98 



ORNAMENTAL AND PRACTICAL GARDENING. 



found it impossible to decide which is the best. When 

 the conditions of soil and atmosphere are favorable, in- 

 deed, we can hardly miss it. For forcing and for the 

 earliest we use the Grand Rapids. This, however, pro- 

 duces leaves rather than head, and we prefer varieties 

 of greater heading-proclivities for later use. Of course 

 all growers and all markets have their favorites. The 

 Deacon is held in high esteem by some, and Hender- 

 son's New York lettuce by others ; Marblehead Mam- 

 moth has its friends, and so has the older Salamander. 

 We find them all good, but the foMowing we like still 



The Highbush Blueberry. 



better, viz., Ohio Cabbage, Burpee's Hardhead, Califor- 

 nia Cream, Childs' Half-Century and New Sensation. 

 The last-named is a last season's introduction, and it has 

 given us fine tender, although not very solid, heads. We 

 can well recommend it. Half-Century is undoubtedly 

 the hardest-heading sort out. In this respect it resem- 

 bles a cabbage more than a lettuce. The others men- 

 tioned give us larger and also quite solid heads, but they 

 can not hold a candle to Half-Century in solidity ; yet 

 they are good, and we would hardly wish to do without 

 them. 



Between the cos varieties, under whatever name they 

 are sent out, we have never been able to discover ma- 

 terial differences. This time we tried the trianon. The 

 quality of all these sorts is certainly fine, and they de- 

 serve greater attention by the American gardeners. 

 Slight blanchingimproves them. We used cheap rubber 

 bands, slipping them over the tips of the leaves and thus 

 holding the latter together. The heart blanches in a 

 few days, and is very brittle and tender. In the absence 

 of rubber bands, cotton yarn tied around the tip ends 

 will do just as well. 



The Highbush Blueberry. — A soli- 

 \ tary bush obtained, we believe, from the 



• I Arnold Arboretum was planted on our 



grounds three years ago. The soil is a 

 i yellow loam, underlaid with quicksand 



in some places and stiff clay in others. 

 The plant fruited for the first time last 

 '/ season, and the accompanying illustra- 



i tion gives a truthful representation of 



one of the fruit-clusters. 



This is our first experience in the cul- 

 ^^^-^^^'n^-x^ tivation of any of the blueberries or 

 ^^^'^^^tSW huckleberries, but it certainly encourages 

 ^^i^^^^^ us to continue on this line. Indeed, we 

 would like nothing better than to have a 

 patch ot this fruit large enough to give us at least an 

 abundant home supply. Apparently the plant does well 

 under cultivation. Its growth is healthy, even if not 

 excessively vigorous. It fruits freely. It is a compact, 

 upright grower, increasing from year to year in size, 

 and undoubtedly in fruitfulness. 



The great question is, where to get the plants. Unfor- 

 tunately no suckers are produced from the roots, while 

 seedlings, it is said, are by no means sure to produce as 

 good fruit as the parent plant. We might go to the 

 woods and get our plants from the wild stock there, but 

 most of the wild plants bear fruit of inferior quality and 

 size. 



Whether propagation from root-cuttings has been 

 tried or not, or whether it is practicable or not, we do 

 not know. Growing seedlings seems to us yet the most 

 promising method of getting a stock of plants. Un- 

 doubtedly, by judicious selection and good cultivation 

 we will be able to increase the size of the fruit. This 

 we infer from the report of a Massachusetts gardener 

 who has made it a practice to select and mark the best 

 bushes in the wild state while in fruit, then to dig them 

 up in the autumn and transplant them to his garden, 

 and who states that these plants, when brought under 

 cultivation, improve both in productiveness and the size 

 of the berry, the diameter of the latter increasing from 

 50 to 100 per cent, under good culture. 



Altogether, we believe that this class of fruits offers a 

 very promising field for further investigation and ex- 

 periment, and we shall continue our attention to it in 

 the expectation of adequate reward. 



La Salle-on-Niagara. 



