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VEGETABLE AND FRUIT NOTES. 



Beds of wild berries near large cities and towns are get- 

 ting scarcer every year, and where there are good ones, you 

 cannot, as of old, pick them without paying for the fruit. 

 So if we want our children to go berrying we must either 

 send them away into the country or bring the berry- 

 bushes to our small gardens. — Jackson Dawson, Arnold 

 Arboretum. 



WHY WE PRUNE OUR TREES. 



Tree-trimming requires sound common-sense, perse- 

 verance and watchfulness. To whomsoever nature has 

 denied these attributes it is and will be a nuisance, and a 

 task not to be undertaken. Some persons will direct the 

 attention of a tree-trimming brother to the trees of the 

 forest, and show him large and healthy trees that never 

 have been trimmed. At first glance this argument seems 

 convincing, but soon the fallacy of it becomes apparent. 

 Forest-trees are for the purpose of producing wood, but 

 orchard-trees are required to bear fruit. If we desire 

 to grow timber-trees the knife should never be used. If 

 we wish to raise fruit, the benefit of rational trimming 

 deserves our consideration. 



By proper pruning we give the tree just the form for 

 our purpose, and compel it to bear early and annual 

 crops of beautiful fruit. By rational trimming we can 

 correct the irregular bearing of our fruit-trees, make 

 them annual bearers, and increase the yield from year to 

 year. Trees left to grow up at will may, after reaching 

 a certain age, produce an occasional heavy crop ; but be- 

 tween this harvest and the one following there is always 

 an uncertain period of fruit-failure. The tree, to de- 

 velop and ripen its fruit, has consumed all reserved nour- 

 ishment, and has none to spare to develop its fruit-buds. 

 We may see this clearly demonstrated in those apple- 

 orchards which bear only every other year. A year or 

 more is required for the development of fruit-buds which 

 give blossoms and fruit. This irregularity in the bearing 

 of trees may be prevented if you compel the tree to di- 

 vide its sap among fewer branches, by cutting back some 

 of these, breaking out or pinching off shoots, removing 

 all superfluous blossom-buds, and last but not least, by 

 thinning out the fruit. Rational tree-trimming is, there- 

 fore, nothing else but the removal of all useless branches 

 in such a manner that besides the sap necessary to pro- 

 duce fine fruit enough is left for the production of fruit- 

 buds for another season. Rational trimming will in- 

 crease the size and beauty of the fruit, and enhance the 

 value of the crop. The fruit, in drawing its nourishment 

 from the tree, shows us how we can assist it to gain a 

 larger size. To aid it we cut back branches above the 

 fruit, prune out all useless growth, and thus secure to 

 ourselves bountiful harvests and long-lived trees. — Fred- 

 erick Jaekel, Pennsylvania. 



HOW I GROW FINE MELONS. 



To grow a fine crop of melons we want the best thor- 

 oughly decomposed manure. The soil at the foot of a 

 hill has a peculiar adaptation to melon-growth. Go to 

 the woods and select rich and loamy soil at the base of 

 a hill, raking leaves and soil all together. Haul this soil 

 and put it in a convenient place for a compost-heap, about 



one foot and a half deep. Now add good stable manure 

 to about the same depth, then a layer of mold, and then 

 another of manure, and so on until the heap is finished. 

 Let it remain a few weeks, then turn it over, keeping 

 the heap in a cone-shape. At intervals through the 

 winter repeat the process. Now, if you have them, 

 spread tobacco-stems thickly on the ground ; four weeks 

 before planting turn them under. 



When ready to plant plow again, and if possible, fol- 

 low with a subsoil plow, loosening the soil some fifteen 

 inches, or break the ground half the depth, cutting 

 half-furrow slices. Roll or drag and then cross-break, 

 setting the plow twelve inches, taking half-furrow slices 

 as before, and roll again. Then mark off both ways 6x6 

 feet, and at each crossing put two forkfuls of the com- 

 post, and make a large flat hill, mixing the soil and com- 

 post well together. Now plant 12 or 15 seeds in a 

 hill and thin out later, saving two of the best plants in 

 each hill. 



As soon as the plants are up, cultivate all the space 

 between the hills deeply and thoroughly, and every ten 

 days until the vines interfere. After the vines are two 

 feet long nip off the buds. When done cultivating the 

 crop leave the soil smooth. — Thos. D. Baird, Kentucky. 



MULCH vs. DROUTH IN STRAWBERRY-GROWING. 



The protracted drouth of last summer and fall has 

 more thoroughly than ever convinced me of the necessity 

 of adopting more reliable methods for the culture of 

 strawberries in this locality. Methods that might prove 

 successful in the eastern and middle or more northern 

 states would in average years prove a failure here. The 

 air gets so dry and hot, the sun is so scorching, and 

 breezes are so constantly blowing that the exposed soil 

 is exhausted of moisture in a short time. 



After having made almost a complete failure for two 

 years in succession, I finally adopted the plan of mulch- 

 ing heavily between the rows, with most gratifying re- 

 sults. I harvested a larger yield and larger berries than 

 any other grower in any portion of the state. 



My plan is to plant in spring, rows 4 feet apart, plants 

 2 feet apart in the row. Cultivate well until June 15, 

 training the runners in the row ; then put between the rows 

 as much coarse stable manure as can handily be thrown 

 from a wagon, without covering the plants. A little 

 careful placing and tramping will be necessary in order 

 to get the ground well covered close to the plants. I 

 never thought one could mulch too heavily and have 

 been liberal with it. Mulch settles and rots quite fast, 

 and plants will root through a good depth of it. If the 

 season should be dry, no more attention will be required 

 until fall, when runners should be clipped and weeds 

 kept down. In practicing this plan for eight years I have 

 not failed once to get a splendid crop. A patch so treated 

 hardly needs any extra protection in winter, as there will 

 usually remain sufficient covering to prevent the ground 

 from quickly freezing and thawing. I have so far found 

 only a few varieties well suited to this locality. Bu- 

 bach. Crescent and Captain Jack head the list. Will give 

 Michel Early, Crawford, Warfield and Haverland an- 



