1887. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



207 



freer from rot, hut as all varieties are doing 

 well it will bedillicultto notice any advantage. 



The Emly Beatrice sent are fair samples. 

 This vaiiety is now generally discarded as 

 small and worthless. In my estimation the 

 variety is worthy of cultivation if properly 

 managed. They should be thoroughly thinned 

 early in the season , as they are very liable to 

 overbear, but here they are fine if well ripened 

 down to the smallest. They are splendid keep- 

 ers and ship well, being high flavored when 

 well ripened, although picked hard. The tree 

 is subject to the curl leaf, but the fruit buds are 

 hardy. It ripens a few days after the Alexan- 

 ders are gone. 



The Earl}' Rivers is a fine Peach, ripening 

 some two weeks later than Alexander. 



The Wild Goose Plums, of which samples 

 were sent, are below the average size. The 

 green one is a fair sized specimen. This variety 

 is perfectly hardy here, alwaj's blossoms freely 

 but fails to fruit heavy on account of not 

 fertilizing well. I have it from good authority 

 that by planting other varieties of the same 

 species this defect may be remedied. From its 

 earliness and handsome appearance it must be 

 a profitable Plum to grow if this defect can be 

 overcome. Owing to the severe drought this 

 summer I have but little extra sized fruit. It 

 must now be below the average. Grapes will 

 be a fair crop here. 



Acclimating Southern Trees North 

 Peaches for the North. 



D. B, "n'lER, LACON, ILL. 



The article on this subject, by my friend 

 Josiah Hoopes, may be right in most of the as- 

 sertions made if he is understood by his read- 

 ers; but I am sure he will not be generally. 

 Had he said we cannot acclimate a rarii'lij of 

 a species much farther north than its natural 

 habitat, all would, I think, have understood 

 him. But that a species cannot through its 

 progeny thus be acclimated I am sure Mr. 

 Hoopes is not going to atHrm. 



Examples like the latter we have before our 

 eyes every day in our Indian Corn, Tomatoes, 

 Potatoes, Egg-plant, all our Curcubitivas and 

 dozens, yes, hundi'eds of other things. In fact 

 nearly every one of our cultivated trees, plants, 

 etc., have been advanced from the South 

 northward. On the fact that we can acclimate 

 varieties of species depends our future hopes 

 of improvement. That Southern trees can be 

 and are continually being acclimated to the 

 North by Nature's laws, and we by assisting 

 Nature can do it much more speedily, is obvious. 

 Take friend Hoopes' example, the Magnolia 

 grandiflora. Finding a healthy, vigorous var- 

 iety of that species, fruiting freely near the 

 northern limits of its habitat, we gather and 

 plant them, say, one hundred miles northward. 

 Of these a few wiU undoubtedly be found 

 hardy, and from such we select the most rug. 

 ged ones, fruit them, planting the seeds again 

 farther northward, and so on generation after 

 generation; this is acclimation. If the e.x- 

 perimentor could handle this Magnolia intel- 

 ligently, say for .5000 years, I have no doubt 

 but what he could carry it up to Manitoba. 



I know what brother Hoopes means and says, 

 namely, that one cannot dig up a young tree 

 of Magnolia grandiflora in Louisiana, take it 

 to Philadelphia, and there teach or toughen it 

 to withstand the winters. But his meaning 

 lacks plainness for the people generally. 



It is true that so far we have failed in accli. 

 mating some valuable fruits ; but it has been 

 our own fault. Take the Peach. We have 

 given our whole attention to perfecting the 

 fruit, and little or none to developing a tree 

 for our northern climate. At least this is true 

 for the period previous to the last few years. 



That the Peach tree can be acclimated far 

 north of where it will now thrive and fruit I 

 know from example. About twenty-five years 

 ago in a Peach orchard of about .50 trees, grown 

 from seed brought from Ohio, the severe winter 



of '61-'fi3, when the thermometer showed 26° 

 below zero, killed all but thi-ee or four trees, 

 one of which bloomed the following spring and 

 matured its fruit. All the seeds were saved and 

 planted, and from them I grew trees that with- 

 stood 3(i' and matured Peaches the following 

 season. The seed was again sowed ; from this 

 I grew trees that both wood and buds with- 

 stood 28°, and I thought I had a fortune. 



But unfortunately I budded the whole outfit 

 on seedlings of the European Plum, so as to 

 have hardy stocks, but the last winter was 

 very dry as well as cold, and spring found the 

 Plum roots dead. And I here put it on record 

 for the flrst time that these trees after 28° be- 

 low zero should bloom enough for a full crop 

 of fruit. All the varieties from that seed 

 yielded really good Peaches, therefore the loss 

 was a great one. The whole race was lost. 



Farther, I now have two seedling Peaches of 

 a very distinct race which have withstood with- 

 out any protection or care 35° and 31°, and 28° 

 several times, but unfortunately the fruit buds 

 mostly kill at 20°, though a few stand 24°. The 

 fruit of these is excellent though not large, and 

 curiously enough these are the only Peach 

 trees that I have ever known that sucker 

 from their roots. This they do quite freely, 

 and their seedlings as well. Twenty years of 

 systematic effort, with a hardy race, should 

 give us trees suitable even for Wisconsin. 



But it now seems probable that this task has 

 been done for us by othere The newly intro- 

 duced Peaches from Northern China seem to 

 be as hardy as our native Willows and Oaks. 



W. W. Rawson on Some Fall 

 Vegetables. 



Cauliflowers require a great deal of moisture, 

 being composed of seventy-five per cent of 

 water. In a dry season I devote my steam 

 pump to the Cauliflower crop ; year before last 

 I worked the pump night and day, thereby 

 making a crop worth $3,500, when without 

 this it would not have been worth over St, 000. 



In irrigating, I first plow the land into 

 ridges and run the water in the channels thus 

 formed between the rows. Cauliflowers do not 

 show the effect of dry weather until they be- 

 gin to head, and it there is danger of a check 

 then the a])plication of water wiU cause them 

 to go right on. 



The variety selected makes some difference. 

 The Early Paris Cauliflower is good, but it it 

 grows large it becomes loose. The Eufurt is 

 very solid and will grow in all situations, and 

 not one in the end wiU miss heading. Last 

 year I raised fifteen varieties. Cauliflowers 

 are grown very extensively on Long Island, 

 the Algiers being the variety chiefly culti- 

 vated there. It attains a weight of from 

 ten to twelve pounds, but requires a season 

 four to ti ve weeks longer than other varieties. 



CauliHowers are attacked by a flea as soon 

 as they get out of the ground. The only rem- 

 edy is to drown them out, which is done by 

 sprinkling freely three times a day. Owing to 

 the ravages of this flea, I have frequently 

 sold plants to cultivators to whom I had before 

 sold seed. Cauliflowers will absorb a great 

 amount of manure. They never get too much. 



Mr. Rawson said he knew no remedy for the 

 Cabbage maggot, but the Cabljages will recover 

 from the injuries caused by it. As a pre- 

 ventive he plows the earth up as closely to the 

 Cabbages as possible, and then hoes it up and 

 treads it down. 



He transplants aU his Celery. He sows in 

 drills annually to raise plants for sale. He 

 sows in shade of a fence, digging the ground 

 lightly and treading it down solid ; then rakes 

 it so as to make the surface firm and sows and 

 covers very lightly. It must be watered fre- 

 (juently and should have sun half the day. 

 As fences are built now it might be sown on 

 the north side. He takes down his fence about 

 the time the Celery plants come along. — Massa- 

 chusetts Horticultural Society Report. 



The Apple Harvest. 



The crop that is worth growing well is worth 

 harvesting well, and delivering to the markets 

 in the best possible shape. And yet nmch fruit 

 that is fair as it hangs on the tree depreciates 

 in market value rapidly from inferior handling 

 in the harvest. The following practical notes 

 on this subject by Mr. Nelson Cox, of Ohio, 

 appeared some time since in the Ohio Farmer, 

 and we are glad to present them here. For pick- 

 ing, ladders and good half-bushel baskets with 

 iron hooks, so there will be no dropping of 

 baskets, are essential things to commence with. 

 The best time to pick is when the Apples 

 have colored up to show well. Never pick red 

 varieties till they get red. But do not wait 

 till all the on-hard or even all on one tree get 

 thus into the proper condition to pick. 



The best plan is to make two pickings from 

 each tree. That is, pick all that have colored 

 enough to insure their ripening up properly 

 and only show the- least sign of shriveling, as 

 at that stage they keep the best. Sdme soils 

 or situations will ripen up trees ahead of others : 

 look out and pick these flrst. In ten to fifteen 

 days all that have been left will ripen and red- 

 den so you would hardly know your own or- 

 chard. They will grow enough in this time to 

 pay for all the extra work, and the last picking 

 will give the most solid and best keepers. 



To take care of the Apples as they are picked 

 through the hot days of autumn till put into 

 winter iiuarters or market I have practiced two 

 ways. The first is to haul the Apples in barrels 

 into the barn or other house, where the sun is 

 completely shut out, but so arranged t hat the 

 air will circulate freely. Pour them out on the 

 floor not more than four feet deep and they 

 keep that way very well till winter. The other 

 way is to pack the Apples in barrels as they are 

 picked. Put in no rotton or specked ones; fill 

 the barrels as full as you can, put in the heads 

 well without using the press. Haul in and 

 store in a barn or apple house constructed with- 

 out floor, on rolling ground, where it will never 

 get wet. Permit free circulation through it, but 

 no sun. Such a barn gives entire satisfaction. 



Apples thus handled are worth 25 cents per 

 barrel more than if left out till final packing 

 time. Never put in piles in the orchard to take 

 sun, rain and every kind of weather. Never 

 cover with straw, I think it about the worst 

 material one could use, as it heats in the sun, 

 and makes a harbor for mice. It is also difficult 

 to keep the straw and chaff out of the barrels. 

 Corn-fodder is much better to cover with, if 

 you use anything. 



To put up the Apples for market, have a 

 table about three feet wide, ten feet long, and 

 with side boards six inches high. Empty two 

 or three barrels on the table and pick olf the 

 rotten or specked ones before they get mash- 

 ed. If they get the skin broken the cider will 

 stick to the others making them look badly. 



I'ick out a basketful of medium size, not the 

 biggest Apples, smooth and well-colored, and 

 set two layers in the head of the barrels, stems 

 down, and fit tkem in tight. When there are 

 larger Apples in the body of the barrel than 

 there are in the head they sell the more readily. 



Make at least two grades and mark them as 

 such. As there must not be a specked, bruised 

 or rough Apple in the two grades, that will 

 leave out some for the third, and they can 

 be sold in a near market or for apple butter. 



When you have tilled the barrels shake them 

 to settle the Apples into place. Level off the 

 head Apples above the ends of the staves, and 

 press the head down with as little hammering 

 as possible. Nail the hoops, driving the nails 

 as straight down into the staves as you can. 

 Then when the merchant opens the l)arrel the 

 nails will draw out as the hoop is knocked off. 

 Mark the grade, name and your name on the 

 other end and they are ready for market. 



;J7K. Trimming Evergreens. I'iiicli back the 

 leaders, and the leadiuKshootsof tlie sidebranutifs 

 while they are tender iu the month of .June. —C.K.I*. 



