Febrtary, 1918 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



17 



how it tallies with his standard of productive- 

 ness, hardiness, resistance to physiological, 

 fungous and insect troubles, its cold storage 

 adaptation, its color, size and quality, usually 

 in about that order — quality last of all you 

 note; whereas for home use the judgments 

 may be restated (in order of weight) about as 

 follows: quality, duration of ripening, hardi- 

 ness, resistance to troubles, productiveness, 

 then (in a very minor way) color and size. 

 Cold storage adaptation is usually not con- 

 sidered at all. In short, get the idea clearly 

 fixed in mind that the amateur or family 

 standard of judging a fruit variety is far more 

 exacting than the commercial one. 



Apart from the negative attribute of poor 

 quality which characterizes a large number 

 of the commercial varieties, of which Ben 

 Davis apple, Kieffer pear, Alberta peach, and 

 Lombard plum are horrible examples, there is 

 another good reason why such varieties should 

 be shunned when planning a home orchard. 

 They are obtainable in the market, therefore 

 the choice should fall upon "something differ- 

 ent." 



What Fruits to Choose First 



TO START the list of fruit not obtainable 

 in the market, at least not of good 

 quality, there's the cherry. Of all our tree 

 fruits this is the one that loses its flavor 

 soonest after being gathered — a good and 

 sufficient reason in itself for growing the 

 cherry at home. 



Taking the country east of the Mississippi River, the leading 

 sweet varieties are Windsor. Napoleon, Black Tartarian and 

 Wood. The sweet'cherry seldom succeeds in the Great Plains 

 states. On the Pacific Coast, Napoleon, Bing, Lambert and 

 Republican are the most prominent sweet kinds. In that 

 section sour varieties may be chosen but are little grown. Of 

 the sour kinds the leaders are doubtless Early Richmond, 

 Montmorency and English Morello. Intermediate between 

 these two classes are the Duke varieties which are almost 

 unknown on the market and are therefore special candidates 

 for the home plantation. May Duke, Late Duke, and Reine 

 Hortense are among the best. 



Among plums Abundance, Burbank and Satsuma are most 

 widely adaptable of the Japanese kinds. They are mostly 

 useful for culinary purposes early in the season. Other culinary 

 varieties of special merit are Italian Prune, Shropshire Damson, 

 Grand Duke, Monarch and German Prune. Dessert and general 

 purpose varieties are Middleburg, Hand, Peters, Archduke. 

 Washington, Jefferson, Pearl. Golden Drop, Imperial Gage and 

 Reine Claude (or Green Gage). 



Beware of planting too many early pears. 

 One tree of a kind will usually be enough in 



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Do you not love the orchard at Grandpa's that was so rich in promise each spring and gave such luscious fruits each 



summer? Beauty and utility combined 



Peach and cherry make striking objects in the spring 

 garden when in bloom. They fruit early, too 



even the large family orchard because nearly 

 all summer varieties are subject to decay at 

 the core if left on the tree too long. However, 

 they start the season six weeks or even two 

 months earlier than the Bartlett, so the best 

 of them should be included if there is space to 

 spare for Madeline, Manning's Elizabeth, 

 Tyson, Clapp, Giffard, and Rostiezer. 



Unless I had plenty of space I would not include the Bartlett, 

 simply because there is always plenty on the market. To 

 follow Bartlett till midwinter or later I would choose among 

 Louise Bonne, Onondaga and Seckel which begin to ripen in 

 September; Comise, Hardy, Sheldon lV Superfine, White Doyenne, 

 Angouleme, Anjou, Bosc, Howell, Vermont Beauty, Worden, 

 Winter Nellis and Lawrence, which start in November; Dana's 

 Hovey and Barry in December, and Buerre Easter in January. 

 The earliest of these fall varieties have 2 ripening period of 

 three to six weeks; the latest may be kept in good home storage 

 until late winter or early spring. So the full list should cover 

 the season from late July until February or March, between 

 seven and eight months. 



Like the earliest pears the earliest peaches 

 are inferior — large stones in little bags of rags 

 and poorly flavored water, mere apologies 

 for varieties which start to ripen two or three 

 weeks later. So unless there's ample space 

 they may as well be omitted and the area be 

 devoted to late cherries or early plums. 



The earliest fair flavored peaches are Alexander, Carman 

 and Yellow St. John; better, second early ones, Belle of Georgia, 

 Champion, Mountain Rose, Rivers, Tillotson, Rochester, 

 Lamont and Early York; the midseason, as good or better, 

 Foster, George Fourth, Susquehanna, Lemon Cling, Willett, 

 Oldmixon Free, Reeves, Stump and Early Crawford; late ones 

 are Fox, Late Crawford, Salway, Lemon Free, Smock, Stevens 

 and Ward; latest of all, not successful where the seasons are 

 short, are McKay, Heath Cling and Bilyeu. This list will 

 provide peaches from July to November, or with special care 

 even until Christmas! But among them all how is one to choose 

 for a small place? Start with Foster, Early Crawford, Late 

 Crawford and Oldmixon and add such others as may be desired. 



Among apricots only a few are of out- 

 standing excellence. Moorpark, Royal, Peach 

 and Early Golden are doubtless the most 

 widely successful and worth while. In grow- 

 ing them be sure that they are placed in the 

 coolest part of the property — the north side 

 of a building, a wall, or a screen of tall ever- 

 greens, a northern or a western slope^ 

 anywhere that the sun reaches late. This 

 will retard the premature opening of the 

 blossoms in spring. 



What a Wealth of Apples! 



WHERE shall one draw the line among 

 the apples? I would make my first 

 choice among the early kinds because the 

 market supply is small and poor. Being 

 mostly soft and therefore inferior shippers 

 they suffer in transit. Also they lose flavor 

 far more rapidly than do later kinds, of which 

 there is always a goodly supply. I would 

 prefer dessert varieties to culinary kinds for 



