37° 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 446. 



taken from every lot of twenty barrels or less. One of these 

 is opened at the "face" end and the other is turned out in bas- 

 kets, so that buyers can detect at a glance any dishonesty in 

 packing. The trade has been going on long enough now to 

 give an opportunity for growers and packers here to establish 

 a reputation, and many brands of apples are now sold almost 

 entirely on their reputation for honest packing, uniformity and 

 soundness. 



Mr. Howard, the entomologist of the Department of Agri- 

 - ulture, has just issued a circular on the general appearance 

 and work of the larger Corn-stalk borer, diatraga saccharalis. 

 This pest, which tunnels and destroys the stalks of growing 

 Corn, rarely does any sweeping injury except in sections where 

 Corn is replanted on the same ground for several successive 

 seasons. Since the insect bores downward through the old 

 stalks to the tap-root and passes the winter a little below the 

 surface of the ground it will increase year by year, and when 

 abundant it often ruins half the crop, ft is the same borer 

 which attacks Sorghum and Sugar-cane, and the way to keep 

 it in check is by a rotation of crops or by thoroughly dragging 

 off the stalks and stumps in the fall after the corn is cut or 

 pulled, and burning it. 



A well-informed writer in The Gardeners' Chronicle speaks 

 with enthusiasm of the capabilities of Australia, and especially 

 of New South Wales, for fruit-growing, where millions of 

 acres are suitable for the production of almost every de- 

 scription of fruits that can be grown in temperate and sub- 

 tropical countries. Oranges and lemons of all varieties 

 grow well, and they can be delivered in London during those 

 months in the year when there is no supply from Spain or 

 other southern countries. Table grapes in great variety can 

 be profitably exported when packed as they are in Portugal 

 and other countries, while the opportunities for wine-making 

 are almost unlimited. There are also possibilities of building 

 up a large export trade in raisins, dried currants, figs and 

 other staples peculiar to the isles of the Levant and the Gre- 

 cian peninsula. 



What is to be the final verdict upon the usefulness of the 

 Wineberry as an ornamental and useful plant ? We have very 

 contradictory reports concerning it in this country, and now a 

 correspondent of The Garden writes from Dublin that this 

 Rtibus Phcenicolasius is there attractive at all stages, from the 

 time of the formation of its long crimson-bearded flower- 

 buds. After the flowers fall, the young fruit, at first yellow, 

 then orange, then red, then ruby color, contrasts beautifully 

 with the leaves, which are deep green above and pure white 

 beneath. The fruit, which ripens in Ireland about the first of 

 August, is said to be a welcome addition to the dessert at the 

 time when other fruits are mostly over, and, in addition to this, 

 the plant is perfectly hardy. Is it not possible that by selec- 

 tion or hybridizing this plant may be improved in various 

 directions ? 



In a bulletin on fodder and forage plants issued by the De- 

 partment of Agriculture, it is noted that the common Yarrow, 

 Achillea Millifolium, which is found everywhere in old fields 

 and meadows in this country and usually considered a weed, 

 is held in England to be a very valuable addition to sheep pas- 

 tures. A correspondent in Toronto inquires why this would 

 not be a good lawn plant. He has observed patches of the 

 plant here and there in Canadian parks, which were fresh, 

 green and aromatic, contrasting favorably with the dry and 

 shriveled appearance of the surrounding grass during the dry 

 weather of early spring. The trouble would be that it would 

 lose all its grace when the mower ran over it, even if the blades 

 were set high so as to snap off only the leading shoot above 

 the lower leaves, and the lawn would have a stubby look. But 

 it must be admitted that a lawn which could be kept covered 

 with the graceful lower leaves of this plant would have not 

 only a novel but singularly beautiful appearance. 



The novelty in the fruit market this week was the arrival of 

 the first of the new crop of Jamaica oranges, which for their 

 rarity, or, certainly not tor their intrinsic value, were all taken 

 by the fancy fruiterers. A few new Japanese persimmons 

 have reached here from California, but, of course, they are 

 inferior in size, color and quality. A limited quantity of well- 

 colored cranberries have reached the city, and they command 

 $6.00 a barrel, although most of those that yet come are light- 

 colored and cheap. Of the pears, the best now are the so-called 

 Mountain Bartletts grown on the Highlands about Vacaville. 

 They are of large size and delicious flavor, and, in spite of the 

 abundance of fruit, cost sixty cents a dozen. The finest Alex- 

 ander, Gravenstein and Duchess of Oldenburg apples bring at 



wholesale $2.00 a barrel. Owing to the small size and inferior 

 quality of the Delaware peaches this year, California peaches 

 compete with them at no disadvantage and are worth quite 

 as much. Among the plums, Kelseys are held to be fhe 

 richest and best in quality as dessert fruits, although they are 

 a trifle over-sweet and of medium size. Well-ripened and 

 fair-sized fruit brings fifty cents a dozen. 



Mr. W. H. Jenkins writes to The Country Gentleman that he 

 lately sent some fine bunches of celery to a fashionable sum- 

 mer hotel and received $30.00 for the product of a square rod. 

 The plants were set at an average distance of a toot apart 

 — that is, in two rows six or seven inches apart — then an 

 eighteen-inch space, and then another double row. Wide 

 boards were set on both sides the double rows when the plants 

 were half-grown, the space between was mulched with manure 

 and other material which would hold moisture, water was 

 turned on from a neighboring brook and the ground was kept 

 thoroughly wet. One could almost see the Celery grow, and 

 when the plants were about full size the boards were crowded 

 close together, and in mid-August there was a large growth of 

 well-blanched celery. Of course, this method will not succeed 

 except on the richest soil, and when the rows are close irriga- 

 tion is indispensable. Three times as much Celery can be 

 grown on the land as by the old method of setting in rows 

 wide apart, while in double rows only half as many boards are 

 needed. There is no earthing up to make expense and soil 

 the stalks, while the mulch keeps down the weeds and retains 

 the moisture, so that less water is needed. 



The experiment of shipping California green fruit to London 

 can hardly be pronounced a success as yet, but perhaps with 

 improved methods of cooling or slerilizing the air it may be 

 possible to deliver in London fruit which has been picked in 

 California after it was reasonably matured. California papers 

 insist that the experiment should be persisted in, because the 

 young trees that are coming into bearing within the next two 

 years will certainly double the fruit production of that state. 

 Some new outlet must, therefore, be provided for the fruit 

 since the demand in eastern cities will certainly not increase 

 so rapidly as to absorb the whole Pacific coast supply that is 

 not used home. Oranges make up the leading product in the 

 southern part of the state, of course, but of the thirty million 

 fruit-trees in the state, a little more than half of which are in 

 bearing, the prune is already the leading product, while the 

 the young trees that do not yet bear are three times the num- 

 ber of the bearing trees. Apricots too young to be productive 

 outnumber the bearing trees, also, by two to one, and are 

 among the three leading fruits in five out of the seven south- 

 ern counties. The orchards of Apples, Pears, Peaches and 

 Cherries are increasing in acreage every year, so that conserv- 

 ative growers are beginning to wonder who will consume the 

 thousands of tons of fruit which are looking for an eastern 

 market. 



William E. Meehan, who was a member of the Peary Re- 

 lief Expedition, writing to The Independent oi flowers in Green- 

 land, says that a few miles north of Robertson's Bay there is a 

 plateau about a milelongand one-fourth as wide, with a precipi- 

 tous face to the sea, and on the other side lichen-covered cliffs 

 rising to a height of three thousand to five thousand feet. The 

 top and sides of this plateau is a mass of flourishing vegeta- 

 tion, chiefly of Grass, which when one walks through it reaches 

 above the knee. Among this verdure, Buttercups, Poppies, 

 Cinque.foil and Dandelions thrust their golden heads in wild 

 profusion, and yet beneath it all is part of a dead glacier, a bed 

 of ice, which forms the plateau. The explanation of this 

 remarkable phenomenon is that the progress of the glacier 

 was really arrested years, perhaps centuries, ago, when Mosses, 

 which brave any temperature, began to creep slowly over the 

 mass of ice, which was then perhaps fifty or more feet thick, 

 making their way first in thin net-like layers, and then as they 

 gathered strength in thick masses till they reached the edge 

 which fronted the bay. Here, as the sun each summer slowly 

 melted the face of the ice, they matted themselves firmly and 

 dropped over lower and lower until thev reached the rocky 

 shore, and the huge block of ice was completely hidden. Then 

 year after year the Moss flourished, the young plants trampled 

 the older under foot until the latter decayed and turned into 

 rich mold and buried the great mass of ice deeper and deeper. 

 Then Grass seeds found their way among the Moss, blown by 

 winds or carried by birds. These germinated and increased, 

 and by their greater vigor in turn almost blotted out the Moss. 

 To finish the picture, blooming plants took up their abode and 

 flourished. Every summer now the plateau is a garden of 

 green and gold and white. 



