BUDS. BLOSSOMS, FRUITS. 



47 



greenhouse, or a coldframe or cellar, and we always 

 use them for protecting our celery in the ridges in 

 winter. 



Zinnia Haageana fl. pi. — You recommend it. (Nov- 

 ember. ) Good ! I have grown it many years, and esteem 

 it one of the indispensables. But it differs very much 

 in habit and doubleness. The best form is called im- 

 bricata. They will never become as popular as the com- 

 mon zinnias, because they are more slender and deli- 

 cate, to begin with ; with age they become sprawly, and 

 there is little variation in the color of their flowers. A 

 dwarf, compact-growing form of recent introduction is 

 a decided improvement in habit. By the way, how the 

 bottom has dropped out of the boom of the carnation- 

 striped zinnias ! 



Oyster Bay Asparagus is the most esteemed brand 

 in the New York market. (November.) The land here 

 (town of Oyster Bay) is sandy, or deep sandy loam, and 

 this is considered better than heavier or clayey soils 

 The most curious thing about our asparagus-growing is 

 the deep planting ; we use one-year-old plants and set 

 them out in rows four to four and one-half feet apart, 

 and plant the crowns exactly i6 inches under the level 

 of the ground, covering them over only a few inches to 

 begin with, and during the summer a little more at each 

 cleaning time, till the trenches are filled up level. 

 Theoretically, death must soon overtake these deeply 

 buried plants, but in fact they last from a dozen to fifteen 

 years in excellent bearing. During the past thirty years, 

 at least, a great deal has been written about planting 

 deep in order to get white " grass," and shallow to get 

 green "grass," and about the inferiority of the white 

 and the superiority of the green ; but in all that time it 

 is the same retelling of the old story, and not one 

 new idea has been advanced. Even for green "grass'' 

 I prefer to plant eight inches deep, for the crowns rise 

 a little as they grow old, and it gives me an oppor- 

 tunity of forking, hoeing, or cultivating over the whole 

 surface of the bed when I want to, without injuring the 

 crowns. And the plants are just as strong and healthy 

 as those sown or planted near the surface of the ground. 

 We also indulge in another apparently harsh measure, 

 which is, never to allow a spear of asparagus to grow 

 higher than cutting-size before cutting it clean off ; the 

 whole field is kept as bare as the turnpike road till the 

 end of June or first of July, when cutting ceases and 

 the ridges are plowed down and the ground harrowed 

 level. Then there is a grand rush for life, and the 

 stronger choke out the weaker shoots; it is a case of the 

 survival of the fittest. And as the strong ones take 

 possession, they are the ones that set the eyes for next 

 year's crop. When the strong shoots are cut for use, 

 but the small ones spared " for the good of the plants," 

 these small ones must necessarily set many eyes for the 

 following year's grass. This clean-cutting during the 

 asparagus season does away, to a large extent, with the 

 asparagus beetle during its busiest breeding season. 

 To tell you the truth about the cutting off of the old 

 " grass," it is a good deal a matter of convenience. If 



we woul,d remove them in the fall we would have to 

 mow them over, rake up and cart them away, leaving 

 the stumps in the ground to bother us next spring; 

 but if we let the old tops stay as they are till March 

 or early April, an ordinary harrow will tear them 

 down, pulling them out of the ground, for they then 

 have rotted off at their connection with the crown 

 and therefore have barely any hold in the earth. — 

 William Falconer, Long Islmid, N. Y. 



The Excelsior Peach. — In November number (page 

 699) " G. R.," in his accurate description of this peach, 

 does what I believe is always the right thing, namely, 

 cautions the public against placing too much confidence 

 in the promises of any new fruit ; but to class Excelsior 

 with Globe or Wonderful peach, is a mistake. While 

 Excelsior is new to peach-growers outside of New Eng- 

 land, it has been growing and fruiting there in many 

 orchards for eight or ten years past. Wonderful was 

 put upon the market without any one knowing of its 

 fruiting qualities, except what was told of the original 

 seedling tree and its fruit. Budded trees from it had 

 never been tested in orchards before trees were offered 

 for sale. About the origin of the Globe I am not much in- 

 formed, and whether either one will prove of general 

 value in the orchard, I do not yet know. Excelsior, on 

 the other hand, was brought to my attention by its great 

 hardiness of fruit-bud in several different orchards some 

 years ago. It was only after watching its fruiting in 

 these orchards for several years that I invested in and 

 planted trees, and I shall plant more in Connecticut 

 every year so long as I can get the land to put them on ; 

 for I do believe it can be depended upon to produce 

 fruit nearly every year. Excelsior has never yet been 

 tested in the south, but even a hardy peach is a handy 

 thing to have down here, once in a while ; and so I 

 show my faith in it by bringing along 15,000 trees of 

 Excelsior, and planting them with our other varieties 

 here. Some time I may write you of the great peach 

 interests of southwest Georgia, where there are a num- 

 ber of peach-farms of from 200 to 1,000 acres in ex- 

 tent. — J. H. Hale, Houston Co., Ga. 



Pruning Grapes in Spring. — P. C. Reynolds' ex- 

 periment (page 702) in pruning grape-vines after they 

 had made an inch or more of growth, calls to mind a case 

 which came under my own observation ; Years ago an 

 acquaintance failed to prune his small vineyard unti] 

 the spring growth had well commenced, when he pruned 

 about one-half of it. The severe bleeding caused him 

 to let the balance go unpruned. In the fall the pruned 

 portion was well loaded with large, fine clusters, while 

 the unpruned part bore but little fruit, and.that of in- 

 ferior size and quality. — Z. C. Fairbanks. 



The Woodruff Red. — In the November number 

 E. P. Powell makes the following remarkable declara- 

 tion : "Woodruff Red is a beastly gross affair, without 

 one good point." As I have grown this grape for sev- 

 eral years, and recommended it as a valuable and use- 

 ful variety for general planting, I can not permit the 

 above statement that it is " without one good point," to 



