352 



FRUIT AND VEGETABLE NOTES. 



ries, but in point of flavor and beauty they are inferior 

 to some of the wild ones that used to grow on my farm 

 in New Hampshire. Gregg is of no value to me, as red 

 varieties sell better than black ones in this market. The 

 best variety of cap raspberry that I have tried is the 

 Shaffer. Bushes of this kind bear heavy crops of fine 

 fruit of large size, and continue in bearing for a long 

 time. For delicacy of flavor the Golden Queen is unsur- 

 passed. It has proved with me to be very hardy, vigor- 

 ous, a good bearer and an excellent variety for home use. 



The season was an especially favorable one for ripen- 

 ing grapes. Those trained on the south side of buildings 

 usually ripen a week in advance of others in unprotected 

 positions ; but there was no difference the past season in 

 the time of ripening. Moore Early, Cottage, Worden 

 and Concord make a reliable succession of the Concord 

 type Lee Early (a valuable early red grape that origin- 

 ated here), Brighton, Delaware and Vergennes give me 

 a supply of grapes of superior quality throughout the 

 whole season. The Vergennes I have kept until March 23 

 in good condition. I consider Lee Early, Worden and 

 Vergennes my most valuable grapes. Eldorado is the 

 best in quality, but a shy bearer with me. Martha 

 is good, but is too late. — Wm. C. Little, Mass 



AN INDI.ANW AM.ATEUR'S SUCCESS. 



The lirst tree I ever planted was a Hyslop crab, set out 

 on my town lot six years ago. Now I have on the same 

 lot 14 varieties of plums, 8 of peaches, 5 of pears, 35 of 

 apples and 3 of cherries ; besides walnuts, hickories, mul- 

 berries, persimmons, figs and other trees, deciduous and 

 evergreen A walnut planted on Thanksgiving Day in 

 1886 is growing finely. A mulberry put into the ground 

 July 7, i88g, is now one of the handsomest lawn-trees 

 in this section of country. Those samples are merely 

 mentioned to show that trees can be made to live in 

 adverse circumstances when proper care is exercised in 

 planting and cultivation. I am growing the filbert and 

 hard-shelled almond with every prospect of getting them 

 to fruit in time. An outdoor fig tree is now 13 feet high, 

 nnd will probably bear this year. I give it winter pro- 

 tection by bending it down and covering it with earth. 



In the line of vegetables not generally grown here in 

 amateur gardens, I have succeeded with celery, growing 

 the plants from seed. I find it about the most profitable 

 crop in the garden. Cauliflower is difficult to grow here. 

 Very early spring plants have given me some nice heads, 

 but the green cabbage-worm must be fought early and 

 often. The same is true with egg-plant, except that the 

 enemy is the flea-beetle. I have tried soapsuds, ice- 

 water, hot water, red pepper, tobacco-dust, tobacco-tea, 

 air-slaked lime, road-dust, hellebore and other remedies, 

 but all without success. 



Grape-growing is my hobby. For years it was said 

 that grapes could not be grown in this climate. I have 

 the Early Victor and Moore Early, the earliest ripening 

 outdoor grapes in this latitude, and Jefferson and Ver- 

 gennes, the latest. For four successive years all have 

 borne abundantly. A grower a few miles distant from 



me has had good crops of Concord for 14 consecutive 

 years. Another grower in this locality has 10 acres, em- 

 bracing 50 varieties, and gathers full crops every year. 



On a lot measuring 100x265 ^sei, with a house built in 

 the center and a barn and other out-buildings in the 

 rear, I have 65 trees (none of which, excepting the plums, 

 are crowded), 65 grape-vines, a good supply of raspber- 

 ries, two square rods of strawberries, a dozen currant- 

 bushes, half a dozen dwarf juneberries, half a dozen 

 rhubarb plants, a good supply of herbs, and garden room 

 for enough choice vegetables to supply a medium-sized 

 family. I tend it myself, and besides give ten or more 

 hours to new'Spaper work every day. — Amateur, Floyd 

 county, Indiana. 



GIRDLING THE GRAPE. 



In order to solve the question whether it is possi- 

 ble to continue the operation of girdling long without 

 injury to the ripening roots of the vine, I have continued 

 this treatment for a number of years. Previous to the 

 swelling of the buds last spring no difference could be de- 

 tected between girdled and ungirdled vines, but soon after- 

 wards we noticed that the vines which had been girdled 

 the previous year broke unevenly, that the clusters of 

 buds were smaller, and the early growth of the canes less 

 vigorous. These defects became more and more apparent 

 as the season advanced. While all were entirely healthy, 

 the vines that had been girdled in i8go were thinly set 

 with fruit and grew smaller and weaker canes for fruiting 

 in 1892. The favorable weather of September enabled 

 these canes to make up their deficiency in some degree, 

 and at the close of the season they all looked well and 

 were perfectly ripened. None of them were girdled this 

 year. 



To determine the influence of last year's girdling I kept 

 the fruit grown upon the different plats separate. Plat 

 No. I had never been girdled ; No. 2 had had one-half of 

 each vine girdled ; and No. 3 the whole of each vine. 

 Each plot contained 120 vines, and covered about 11,500 

 square feet. All were contiguous and fairly comparable 

 with each other. After the leaves had fallen I measured 

 with calipers the diameter of each cane of these 360 

 vines, 720 in all, at half their length (three feet) from the 

 trunk. 



In the following table, column i, 100 is assumed as the 

 product of normal ungirdled vines. In columns 2 and 3 ap- 

 pear the percentages of the half-girdled and the full-gird- 

 led vines respectively. The difference between the total 

 fruit and that denominated first-class consisted of small 

 and fragmentary clusters which could be disposed of only 

 at inferior prices. The quality of all was satisfactory : 



Ungirdled. Half girdled. Full girdled. 



Total fruit 100 S3 62 



First-class 100 77 59 



Diameter of new canes .... 100 97 87 



It seems to me that the results as here given go to 

 show that wherever a grape will ripen fairly by natural 

 processes, girdling is a complete draft upon the future, 

 without prospect of means to pay it through the gains of 

 the present. With me the increase in weight of the fruit 



