258 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 383 



be obtained by training- the plants that it is not surprising to 

 see it more generally adopted each year. About July loth is a 

 suitable time to make a sowingfora winter crop. Nicholson's 

 Hybrid, Chemin, Eclipse' (a splendid English sort) and May's 

 Favorite are all excellent forcers, the first-named being the 

 earliest. For general crops, both under glass and outdoors, 

 we consider May's Favorite the finest variety up to date. 



Miscel'aneous. — Sweet Corn here can be sown until July 

 loth, unless very early frost occurs. For late sowings we use 

 Crosby Early Sugar or some other early kind. Successional 

 sowings of String Beans can be made at intervals of a fortnight 

 until the end of July. We find Mohawk and Valentine the 

 best. Pole Beans may need tying up a little occasionally until 

 they catch well hold of the poles. Beets for winter use can be 

 sown until the middle of July, Egyptian Turnip being one of 

 the liest. Among the long kinds, Dell's Black and Goldie's 

 Exhibition we find are very good. Cucumbers of the English 

 frame varieties require liberal supplies of liquid-manure. 

 Sowings outdoors of White Spine can still be made. Parsley, 

 to produce good plants to lift for winter use, is best thinned 

 out a foot apart in the rows. The foliage is vastly improved 

 by this thinning. Cabbage, Curled Kale, Brussels Sprouts and 

 Cauliflower should be planted out during showery weather. 

 Sowings of CauliHower and Kale are still seasonable. Lettuces 

 are difficult to grow satisfactorily at this season of the year. 

 Plenty of water and partial shade are essentials to the produc- 

 tion of good heads ; when headed up, cut the stem half through 

 with a sharp knife ; this checks the tendency to run to seed. 

 Leeks can be planted out in trenches and treated like Celery. 

 Set the plants deeply in the ground that the neck may be cov- 

 ered and blanched. Ruta Bagas for winter use are best sown 

 on light sandy ground ; heavy wormy ground is ill adapted to 

 their culture. If good Onions are desired supply water freely 

 during dry weather, or the bulbs will ripen prematurely. The 

 hoe or cultivator must be in constant use to keep the ground 

 stirred and weeds in check, and all crops as they are spent 

 ought to be cleared away to the rubblish pile. 



Taunton, Mass. 



IV. N. Craicr. 



Correspondence. 



New Fields in California Fruit-growing. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir,— The chances for pioneering in California fruits are not 

 entirely in the past. What has been true of the lemon, olive 

 and orange is true to-day of the pomelo, pineapple, the fio- 

 and possibly other popular and expensive fruits, all of whicli 

 can be readily marketed if they can be grown of good quality. 



The pomelo is still regarded in California as an uncertainty' 

 dependent for its popularity upon a fad that may not last. The 

 sudden growth of the fruit in favor found California unpre- 

 pared to take advantage of the unexpected demand. The 

 shaddock, a larger and coarser fruit, was grown to a very 

 limited extent and as a curiosity. Its quality was poor the 

 fruit being thick of rind, full of "rag" and deficient in ffavor 

 Since it was discovered that pomelos sell readily in eastern cities 

 improvements have been made. The bud of the Shaddock 

 has been grafted upon Orange-roots, and the result is a tree 

 which produces the nearly spherical pomelo, which is far su- 

 perior to the huge, coarse, pear-shaped shaddock. This 

 nomenclature is the popular, if not the scientific, method of 

 distinguishing these fruits. Some quite extensive'orchards of 

 the improved variety have been planted in Southern Califor- 

 nia, and, with the rapid growth that all such fruits make, the 

 growers will soon know whether they are to reap large rewards 

 in advance of probalile competition. [As grown in Florida 

 the pomelo and the shaddock are quite distinct. Ed.] 



The pineapple has been successfully grown in some shel- 

 tered nooks of San Diego County. The fruit has been mar- 

 keted at high prices and the growers are confident of success 

 with it. They claim that it is of superior quality. It would 

 seem that so high-priced a fruit would repay unusual care 

 even to the extent of growing it under glass, if necessary. "The 

 markets of the Pacific coast cities have never been overbur- 

 dened with pineapples, and it Is not probable that the limited 

 area adapted to them will produce enough, even for local con- 

 sumption, for many years to come. 



As a commercial factor the fig has been of little importance 

 among California fruits, although it has been an incumbent of 

 almost every rancher's door-yard since the padres taught their 

 Indian peons horticulture. As a fresh fruit it is luscious and 

 invaluable for its medicinal qualities. Eaten with suo-ar and 

 cream it is as grateful for dessert as the strawberry and more 

 wholesome. But as it is good only when perfectly ripe it will 



not bear transportation under existing conditions, and the 

 fresh figs offered in eastern markets are a delusion and a snare. 

 As a dried fruit it has also been a failure in the market. 



Ouanfities of dried figs are sold in California, although they 

 are usually small and shriveled in appearance and lack the 

 rich, aromatic, nutty flavor of the imported fig. The latter 

 commands in California, as everywhere, a liigh price, usually 

 twenty-five cents a pound. The home product sells for ten 

 cents. It has been the dream of fig culturists for years so 

 to improve the quality that the California fruit may compete 

 with the imported. To this end soils, climates and variefies 

 have been patiently studied. 



The nearest approach to success that I have seen is the pro- 

 duct of an orchard grown on very deep, sandy loam, in an 

 interior county, where the heat of summer usually hovers be- 

 tween eighty and one hundred and ten degrees. Moisture is 

 fatal to the successful curing of the fig. Even an adjacent 

 field of alfalfa, with its necessary frequent and copious irriga- 

 tions, has been found to cause sufficient moisture in the air to 

 turn the fruit sour upon the tree before it could be picked and 

 cured. The Fig-tree is almost a continuous bearer during the 

 producing season, and figs in all stages of development grow 

 upon the same tree. Under the conditions above mentioned 

 only a day or two sulBces to spoil the successive relays of 

 fully ripened fruit. 



The soil above referred to permits of very exact and careful 

 irrigation in whatever quantity it may be desired, the less the 

 better. After irrigation it is easily cultivated. It does not bake, 

 and a careful pulverizing of the surface keeps the moisture 

 suspended by capillary attraction in the deep porous silt, where 

 the roots of the tree find it, and at the same time it gives a 

 gleaming surface that refiects the full vigor of the sun. As I 

 rode on horseback through a three-year-old orchard grown on 

 this soil the branches were above my head, and had a spread 

 of twelve feet at the top. The largest of the trees were seven 

 Inches in diameter a foot above the roots, and, standing with- 

 out a symptom of scale or any disease, seemed personifica- 

 tions of thrift. The branches were crowded with growing fruit. 

 The product of this orchard has so far been sold at fifteen 

 cents a pound, dried, to the wholesale grocers of Los Angeles. 

 Packed in fancy boxes, the figs resemble the imported article^ 

 with a thin transparent skin and a greater development of sugar 

 than is common in the California fig. The variety is the White 

 Adriatic, which is very large, and has the e.\cellent quality of 

 drying upon the tree instead of falling to the ground when ripe. 

 The subject of caprification has been carefully studied by 

 California fig-growers in the hope that herein may be a solu- 

 tion of the question of quality. But the growers of the Medi- 

 terranean are said to be jealous of possible competition, even 

 in so distant a country as California. Consequently frequent 

 attempts to secure colonies of the " fig wasp " for exportation 

 have been thwarted. This is the insect which thrives upon the 

 wild or Capre Fig, and at a certain stage of its fruition enters 

 the domestic fig and deposits the Capre Fig pollen which per- 

 fects the fruit. It has long been supposed that this strange 

 operation makes the Smyrna fig so superior in flavor, and, con- 

 sequently, so much higher-priced than the common h" of 

 California. '^ 



Within the last sixty days Mr. George Roeding, a fig grower 

 of Fresno, California, has succeeded in importing from Smyrna 

 thousands of colonies of the fig wasp. Of this importation, 

 Alexander Craw, entomologist for the State Horticultural 

 Commission, says: "I have examined the insects, and find 

 that they are successfully passing from the larva into the 

 chrysalis stage. The importance of Mr. Roeding's enterprise 

 to Fig-culture cannot be overestimated. The result of it will 

 be that the California fig will be equal, if not superior, to the 

 fig of Smyrna." Some sixty varieties, including the wild or 

 Capre Fig, and an importation from Aiden, Smyrna, are being 

 tested in the state experimental stations. 



There are still other uses to which the fig may profitably be 

 put. It is well adapted to crystallizing. But in this process 

 there are trade secrets not yet understood here. Conse- 

 quently the French crystallized fruit sells readily at fifty cents 

 a pound, while the California article goes begging at half that 

 price. Delicious marmalades, preserves and sweet pickles 

 may be made from the fresh, fully ripened fig. These are espe- 

 cially fine when given a home-made flavor. The process of 

 picking and either drying or preserving this fruit requires great 

 care, skill and delicacy in handling. It should seem, there- 

 fore, that women, if possessed of health, courage and perse- 

 verance, might make a success of this industry. The tree is 

 hardy and is not usually afflicted with scale or other pests. 

 Only a moderate capital would be required for an orchard, and 

 the market is a wide one. There is much less risk than in 

 growing oranges or olives. The greatest uncertainty would 



