226 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 168. 



everything by letting the stand remain closed in the full blaze 

 of a noonday sun. Such a case has also all the advantages of 

 the propagating box, and most cuttings will root in it with 

 astonishing promptness. 



As a fernery, the Wardian case is always exceedingly beau- 

 tiful. I found my own case equally well suited for this pur- 

 pose. The tray was water-tight, and I once readjusted it to 

 serve as an aquarium. These possible adaptations are sug- 

 gested for the advantage of persons who may be inclined to 

 try a case of this description. 



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



Points of Merit in Tomatoes. 



H^HIS is the queen of vegetables, and one in which there is 

 -*- as wide a difference between the good and the bad as 

 between a " frost " pear of the hedge-row and a well-grown 

 Seckel. The ideal tomato may vary somewhat in shape, but, 

 whatever that may be, there should be no deep corrugations 

 or seams, the fruit being nearly smooth, although a slight 

 depression along the line of natural division is not objection- 

 able. The stem should always be relatively small and set in 

 a very shallow basin. When it is large and set deeply into 

 the fruit it is accompanied by a large pithy core extending into 

 the fruit, and ruining it for slicing or for canning. The stem 

 end of the fruit should be nearly Hat or slightly rounded. 

 When there are any marked projections here they will be sure 

 to be imperfectly ripened at the time the rest of the fruit is in 

 the best condition. As to color, tastes differ ; but I have 

 never yet found a tomato of the purple tint of the old Fiji, 

 which was not of a sharp, hard, metallic-like acid, very much 

 less pleasant than the mild, fruit-like acid of the true red or 

 scarlet tomato ; and I am quite certain that, were we to select 

 ten of the best varieties, quality to rule, eight at least — and, I 

 believe, more likely nine or all of them — would be found to 

 be clear, bright red, with little trace of purple. 



Of the interior of the fruit, the general opinion as to what 

 constitutes merit is certainly at fault. Most people only ask 

 for a solid, seedless, pulpless flesh. Fortunately, the fruit is 

 too good to develop any such worthless variety as is thus 

 called for. If you will carefully examine a tomato you will find 

 that the greatest amount, and by far the finest flavor, is found 

 in the pulp surrounding the seed, and that the flesh surround- 

 ing the fruit next to the skin is quite different, and greatly su- 

 perior, to that in the interior divisions, which many people 

 value as making a solid fruit. Often these interior divisions 

 are made up of perfectly flavorless, hard, but corky, tissue. 

 This is the case in an exceedingly large-fruited sort which I 

 have grown several years for comparison, but have not con- 

 sidered worthy of a name or of general cultivation, although I 

 am certain that this variety can be made to produce the largest 

 fruit having the smallest proportionate weight of seed and the 

 largest proportion of dry matter of any of the hundreds of 

 sorts I have tried ;- and yet I have seen the Mikado recom- 

 mended as the best variety because it stood first of any the 

 writer had tested in these respects. My ideal tomato, as far as 

 interior is concerned, is one in which the outer circle of flesh 

 next to the skin is very thick, the thicker the better ; the inte- 

 rior divisions few, and, consequently, comparatively large, 

 and each completely filled with pulp. Seeds are of themselves 

 a disadvantage, but as we never have pulp except surrounding 

 seeds, we shall have to have a fair quantity of them in order 

 to get the desired pulp. This pulp should be as thick as pos- 

 sible. We sometimes find fruit in which it is very thin, and in 

 such cases it is usually quite acid. The pulp should be as 

 thick or solid as may be, while the flesh, both of the outer cir- 

 cle and of the inner division, should be as soft and juicy as 

 possible, thus making the fruit as nearly uniform in consis- 

 tency as it can be made to grow. I would be as critical as to 

 the flavor of the fruit as of that of a pear or apple, and insist that, 

 to be good, a tomato must have a distinct fruit-like, sub-acid 

 flavor. Lastly, the entire interior, except the seeds, should be 

 in color as nearly like the deep, rich red of the outside as 

 possible, making a fruit which is a delight both in color and 

 flavor. — Professor IV. W. Tracy , before the Michigan Horticul- 

 tural Society. 



Support for Garden Plants. — I am using this year 1,000 lineal 

 feet of galvanized wire netting four feet wide. This cost, de- 

 livered, a little more than one half cent per square foot, and 

 will last indefinitely if cared for. It is the cheapest of all 

 material for Peas, Beans and Tomatoes. Last year I made a 

 comparison between this and brush for Peas. The only ex- 

 pense of the brush was the cutting, hauling and setting. 

 Allowing for the time of two men and a pair of mules and 

 wagon getting the brush, the cost of the brush, good only 



for one year, exceeded the first cost of the wire, good for ten. 

 This wire throws no appreciable shade, and for training To- 

 matoes is admirable, since there is always a place to tie to. 

 In fact, but little tying is needed after the plants get well up, as 

 a little attention to directing the shoots to and fro in the 

 meshes supports them perfectly. Climbing Beans fairly riot 

 over it, and there will be no bother about Limas failing to 

 catch to poles. Light stakes, well set about ten or twelve feet 

 apart, are all that are needed to support it, and short pieces of 

 wire are better than the more permanent attachment of 

 staples. — Professor Massey in Orchard and Garden. 



Neviusia Alabamensis. — This shrub, which is interesting bo- 

 tanically from the fact that it is known wild in only one locality 

 in the United States, deserves more attention than it has re- 

 ceived for its ornamental value. In an earlier number of 

 Garden and Forest (vol. i., page 212) it is reported as hardy 

 in Boston, and here it shows perfect health. A plant in 

 Median's nurseries is some six years old, and it is rather more 

 than four feet high and as many in diameter, making a com- 

 pact bush, and it is now covered completely with the tufted, 

 feathery clusters of flowers, whose long white stamens make 

 them very showy. It blooms every season, and becomes 

 more and more beautiful as it gets older. It can be propa- 

 gated by cuttings as readily as any of the Spiraeas, and it is 

 related to the Kerria and Rhodotypus, two of our very best 

 shrubs from eastern Asia, which are also now flowering very 

 finely. 



Germantown, Pa. J . M. 



Correspondence. 



The Owl and the Sparrow. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest: 



Sir, — I read with much interest in the columns of your jour- 

 nal the discussion upon the owl and the sparrow. I will only 

 observe now, in continuation of what I have already said, that 

 we have in France two cheveches — the large one, which is a 

 little larger than a blackbird, although rather stouter, and the 

 "special enemy of sparrows ; .and the small one, called also 

 cheveschette, rather smaller than a blackbird. This is a very 

 rare animal, frequenting principally the mountainous regions 

 of the east of France (Savoy, Dauphiny and Switzerland). It is 

 known to very few people. The large chevgche, the bird 

 which I have always considered the true Stryx passerina, is 

 common in all parts of France, and is often sold in the bird 

 market of Paris. It is more common in the south than in other 

 parts of the country, and here the people use it as a means of 

 capturing other birds. The method is amusing and original. 

 It is carried on by the aid of a big basket, upon the top of 

 which a cheveche is fastened. The hunter, or perhaps 

 trapper would be more appropriate, seats himself inside 

 the basket, and by means. of a little hole in the side he pro- 

 trudes a long piece of wood branched at the extremity, the two 

 branches being so far apart that a bird attracted by the owl can 

 seat himself upon one of the two branches. Once the victim 

 has seated himself upon the branch the man within the basket 

 pulls a cord which brings the two branches of the fork together 

 and catches the bird by his feet. The bird is then drawn into 

 the basket, and, being made to cry, serves to attract other 

 birds, which are captured in the same way. A considerable 

 number are sometimes caught by one man in this way in a 

 morning, and when any one locality is exhausted the hunter 

 picks up his basket and locates himself in another position. 



One thing is certain, and that is, that sparrows are not com- 

 mon, and do no damage in towns or villages where the chevSche 

 has become established, either in old walls, or in churches, or 

 in the hollow trunks of Olive and other trees. They become 

 more or less diurnal in habit, and hunt in the evening before 

 sunset. They do not fly high, and often skim along the sur- 

 face of the ground in pursuit of field-mice, which, with the 

 sparrows, constitute their ordinary diet. It is not known that 

 the chevgche pursues other game. It appears to me probable 

 that.it would support the winters of the United States at least 

 as well as the European sparrow, for it occurs in the north 

 as well as in the south of France. 

 Antibes, France. Charles Naudin. 



An Old Orchard. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — I own at present the oldest orchard planted by a white 

 man west of Albany. In the year 1791 or 1792, Dominie Kirk- 

 land, missionary to the Oneidas, planted a small nursery of 



