18 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



February, 1918 



the same reasons. Another point in their 

 favor is that most of them have a long period 

 of ripening, so fewer trees would be needed 

 to give a supply. For instance, as a boy I 

 usually began to eat the prematurely ripe 

 fruit of Primate in late July and sometimes 

 gathered specimens from the same trees as 

 late as mid October. This last, however, was 

 exceptional, because of the high quality of the 

 variety and the family appetite for it. Still 

 another point in favor of summer varieties 

 for the home: Early maturing kinds are far 

 more likely than late ones to bear each year. 

 This is because they have a longer season 

 following harvest in which to develop their 

 blossom buds for the next year's crop. 



The following dessert varieties will cover the season from 

 late July to late October: Red June, Early Strawberry, Early 

 Joe, Primate, Benoni, Williams, Sweet Bough, Sops-of-Wine, 

 Chenango, Late Strawberry, Jersey Sweet, Hawley, Fanny, 

 St. Lawrence, Ribston, Porter, Fall Pippin, and Cox Orange. 

 To be sure some of these may be continued in perfection well 

 into November or even December, but it is welt to follow them 

 with later kinds where there to space to spare. The following 

 late kinds which start to ripen in October and continue in 

 succession until May or June will cover the entire season from 

 late July of one year till late May of the next: Fameuse, 

 Blenheim, Shiawassee, Wealthy, Louise, Mcintosh, Mother, 

 Black Gillyflower, Hubbardston, Ortley, Peck, Tompkins King, 

 Wagener, Canada Baldwin, Esopus (Spitzenburg), Grimes, 

 Jonathan, Lady Sweet, Opalescent, Red Canada, Sutton, 

 Sweet Winesap, Westfield, Winter Banana, Northern Spy, 

 Ponne Grise, Swaar, Golden Russet, Green Newtown and 

 Yellow Newtown. 



For cooking, Astrachan, Early Harvest, and Yellow Trans- 

 parent are among the best for July and August; Duchess of 

 Oldenberg, Maiden Blush and Gravenstein for September; 

 Smokehouse, Fall Pippin, Twenty Ounce and Wealthy ' for 

 October and November; Belleflower, Tompkins King, Northern 

 Spy and Rhode Island (Greening) from December to January, 

 and Baldwin, Stark, Winesap and Newtown from midwinter 

 till late spring. Of course, these overlap more or less. 



My idea in mentioning so many varieties 

 is to provide the reader with lists of really 

 meritorious kinds so he will know which ones 

 to choose when looking over the nurseryman's 

 catalogues. Not all are carried by every 

 nurseryman so it is well to have several 

 catalogues when making up orchards. 



Making the Most of the Area 



T) EFORE planting time comes it is well to 

 ^* decide just what there is. space 'for and 

 just where each tree and bush is to.be planted. 

 If space is not at a premium each kind of fruit 

 may be kept in an area of its own aloof from 

 other kinds. There are advantages in this; 

 probably, however, nine planters out of ten 

 must adopt a practice which commercial 



"He who owns a rood of proper land in 

 this country, and, in the face of all the pomo- 

 nal riches of the day, raises only crabs and 

 choke-pears, deserves to lose the respect of 

 all sensible men. The classical antiquarian 

 must pardon one for doubting if, amid all the 

 wonderful beauty of the golden age. there 

 was anything to equal our delicious modern 

 fruits — our honeyed Seckels, and Beurre's, 

 our melting Rareripes. At any rate, the 

 science of modern horticulture has restored 

 almost everything that can be desired to 

 give a [richness to our fruit gardens. 

 Yet there are many in utter ignorance of 

 most of these fruits, who seem to live under 

 some ban of expulsion from all the fair and 

 goodly productions of the garden." Down- 

 ing. (Preface to "Fruits and Fruit Trees of 

 America") 



growers avoid, but which we all remember 

 was "highly successful at Grandpa's"; 

 namely, interplanting. 



The largest growing trees, like standard 

 apples and sweet cherries were set at maximum 

 distances apart. Half way between them in 

 the rows smaller and shorter lived trees were 

 placed, and currant and gooseberry bushes 

 also in the same rows. Between these rows 

 wide spaces were left for strawberries, vege- 

 tables and perhaps flowers. The grape vines 



If your home plot is small why not use trained dwarf 

 fruit trees as hedges to these sections? 



and the raspberry and blackberry bushes were 

 relegated to trellises and to fence rows usually 

 at the sides of the area. 



The tree rows were made to extend the 

 long way of the plot so a horse could be used 

 to do as much as possible of the necessary 

 cultivation without unnecessary loss of time 

 due to turning, as would be the case if the 

 rows ran the short way. By good care, 

 especially as to fertilizing and tilling, such 

 interplanted areas were kept in better bearing 

 and during a longer time than commercial 

 growers are usually willing to admit. 



What of the Suburban Lot? 



X)UT HOW about the little suburban lot? 

 JJ Must it forego fruits and confine itself 

 to vegetables and flowers, and only a few of 

 them? By no means. One successful instance 

 will be better than a wheelbarrow load of 

 theory. A friend who lives in a suburb of a 

 large city has a lot which, if my memory 

 serves me correctly, is 200 by 75 feet. Of 

 this area more than half is occupied by the 

 house, the lawn and the ornamental plantings. 

 Yet what a list of fruit is grown ! Ten varieties 

 of grapes (one vine of each on a thirty foot 

 arbor); three peach trees; a 22 x 23 ft. dwarf 

 orchard which includes a dozen pear, nine 

 apple, four cherry and ■ two plum trees. 

 About 15 Concord grape vines cover the 150 

 feet of side line fence, and about 75 feet of 

 raspberry row stands beside the rear fence. 

 There are three currant and three gooseberry 

 bushes, a strawberry patch and an asparagus 

 bed each about 10 x 50 ft., half a dozen 

 rhubarb plants and a vegetable garden which 

 yields the year's supply of everything except 

 potatoes for the family of three, to say 

 nothing of an abundance given to numerous 

 city friends who are frequent visitors. 



Interplanting and dwarf fruit trees are 

 the salvation of the small suburban fruit 

 plantation. If space is at a premium why not 

 devote at least some of the ornamental shrub 

 space to dwarf fruit trees? What more 

 beautiful ornamental is there than a peach, 

 a cherry, a plum or an apple tree in full 

 blossom? Or what more beautiful than 

 these same trees in the regal scarlet, purple or 

 gold of fruitage? 



T he Chronicle of a 1917 War Garden Raphael semmes patne 



" I beseech you forget not to inform yourself as diligently as may be, in things that belong to gardening." — Sir John Evelyn. 



PHIS J \s a chronicle of a Maryland war 

 -*- garden in the suburbs of Baltimore 

 within ear shot of an armory. This little 

 "plantation" has paid for a hundred dollar 

 Liberty Bond after supplying a small house- 

 hold with vegetables in great variety since 

 early last spring. A few years ago golf 

 players regarded with sympathy and amuse- 

 ment those among their acquaintances who 

 persisted in spending their spare hours at 

 amateur "farming" and horticulture; to-day 

 they not only admit the philosophy of the 

 garden, but are making elaborate plans for 

 the spring of 1918. 



There is nothing phenomenal about this 

 garden. It is surrounded by many other 

 typical home gardens at least just as success- 

 ful. There is one in which a Frenchman's 

 wife has worked with commendable industry 

 against odds, and has achieved remarkable 

 results, transforming into a productive plot 



a vacant lot upon which sub-soil and rock 

 taken from gas trenches had been dumped in 

 heaps. She overcame these obstacles heroic- 

 ally, in heat and rain and has provided for 

 five little girls, her husband being employed 

 in the postal service, which calls for long 

 hours. Another has been worked by a 

 Catholic priest and his sexton, yielding ample 

 products for two tables. A short distance 

 beyond, over in the beautiful Green Spring 

 Valley, famed as a fox hunting ground, last 

 spring fashionable young women went out 

 into the fields and dropped corn; some were 

 seen setting out hundreds of tomato plants; 

 while others helped to plant potatoes and 

 drove home lawn mowers. 



But what might make a story of this 

 particular garden instructive and useful 

 — especially to novices and those who may 

 enter the field for the first time in 191 8, are 

 the following facts: First, it has proven a 



training ground for good health and a happy 

 order of life. Second, it illustrates what a 

 man transacting business daily in a city ten 

 miles from his home can derive from a small 

 piece of ground. Third, it points out tried 

 methods which may help beginners to avoid 

 mistakes and get results from their first 

 experience at manual industry, enabling them 

 to cope with the advance in pyces and to 

 contribute a fundamental quota to the 

 general sum of conservation. 



"\X7TTH the first symptoms of springtime — 

 " " around St. Patrick's Day — two 75 foot 

 rows of Early Bird peas were planted two feet 

 apart to admit of lettuce plants from the 

 hotbed later on. Well rotted cow manure was 

 worked in the soil and a few pounds of humus 

 for its feeding power. The crop was a prolific 

 marvel and a week ahead of those who had 

 planted - Alaska and other more precocious 



