i8o 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 4S0. 



rated apples are in demand, notwithstanding the continued 

 supply of fresh apples, and last week the available stock of 

 evaporated apples not held back in cold storage in this city 

 was not sufficient to supply the home and export trade, and 

 prices for the grade rated as prime advanced a quarter cent a 

 pound. During the corresponding term last year 139,888 cases 

 of evaporated apples were sold in New York, and in the pres- 

 ent season 415,580 cases, or nearly three times the quantity. 

 Dried small fruits are nearly all closed out, excepting rasp- 

 berries, but California peaches, apricots and prunes still sell 

 readily at fair prices. The exports of all kinds of evaporated 

 and dried fruits from this port since September 1st amount to 

 654,053 packages. 



Strawberries became more plentiful during last week, and 

 besides the last of the crop from South Carolina, crates and 

 refrigerators of this fruit were forwarded by freight and ex- 

 press from North Carolina and Virginia. On Saturday firm, 

 well-ripened berries of good size and flavor sold for twenty- 

 five cents a quart box. In some of the fancy-fruit stores hot- 

 house strawberries are still on sale, and no more perfect and 

 beautiful specimens of this fruit have ever been seen here. 

 Cups which hold a third of a quart sell for $1.50. Maple sugar 

 is offered in the fancy-fruit stores in two-pound bricks, the 

 darker product here costing twenty-five cents and the more 

 highly clarified, thirty cents. Almeria grapes, carried over in 

 cold storage, and useful in making up fruit-baskets for trav- 

 elers, sell for fifty cents a pound. The grape-fruit now offered 

 comes from California and costs from ten to twenty-five cents 

 each. Navel oranges, from the same state, sell for sixty cents, 

 and the fancy King of Siam oranges for $1.50 a dozen. 



A law was enacted at the last session of the Massachusetts 

 Legislature authorizing townships to elect wardens who shall 

 have full care and control of the public shade trees of the 

 town. This officer is to supervise the setting out of trees and 

 their removal, if in his judgment it is for the best interest of 

 the public that any should be removed, and he enters and 

 prosecutes complaints for injuries to publicshade trees. Under 

 this act, Mr. James Lawrence has been elected tree warden of 

 Groton, and we have received a copy of a handbill which he 

 has ordered to be posted on allschoolhouses and other public 

 places throughout the township. This notice contains the law 

 under which the warden was elected and enumerates his 

 powers and duties; it contains also a summary of the stat- 

 utes of the state which prohibit the cutting down or injury of 

 trees along the streets or public roads of the town. These 

 laws are good ones, and if they are only enforced as they should 

 be the street trees of the town will be reasonably safe. The ex- 

 ample of Groton and its tree warden is to be commended to 

 the other towns of Massachusetts. 



In the winter palace at St. Petersburg is the Nicholas Salon, 

 which is decorated with seventy-two Palms, averaging from 

 twenty-five to thirty feet high. These stand in six rows of 

 twelve plants each, and around each plant-tub is constructed a 

 table at which ten persons can be comfortably seated at dinner. 

 The Palms stand so far apart that their spreading tops do not 

 touch, and the outline of each can be seen to advantage. The 

 skill of the court gardener is shown in the fact that these tubs 

 are only thirty inches in diameter, and they cannot be enlarged, 

 owing to the limited size of the table. As the Palms remain in the 

 palace from January until May, they lose seven or eight leaves 

 every year which must be replaced by as many new ones be- 

 fore the following January. To bring about this growth the 

 plants are turned out of the tubs as soon as they are taken 

 from the palace, the roots are severely shortened with an axe, 

 and the ball is re-tubbed in turfy loam, fertilized with bone- 

 meal, and the Palms are then placed on a warm bed in the 

 Palm-house. Here they remain until their new leaves are 

 developed, and at New Year's they are transported to the 

 palace, well packed in thick coverlets as they are carried 

 through a temperature which sometimes falls to forty degrees 

 below zero. 



Among low trailing shrubs suitable for the rock garden 

 there is none more beautiful than the alpine Daphne Cneorum, 

 which is found on the calcareous soil in the Jura and southern 

 Alps as well as in Hungary and Transylvania. In its home it 

 is often called the Pearl of the Mountains, and its close clus- 

 ters of delicately scented rose-colored flowers are now at their 

 best. It is an old plant in gardens, and we call attention to it 

 every year, but its beauty cannot be too highly praised. The 

 roots are fine and thread-like, which shows that they like 

 to wander in deep light soil. The plant is evergreen, and 

 it often burns in the winter. It will not endure thick covering, 

 however, but a light sprinkling of straw, which allows a circu- 



lation of air, is highly beneficial. In our mention of this plant 

 in spring we never can refrain from associating with it the 

 hardy Candytufts, which are also trailing sub-shrubs. These 

 are perfectly hardy, and when once established they will endure 

 for many years, and, although the new growth may be killed 

 back in winter, they always start early in spring, and at the 

 extremity of each branch they bear a cluster of dazzling white 

 flowers. The two plants, owing to the marked contrast in the 

 color of their flowers, always look well together, and just now 

 they are both unusually full of bloom. 



In some notes on Breeding Tomatoes, contained in a recent 

 bulletin issued by the New Hampshire Agricultural College, 

 the point is made that the Tomato plant is quickly susceptible 

 to careful selection, and that in selecting seed the plant, as a 

 whole, has a stronger hereditary influence than the character 

 of the individual fruit — that is, nothing can be gained in easi- 

 ness, for example, by selecting seeds from the first ripe fruits, 

 regardless of the general character of the plant from which 

 they come. The same rule holds in regard to the production 

 of new varieties by crossing, so that the more uniform and 

 persistent the parent plants the greater is the chance that their 

 characteristics will be transmitted. When once a desirable 

 variety is obtained it can be kept only by constant selection. 

 Varieties, as a rule, have been short-lived, chiefly because no 

 care has been taken in selecting seed. Poor soils and insuffi- 

 cient cultivation tend to cause a variety to revert. Hybridizing 

 between the large varieties and the clustered or currant-fruited 

 kinds usually results in fruit intermediate in size, and crosses 

 between the potato-leaved varieties and the common-leaved 

 varieties usually result in intermediate foliage. As varieties 

 mix readily when grown in the same field, pure seed can only 

 be assured by selecting from isolated varieties. Rotation is a 

 necessity, and plants grown on the same land from year to 

 year, although highly fertilized, will degenerate in time. Hap- 

 hazard crossing is of little value, and in order to attain any 

 proposed ideal one must be particularly acquainted with the 

 parent sorts and have clearly defined plans of procedure. 

 When the parents are of a very different character the off- 

 spring is likely to be weak, while a cross between closely related 

 species or races is likely to be vigorous. One characteristic 

 of great importance in the Tomato has been too general neg- 

 lect in producing new strains, and that is the keeping quality 

 which varies widely among different varieties. Experiments 

 at the Cornell Station seem to show that the solid varieties 

 may not be the best keepers. 



Like many of the preceding bulletins relating to vegetables, 

 which have been issued by the Rhode Island Experiment Sta- 

 tion, the one just issued on Celery is an admirable little tract 

 which will give delight to every cultivator of this plant. No 

 known substitute can take the place of Celery among vegetables, 

 and no cooking or other process can make the blanched and 

 tender stalks more delightful than they are when they leave 

 the skilled grower's hands. Celery needs abundant water, rich 

 soil, and, as the experiments at Kingston seem to show con- 

 clusively, it needs especially cool soil about the roots. This 

 may be one reason why the old trench system has never been 

 superseded, for under it the roots are shaded, and when they 

 are properly cooled the diseases known as black heart and 

 blight have no terrors. Seaweed, when spread two inches 

 thick about the plants, is found to be an excellent mulch both 

 for the preservation of water and the cooling of the soil. There 

 is an excellent account of varieties, old and new, and Giant 

 Pascal is said to be, like the Marshall Strawberry, too good for 

 market purposes. The first American booklet on Celery- 

 culture seems to have been written by M. Rcx-ssle, landlord of 

 the Delavan Hotel, in Albany. It was Peter Henderson who 

 first advocated, between 1S50-60, the change from the trench 

 system to the surface-growing plan, and the development of 

 Celery-culture as a branch of industry has been due more to 

 his writings than to those of any other one person. After the 

 simplification of Celery-culture by growing the plants on the 

 surface the next great advance appeared between 1885-90 

 in the use of boards instead of earth for blanching, a practice 

 which followed close upon the introduction of the self-blanch- 

 ing varieties. The White Plume is a seedling from an 

 American sport which was introduced in 18S4. Paris Golden 

 originated in the garden of Monsieur Chemin, near Paris, at 

 about the same time. In what is known as the new culture, 

 Celery-plants are set from eight to twelve inches apart each 

 way in beds, and when skillfully managed under high cultivation 

 very large yields are secured. Three or four times as many 

 plants are grown to the acre as under the ordinary system, 

 but if the beds are neglected even for a few hours great loss 

 is certain. 



