502 



If IND FALLS. 



we can tack on Le Conte roots to the tree, which pene- 

 trate the soil deeply in search of moisture and food, 

 and we will get some apples. I am in latitude 30°, and 

 have a pine woods (sandy loam) soil. — Wm. Jennings, 

 Georgia. 



The Beverly, a New Seedling Strawberry. — In 



i88g I set out half of my garden to my new seedling, the 

 Beverly. When the committee from the Massachusetts 

 Horticultural Society, in June, 1890, visited me, they 

 could see the difference between the various kinds grow- 

 ing side by side, and I was awarded first prize for the 

 best amateur strawberry garden in the state. 



This is the story of the Beverly : In July, 1887 I 

 sowed seed from Miner's Prolific. In June, 1888, the 

 plant bore its fruit, which from the start seemed very 

 promising, the late blossoms maturing large fruit. In 

 August, 1888, I set a single row about 22 feet in length, 

 which threw out runners very freely. In 1889 I gathered 

 more fruit from that space of 22 feet than from two 

 rows, one on each side, of Belmont and Jewell, each 40 

 feet long. In June, 1890, at the Massachusetts Horti- 

 cultural Strawberry Show I was awarded the silver 

 medal for the best seedling strawberry. Starting from 

 one plant in 1888, in 1890 I picked 8-'4 bushels of Bev- 

 erly strawberries. The fruit resembles Miner's Prolific. 

 It has a perfect blossom, and is the most wonderfully 

 prolific bearer I have ever seen, the late blossoms ma- 

 turing large fruit, which ripens all over. J. H. Hale 

 visited my garden in June, 1890, on the eve of the straw- 

 berry show. He tested the quality of the Beverly with 

 Belmont and Jewell, and pronounced the Beverly better 

 than either. My experience with it is, that if runner 

 plants are set in August in double rows three feet apart, 

 and the plants one foot apart in the rows, and the run. 

 ners are kept cut off, and the land is hoed as often as 

 once a week, good crops are produced the following 

 June. I manure the ground well at the start with stable 

 manure, then apply ground bone and ashes in the pro" 

 portion of three-quarters of ashes in bulk to a quarter 

 of bone. I have entered my garden again for a prize 

 this year. The Beverly is medium to late, and was not 

 at its best this year before July ist. — Bcnj. M. SmitJt^ 

 in Rural New-Yorker . 



Spraying of Grapes. — Delaware College had my 

 vineyard in 1889-90 to experiment with. I have 1,200 

 vines, and in 1888 had 240 pounds of grapes and stems. 

 In 1889 I commenced to spray, and shipped a little over 

 3,000 pounds ; in 1890 over 8,000 pounds. This year I 

 have only found five rotten grapes. My grapes never 

 looked so nice as they do at the present time ; if nothing 

 happens I will have 10,000 to 12,000 pounds. I spray 

 six times ; once with the simple copper mixture ; three 

 times with Bordeaux ; twice with modified celeste The 

 last application of Bordeaux is just after the blossoms 

 fall. I am trying the Bordeaux on my pear trees for 

 the blight. I think it will check it. We had two at- 

 tacks of the grape rot last season — June 17 was the first 

 and July 7 the second. The last was much worse than 

 the first. — L. E. Anthony, De/azuare. 



A Fruit Cafe; why not? — Some one has proposed a 

 a fruit cafe. The idea is to have in fruit stores tables 

 or a counter, as in a cafe, with fruit-knives, plates, nap- 

 kins, etc., and to furnish fresh fruit in its season to be 

 eaten on the spot. The idea is a good one. The fruit 

 stands that occupy every corner on the avenues in New 

 York are seldom patronized by ladies, because they can- 

 not eat the fruit on the side-walk and are unwilling to 

 carry it home in bags. It is the same with the fine fruit 

 stores. The passer would gladly eat some of the fresh 

 fruit so temptingly displayed, but there are no facilities 

 for such a repast. 



Why don't some enterprising fruit dealer try it ? Fresh 

 fruit neatly served at reasonable prices would certainly 

 command trade. The resturants do sell fruit now, but they 

 charge too much, and the eating is surrounded by too many 

 suggestions concerning pie and cake. A fruit cafe for 

 nothing but fruit, with perhaps milk, would be as popular 

 as the "milk dairies." 



Gardens on the Roof. — The enormously lofty build- 

 ings now being erected in our cities suggest a new method 

 of bringing the garden into the town. The flat roofs of 

 these buildings are usually of brick and make excellent 

 places for gardens. Theatres and public halls are be- 

 ginning to use their roofs for summer gardens, where 

 music and ice cream are retailed among plants and 

 flowers, far above the hot and suffocating streets. Among 

 the new roof gardens the most notable is the garden on 

 the top of the Madison Avenue Garden in New York and 

 the private garden on the roof of the Northwestern Guar- 

 anty Loan Company at Minneapolis. We shall probably 

 see many such roof gardens in the future, all of which 

 is a good thing for the love of flowers and the flower 

 trade. 



Water Cress for Health and Market. — We should 

 use more water-cress on our tables. It contains sulphur, 

 iodine and phosphates, and is regarded as a blood puri- 

 fier by competent authorities. In streams containing iron 

 (as in Penn. and parts of New England) the growing 

 plant absorbs iron from the water in large quantities and 

 it is thus a vehicle for carrying iron into the system. 

 The Italian cook.s who are now so rapidly invading the 

 restaurant and hotel kitchens in our large cities use it 

 freely and teach us a good lesson. 



If you have water on your place, by all means plant 

 water cress for your table or for market. It is refresh- 

 ing and appetizing eaten with meats, and a capital thing 

 for the young peoples' daily ration. 



Experiments with Tomatoes. — My garden is on the 

 site of an old cedar swamp. The drainage is poor be- 

 cause of its peculiar position ; two gravelly hill-sides, on 

 the east and west, and a sandy slope on the north, are in- 

 cluded. It receives every spring a liberal dressing of 

 barn manure spread broadcast and plowed in. 



Five years ago the best tomato I could raise, for all 

 purposes, was the Trophy ; since then I can do nothing 

 with it. It grows rough, rots and seems to have lost its 

 flavor. Livingston's Beauty is my best now for home 

 consumption. It inclines, however, to crack after heavy? 



