January 4, 1893.] 



Garden and Forest. 



II 



sweet, but loses flavor. It is not a late keeper. Duchess is a 

 better keeper than I had supposed, but it must not be left too 

 long on the vines, for in that case it cracks and decays at once. 

 Diana is not well ripened this year, but is a late keeper, and 

 about as good a grape as we have. Not one of all my grapes 

 is in finer condition than Goethe. It does not quite generally 

 ripen here, but if grown on long vines on the side of a house 

 or barn it becomes a fairly good fruit. Then, if put away, it 

 improves in color and flavor. The lona has exactly the same 

 tendency as Goethe ; it improves after picking, even taking on 

 color. It is very thin-skinned, and requires careful handling, 

 but keeps when so handled admirably. Jefferson is another 

 grape that improves after storing, and only for that we must 

 discard it from our latitude. Lady Washington is also better 

 than when gathered, and is in fine order. Ulster is one of our 

 really good keepers so far. Pocklington is in splendid condi- 

 tion and fine flavor. Gaertner is showing no signs of decay. 

 August Giant is keeping so far very well. 



For December i sth I append the following notes : The grapes 

 in best condition at this date are Diana, Amber, Goethe, Ver- 

 gennes and Gaertner. Those somewhat shriveled are Her- 

 bert, Ulster, Jefferson and August Giant. Those that have 

 shown decided signs of decay are Niagara, Concord, Diamond, 

 Duchess, Lady Washington and lona. Of these it is hardly 

 worth while to expect to keep Niagara, Concord and Duchess 

 in good order beyond December ist. If now selecting a list 

 for late winter storage, I should, considering quality and ten- 

 dency to resist decay, select Diana, Goethe, Herbert, Gaertner, 

 Ulster, Vergennes and Pocklington. For early winter I should 

 add lona, Martha and August Giant. The last of these is 

 very fine, only for its tendency to shrivel. 



This happens to be my present list, but on previous occa- 

 sions I have tested Wilder, which kept admirably, and might 

 be classed about with Herbert, although shriveling rather less 

 quickly ; Worden, which keeps about with Concord, but loses 

 flavor ; Diana I have kept until April in cool drawers. 



These notes are made of grapes which are in no way specially 

 preparedforkeepingbypackmgorby waxing. The bunchesare 

 carefully picked, carefully examined, and all decaying or loose 

 grapes removed and laid loosely over the bottoms of clean 

 new baskets. They are then placed in a cool dry room. I have 

 had still better success in cool dry drawers. As the grape is 

 now recognized as an exceptionally wholesome fruit, I see no 

 reason why we should not store it in large quantities. I have 

 had enough for a generous daily supply, and shall not be with- 

 out abundance until the new year. I iind, on looking over all 

 my baskets, that I have misjudged one variety, the Diamond, 

 for two baskets from our vineyard are in splendid condition at 

 this date. The baskets in front, from which we had eaten, 

 came from an old vine somewhat shaded, and the fruit lacked 

 the perfect color and sweetness of the others which had the 

 full sunshine. It must be borne in mind that a grape may not 

 be able to show its real qualities as a keeper unless grown in 

 a choice location. I think it quite certain that a well-ripened 

 Diamond is one of the best keepers we have. I am glad this 

 is so, for this grape has failed to meet our expectations both as 

 to prolific bearing and early ripening. Amber I have not in- 

 cluded in my list of select latest, only because it has an acid 

 that makes it unacceptable to most consumers. Personally I 

 like it. 



My experiment was not intended to see how late I could 

 keep grapes, but to ascertain which were best keepers under 

 conditions open to almost any family. I am able to keep 

 Diana undl April. 



Clinton, N. Y. -E. -P. Powell. 



Among the White Pines. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — Wei'e I called upon to choose an emblem for America 

 I should select the White Pine. I have thought of the wild 

 Grape-vine for its old indubitable connection with Wineland, 

 its irrepressible energy of growth and the quiet perseverance 

 with which it preaches its gospel of wild natural loveliness and 

 latent possibilities of beauty in the very face of the most 

 hideous structures of bad, cheap taste. But nothing seems as 

 expressive as the White Pine ; I cannot exactly say why. Does 

 not the essence of a good emblem lie therein that its beauty 

 and appropriateness would be lost by translating into words ? 

 Perhaps it is because it is nowhere so beautiful as here in its 

 native home, where it has been one of my most charming ex- 

 periences to study its beauty in different surroundings and 

 stages of growth. 



There are the young trees, looking like bevies of graceful 

 girls in silk attire, bowing their heads together and whispering 

 gayly at the grotesque attitudes of their boy cousins, the Pitch 



Pines ; the serried ranks of the old ones, with boughs bent and 

 broken in the battle of life, but still indomitaV:)le ; the coi)ses 

 on the hill-tops, where they raise their splendid crowns in mid- 

 air from among a fringe of lower trees, and the stately ave- 

 nues, looking like rugged veterans on courtly parade, traversing 

 smiling slopes of New England landscape. 



But most of all do I love an old grove in a certain seaside 

 spot of New England, and well do I remember my first dis- 

 covery of it. I had left the village, attracted by a belt of trees 

 on the further side of some fields. An old road skirted it, 

 running along a stone wall to a closed gray-stone building, so 

 suggestive in its silence that I had to peep through a crack in 

 the door. It proved to be a half-dismantled studio, surely 

 once tenanted by a lover of trees. How he must have reveled 

 in the classical poetry of the long rays of light playing over 

 the ground between the dark stems of the Pines in the open 

 grove to the right of this studio ! Through this grove a wind- 

 ing track conducted me to a veritable fairies' parlor of young 

 Oaks, tall grass and graceful Sweet Fern, and there lost itself. 

 Fairies' parlors are not thoroughfares, as a rule. So I had to 

 find my way out as best I might, and in doing so I came 

 unawares upon the most magnificent grove of old Pines that 

 I have ever seen. The needles lay piled thick on- the ground 

 in soft drifts and cushions, adorned here and there with tan- 

 gled cords of Smilax and graceful feathers of Bracken, spread- 

 ing a carpet of dull gold, with light touches of green between 

 . the grandly shaped trunks of the majestic old trees, every tree 

 an individuality, as full of character in the forms of the bole 

 as a piece of the best Japanese bronze-work. 



This grove becarne my study. I brought my books, but 

 used to spend most of my time leaning back against the 

 natural cushions at the foot of one of the trees, never tiring of 

 watching the play of light and studying theformsof the trees — 

 some straight and splendid in harmonious growth, like young 

 heroes, others twisted about by some higher power into forms 

 of grotesque fantasticality. The shadows, too, seemed to be 

 unconsciously obeying great laws of beauty in their rhythmic 

 movements; sometimes solemn and grand, sometimes alight- 

 ing only to move on, caressing so softly, wandering so airily, 

 moving, yet never rushing. I know people here whose 

 thoughts move in the same way. 

 New York. Cecilia Waem. 



Recent Publications. 



In Gold and Silver. By Geo. H. EUwanger. D. Appleton 

 & Co. : New York. 



This book consists of a series of sketches on subjects which 

 do not naturally fall within the field occupied by Garden and 

 Forest, but the last three, entitled Warders of the Woods, 

 A Shadow upon the Pool and The Silver Fox of Hunt's Hol- 

 low, bring the reader into contact with so many delightful 

 phases of the outdoor world that all who have a love for na- 

 ture will be captivated by them. If the book has any fault it 

 is a certain super-refinement of style, which at times suggests 

 a lack of spontaneity and smacks of the library rather than of 

 the woods. There is no doubt, however, as to the genuine- 

 ness of Mr. EUwanger's enthusiasm or the accuracy of his ob- 

 servation. He does not sketch at second-hand, but from a 

 personal familiarity with the scenes he describes, and a pro- 

 foundand appreciative admiration of them. The illustrations 

 are as dainty as the author's style, and, taken altogether, the 

 book is one of the handsomest of the holiday publications of 

 the year. 



Notes. 



The Orange-growers of Southern California are reaping a 

 rich harvest, and the total yield willprobably amount to 7,000 

 car-loads. Buyers are paying $3.25 a box for the best fruit de- 

 livered at the railroad station, which means a return of from 

 $500 to $800 an acre for groves that are over eight years old. 



According to the American Florist, the Pansy-seed at Lin- 

 coln Park, Chicago, is sown on Christmas-day. The seedlings 

 are pricked out in flats when large enough to handle, and 

 carried through the winter in a cool greenhouse, which is 

 considered a much less troublesome and expensive way than 

 keeping the plants \\\ frames. 



The January number of Mcehans' Jfon/hly gives a picture 

 of Opuntia prolifera, which was discovered by Dr. Parry on 

 the dry hills about San Diego, in California, in 1849. ^'"• 

 Median says that at home it appears in immense masses, 

 forming impenetrable thickets often eight feet high, ami 

 likened to masses of coral reef, the llowcr-ijranchcs pushing 



