698 



QUESTIONS ASKED AND ANSWERED. 



you prune it back closely at planting time or in the 

 spring? The bloom comes on the new growth. We have 

 seen cases of pruning being neglected, in which the plant 

 seemed to stand still, when if it had been well cut back 

 new shoots and bloom would have appeared. 



2797. Cedar Hedge Planting. Spring is prefer- 

 able for planting all conifers in this climate. The 

 red cedar (Juniperus Virginiana) does not adapt itself 

 as well to the purposes of a hedge as do the arbor-vitjes, 

 hemlock, Japan quince, honey locust, etc., a reason 

 being that the individual trees vary considerably in 

 character of growth. Still we have seen a handsome or- 

 namental hedge of this plant, the individuals standing 

 thirty inches apart. 



2598. Starting Hawthorn Seed. This seed does 

 not usually start until the second season after ripening. 

 A good course of treatment is to mix the seed with an 

 equal quantity of sand at the time of gathering, and leave 

 in this shape in the open air until the autumn following, 

 when it may be sown in nursery rows. 



2616 Heating Small Hot-house. The simplest 

 way imaginable of heating a small hot-house by means of 

 hot-water pipes, is to buy one of the base burning water- 

 heaters now made for this purpose and offered at a 

 reasonable price by manufacturers in var'ous cities of 

 the United States. You find their addresses in our ad- 

 vertising columns. The instructions for setting them 

 up and arranging the pipes are furnished with these 

 heaters and furnaces. For large houses use a larger fur- 

 nace. The manufacturers'- catalogues tell the exact 

 capacity of each furnace, and give all other information 

 on the subject that you may need. This method of heat- 

 ing may be more expensive so far as construction and 

 first outlay is concerned, when compared with the old 

 flue, but it makes up for this many times over in saving 

 of fuel, in ease and convenience of management, safety, 

 and general satisfaction. The use of the base-burning 

 water-heater in a small house reduces the required at- 

 tention to a minimum, and secures a more uniform tem- 

 perature with more congenial atmospheric conditions 

 inside the house, than can be had in a fiue-heated house. 

 — G. R. 



2623. Managing Apples. We are not acquainted 

 with any special treatise on culture, packing and ship- 

 ment of the apple. General information on these subjects 

 is given in our standard works on fruit culture, notably, 

 Downing's " Fruit and Fruit Trees of America," and 

 J. J. Thomas' " American Fruit Culturist." For foreign 

 shipment, apples are packed in same manner as for our 

 own markets, with this difference, perhaps, that there 

 should be even more pains taken in assorting and pack- 

 ing. None but the very best sound fruit should go to 

 foreign countries. The close ordinary barrel is 

 better for this purpose than is the ventilated barrel now 

 much used, here and in Canada, for summer and early 

 autumn fruits as also for vegetables, all of which are 

 liable to ripen up too fast in a close package at this sea- 

 son, or become heated and injured. Be sure to face the 

 apples nicely, shake the barrel while filling, heap it up 

 well, and press down with considerable force, so that 

 each apple will be sure to remain in its place during the 

 voyage and until opened by the consumer. If the apples 

 have a chance to shake about in the package before 



they reach the market, they will be worthless. Do not 

 be afraid of hurting the fruit by tight squeezing. 



2628. Japan Wineberry. We have a specimen on 

 our grounds, but it seems to lack thrift. Its proper place 

 is on the lawn, not in the fruit garden. Certainly there 

 is no likelihood of its ever being grown as a market fruit 

 in its present state, nor to any extent as a fruit for the 

 home grower. The plant is interesting, and worth grow- 

 ing as a curiosity. Practical value it has next to none. 

 See also J. T. Lovett's description of the fruit in his 

 paper read before the American Pomological Society. 

 — G. R. 



2629. Chopped Apples. These are a merchant- 

 able commodity like all other evaporated or fresh fruits, 

 and subject to wide fluctuations in price. Last winter 

 and spring, during the times of scarcity of all evaporated 

 fruit products, the price of chopped apples reached four 

 cents a pound. It is not likely that such a price will be 

 obtained again for the article for some time to come, 

 unless we are going to have more failures of the apple 

 crop. Slicers are kept on sale by all dealers in evapora- 

 tory and evaporating outfits. We can only refer you to 

 our advertising columns for the addresses of dealers. 

 We cannot give J. B. Durand's address. — G. R. 



2630. Stone's Hardy Blackberry. Like all other 

 fruits, this does well for one, and is a disappointment 

 for another. Indiana growers speak in favorable terms 

 of it, and it is worth a trial in exposed situations. — G. R. 



2631. A Cheap Fruit Evaporator. We suppose 

 you want a cheap dryer for small scale operations. In 

 that line we know of nothing superior to the U. S. Cook 

 Stove Dryer offered in the way of premium and other- 

 wise by The Rural Publishing Company (see premium 

 offer in the October numbers). It is cheap and does 

 good work. 



2637. Moyer Grape. This is one of the earliest on 

 our grounds, and of honeyed sweetness almost as soon 

 as it first shows color. But the vine is not a thrifty grower, 

 and the bunches are very small. In these respects it is 

 in notable contrast with the Delaware, which here proves 

 quite a good grower, and prolific of finelocking bunches 

 nearly twice the size o£ the Moyer. Its earliness and 

 good quality, however, are valuable features.— G. R. 



2632. Winter Protection of Roses. All varieties 

 of roses will be greatly benefited by being protected, 

 however lightly, during our northern winters. There 

 are various methods used in giving protection to plants, 

 some of which require quite an amount of unnecessary 

 labor and care. Tying up with straw or matting often 

 proves injurious to the plants, as the covering is fre- 

 quently left on too late in the spring, until the 

 growth has become too far advanced. Banking a 

 large number of roses with earth requires entirely too 

 much labor. During the past few winters I have been 

 practicing the laying down system, which, I am sure, is 

 at once the most simple and the best for roses. Late in 

 the fall, just before freezing up, I bend the rose bushes 

 down level on the ground ; they are kept down firmly 

 by a simple frame made by driving a stake on each side 

 of the bended plant half way to the top, and nailing a 

 lath one foot in length upon the tops of these stakes. 

 The stakes are driven down so as to keep the bush as 



