224 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



January, 1914 



the water has gathered 

 considerable heat, and 

 this heat is given off 

 slowly during the nights 

 when the temperature 

 of near by land has gone 

 below thefreezingpoint. 



Light also is a factor 

 in the development of 

 fruit, particularly of its 

 coloring. Yellow and 

 green apples, for in- 

 stance, apparently ripen 

 and color almost as well 

 in partial shade or in 

 foggy weather as in full 

 sun, but red apples re- 

 quire full sun to become 

 fit either to eat or look 

 at. Do you have long 

 or short seasons, clear 

 or cloudy weather? 

 The total amount of 

 light in the season is the 

 determining factor. 

 The available supply of 

 water affects the method 

 of culture, and this must 

 be considered in select- 

 ing varieties and fruits, 

 for certain fruits de- 

 mand certain methods 

 of culture — peaches for 

 instance, must be culti- 

 vated to succeed, and 

 intensive cultivation is 

 your best method of get- 

 ting along with little 

 water. Do you want 

 fruit to cook, to eat raw, 

 to can and preserve, to 

 give or sell to friends, or 

 for all these uses? The 

 purposes for which fruit 

 is desired is a vital 

 determining factor in 

 selecting what to plant, 

 are not suited to all purposes. Individual 

 preferences of the family should be con- 

 sidered whenever possible under your con- 

 ditions. 



Climatic differences in endless multi- 

 plicity confront us in every valley and on 

 every range of hills in the country. Since 

 it obviously is out of the question to con- 

 sider them all, for the purposes of these 

 articles the eastern part of The United 

 States and Canada will be discussed more 

 immediately, and this section will be divided 

 into three main "belts of climate." The 

 southern climatic belt should include the 

 south half of New Jersey and Delaware, 

 eastern Maryland, Virginia and the states 

 to the south of them. The middle climatic 

 belt should include Long Island and south- 

 ern New York, northern New Jersey and 

 southern Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Vir- 

 ginia, Maryland, Kentucky, Tennessee, 

 Southern Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, etc. 

 The northern climatic belt should include 

 all the New England states, New Brusn wick, 

 Ontario, northern New York, Michigan, 



The small back yard with only one tree should be made to produce maximum results, 

 ing the variety best suited to the particular region is a good beginning 



Many fine sorts 



Iowa, Minnesota, etc. Throughout each 

 one of these belts the conditions generally 

 are hospitable to the same varieties and 

 fruits, and the conditions in detail within 

 each belt which differ and which must re- 

 ceive special attention in the selection of 

 fruits are those resulting from differences 

 of soil, topography, altitude and other fea- 

 tures mentioned previously. Along the 

 shores of Lake Erie, Ontario, and Michigan 

 are regions in which peaches succeed in 

 spite of the harsh northern latitude, while 

 in the mountains of North Carolina are 

 other regions where peaches fail in spite of 

 the mild southern latitude. 



Of course a home fruit garden may be of 

 almost any size, and may contain one or 

 many kinds of fruit. Those with but one 

 or two kinds are the most common. They 

 usually masquerade in the guise of trees 

 growing in grassy yard or lawn, as does the 

 garden of one man I know who planted 

 peach trees and Pewaukee apple trees where 

 there should have been an evergreen wind- 

 break. Now he has neither fruit nor 

 protection. While such a practice is 



better than to have no 

 fruit at all, it is bad prac- 

 tice because under such 

 conditions you never can 

 get a reasonable yield 

 from the trees. You 

 waste opportunity. You 

 had better plant your 

 yard to grass and orna- 

 mentals, and dedicate a 

 definite space for your 

 garden, then give that 

 ground proper culture 

 for the fruit you plant 

 in it. Even for the 

 smallest gardens and 

 though you may have 

 but one or two trees or 

 plants of a kind a com- 

 plete list of all the fruits 

 you can grow is better 

 than fewer kinds, because 

 the greater the diversity 

 and the longer the ripen- 

 ing season of your fruits, 

 the more valuable they 

 will be to you. Yet the 

 list can be shortened, a 

 privilege which you must 

 not think of using unless 

 it is a positive necessity. 

 To bring the garden 

 size question to a focus 

 I shall arbitrarily decide 

 on three sizes for home 

 fruit gardens. The 

 smallest shall be one- 

 eighth of an acre, or 

 about six hundred square 

 yards. The limiting fac- 

 tor here is ground space 

 — no more can be com- 

 manded. The medium 

 sized garden shall con- 

 tain a half acre, or 

 about twenty-five hun- 

 dred square yards. With it the limiting 

 factors are groundspace and labor. It must 

 not be forgotten that to grow good fruit takes 

 work and time. The largest garden shall 

 contain from one acre up, depending only on 

 the capacity of the home for labor, and the 

 amount of fruit that can be utilized. The 

 plans for each of these gardens will be made 

 to include a vegetable garden of proper pro- 

 portionate size. With the foregoing expla- 

 nations as a basis, the tables following name 

 the fruits that average gardens in the Middle 

 Climatic Belt should contain. One table for 

 a southern garden also is shown, for compa- 

 rison. The tables give the amount of each 

 fruit that your garden should produce, in 

 measured quantity and in money value. 

 Trees and plants for these gardens should 

 cost approximately for J acre $12 to $18.00; 

 for a one half acre $40 to $50, and for 

 an acre but little more than the latter. 



Northern gardens usually must do without 

 peaches and blackberries, and, unless the 

 particular location is well protected, with- 

 out quinces and cherries. The space oc- 

 cupied in the more southerly gardens by 



Plant 



