ! Well with com- 

 mon, small kinds poorly grown they have been, 

 but when land is fixed up right and such sorts 

 as Wilson, Sharpless, Windsor Chief, Iron- 

 clad and Crescent are grown at the rate of one 

 to two huudi'ed bushels per acre it pays at even 

 five cents per quart, and pays well. 



The same is true of Raspberries. So long as 

 we can get Ave cents per quart or say $1.00 per 

 bushel over expense of picking we shall grow 

 them. But there must be no vacancies and the 

 ground must be in good order and such sorts 

 as Tyler, Gregg and Ohio be planted. 



Right here I would say that a Strawberry 

 plantation may be made to almost double its 

 crop, as also Raspberries, by sub-soil ploughing. 

 In fact if soil is pretty well run out even heavy 

 manure will not increase the crop much more 

 than a good thorough sub-soiling. This should 

 be done with a plow that loosens up, but does 

 not throw up the sub-soil to the surface. 



I DO NOT recommend digging Raspberry and 

 Blackberi'y plants forever from bearing planta- 

 tions as a rule but only in cases of necessity. 

 It is the best way to keep plants growing in 

 hills and give all strength of roots to the bear- 

 ing canes, by keeping suckers cut off at the 

 surface and by oft repeated and shallow culti- 

 vation. 



We are cutting down our Peach Trees that 

 show signs of the yellows: its the only way to 

 eradicate it. Some claim the yellows is not a 

 disease. We have no confidence in this. Fifteen 

 years experience has satisfied us its a fungoid 

 disease. Keeping trees free from grubs and 

 borers, by cultivation or fertilizing, will not 

 save them and no person ever saw on a worm- 

 eaten tree such peculiar colored, distasteful 

 fruit as that grown on a tree having the yel- 

 lows. The fact that if it gets into one tree it 

 will soon sweep over the orchard is sufficient 

 proof to us "as to its cause." I cannot see, 

 but the fact that it is not known south of a 

 certain line would indicate that our storms and 

 changable weather may have something to do 

 with it. But if we cannot grow Peaches we 

 can grow Blackberries which come about the 

 same time and sell quickly for table use. 



The boys are now picking sets from the tops 

 of the Winter Onion. This sort is so called be- 

 cause of being good when pulled at any time 

 through the winter where ground is open. 



These sets we plant out in September or Octo- 

 ber, two inches apai't in the rows, and these 

 about twenty inches apart, if wanted to grow 

 to produce sets next fall. But if to pull in the 

 spring a foot apart wUl do. They will pull 

 next spring early and make quick selling bunch 

 Onions. A small piece of ground for raising 

 sets will give enough to plant a half acre or 

 more. Parties in Southern Indiana make money 

 growing these for the more northern markets. 



Notes on Fruit at the South. 



The great draw-back in many parts of the 

 South to fruit growing is the worn out condi- 

 tion of the soil. When grown up for 'JO to oO 

 years with a second growth of timber, and this 

 cleared away, it soon loses its vitality, unless 

 fertilizers are used freely. To crop land here 

 as is done North would bring no crops. 



Think OF it! Freight from Palmy ra, N. Y. , 

 to Chicago is 11! cents per 100 lbs., while from 

 High Point, N.C. , to Chicago it is 80 cents jjer 100 

 lbs. , and three-fourths that amount to Philadel- 

 phia! No wonder the South cannot develop 

 more rapidly with such outrageous freightage 

 to pay. Northern consumers might be abund- 

 antly supplied with early fruits, Peaches, 

 Peai-s, etc. , if freight and express charges were 

 reasonable, but as it is now two or three gi-eat 

 Southern railroad companies monopolize all 

 the profits. A party here at High Point bought 

 Peaches at 50 cents per bushel, and after ship- 

 ping by express North and getting at a rate of 

 $3.00 per bushel had nothing left for his trouble. 

 It is well to take these things into consideration 

 before coming South to launch out into fruit 

 growing for the Northern markets. The South 

 possesses a great many advantages, but we 

 should not overlook the disadvantages. 



Thousands of bushels of wood ashes go to 

 waste throughout the South, which if used on 

 crops of all kinds would add wonderfully to 

 their increase and value. The same may be 

 said of the contents of the average privy South 

 — standing as these usually do above ground, 

 the accumulations are not only lost, but add 

 to the ill health of a great many. Dry earth 

 is a good absorbent and duly applied over the 

 contents will make one of the most valuable 

 of land fertilizers. 



We can't see why Persimmons cannot be 

 dried to advantage and profit ; they are certainly 

 a fine eating fruit after getting well frosted. 



While taking in Peaches at our evapora- 

 tor at High Point, N. C, last month, an old 

 grower remarked to us, while looking at a num- 

 ber of crates of quite green Peaches: "The man 

 who picked that lot will be sorry for it." We 

 inquired why so. "If he follows up picking 

 green for some years, his trees will begin to 

 di-op their fruit long before they mature." 

 Here was something new to us. If true it is of 

 great importance to Peach growers. If true 

 of Peaches why not of Pears and other fruits 

 picked too green? 



It sounds funny for a Northerner to come 

 into the Carolinas and hear them tell about 

 the Magnum Bonum, Norse and other Ap- 

 ples. Sorts common in the North, like the 

 Greening, Baldwin, etc., are scarcely ever 

 mentioned south of Virginia, and but lit- 

 tle known there. Persons going into fruit 

 growing in any section need to make inquiries 

 as to the best sorts before planting too heavily 

 of any one kind. 



The Peach crop through the South is rot- 

 ting badly because of the excessive rains. 

 Here at High Point, where we expected to get 

 1,000 bushels, we will not get more than 200 to 

 300 bushels. We notice from Baltimore, Md., 

 to Washington but very few Peaches on the 

 trees, and in Virginia but few. The first 

 shipments we saw were at Charlotte, Va., 

 both of Peaches and Grapes. There is quite a 

 good crop of Apples so far as I have seen South, 

 but there being but very few evaporators but 

 a small proportion of this will be cured. 



Fall vs. Spring Setting. 



We prefer fall setting. First, because of 

 more time to do it properly. Trees set in the 

 fall should have the earth well packed ai-ound 

 and over the roots, and a bank raised up about 

 the tree, to remain through winter and be 

 drawn away in the spring. This prevents the 

 trees swaying back and forth. 



In the case of Raspberries and Blackberries 

 we draw a mound of earth over each where 

 set, and di-aw this away in early spring. 



Trees set in the fall get the benefit of early 

 spring rains and make a full growth the first 

 season. We are told in the South that trees 

 set in the fall will make about the same growth 

 the next season as those set in the spring be- 

 fore. We have always had the best success 

 setting Grapes, Raspberries, Blackberries, Cur- 

 rants, etc., in the fall; but not so with Straw- 

 berries. In setting in the fall, in case you do 

 not care to mound these up, at least throw a 

 forkful of coarse litter over each hill after the 

 first time the ground freezes. 



Hogs in Orchards. 



Well do we remember in our boyhood days 

 the old orchards in which hogs run freely the 

 season through. Such generally fair Apples, 

 Peaches and Plums as we then raised it would 

 be hard to find now. The trouble is this is a 

 fast age and nearly all growers are planting 

 more than they can properly cai-e for. Instead 

 of having orchards that yield .5 to 10 barrels 

 to the tree of perfect fruit, they do well to get 

 1 or 3 barrels of such, the rest going to waste. 



We believe in this ha\ing hogs run in the 

 orchard as a help to bettei- results. In this re- 

 spect our views coincide well with the follow- 

 ing words relating some experience of this 

 kind found in an exchange : 



A gentleman of this county has an orchard 

 of 10 acres well set in fruits of all kinds, but 

 principally Apples. It is about 2.5 years old, 

 and the trees are remarkably free from disease, 

 and noted for gi'eat bearing. 



He puts the hogs he inteufls for pork in this 

 orchard every spring to feed on the grass until 

 the fruit begins to fall, remaining here until 

 they are killed. When he begins to feed them 

 on corn, two or three weeks before slaughter- 

 ing, they are as fat as there is any need to be, 

 but he gives them the corn to improve the fat. 



By this treatment the hogs get all the wind- 

 fall fruit in which the eggs of insects are de- 

 posited. It is the only orchai'd in our section 

 where Plums, Cherries and Quinces mature 

 without knot or blemish. The Apple trees 

 seldom fail to bear fruit every year. It has 

 been sodded to Orchard Grass, Timothy, and 

 Clover time out of mind. He generally gets 

 two-thirds or three-fourths of a crop of good 

 hay besides what is eaten by the swine. 



On Managing Grape-vines. 



BY S. H. REDMAN, VILLISCA, IOWA. 



I wrote to you in May concerning worms 

 on my Grape-vines. Their ravages were so 

 great I saw something must be done at once to 

 save the crop. I dusted them twice with Per- 

 sian insect powder and every one disappeared. 



Here is my way of managing Grapes: For a 

 ti-eUise, I set posts V.i feet apart, nailing a cross- 

 arm 3 feet long. I use .5 smooth wires, 3 on the 

 post and one in the center and one at each end 

 of the cross-arm. In this way I find that the 

 fruit hanging below is not accessable to birds 

 so destructive in some places. For field culture 

 I plant one post having two cross-arms firmly 

 to each vine ; I then tie the canes firmly to the 

 outer end of said arms. This mode is the best 

 of many that I have tried. 



In '84 and 'tS I was very much troubled with 

 Grape rot, but now my Grape-vines are much 

 freer from rot than at any previous time. The 

 season may have had much to do with this, yet 

 I will give my treatment of the vines. 



As soon as the clusters were formefl I cut off 

 the point of the fruit arm one leaf beyond the 

 last cluster, never leaving moi-e than three 

 clusters on one arm. When laterals v/er^ 

 thrown out I kept them pinched off clean until 

 the middle of July. After that I left one or 

 two leaves on each lateral, leaving barely 

 enough for shade to keep the Grapes from sun- 

 burning. I encourage new strong canes from 

 the lowest shoots for fruiters the coming year, 

 not allowing them to bear this year. 



