LIGHT FROM THE SOCIETIES, 



571 



flavoring the fruit is to have when prepared for the table. 

 The fruit is kept boiling hot while it is being put into the 

 cans. The cans should be perfectly dry and a silver 

 spoon put in them to prevent breakage. She prefers the 

 Putnam self-sealing and Mason's jars. The jars are filled 

 full and dry covers screwed down firmly. If the edge of 

 the cover has been nicked or bent it should be hammered 

 out smooth, and if it will not screw down tight with one 

 rubber on, put on two. Tomatoes should not be very 

 ripe and should be well cooked and skimmed. Tomatoes 

 canned early in the season, or by the middle of the 

 season, keep better than those canned toward the close. 

 Jars should not be put in anything cold until they 

 are partly cooled. Blackberries should be put up the 

 day they are gathered. 



G. A. Wood said that the secret of canning is to kill all 

 the germs of fermentation and mold within the jar, and 

 to prevent others getting in. For this purpose, at the 

 canning factories, after filling the cans with the prepared 

 fruits or vegetables, they are placed in a box and subjected 

 to great heat by steam, and sealed while very hot. Corn 

 may be kept in open jars by mixing one part salt with 

 three parts, by weight, of corn. 



Mrs. J. G. Parker said that for jams the best result 

 was obtained with fruit not quite ripe. 



Feeding the Orchard. — I contend (i) that the soil 

 should be cultivated and plant-food set free to the utmost 

 limit ; {2) that leguminous and tap-rooted plants should 

 be used as plant-food gatherers ; (3) that animals should be 

 kept as much for the value of the manure they produce, 

 as for the profit realized from them otherwise ; {4) that 

 the least possible amount of stalk and vine and limb con- 

 sistent with economy and the health of the plant be grown; 

 and (5) after having practiced all the economy possible, 

 if there is still a lack of fertility, in order to secure the 

 highest quality of product and the greatest net income, 

 that commercial fertilizers of a high grade should be 

 applied with a liberal hand. If it is found at any time 

 that commercial fertilizers give better net results than 

 farm-manures, then there should be no hesitancy in 

 changing from one to the other. I believe that farm- 

 manures which have lain in the open yards or have been 

 heated, and which have been drawn long distances, are 

 far more expensive than are high-grade fertilizers. Stable 

 manure exposed in piles from April to October often loses 

 half its value ; therefore, I am led to believe that many 

 tons of manure which are transported from the city con- 

 tain less than a dollar's worth of soluble plant-food. 

 This may act beneficially as a mulch, but, so far as the 

 plant-food it contains is concerned, it is too often an ex- 

 pensive way of preservmg the fertility of the land. — 

 Prof. Roberts, before the W. N. Y. Horticultural So- 

 ciety. 



Packing Plants for Transportation. — In packing 

 orchids, great care and good judgment are essential. Take, 

 for instance, a plant of Odontoglossum crispum with a 

 spike of flowers bearing from 12 to 20 full blooms. How 

 to pack such a plant is learned by experience and prac- 

 tice only. Get a light, strong stake, measure and cut it 



about two inches longer than the flower-spikes, wrap the 

 stake in tissue paper and put it as near the center of the 

 plant as possible. After you have secured the stakes and 

 cut some tissue paper into strips about one inch wide, be- 

 gin binding the flower-spike close to the stake. A man 

 new at packing such a plant will undoubtedly break off 

 several flowers before he is through ; if skilled, he will 

 bind up the whole flower-spike without breaking a petal. 

 Having fastened the flower-spike securely to the stake, 

 the rest is simple and easy, Get four more stakes, paper 

 them and stick one in each corner of the basket or pot. 

 If the plant is to be packed in a basket, and the stakes 

 are not firm, it is well to tie them to the basket, and so 

 prevent any chance of a stake getting loose and the flowers 

 being broken. Next, cut four sticks to fasten to the top 

 of the stakes. In doing this see that none of the flowers 

 touch the stakes, thus giving the flowers all the room 

 necessary. Tie the flower to the stake at the top so that 

 no movement is possible. After satisfying yourself that 

 the stakes are fast, wrap the plant up in tissue-paper, 

 cotton batting, and strong paper. — A. Caparn, before 

 N'ezi.' Jersey Social Florists' Club. 



Missouri State Horticultural Society. — At the meet- 

 ing held in June, Conway Hartzell carried off one-third of 

 the prize-money for his large display of apples, consist- 

 ing of a dozen varieties in perfect state of preservation. 

 The apples were kept by the Hartzell plan. 



In the discussion following the reading of papers on 

 planting and pruning trees, the members present were 

 almost unanimously in favor of low heads, from one to 

 three feet high, and little or no pruning. The number 

 of apple trees planted on an acre has been gradually 

 increased, until now our most successful orchardists are 

 planting from 70 to 160 trees on an acre. This is pretty 

 thick, but the growers have found that the thicker they 

 plant and the less they prune, the larger their bank ac- 

 count has grown ; while those who have headed high and 

 have employed professional pruners have not made 

 money. Orchards planted and cared for according to 

 this plan have yielded, at five years from planting, from 

 $50 to $100 net an acre, and at 15 years from planting 

 $150 to $450 an acre, net. The trees are cut out at 20 

 years from planting. We now plant for the money there 

 is in it. So we push the trees for about 20 years, then 

 let them go. There may be many good trees still in the or- 

 chard that might be nursed along for years, but we can- 

 not afford to keep them. Neither can we afford to plant 

 trees that the next generations may eat fruit therefrom. 

 Old men have planted orchards in Missouri, gathered 

 the harvest and planted again. The leading varieties 

 are Ben Davis, Jonathan and Wincsap. 



We were told years ago that the people could not al- 

 ways be swindled with Ben Davis apples, that they would 

 soon demand something better ; but the demand for the 

 Ben Davis apple has increased more rapidly than has its 

 production. Still the Missouri people are trying to find or 

 produce a better apple that can be grown here. We are 

 testing everything that is promising. — J. C. Duffcy. 



