The Canadian Horticulturist. 173 



So to please them as well as to satisfy my own horticultural curiosity, a few of 

 the full fruiting trees were left without thinning, with the result in the fall of 

 about the same yield in baskets per tree from the unthinned as from those where 

 four-fifths of the fruit had been thrown away when green. However, the fruit of 

 the latter was of such large size and superior color and flavor that it readily sold 

 on the average for more than double that from the trees where all the fruit had 

 been allowed to grow, aside from the fact that the first named trees were not 

 exhausted one-half as much, not having had to produce more than one-quarter 

 as many pits, which contain the reproductive power that saps the vitality of plant 

 as well as animal life. 



The system of picking, sorting and selling the fruit is as methodical and 

 perfect as the system of planting and cultivation. There are scattered through 

 the orchards buildings where the pickers live, and in which the fruit is sorted 

 and put in baskets made of an extra whiteness. Nothing is left undone to make 

 the fruit tempting, that it may command the highest market price. The orchards 

 are not picked until the fruit is fully ripened. Owing to the lowness of the trees 

 most of the fruit is picked from the ground. Step-ladders are used to gather in 

 the top fruit. The muriate of potash used so lavishly gives the peaches a high 

 color, and the Hales' orchards when the product is ripe are beautiful to behold. 

 The fruit is sorted into "fancy," "No. i '•" and " seconds " by girls with light 

 and nimble fingers, placed in their whitewood baskets and taken in wagons to 

 Hartford, where they are displayed and sold in a warehouse rented by the Hales 

 themselves, so that all commissions are avoided. " Fancy " peaches were three 

 inches or more in diameter. Fifty per cent, of the product was of this description. 

 — J. Hale, in Neiv York Tribune. 



Currants. — The best currant to grow for home use is the White Grape. Its 

 fruit is sweetest and best for dessert use, its jelly has the best flavor, and it is 

 superior to all others in quality for canning. If a late red berry is wanted, the 

 \'ictoria is not excelled for northern culture. The Fay is larger, but it is more 

 sprawling and delicate in habit and the fruit is poorer in quality. If you want 

 first-class currants in size and quality, set in rows in the open sunshine, cultivate 

 thoroughly, and manure hea\ily. In pruning, permit the new wood to come on 

 and cut out the wood that is four years old or upward. The Black Naples 

 currant has a value not realized, except by our settlers from England. By 

 scalding the fruit for a few moments in boiling water, and then putting into fresh 

 water for cooking, the peculiar flavor of the skin is removed, and when canned 

 for winter use it is much like the cranberry sauce in flavor and color. In 

 growing the black currant, it must be kept in mind that it is borne on wood of 

 the preceding year's growth, and to secure a succession of new wood it is 

 necessary to cut back the poiri'ts of growth each fall. The Crandall has no 

 relative value for any use. — Orchard and Ga7-den. 



