BUDS, BLOSSOMS, FRUITS. 



buds, and by March 15, there were large clusters of 

 bloom. I use only wooden boxes, seven or eight inches 

 wide at the top, five or six at the bottom, as many deep, 

 and long enough to reach across the window, or so that 

 two will rest in a window. I use good black garden soil 

 enriched with old manure and leaf-mold, and put three, 

 four or five plants in a box according to size. We have 

 no greenhouse or conservatory, and keep our plants in 

 rooms heated by a coal-stove, spray them three or four 

 times a week, and if there are any signs of red-spider, 

 every day. For the green aphis put weak tobacco tea in 

 the spray. Last fall it was so dry and water so scarce 

 that nearly all the leaves fell off before I took them up. 

 I waited for rain as long as I dared and moved them 

 when it was so dry the soil fell off the roots. I gave them 

 a good soaking after I had put them in the boxes and 

 set them away, expecting most of them would die. 

 Only one has done so, however, and the ethers put forth 

 new shoots and began budding and bloo;i'''jg in Novem- 

 ber.— E. A. B., O/iio. 



Advantages of Horticulture. — I have never seen a 

 community where there were too many horticulturists, 

 while in most localities the number might be many times 

 increased, and the profits of each is no wise diminished. 

 The means of transportation and preservation of even 

 the more perishable fruit and vegetable productsare now 

 so excellent that a market can easily be found for all first- 

 class articles. I have lived in several of the best de- 

 veloped fruit-growing sections of the country, and T 

 have yet to learn of a single instance of failure where 

 horticulture was energetically and intelligently pursued ; 

 while in nearly every instance a moderate competence 

 was secured. I believe there is no vocation that offers 

 a better return for industry and skill than this. Let me 

 not be misunderstood ; there are risks in horticulture as 

 in other things, and these ought to be fully considered. 

 Frost, hail, drouth or flood will sometimes wipe out the 

 profits of a year or more of well-directed labor. The 

 hopes of an equally bountiful and profitable harvest 

 may at times be blasted by the devastations of insects 

 and fungous diseases. Some of these disasters are 

 beyond control, but many can be overcome or guarded 

 against by judicious management. The skillful horti- 

 culturist reduces these risks to a minimum. He care- 

 fully studies the adaptability of varieties ; he learns the 

 characteristics and peculiarities of soil and climate ; he 

 gleans all the information possible as to the best methods 

 of warding off insects and vegetable parasites ; in short, 

 the aid he receives from science, together with his own 

 well-directed energy and intelligence, makes him master 

 of the situation. The horticulturist is a transformer. 

 By his art the crude useless elements of the soil and air 

 are combined, forming products that please the eye, 

 gratify the taste, maintain and support life. — Prof. 

 W. R. Lazenby, Ohio State University. 



Notes upon Apple Varieties. — In case of apples, 

 as of other fruits, it is futile to expect all the ideal 

 qualities in any single variety, and yet a variety, to have 

 any value, must have a certain proportion of thesum total 



of the requisites of a perfect fruit. It may fall far short 

 of the ideal standard in some qualities ; but it must stand 

 proportionately high in some others ; in other words, a 

 variety may be valuable if it has some good qualities, 

 provided others are well marked. It is a popular belief 

 that a variety that does well in one locality may abso- 

 lutely fail in another apple-growing section. A close 

 study of the facts will scarcely warrant this assumption. 

 The rule is that a variety which presents marked varia- 

 tions in different soils and climates, is likely to present 

 considerable variation in the same locality. If its good 

 characteristics are not well enough marked to withstand 

 reasonable changes of condition incident to change of 

 locality, they are not well enough marked to withstand 

 the changes of one locality. Good and bad character- 

 istics are alike inherent and not determined by environ- 

 ment. It is true that conditions may emphasize or 

 minimize certain characteristics; but they cannot ob- 

 literate or radically change them. A variety of apple 

 that lacks productiveness or hardiness or keeping quali- 

 ties under average conditions, may show some improve- 

 ment, but it will never take high rank in these qualities 

 under the most favorable conditions. With reference 

 to the apple alone, the question of sectional adaptability 

 hascomparatively little significance. Certain restricted 

 localities may now have, and may continue for a long 

 time to have favorite varieties not highly regarded else- 

 where; but sooner or later many of these will be dis- 

 carded, and the variety which succeeds well over a wide 

 area will be found to be the most uniformly and con- 

 tinuously successful in nearly all apple-growing dis- 

 tricts. — Prof. W. R. Lazenby, Ohio State University. 



What is a Sycamore?— Our correspondent W. C. 

 Egan, of Illinois, had this question put to him by a 

 friend, and in order to satisfy his own mind he studied 

 up the subject, with the results which he reports as 

 follows; " The first mention of the tree I find is in the 

 Bible, Luke 19, 4, where one Zaccheus is reported to 

 have climbed up a sycamore tree in order that he might 

 see our Saviour. " Authorities seem to agree that this tree 

 was Fiats sycomorus, commonly known as the Egyptian 

 sycamore, Pharaoh's-fig, an admirable tree, largely 

 planted for shade along the roadsides in Syria and 

 Egypt. So far therefore as my investigation has gone 

 the sycamore is a fig tree and by right of priority it is 

 entitled to the name. In the sacred dramas of the 

 middle ages a tree was wanted to represent that into 

 which Zaccheus had climbed, and as no sycamore was 

 at hand, the artists being full of expedients chose a 

 maple, Acer psettdoplatatius , its heavy foliage being about 

 as near that of the sycamore as any they could find, and 

 to complete the deception they called it a sycamore. To 

 these early dramatists we are indebted for a part of the 

 confusion existing to-day. The name followed Acer 

 pseiidoplataniis into England, and was applied to the 

 Scotch plane tree, and from there it came to America, 

 and soon became attached to our plane tree — Platanus 

 occidentalis. Thus far we may conclude that our 

 sycamore is Platanus occidentalis; the Englishmen's is 



