Always Room at the Top. — There is plenty of room 

 for the successful fruit-grower now, and always will be. 

 There is no escape from overproduction and ruinous 

 competition from every point, except through higher and 

 better cultivation, less fruit and better fruit, quality 

 rather than quantity. Some imagine the road to de- 

 liverance and more money lies in solving the question of 

 distribution, transportation, etc., yet the relief obtainable 

 in this direction would be but temporary at best, for if a 

 profitable gap were opened, one good fruit season would 

 fill it. These and other important questions, or the solv- 

 ing of them, regarding the marketing of products furnish 

 no cure for unprofitable fruit-growing, nor for the poor 

 methods unfortunately too prevalent. Raise fruit that 

 readily catches the eye. Exercise care in picking, pack 

 ing and marketing. Throw out every inferior specimen 

 poor stuff, that destroys the sale of the better, can be 

 utilized by drying, evaporating or canning. Use the 

 neatest and most presentable packages. — Omaha Cnlti 

 valor. 



Cutting Flowers. — Plants, to be at their best, should 

 have the flowers cut as soon as they bloom, and this 

 does not always mean full bloom. Roses should be cut 

 when the buds throw the first petal back. Calendulas and 

 sweet-peas, verbenas and the like, must be fully open to 

 be desirable ; but whatever they are, they must be gath- 

 ered as soon as they are fully developed. Persons who re- 

 gard it as a hardship to cut flowers from their gardens, as 

 a rule never have great quantities of flowers. They leave 

 the blooms to come to maturity, and, this process accom- 

 plished, the plant immediately begins to form seed-pods. 

 The object of existence in plants is to grow seeds. When 

 this is accomplished the mission of their growth is ful- 

 filled. To remove the blossoms, never allowing seed- 

 pods to form, is one secret of successful gardening, — 

 Nezu York Ledger. 



An Inexpensive Forcing-House. — A hothouse can 

 be cheaply constructed by setting posts firmly in the 

 ground, sheathing them on the outside, and covering this 

 with siding. The posts should be cut off square at the 

 height of four feet, and a 2x5-inch plank nailed on as a 

 plate. For a narrow house, an even-span roof is prefer- 

 able, but if the house is i8 or 20 feet wide, and is 

 designed for forcing vegetables or flowers, the three- 

 quarter span is generally used. A ix4-inch ridge-board 

 is placed at the height of eight feet, and sash-bars seven 



feet long should be cut off at either end, so as to make 

 good joints, and securely fastened in place. The glass 

 should not be less than 12x18 inches, and may vary from 

 that size to 18x24 inches, the size generally used being 

 either 14 or 16 inches wide. The sash-bars should vary 

 with the size of the glass, 1x2 inches being large enough 

 for 12-inch glass, while 18-inch glass will need a sash-bar 

 iysX2'/2 inches. The glass may be either butted or 

 slightly lapped, bedded in putty and fastened with wire 

 brads or large zinc points. The best method of heating 

 the house is by hot water in small pipes. The size of the 

 heater must depend on the temperature at which the 

 house is to be kept, the climate, construction of the 

 house, etc. To warm a house 50x12 feet to 70° in zero 

 weather would require about 200 square inches of grate 

 surface, and from 25 to 40 square feet, according to its 

 arrangement, of heating surface. For two houses the 

 heater need not be quite twice as large. The piping 

 should be of i ,14 -inch wrought iron, with suitable feed 

 and return-pipes. For a temperature of 45° in severe 

 weather, 150 square feet of radiation would be ample for 

 each house, while, if 70° is desired, 250 square feet would 

 be none to much. For most purposes, the pipes should 

 be placed beneath the side-benches, but it is sometimes 

 desirable to have some of the pipes fastened to the sash- 

 bars above the benches. If the under-bench system is 

 adopted, a i>^-inch flow-pipe on each side of the house 

 could carry the water to the farther end, and three 

 inch pipes, as returns, would make up the required sur- 

 face for a temperature of 45°. or six returns would be suffi- 

 cient for 70°. Hot water, with modern heaters and iron 

 pipes, is 25 per cent, cheaper than steam, and in every 

 way more satisfactory for greenhouse heating than any 

 other methods that have been used, — Prof. L. K. Tafe, 

 in Amcrica>i Agricult nrist . 



Early Cherries. —Early Purple Guigne is probably 

 the earliest of all cherries known in this country. It 

 ripens a good while before May Duke, which, in this 

 section, does not ripen in May, as Early Purple Guigne 

 often does. Even in the present backward season the 

 fruit of the latter variety was well colored by May 31, 

 and fully ripe by June 4. Early Purple sells well in 

 market, on account of its dark red, almost black, color. 

 Loaded with fruit, as it has been this year, it presents 

 a beautiful appearance. Closely following this variety 

 in earliness is Belle d'Orleans, a yellowish red sort, also 



