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FRUIT AND GARDEN NOTES. 



all things an association to encourage the propagation of 

 new and choice fruits. If by great labor a man secures 

 some fine new fruit, it is nearly impossible for him to 

 place it before the public so as to make it profitable. 

 Many of the choicest of our strawberries, grapes and 

 vegetables have been stolen from the originators. The 

 quince is but a single example of fruits that we have in 

 the crude condition, and which with some encouragement 

 to workers might be developed into delicious fruits. 

 The papaw and the persimmon are other examples. 

 We go abroad, to obtain the results of the labor of the 

 Chinese and Japanese, and neglect what we have at home. 

 — E. P. PowEi-L, Oneida Co., X. 3'. 



A PROFITABLE KENTUCKY APPLE. 



The Winesap is one of the most profitable and popular 

 winter apples in this section of country, if, indeed, it is 

 not the very best. It is an early and prolific bearer ; 

 and owing to late blooming, and the timely ripening of 

 its fruit, the latter is seldom killed by late frosts in 

 spring, or injured by early freezing in the fall. The 

 apple is of medium size, and dark red in color Its 

 flesh is rich, juicy, subacid, crisp, and deliciously fla- 

 vored. Although inclined to drop off at maturing, it is 

 a firm, healthy apple, and one that keeps well. 



The tree is hardy, and withstands well those enemies 

 so destructive to orchards. It does not grow to a very 

 large size, and is inclined to spread rather than grow tall. 

 Its branches extend far out on every side, and when 

 laden with fruit they bend quite to the ground. Owing 

 to this, little injury is done to the fruit dropping off. 

 This apple being hardy and firm, may be easily and 

 safely transported, and is quite profitable. 



I do not know the limits north or south in which this 

 apple could be grown successfully, but believe it would 

 be profitable further north than Kentucky. 



The trees bear up well even under neglectful treat- 

 ment, and none respond with more bountiful crops when 

 given proper care. On this proper care hinges the well- 

 doing of any tree or orchard. If well nurtured at the 

 start, trees seldom fail to grow up thriftily ; it is after the 

 bearing period is reached that the trouble sets in. This 

 comes chiefly from neglecting to sustain the fertility of 

 the soil. Before the bearing period, the tree alone is to 

 be built up, and a fairly good soil is sufficient. But after 

 this period, besides building up the tree, the fruit is to 

 be matured, which doubly taxes the resources of the soil. 

 Hence it is apparent how great is the necessity of liber- 

 ally supplying the soil with proper fertilizers. A good 

 supply of manure, loam and ashes, or a compost of 

 these, should be given the orchard at least every alter- 

 nate year. — James I Baird. Kentucky. 



THE FUTURE OF THE PEACH. 



Strange as it may appear, the growth of a peach tree 

 seems to have much to do with its longevity. Early ma- 

 turity means early decay. Growth and decay are the 

 two prominent characteristics of all vegetation. It is 

 only a question of time when growth will cease and de- 

 cay begin. The peach tree comes to maturity and be- 



gins to decay in less than 25 years after planting, fre- 

 quently in much less than this. To secure a long-lived 

 tree, great care must be given to its growth, both in the 

 nursery and the orchard. Too much growth in one 

 year is always liable to prove injurious to longevity 

 sooner or later. In order to be productive and profita- 

 ble, the newly-formed fiber must be matured and ripened 

 by autumn rather than by the zero days of winter. If 

 the soil has not been previously exhausted by cropping, 

 no fertilizer is necessary until the trees begin to bear. 

 Thorough cultivation will secure growth enough unless 

 the soil is very poor. If it is naturally productive, the 

 growth may be too much. By careful observation you 

 will find that the shortest-lived peach-orchards are those 

 that were hurried forward most by manure and extra 

 cultivation while they were young. That peach trees 

 should grow and bear fruit for a long time without hav- 

 ing their productive powers stimulated by fertilization 

 could not be expected. After trees begin to bear luscious 

 fruit for us, we must return a suitable compensation to 

 the soil, for the growth of more fiber and more fruit. It 

 is necessary to remove all diseased trees from our or- 

 chards as soon as discovered and to fill their places with 

 better trees, grown under better methods of cultivation. 

 When peach trees are planted and cultivated with more 

 reference to longevity than to a heavy crop of fruit the 

 fourth or fifth year after planting, we may hope to see 

 orchards most fruitful at 25 rather than at 10 years of 

 age.— C. P., Michigan. 



FRUITS AND FLOWERS IN NORTH CAROLINA 



It is curious to notice that while our people imagine 

 California to be a frostless country, at least the southern 

 part of it, the director of the Experiment Station reports 

 as low temperature as we have here, and says that even 

 at Pomona figs are hurt worse than ours are here. We 

 had no figs killed here last winter out of a list of 30 odd 

 sorts from the south of Europe and Asia Minor. Some 

 figs lost the early crop of fruit, but sorts like Osborn, 

 Prolific, Brown Turkey and Black Ischia have fruit 

 now half-grown, and will all of them make a finer late 

 crop. A letter from San Diego county, California, says, 

 " Our orange trees were frozen to the ground." Only 

 the other day I saw an ordinary Mediterranean Sweet 

 orange tree in a village yard down on our southern 

 North Carolina coast, which had come through the winter 

 with only a little yellowing of its leaves. In the same 

 neighborhood palmettos towered above the thickets in 

 which they were growing with naked stems 35 feet high 

 to the crown of foliage, and I brought home with me 

 leaves measuring five feet by seven feet with petioles six 

 feet long. So I concluded that California has not much 

 advantage over the Old North State in climate. 



Two months ago I bought two pounds of choice dried 

 figs at a grocery-store. . From them I washed out the 

 seeds and sowed them in boxes in the greenhouse. They 

 germinated as readily as cabbage-seed, and now I have 

 an embarrassment of riches in the way of seedling figs. 

 Whether any of them will be better than those we have, 

 of course I cannot say, but I have long been trying ta 



