5° 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 310. 



lent illustration of the possibilities of fruit-culture for domes- 

 tic as well as commercial purposes. 



The newly introduced Japanese plums were the subject of 

 important discussions. Many growers have now had expe- 

 rience with these fruits, and all agree in pronouncing the 

 varieties, except, of course, the Kelsey, hardy in New York. 

 The chief varieties so far tested are the Abundance, Burbank, 

 Willard, Ogon and Satsuma. These are all remarkably pro- 

 ductive and the fruits are showy and long-keepers. Willard 

 is the earliest, ripening at Geneva in the middle of July ; Bur- 

 bank ripens early in September and is probably the best in 

 quality. Many growers have planted several hundred trees 

 of these Japanese Plums, and it was evident from .the discus- 

 sion that they are considered important additions to our stone- 

 fruits. 



An interesting discussion turned upon the last year's prices 

 for Chautauqua grapes. The average price throughout the 

 season for Concords and Wordens was eleven cents for a 

 nine-pound basket. But it was agreed that even at this price 

 grapes were much more profitable than general farming ; and 

 at twelve cents they pay fairly well. This will not apply, how- 

 ever, to the Catawba industry in the interior regions. In 1892, 

 the receipts for grapes in the Chautauqua region were consid- 

 erably over $1,000,000, while in 1893, with an increased pro- 

 duction of more than 300 car-loads, the total receipts fell to 

 $809,000. 



Among Currants, the White Imperial received great praise 

 for home use, because of its sweetness, while North Star, a 

 new, brilliant red variety, of good quality and long clusters, 

 was favorably mentioned for market. The Wilder currant 

 was also commended. 



Notes. 



One of the beautiful trees on the grounds of the United 

 States Botanic Garden at Washington is a Wahoo, Ulmus 

 alata, which even in the winter season has a peculiar grace on 

 account of its very slender branchlets. A little more than 

 seven feet from the ground the trunk divides regularly into 

 branches which spread over a circle sixty feet in diameter. 

 The tree is fifty-five feet high, and its trunk girths five feet at 

 two feet above the ground. 



The shipment of currants last year from the Greek ports 

 amounted to about 105,000 tons, of which 15,500 came to the 

 United States and Canada. A heavy stock is reported as still 

 remaining in Greece, and yet the value of the fruit here is now 

 only one and three-eighths cents a pound in barrels, and 

 one and one-half cents a pound in cases. Of course, this does 

 not cover the cost of importation, and the business is being 

 done at an actual loss. Nevertheless, the tendency of the mar- 

 ket is downward, so that currants at present prices are by no 

 means costly luxuries, but a very cheap food staple. 



Since Vitis Coignetiae was mentioned in these columns there 

 has been considerable discussion about the plant in the Euro- 

 pean horticultural journals and a general complaint has been 

 made that it is difficult to propagate. Mr. Jackson Dawson, of 

 the Arnold Arboretum, has found no more trouble with it than 

 with many other Grapes. Cuttings are taken three or four eyes 

 long of well-ripened wood in November. They are put in a box 

 of soil and kept in a cold pit until January, and then brought 

 into a temperature of about forty-five to fifty degrees at night, 

 with an increase of ten to fifteen degrees during the day, and 

 they root very well. An experiment in grafting a few cions 

 of V. Coignetiae on stocks of V. riparia also succeeded. Seed 

 can be had, however, fresh from Japan, and in this way the 

 plant can be grown in abundance. 



At the last exhibition of the Massachusetts Horticultural 

 Society several first-class certificates of merit were awarded to 

 Mr. William Robinson, gardener of Mrs. F. L. Ames, for 

 hybrid Orchids, besides a silver medal for skill in producing 

 many of them. Among the most interesting were Masdevallia 

 Rebecca, a cross between M. ignea and M. amabilis ; Masde- 

 vallia Mary Ames, a hybrid between M. ignea and M. Gairsi- 

 ana ; Masdevallia Henrietta, a cross between Shuttleworth's 

 variety of M. caudata and M. ignea. An interesting Selenipe- 

 dium named Helena: was a cross between S. YVallisii and S. 

 leucorrhodon. Other plants from Mrs. Ames' collection were 

 the very rare Laelia Mossiae Digbyana, a magnificent plant of 

 L. anceps Sanderiana, and another of L. anceps Schroederi. 

 Other exhibitions of merit were made by Charles Storer, Jackson 

 Dawson and Kenneth Finlayson, gardener to Dr. C. G. Weld. 



The Rural New Yorker considers the Columbus Gooseberry, 

 introduced by Messrs. Ellwanger & Barry, the best variety yet 



produced, as it bears a large berry and is free from mildew. 

 The bushes yield abundantly in full sunshine, and the berries 

 do not suffer from rot nor the leaves from mildew. A new 

 Gooseberry, named the Carman, not yet introduced, seems to 

 have the good qualities of the Columbus, and it ripens ten 

 days earlier. A berry named the Chautauqua, now offered by 

 Mr. Lewis Roesch, of Fredonia, New York, when planted in 

 gravelly loam in the shade of an Apple and Peach orchard was 

 perfectly healthy, and for many vears bore crops of remarka- 

 bly large and beautiful fruit. After the trees were removed 

 the bushes were subject to mildew, and the variety was no 

 longer propagated. Since it has been found that spraying with 

 sulphite of potassium easily overcomes the mildew, Mr. 

 Roesch is again offering it for sale. The Chautauqua is a vig- 

 orous, upright grower, with large dark green leaves, fruit of 

 light yellow color, free from spines, and from one inch to an 

 inch and a quarter in diameter. The fruit is said to be thick- 

 skinned, but sweet and well flavored. 



To facilitate the unloading of bananas from, the steamers, 

 a patented device of an endless canvas belt is being put in 

 one of the best-equipped lines running regularly between 

 Jamaica and New York. Pockets are arranged on the belt at 

 intervals of three feet, each carrying a bunch of the fruit to 

 the deck, where it passes into the arms of a man. By this im- 

 proved method the bananas are handled by less than half as 

 many men as in the old way, and entirely escape bruising by 

 being passed through so many hands. It is purposed to have 

 a belt for each hatch, operated by the hoisting-engine, and 

 each belt can lift 1,800 bunches in an hour. The Jamaica 

 banana steamer last week included in the cargo something of 

 a rarity in several crates of cucumbers of excellent quality and 

 several barrels of so-called Jamaica papaws. Good man- 

 goes from Cuba have been seen in the fancy fruit-stores 

 as low as five cents each. Strawberries from Florida are 

 coming in increasing quantities and at reasonable prices ; the 

 best bring seventy-five cents a quart. Occasional offerings 

 of Coe's Late Red plums of fair quality show the remarkable 

 possibilities of this variety as a winter fruit. 



Broom Sedge, Andropogon Virginicus, is generally consid- 

 ered a troublesome weed in the south, and yet many perma- 

 nent pastures owe much of their value to it. This grassstarts 

 early in the spring, when cattle and sheep relish it and seem 

 to thrive. When it has attained full growth its tall, hard, rough 

 and wiry stems are rejected by horses and cattle, a circum- 

 stance which has given it a bad repute ; but it has the 

 merit of growing on dry, sandy soil where other grasses fail, 

 and in Pine-woods, and while green and tender it furnishes 

 most of the food which stock can get in such places. At 

 the Maryland Experiment Station the hard stems and blades of 

 mature Broom Sedge were cut up, and before they were entirely 

 dry, run through a fodder-cutter and placed in alternate lavers 

 with corn-stalks in the silo. According to a report in Agricul- 

 tural Science, this grass came out during the winter in good 

 condition and was eaten with relish by the stock. A sample 

 of the Broom Sedge silage, which was analyzed, shows that it 

 contained more of the essential constituents of food than the 

 corn, and this would indicate that this grass, which has been 

 considered worthless, may add much to the supplies of good 

 winter forage in the south. 



At the late meeting of the New Jersey Horticultural Society 

 at Trenton there was general complaint that the Paris-green 

 bought as an insecticide is not of uniform quality. An instance 

 wan cited where in a potato-growing district a farmer found 

 after he had sprayed with a machine more than a hundred 

 acres of Potatoes "that the beetles were still alive and that the 

 labor and material applied had all been wasted, although he 

 had used exactly the same quantity which had been sufficient 

 for his purpose the year before. He was compelled to go 

 over the same fields again and use a mixture twice as strong. 

 In the case of Potatoes and Currants one can soon tell whether 

 the Paris-green is effective by its immediate effect on the 

 beetles and 'larvae, but in (he case of the codlin-moth it is 

 often impossible for the fruit grower to know immediately 

 whether the poison used is efficient or not. It was said that 

 in states where the sale of fertilizers is under control the same 

 precautions could be used with the arsenites and other poisons ; 

 that is, dealers could be obliged to guarantee the proportion 

 of arsenic or other active poison in the compounds they sell 

 just as they guarantee the composition of fertilizers. It may 

 be, however, that the difference in effectiveness between one 

 brand of Paris-green and another consists not in the percentage 

 of arsenic which each contains, but in the coarseness of the 

 grain. This is a point which it would be easy to determine. 



