102 



The Garden Magazine, October, 1921 



Maple, on the other hand, is a better heat register and will 

 thrive on the shallow shale soil found in many parts of New 

 Jersey. The moral is obvious — keep the Sugar Maple in the 

 sections where conditions suit it best. 



The second suggestion pertains especially to this particular 

 year, and is that we should all mulch heavily and well imme- 

 diately after the ground has frozen and the plants have entered 

 their winter period of dormancy. The idea is not to protect 

 them from extreme cold especially, but rather to prevent them 

 from feeling the effects of possible mild spells, to keep them 

 sound asleep so that they may conserve the maximum amount 

 of energy for the following year. To this same end we may well 

 hope, as gardeners (however we may feel as coal-buying house- 

 holders), for a long, continuous, moderately severe winter dur- 

 ing which our plants may rest quietly, luxuriantly and well. 



WE KNOW, if we only stop to think of it, that there is no 

 reason to expect a hard winter just because last year we 

 had an easy one; or vice versa. Therein lies another of the joys 

 of gardening — its infinite variety and unexpectedness. Isn't 

 it odd that, after all, though we are continually talking about 

 "average seasons" and comparing conditions with "normal," 

 we never get or can hope to get a really "average season" or 

 conditions that are truly "normal?" 



THE OPE^C OLUM ^C 



Readers' Interchange of Experience and Comment 



The Lovely La Marque Rose 



To the Editor of The Garden Magazine: 



PROBABLY some of your readers who have inquired for the La 

 Marque Rose would like to know that two year plants can be had 

 from J. E. Jackson, Piedmont Greenhouses, Gainesville, Georgia. It is 

 certainly an exquisite Rose. — Mrs. W. F. Brown, Anniston, Alabama. 



Fruit Picking Basket for Use in High Trees 



To the Editor of The Garden Magazine: 



THIS contrivance consists of a bottomless funnel-shaped basket 

 connected with a tube, having its lower open end at the ground. 

 A leather strap, having one end free so that it can be passed over a limb 

 of the tree or the round of a ladder and fastened to the funnel, serves as 

 a handle. One or more deflectors are located in the tube to lessen 

 the speed of the fall of the fruit and so prevent bruising. The material 



used is canvas or burlap. The tube can 

 be made any length or in sections so 

 that trees of different heights can be 

 reached. 



The dimensions of the parts are as 

 follows: diameter of funnel 2 ft., height 

 of funnel 1 ft., diameter of tube, 5 in. 



A 2 ft. opening allows the picker to 

 gather fruit within a greater radius and 

 as the basket is canvas the fruit can be 

 thrown at the opening without much 

 danger of bruising. 



The most common form of deflector 

 is made by sewing a piece of canvas 

 inside the tube one third the circum- 

 ference and attaching a piece of elastic 

 webbing to the free end. When an 

 apple hits the piece of canvas it will 

 stop and its weight will stretch the 

 elastic enough to dislodge the load and 

 proceed to the next deflector. This 

 contrivance allows the man in the tree 

 the advantage of picking all the fruit 

 within his reach. The fruit can either 

 be collected in a basket on the ground 

 or simply allowed to drop. 



We have found it well worth while 

 because many of our trees are high 





FOR USE IN HIGH TREES 



A device quite easily con- 

 structed which greatly facili- 

 tates the picking of a crop and 

 lessens the danger of bruising 



JAPANESE PERSIMMON 



A tree in the Sandhill section of North Carolina 

 hung with ripe, bright-orange fruits in November 

 although most of its leaves have already fallen 



and the work of picking the fruit on some of them required the 

 services of more men than the apples were worth when harvested. 

 Cutting down the trees or "dehorning" them would have meant 

 waiting at least six years for a crop; whereas by means of the 

 "bottomless basket," the cost of apple picking has been reduced to 

 nearly that of the low headed trees.— Garrett M. Stack, Brookfield 

 Center, Conn. 



The Japanese Persimmon 



To the Editor of The Garden Magazine: 



THIS Persimmon (Diospyros kaki) was introduced from Japan in 

 1875. It is propagated by grafting on our native Persimmon and 

 is hardy in the Southern States. It takes kindly to dry soils and will 

 grow wherever the native tree can live. The accompanying photograph 

 was taken in the month of November in the Sandhill section of North 

 Carolina. Aside from its possible commercial value, a tree covered 

 with fruits is very ornamental. Picture a tree such as shown in the 

 photograph with most of its leaves shed, but 9 feet high, loaded down 

 with about 300 bright orange-colored fruits. When ripe the fruit is 

 very tasty and is much improved when touched with frost; unripe, 

 it is like our native variety, very astringent. There are about a score 

 of named varieties in cultivation. Their fruit ranging in shape from 

 oval to perfectly round; in color from yellow through orange to red; 

 they are as large as a medium sized tomato. 



The Japanese Persimmon tree seems to be a rule unto itself, one season 

 it may bear seedless fruit and then again fruit containing seeds; often, 

 too, conical shaped and round fruit are borne on the same tree. — X. 



For the Love of Birds 



To the Editor of The Garden Magazine: 



OUR pet cat, a year old, is gone. "Lady Louise" was an adorable, 

 gentle, sweet, playful pussy. When in the dining room on a 

 cushion, or in a coil, sound asleep, she looked like a choice muff of 

 rare fur. She was a good mouser, too, getting out in the morning, she 



