IQO 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



August, 



Fruit Jottings and Talks by A. M. 

 Purdy, Palmyra, N. Y. 



Young suckers forniiug around fruit trees should 

 be taken off as fast as thej- start . 



Pruning in Summer. Now is a good time to 

 prune all kinds of fruit trees. We niucll prefer 

 pruning in July and August than in early spring 



Two-eye Grape Cuttings. We have had splen- 

 did success growing these. Set thickly in boxes of 

 rich mold in the gi'cenhouse, and when nicely 

 started transplanting in rich beds outdoors, and 

 shading a few days with straw after setting out. 



A good way to start a new Strawberry bed is: 

 take up old plants that have runneis growing from 

 them: set well after rains and when ground is well 

 soaked, and lay the rimners along the row, throw- 

 ing a little earth ovei- tliem when the young plant 

 is forming By this plan nice rows can be soon 

 formed that will make a nice crop next year. 



No Strawberry has paid us better this year than 

 the old 1 'owner's Prolific on old beds. They yield 

 abundantly, have a perfect blossom and hence re- 

 quire no fertilizing sort near them and bear heavy 

 v^ry easily. Their orange-scarlet color, perfect 

 roimd shape and uniform size give them a fine ap- 

 pearance on the market stands. 



Currants and Gooseberries, As soon as they 

 drfi)! tlieir leaf trim ihe bushes and cut trimmings 

 up into cuttings of G to H inches in length. Set out 

 to top eye, two to three inches apart in the row, 

 and rows two feet apart, and before winter sets in 

 midch the surface close to ^hem well and in early 

 spring draw this away. By this plan you will have 

 splendid plants next year. 



Strawberry Planting. Once for all let us say 

 that both in Virginia and Tennessee it does not pay 

 to set Strawberries in the fall for market purposes. 

 They do not yield enough fruit next year to pay 

 for the risk, extra care of setting, increase of work 

 in weeding, etc., and besides the great risk of win- 

 ter killing or " heaving " that newly set plants are 

 subject to. For small garden beds we advise Au- 

 gust or September setting if properly covered with 

 straw or hay through the winter. South of Virginia 

 and Kentucky fall setting even as late as Novetnber 

 can be recommended. 



Marketing Strawberries. This season we have 

 practiced a new plan, namely, to have all ripe 

 Strawberries picked, large and small, and take them 

 to our packing budding and there have them as- 

 sorted over, putting in all fair, ripe fruit and 

 throwing away nubbitis and unripe and partly de- 

 cayed fruit. In this way we have averaged one to 

 two cents per quart more for our fruit. Gives good 

 satisfaction all around and saves ourselves many 

 "curses.'' It is impossible to get a set of pickers 

 that will pick fruit right, and the grower has to 

 take the blame of their dishonesty. Again, it's bet- 

 ter to have all ripe fruit kept clean from the vines, 

 for if the small fruit or nubbins is left on it dam- 

 ages the growth of the fruit that is coming on. It's 

 easy to make jelly out of the small fruit. And, too, 

 sorting out the small berries makes but about a 

 quart or two ditference in a bushel, while the price 

 far more than makes up for this. After this our 

 berries will be assorted. 



THE STRAWBERRY CROP. 



First of all came the Crystal City with its 

 two or three extreme early pickings and then 

 it was gone and of no value, but these two or 

 three pickings, where early fruit pays, makes 

 them profitable. Next comes Crescents and 

 Downer's Prolific, both good market sorts ; the 

 latter just the sort to fertilize the other. 



The Wilson and old Iron Clad follow close 

 after and are both reliable old sorts. The 

 Sucker State comes about the same time with 

 the Wilson and is one of the best market sorts 

 giown, because of its bright color, imiform 

 large size and perfect shape and extreme firm- 

 ness, one of the best for long shipping, and we 

 believe will prove profitable at the South for 

 northern shipments. 



Chas. Downing is fine for home use, but too 

 soft for shipment. Piper, a dark crimson, good 

 size and very productive sort — one of the most 

 delicious on our grounds, and fine for both 

 home use and market. 



Mt. Vernon we are highly pleased with — ripen- 

 ing two or three days after Wilson,— of large 

 size, very productive and plant hai-dy. Sharp- 

 less ripens about same time and is magnificent. 

 Its fault is green tips and whitish scarlet, but 



it sells quick and for best prices. Bidwell is 

 one of our stand-bys: early and produces 

 heavily on old as well as new plantations. 



Cxreen Prolific is one of our iron clads, and 

 where well fertilized with Wilson or Sucker 

 State is productive for years on the same beds. 

 Windsor Chief is unexcelled Iiy any sort on our 

 grounds for productiveness, while its fine round 

 shape, uniform size and rich, dark crimson 

 makes it a quick selling sort. Big Bob is giving 

 us a splendid crop of line fruit this year. Ijord's 

 Seedling (Vineland) is the finest very late sort 

 on our grounds. Similar in shape to the Ken- 

 tucky, but finer and better than that .sort 

 every way. Daniel Boone, where well fertilizeil, 

 is giving us a large crop of vei-y fine fruit. 

 Manchester is enormously pi'oductive, but too 

 soft for long shipment ; splendid for home mark- 

 et. It gives us the last picking of any sort. 



Jumbo is choice, but not as late as its origin- 

 ator claims. It is very similar to Cumberland 

 Triumph, which variety with us is equal to 

 Sharpless in many respects. Fine for home 

 use and market, but not sufficiently firm for 

 long shipments. 



Beacon, the finest sort on our grounds for 

 growing by the stoolicg plan, as it throws out 

 so few runners. Glendale, late and as firm for 

 skipping as a stone. We recommend this as 

 the best for shipments from the South North. 



The above includes the best of scores of old 

 sorts on our grounds. Jewell, Belmont, On- 

 tario, Parry, Hoffman, and other new sorts we 

 have not tested enough to give a fair opinion. 



HARVESTING RASI'BERRIES BY THE NEW 

 METHOD. 



All agree to the necessity of doing something 

 to save the crop of fruit at much less cost than 

 by hand picking, and ajso to save the annoy- 

 ance and perplexities of that method. 



These troubles it is not necessary for me to 

 name, for every fruit grower knows of them. 

 Mr. Benedict, as a large grower, had his share 

 in the shape of strikes, when his pickers would 

 fly at the least thing and keep away from the 

 fields until he was forced to contrive some plan 

 to get out of the power of such a class. In this 

 dilemma he happily hit upon his harvester. 

 He started eight to ten persons working with 

 quickly made harvesters for the occasion, and 

 the result was they did the work that fifty to 

 sixty pickei's wei'e required to do. 



Perhaps a little conversation between the 

 writer and Mr. Benedict may come in place. 



"Yes, sir, I was the first to apply for a 

 patent, which covers all devices for knocking 

 off and catching the fruit." 



" How many can a man gather in a day ? " 



" With plants in good condition, the crop 

 good and the bushes allowed to become black 

 with fruit before beginning, he can gather 

 eight to ten or more bushels per day, or as 

 much as six to eight persons can hand pick. 

 Hereafter I want no pickers in my field." 



"With bushes black with ripe fruit will not 

 much of it be too ripe for good evaporating ? " 



"No, sir; my experience has shown that 

 well and even over ripe fruit makes the best 

 evaporated fruit. It takes less of such to make 

 a poimd than if picked as soon as it turns." 



"What then is the hurry about gathering 

 the fruit, either by your harvester or by hand? " 



" None, while much is gained by it, by either 

 method, as double the amount can be picked in 

 the same time and better." 



" I see leaves and sticks, and even some green 

 berries are knocked off by yom- harvester. 

 How do you manage that, and isn't it waste ?" 



" No waste to speak of; in fact, no more in 

 proportion than in hand picking the same 

 amount, and too, by our floating process we 

 separate all that green, 2d grade fruit from the 

 best, and it sold for me at 18 cents, while the 

 best brought only 22 cents per pound. As to 

 floating, after we have run our evaporated 

 fruit through a fanning mill, we then put it 

 into water, a peck or so into a long tin pail 

 having a perforated bottom, and near the top 



a perforated sliding division, running through 

 the side within 3 to 4 inches of the top. We 

 fill this pail partly full, sink it in a barrel of 

 water down to the top. The green and partly 

 ripe fruit will float, the perforated drawer can 

 be closed and the pail drawn out and drain a 

 moment, when the fruit may be placed on sieve 

 drawers in an airy place, where it soon dries." 

 " Does not the wetting damage it ^" 

 "No. It makes it plumper and all the finer 

 and the better. Understand, we allow it to 

 remain in the water but a moment, not long 

 enough for the water to work into the fruit, 

 and the coloring of the water also colors the 

 partly ripe fruit, so that it gives a better ap- 

 pearance and sells quick for second price fruit." 

 "Don't you waste much fruit in gathering?" 

 " No more than pickers ordinairly do." 

 " In gathering with a harvester how many 

 times going over the plants for evaporating 

 purposes is needed '! " 



" Twice will clean them so nearly that it will 

 not jiay to go over them again." 



Such was a part of the conversation that 

 passed between us. Heretofore we have Iieen 

 anxious to keep our plantations picked as fast 

 as fruit colors in sufficient quantities to pick, 

 but we are now satisfied we have been in error, 

 and that where we have made our mistake, 

 which was discouraging to pickers, was in 

 being in too much baste to gather our fruit, 

 even picking it before it was properly black. 

 By allowing a large quantity to get ripe the 

 pickers do much better, and are better satisfied 

 with their day's work. 



We are satisfied the harvesters will not work 

 or pay where the bushes are scattering and 

 fruit a light crop, but if well grown and kept 

 well cut back the harvesters will prove a suc- 

 cess and a great saving. 



The berries can be gathered to sell fresh.^by 

 simply having a canvas bottom inclined 

 trough or frame, and by knocking slightly on 

 the under siile the berries will roll down this 

 canvas to the lower end, where they can be 

 ladled out into quart baskets. 



The Benefits of Mulching;. 



.JNO. M. STAHL, vt'INCY, ILL. 



I believe in midching, but it rarely receives 

 credit for one-halt of its work — helping the 

 water into the soil. Nature mulches in the 

 fall, because fall and winter are her time for 

 storing moisture in the ground While pre- 

 cipitations are heaviest in spring and siun- 

 mer, the transpiration of plants and increased 

 evaporation more than make up for this. 



Dickinson, using a drain-gauge three feet 

 deep and fiUed with fine gravelly loam grass 

 grown on the surface, found that in England 

 during a period of eight years 74.5 per cent of 

 the rain and snow from October to March in- 

 clusive percolated through the gauge, while 

 from April to September inclusive only 7. 1 per 

 cent did so. During the warm months of two 

 years no water whatever percolated; and 

 Pfaff at Erlanger, and Wolrich at Salzburg and 

 Vienna, also found that during some hotmonths 

 the evaporation exceeded the rain fall. 



Clearly under such circumstances the plants 

 subsisted on ground water, taken into the soil 

 during the winter, when nature had spread her 

 mulch ; and while we mulch to retard eva|)ora- 

 tion,we may take hints from nature, and mulch 

 to increase the percentage of the rain-fall find- 

 ing its way into the ground. 



As stated, by nmlching we help the water into 

 the groimd as well as retain it there. If a 

 smart shower falls, much of the water, without 

 mulching (or cultivation), runs ott' the ground; 

 but a loose mulch will hold the water imtil it 

 sinks through the mulch and into the ground. 

 Mulching prevents puddling or baking, things 

 that are hurtful to plants, because keeping out 

 the air ; hence its benefit outside of influencing 

 the moistm-e in the soil. 



Then further, much of the rain that does not 

 run off the ground is, without mulching, re- 



