THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



157 



The Wealthy, in northeastern Ver- 

 mont, is fully colored, in skin and seed, 

 usually by or before the 20th Sejjtem- 

 ber. Up to the 1st October it is one 

 of the very best apples to hang on in a 

 high wind that I have ever seen. It 

 never drops its fruit for the reason 

 which causes the Tetofsky to fall, which 

 is that the latter grows in close clustere 

 and has a very short stem, so that, as 

 the fruit enlarges, the growth causes 

 them to ci'owd one another off. The 

 Wealthy, although a more productive 

 tiee than Tetofsky, has its fruit dis- 

 tributed along the branches instead of 

 being clustered on spurs, and its long 

 and strongly attached stem (both to 

 fruit and limb), holds very firmly until 

 the fruit begins to be over-ripe. If 

 gathering is delayed until this period 

 has arrived, the apples begin to lose 

 their fii-m adhesion to the tree and to 

 fall to the ground — the wormy ones 

 first, but soon also those which are per- 

 fect. 



Experienced orchardists never allow 

 apples to become over-ripe before har- 

 vesting. Early fruit, so left, will not 

 endure transportation, while winter ap- 

 ples will be much impaired in their 

 keeping qualities. But a large num- 

 ber of ordinary farmers and ama- 

 teur growers are ignorant of this fact, 

 and it is for their benefit that I make 

 this statement. As regards any apple 

 which it is desirable to keep into the 

 winter, it should be gathered as soon 

 as it is fairly colored up and the seeds 

 are brown — two signs which in most 

 cases come nearly together. North of 

 45° in New England and Canada, if 

 gathered ])romptly at this period, care- 

 fully handled and stored at once in a 

 cool, properly ventilated fruit cellar, it 

 is a true winter apple, keeping well un- 

 til the first of March or later. I still 

 have them to-day (March 23) in full 

 flavor and firmness of flesh, although 

 we had an unusually long and warm 



autumn. If, however, I had let this 

 fruit remain upon the trees until it had 

 begun to drop badly from over-ripeness 

 and had then left it exposed to the al- 

 ternations of temperature, unavoidable 

 in above-grouud storage until hard 

 freezing weather, as is often the cus- 

 tom, it would have been necessary to 

 market the whole crop before Christ- 

 mas. But stored in a deep cellar with, 

 the windows all open every day, cool 

 night, and closed at all other times, 

 they have kept with liardly any loss as 

 above stated. — Rural New Yorker. 



THE BAGGING OF GRAPES. 



That the process of enveloping grow- 

 ing clusters of grapes with proper bags 

 for protection against insects, mildew, 

 rot, etc., is one of value, has been 

 proven to the satisfaction of many cul- 

 tivators. Comparatively a new idea, 

 the season of 1887 will see it applied 

 far and wide, more extensively than 

 ever before. It is one of those simple 

 processes that every amateur, even 

 though he have but a single vine, may 

 readily adopt with advantage. One 

 grower who experimented in bagging 

 bis gi'apes last year, reports that in his 

 case it made j ust the difference between 

 success and failui-e. 



The course is a most simple one. 

 Common light manilla bags, the size 

 known as two pound bags, are usually 

 emj)loyed. These are slipj^ed on over 

 each cluster of the fruit, and secured 

 somewhat loosely by pins or stitches of 

 thread. If the stem of the cluster is 

 brought against one end of the opening 

 a single j)in to a bag will answer, if in 

 the middle, to have the paper bear 

 evenly on all sides, then several pins or 

 stitches are needed. A small slit 

 should also be made in the bottom of 

 each bag, to allow escape for any water 

 that may enter into it along the stem. 

 From 500 to 1,000 bags can be put on 



