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POPULAR GARDENING. 



March, 



"Blue" Roses: Fraud Agents Rejoice 

 In Such Things. 



In the notice of "A Memoir of Father S. J. 

 Barbetin," of Philadeli)hia, which appeared in 

 a leading Philadelphia paper recently appear 

 these words: "His biographer gives a pleas- 

 ant description of the old Lorraine homestead, 

 surromided by fruit trees and hardy flowers, a 

 flora, which included Blue Roses, a variety un- 

 known to the usual Pennsylvania gardens." 



This notice was sent to us by our wide-awake 

 correspondent "H," with some decidedly just 

 comments as follows : "I cut this from one of 

 the leading Philadelphia papers, a paper whose 

 owner is known as a special patron of horticult- 

 ure.and yet such silly credulity is allowed to go 

 out unchallenged to its quarter of a million read- 

 ers, indorsing a credulity almost akin to super- 

 stition, for all intelligent people interested in 

 horticulture nowadays laugh at the ' Blue 

 Rose ' story, just as they would laugh at the 

 story of a ' blue ' cow or a ' scarlet ' horse. 

 There is just about as much chance of ever 

 seeing the one as the other. But it cannot be 

 too often told to our young readers so as to 

 keep them out of the hands of sharpers, who are 

 yet occasionally found to offer these absurdi- 

 ties for sale, that there is no such thing in na- 

 ture as blue, scarlet and yellow in varieties of 

 the same species. Thus we have blue and yel- 

 low in Hyacinths but no true scarlet ; scarlet 

 and yellow Dahlias, Chrysanthemums and 

 Roses ; but never blue, and so on through the 

 whole category. It is the province of such 

 papers as Popular Gardening to warn the 

 people against such popular errors, promul- 

 gated so recklessly by the secular press. " 



Losses In Shipping Fruits. — A Cause 

 and a Cure. 



C. W. IDELL, COMMISSION MERCHANT, NEW YORK. 



Promptness in the arrival of fruits in the 

 market is not appreciated as it should be. There 

 are instances where producers strive to get low 

 rates of freight, but how often is any mention 

 made of the time fruit should be delivered at 

 its terminus. Yet of the two the latter is really 

 the more important item. 



A reduction of one cent per quart on berries 

 would be thought very lair, but I have known 

 a loss of 2 cents per quart to take place day 

 after day by late arrivals, and even reaching 4 

 cents. I believe that during the past season 

 the loss created by late arrivals on one of the 

 largest carrying roads into this city amounted 

 to 3 cents per quai-t regularly. 



My experience with transportation companies 

 shows me that the management of fruit carry- 

 ing by rail is left entirely with those who have 

 the care of the trains, the head officials knowing 

 nothing of the delays occasioned, unless com- 

 plaint is made to them direct. Even then it is 

 rarely one can gain admittance if it is known 

 that you have complaints to enter. 



The indifference of those m charge of the 

 trains is owing largely, no doubt, to the belief 

 that complaints caimot reach superiors. That 

 an effectual system of threats is made use of 

 by the employees is evident from a remark 

 made to me by one having quite a iiigh position 

 on the line. I sought aid in breaking up a bad 

 habit of some yard otUcials in drilling the cars, 

 when he quietly said to me, "Please don't ask 

 my aid, tor if it was known that I did so my 

 position would be most disagreeable ; go to the 

 head official." He gave me his name, I made 

 the complaint and had the difficulty removed. 



I suppose some shippers would open their 

 eyes in surprise to hear that entire carloads of 

 fruit are at times lost between the starting 

 point and its terminus. Yet this is a fact, 

 and to be accounted for only on the plea of in- 

 difference on the part of train men. An in- 

 stance: Last season, on July :iyd, my cartman 

 failed to make his appearance with the fruit, 

 until hours after the usual time. On inquiring 

 the cause he gave this statement : ' ' Me and 

 other carters were waiting as usual for our fruit 

 tiain. It came, but there was no car from the 



point expected. I asked the yard-master if that 

 car was in; he replied: 'No, nor do I know 

 where it is; go ask the superintendent.'" The 

 cai-ters did so, but while that official had the 

 manifest of the fruit in the car, he could tell 

 nothing of the car. 



An engineer who was sitting in the office and 

 overhearing this said: " Boys if you will treat 

 nicely I will take you on my engine and look 

 up the car." The offer was accepted, and all 

 mounted the engine and proceeded on the 

 search. Between the station and the next town 

 they discovered the car on a side track where 

 it had been switched and left by the conductor 

 of the train that started with it. However the 

 men continued theii- trip until they reached the 

 town, run the engine on a side track, entered a 

 saloon, played three games of pool, took three 

 rounds of drinks, then took the back track, 

 hooked on the missing car and took it to the 

 main depot where it should long have been. 



Yet the shippers were compelled to accept 

 the loss on the sale of that fruit, all owing to 

 the company's inefficient management. 



Another common cause of delay is that empty 

 cars are left standing over night on tracks that 

 are needed to run out cars loaded with fruit. 

 Then when the trains airive the engineers 

 must leave their trains on an off track while 

 they take up precious time (if they do it) to 

 drill the empty ones off the others they are 

 after. Of course if the yard-master was to do 

 his duty he would see that every empty car 

 was taken off as soon as unloaded. I suppose 

 that he, like his superiors, really suffers noth- 

 ing by such carelessness ; hence leaves the cars 

 in the way for some others to remove if they 

 wUl do it. If fruit shippers would look deeper 

 into these matters, they might be surprised to 

 hear how much money they lose in this way. 

 Seemingly they do not care. How seldom is 

 this important feature broached in the horti- 

 cultural societies. Shippers seem to be im- 

 pressed with the idea that it cannot be cured, so 

 must be endured. 



Yet it could soon be cured if the shippers 

 would unite with the determination to cure it, 

 for if these roads were made to pay the losses 

 sustained they would soon run the trains on 

 time, and instead of these head officials coming 

 to their office at 9 or 10 o'clock A.M., you would 

 frequently see them there at 2 and 3 in the 

 morning, looking after the train hands. Try it I 



Orchards on the Mississippi Bluffs. 



There is a cry going up all over the land, 

 east and west, of orchards failing, varieties de- 

 teriorating, diseases multiplying— and then the 

 query " what shall be done V The fault I be- 

 hove lies less in the tree or variety than with 

 the owner. Neglect is the great and primary 

 cause of orchard failure. Soils are allowed to 

 become exhausted of the chief ingredients 

 needed for vigorous growth and productive- 

 ness. A cow turned out without food or pro- 

 tection will fail ; and a tree set out and made 

 for years to live on poor soil must do Ukewise. 



Proper care as to the selection of soil, intelli- 

 gent after-culture, and a continued application 

 of the necessary nourishment, aie in my opin- 

 ion the main requisites to secure healthy and 

 long-lived orchards. Neglect of these has 

 caused and is causing yearly more and more 

 untruitf ulness, decay and death. But we must 

 not forget, that even with the best of care, 

 some varieties wUl serve us better than others, 

 and none aie constituted to Uve forever. 



People here now ai'e exercised as to what is 

 the best to plant, as they were forty years ago, 

 when they began. The Bellflower, the Rawle's 

 Jenet, the Sweet Bough, the Red June, the 

 Winesap, have all done well in former years, 

 but now seem to be giving out. What shall 

 take their place i 



The Yellow Transparent is highly extolled as 

 to quality and earliness. But one drawback 

 here in the Northwest is that the tree blights. 

 Wherever that defect can be overcome it 

 promises to be one of the foremost early Ap- 



ples of the Russian type. The Salome is 

 handsome, a good keeper, hardy in tree, and it 

 has one quality which I think should strongly 

 commend it to orchardists — it hangs persistent- 

 ly to the tree, thus rendering it safe from high 

 winds. I would add a third to the list of valu- 

 able Apples — the Whitney No. 20 — a most beau- 

 tiful Apple of exceUent quality, and though 

 claimed to be of crab parentage, is of about 

 medium size — as large as the Winesap or 

 Fameuse. The tree is hardy — one of the ' 'iron- 

 clads,"— a good bearer, and for beauty of shape 

 cannot be excelled ; its season October. 



The Ben Davis has been boomed in this re- 

 gion for thirty years past, and to tell the 

 truth, there has been more money made with 

 it than any other. But it, too, like some 

 others, is losing gi'ound. It never was recom- 

 mended for its quality, being only about third 

 rate; but its beailng qualities and hardiness 

 brought it into notice, and its beauty of size 

 and color always sold it in the market, even 

 over Bellflowers and Greenings. H. G. 



On the Pruning of Orchard Trees. 



GODFREY ZIMMERMAN, PINE HILL ORCHARDS, NEAR 

 BUFFALO, N. Y. 



So much is offered on pruning that the 

 learner must believe this operation is as much 

 needed to a tree as water to a fish, without 

 \> hich it cannot live. If less pruning, more 

 manuring, and better cultivation were prac- 

 ticed, we would see far less old-looking, decay- 

 ing trees at the age of 30 or 40 years than now. 



The illustration of a badly pruned Apple tree 

 given in }our January issue is not half as bad 

 as we often see them, and if one was to im- 

 agine the branches on, where now there are 

 stumps, the tree would nearly come under that 

 class of Apple trees of which Downing says : 

 " The less the pruning saw and knife are used 

 the better." 



In regard to opening the tree top that the 

 sunlight be accessible, this I concluded after 

 long expeiience is far less needed than is gen- 

 erally supposed. We have such powerful sun- 

 shine that if assisted by the vrind it penetrates 

 the whole top unless it is as close as a broom, 

 which is seldom the case. As for providing 

 ample room for the picker to move in the top, 

 one is apt to prune too much. At any rate 

 most of the fruit is better picked from the out- 

 side with proper f niit laddei's. 



To prune on the principle never to cut a 

 branch that is larger than a man's thumb is 

 an ability which I have tried to acquire for 

 many years, but have come to the conclusion 

 that in common practice it is not easily attain- 

 able. To prevent in future years, such cut- 

 ting would require to remove so many lateral 

 branches as to cause too great a liability of 

 the main ones becoming slender and weak, and 

 unable to bear the fruit on its upper part with- 

 out bending, causing also numerous shoots to 

 start on the upper side of the bend. 



Pruning as a principle, in itself tending to 

 impair rather than increase vitaUty, applies 

 more strongly to young vigorous trees than to 

 bearing ones. Cutting back such branches of 

 the latter as have become stunted in growth by 

 a number of heavy bearing years, down to 

 where younger and more favorably situated 

 ones are growing, tends in my judgment to 

 keep up the vitality of bearing trees. The cutting 

 of such branches appears to be no detriment to 

 the tree, while its Uve force is maintained. 



In the cutting of a branch large or small 

 just where the sweUing of the base begins, 

 unimportant as this may seem to many, lies 

 the chance to do the least possible injury to 

 the tree. To disregard this rule, cutting off the 

 whole base close to the body, increases the 

 wound three-fold in circumference, making it 

 so much more difficult to heel over. And this 

 is not all. The new growth for covering the 

 bare spot is no more active here than it would 

 be at the point of cutting if this were a trifle 

 further out. The larger woimds also, with the sur- 

 face of the layers exposed their/a< side to the 



