i8o 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 427. 



During the last fiscal year about $130,000 worth of plants, 

 trees and shrubs were exported from this country, while the 

 plants, trees and vines imported as nursery stock amounted in 

 value to $632,500. 



The mild winter and early spring in California have hurried 

 the fruit-trees into blossom so that orchards and vineyards 

 were considerably in advance of what they usually are at this 

 season, when for three successive nights the mercury fell 

 below the freezing point, an almost unparalleled temperature 

 at this season. Of course, in certain sections this will injure the 

 grape crop, the early cherries, peaches, prunes, apricots and 

 other fruits, but it is hardly safe to trust the dispatches which 

 state that half of the grape crop is ruined. It is interesting to 

 know that fires and smudges which were kindled in many 

 places proved an effectual protection against the frost. Here 

 is a problem for experimenters. It would seem that the re- 

 sources of modern science ought to be able to warn and pro- 

 tect the tillers of the soil against forces which, if unchecked, 

 bring such overwhelming disaster. 



On last Monday the choicest Hoffman strawberries, large 

 and richly colored, cost forty cents a quart, and good fruit 

 could be had for twenty-five cents, and even less. Handsome 

 Acme pears of immense size are still offered in the high-class 

 fruit stores and cost twenty-five cents each. The last speci- 

 mens of Winter Nelis cost seventy-five cents to $1.50 a dozen, 

 and Easter Beurres command $1.50 to $2.00. P. Barry will 

 follow these sorts and continue until summer pears are on the 

 market. Besides the usual sales, these pears are in especial 

 demand for baskets sent to voyagers leaving on ocean steam- 

 ships. Almeria grapes cost seventy-five cents a pound, and 

 well-ripened but small berried Black Hamburgs, from com- 

 mercial graperies in Newport, Rhode Island, bring $4.00 a 

 pound. The latter have been offered in limited quantities for 

 three weeks, but the season is later than usual on account of 

 the dull weather of February and March. Navel oranges from 

 California cost fifty cents to $1.00 a dozen, and Rodi oranges, 

 the celebrated Mediterranean summer fruit, are already here. 

 Sapodillas, from Cuba and from Mexico, are in considerable 

 demand, one down-town dealer having promptly sold 500 of 

 these fruits at forty cents a dozen. Souari nuts, from Vene- 

 zuela, are still occasionally seen, and cost thirty cents a 

 dozen. 



Instruction as to methods of propagating and cultivating the 

 American Persimmon, with suggestions for its improvement, 

 forms the subject of a bulletin just issued by the Indiana 

 Experiment Station. Although there are many excellent varie- 

 ties of this fruit growing wild, it has been much neglected. 

 One reason for this neglect is that the fruit of some trees, 

 even when thoroughly ripe, never loses the peculiar astringent 

 property which the green fruit always contains. Another is 

 that when cultivation has been attempted from seedlings or 

 suckers the plants usually died orproducedinferiorfruit, or were 

 infertile, and even if by chance a good variety was secured, a 

 long time always elapsed before the trees came into bearing. 

 But new methods of propagation have been introduced, 

 so that trees can be brought into bearing in from three to 

 five years from the bud or graft, and henceforward we 

 may expect a reasonably rapid improvement in this fruit, 

 not only by cross-fertilization, but by selection. We have 

 often called attention to the fact that there are Persimmons in 

 Japan with fruit as large as that of the market varieties grown 

 in Florida and southern California, and which thrive at 

 home in a climate as trying as that of New England. It cer- 

 tainly would seem worth while for our experiment stations to 

 hybridize our native plants with some of the hardier strains of 

 the Asiatic species. 



In his address at the Arbor Day forestry meeting in Phila- 

 delphia, Mr. B. E. Fernow called the attention of the citizens 

 of that city to the interesting fact that for seventy years they 

 had been in possession of a forest reservation 13,000 acres in 

 extent, which might furnish a field for study and practice for 

 Philadelphians who are interested in forestry problems. The 

 tract mentioned lies in Centre County and was given to the 

 city of Philadelphia by Dr. Elias Boudinot, President of the 

 First Continental Congress, as a trust fund, the income of 

 which he directed to be applied to supply fuel to poor per- 

 sons in the city of Philadelphia at cost prices. The property 

 originally contained some of the best timber in the state of 

 Pennsylvania, but being difficult of access and far from mar- 

 ket it received little attention from the city authorities until early 

 in the sixties, when a portion of the timber was cut under leases, 

 but a much greater portion was stolen, destroyed by fire or lost 

 through conflicting titles. Mr. George E. Kirkpatrick, Superin- 



tendent of the Minor City Trusts of Philadelphia, in reply to an 

 inquiry, has kindly furnished us with some of these facts, and 

 he adds that the work of reforestation was begun in 1888 and 

 has been continued to as great an extent as the limited means 

 at the disposal of the commission will permit. The Chestnut 

 and Oak which sprang up to take the place of the Pine and 

 Hemlock have been retarded, of course, by frequent fires, but 

 the land has been leased to a gunning and fishing club and the 

 rental received assists in paying the expenses of protection 

 against fire and trespass. The property is admirably situated 

 for a game preserve, having a frontal of thirteen miles on the 

 Susquehanna, being mainly rough hill land, far from settle- 

 ments, containing within its limits many trout streams and 

 naturally stocked with deer, bear and pheasants. 



Asparagus is now coming from South Carolina, Maryland, 

 Delaware and New Jersey in heavy long white stalks and the 

 more slender green shoots, the best costing forty-five to fifty- 

 five cents a bunch. New yellow crook-neck squashes, from 

 Florida, cost ten cents each. Okra, from Cuba, small and 

 fresh-looking, may be had for ten cents a dozen. French arti- 

 chokes, from California and from New Orleans, are plentiful 

 at fifteen cents each, the larger ones from France costing 

 twenty-five cents. Showy white celery, from California, costs 

 thirteen cents a stalk, that from Florida being a little lower 

 in price, and now mainly sold for use in salads. The best 

 table celery is that just beginning to come from Bermuda, and 

 costs twenty cents a stalk. Bermuda onions are in abundant 

 supply, 30,000 crates having been landed from the last steamer, 

 together with 300 barrels of potatoes. The latter are becoming 

 scarce, and command as much as $8.00 to $10.00 a barrel 

 wholesale, seventy-five cents a half-peck being the retail price. 

 Havana potatoes, at sixty cents a half-peck, are in favor, and 

 many buyers prefer them for their mealy quality to those from 

 Bermuda. New potatoes are also coming from Florida, the price 

 for well-graded stock being $6.00 to $8.00 a barrel to wholesale 

 dealers. Large plants of Romaine lettuce, from the south, 

 cost twenty cents each, and tender field or corn salad fifteen 

 cents a quart. Mint, taragon, chervil, tansy, and waldmeister, 

 the popular green used by Germans in making their May 

 drink, are all seen in the retail markets. The dependence for 

 cucumbers and tomatoes at present is on the northern hot- 

 house product, the former costing twenty cents each, and the 

 latter forty cents a pound. Firm white heads of Dutch cab- 

 bage and new southern cabbage cost ten to fifteen cents each. 

 Other vegetables now noted in most collections are celeriac, 

 salsify, kohl rabi, new turnips, leeks, peas, string beans and 

 peppers. 



A bulletin from the Oregon Experiment Station states that 

 prunes are now the favorite orchard crop in Oregon, where 

 the trees are sure to bear; no adverse climatic conditions need 

 to be overcome, the finished product is not perishable, and the 

 danger from insects and fungi are not so serious as with other 

 fruits. The trees suffer from some pests, but these are noth- 

 ing to compare with the codlin moth in the case of the Apple 

 and Pear, and until thecurculio and black-knot come from the 

 east it can be said that the Prunes in Oregon are free from 

 disease. The Italian Prune, also called the Fellenburg or Ger- 

 man Prune, a dark purple fruit with a heavy bluish bloom, is 

 the favorite in Oregon, and it is superior in quality and size 

 and productiveness to any other Prune as grown there. It is 

 larger when dried than the French prune, and its acid flavor 

 is more agreeable to the taste of most people. The French 

 or, as it is known in Oregon, the Petite Prune is a general 

 favorite in the commercial world and among fruit growers 

 where it thrives. As grown in Oregon it is medium-sized to 

 small, violet-purple, with a bright bloom, sweet and rich, with 

 a large proportion of solids and sugar, so that it shrinks less in 

 drying than other varieties. The lack of acid, however, gives 

 it an insipid flavor and renders it almost worthless when fresh. 

 It does well only on light dry soil and in a warm dry climate, 

 and these conditions are only found in Oregon in the Umpqua 

 and Rogue River valleys. The Silver prune, a light yellow 

 fruit and firm, juicy, sugary flesh when properly dried, is as 

 good as any prune in size and flavor, but since the public 

 demands that a white prune shall be sulphured the quality is 

 somewhat injured by the process, and in some markets a 

 prejudice is created against it. The Reine Claude will never 

 be a great commercial fruit, but as a fancy product it is unsur- 

 passed, being in quality equal to the best raisins or figs. A 

 few other varieties are sparingly cultivated. Steam in pipes 

 seems to furnish the most efficient and economical heat for 

 drying the fruit, especially in large establishments, and those 

 who contemplate building evaporators are advised to prepare 

 for steam-heat. 



