QUESTIONS ASKED AND ANSWERED. 



765 



arrive in better condition. Frequently we have bored 

 holes through the sides and ends of ordinary bar- 

 rels for ventilating, but with far less success ; for in 

 the ventilated barrel there is a narrow space between 

 each two staves for their whole length. This point of 

 ventilation is, of course, the great one in favor of the 

 barrel. Another is economy, as it can be sold at 25 cents 

 each retail, and cheaper still by the car-load. It can 

 also beshipped in knock-down shape to the grower, who, 

 with a little apparatus, can easily set it up in his own 

 barn, as wanted. I have a car-load of material, enough 

 for fifteen hundred barrels, sent me by freight from the 

 manufacturers, together with the apparatus for setting 

 up the barrels, which is very simple. A man can easily 

 put up eight or ten in an hour, and the material will cost 

 but little more than 20 cents each. I have used about 

 150 of them and, so far as I know, they are received in 

 the markets with as much favor as the ordinary barrel. 

 It is sometimes objected that the inside hoop might 

 cut the fruit, but as this is smoothly beveled, I do not 

 see how it can. This barrel is well adapted to shipping 

 vegetables, such as cabbages, cauliflowers, melons, etc., 

 to distant markets. It can be made any size, and a very 

 large one might be made to put up the more bulky 

 vegetables, making it convenient for market gardeners. 

 I am not so sure of its value for export purposes, for 

 in this I have no experience. I intend trying this in 

 a small way. I should suppose, however, that the 

 winter apples would be better packed in close packages 

 so that exterior influences, such as light, heat, frost, wet, 

 might have as little effect on them as possible." 



2663. Onion- Growing- on a Large Scale. Evidently 

 the inquirer has little or no experience in onion-growing, 

 else he would not wish to begin with from three to five 

 acres. There is much less risk in planting that area to 

 fruits, especially if you have a good man, with some ex- 

 perience in fruit growing, to take charge of it. But no 

 one but an expert in onion-growing should undertake to 

 plant even three acres to onions. Probably you have 

 the advantage of a near market ; but prices are so uncer- 

 tain, and the expenses involved in growing an onion 

 crop so great, that it takes good management or 

 phenomenally good luck to make it profitable. It is 

 quite an easy thing to put $300 or more into an acre of 

 onions ; but a much harder one to get that amount out 

 of it. Our advice is, to go slow. Plant on as small a 

 scale as you please at first. Learn the most approved 

 methods of growing the crop, especially at the least 

 cost, and how to dispose of it to best advantage. Then 

 go ahead. — G. R. 



2668. Haverland Strawberry. We find the Haver- 

 land very satisfactory in many ways, and believe it will 

 suit your purposes at least as well as the Crescent, and 

 probably better. If you can succeed in raising a good 

 crop of Crescents from potted plants set in the previous 

 September, you should certainly do no worse with the 

 Haverland. We have never had a good crop on fall-set 

 plants, no matter how treated. There are a good many 

 varieties suitable as a pollen-bearing companion to the 

 Haverland. No need of planting a poor variety, such 

 as for instance the James Vick, merely because it begins 

 to bloom early and continues late, bearing pollen abun- 

 dantly. We use the Long John and the Wilson, both 



reliable varieties here that will give us plenty of good 

 fruit ; but the Wilson alone, or any other perfect-flower- 

 ing sort that blooms reasonably early, will answer the 

 purpose. — G. R. 



2671. Peanuts in Southern Rhode Island. The pea- 

 nut is not reliable much north of Virginia. Yet while 

 in New Jersey we have grown the Spanish variety on a 

 small scale, and of better quality even than the ordinary 

 Virginia peanut. This Spanish is a newer sort, much 

 earlier than the other, of closer, compacter growth, and 

 smaller, but remarkably well-filled pods. If you have 

 a warm piece of sandy or calcareous loam, you might 

 try this variety with the expectation that in a favorable 

 season you can rise a crop that will at least satisfy the 

 home grower. — G. R. 



2682. Planting- Tree Seeds. The sooner tree seeds 

 are sown after they are ripe, the better. All seeds ger- 

 minate most promptly before the shell, or outside cover- 

 ing, has had time to harden. Seeds that do not ripen 

 before winter, or for other reasons cannot be planted at 

 once, should be stored in such a way that they will have 

 no chance to become thoroughly dry. We see no good 

 reason why seeds of the peach, cherry, plum, hazelnut, 

 walnut, chestnut, oak, hickory, pecan, magnolia, osage 

 orange, yellow locust, etc., should not be planted in the 

 autumn, unless, as in the case of nuts in some localities, 

 there may be danger from the depredations of squirrels 

 and other rodents. If the seeds named have once had a 

 chance to dry out, they will be very slow to germinate. 

 If compelled to postpone planting until spring, mix these 

 seeds with dry sand, and store in a cool room. If kept 

 too damp and warm, they are liable to sprout prema- 

 turely , or to be spoiled by rotting. Acorns may be spread 

 on the ground outdoors, and covered with a thin layer of 

 sand. Seeds that ripen early in summer, such as silver 

 maple, poplar, elm, etc., should be planted at once, so 

 that the young trees will be large enough to winter well. 

 Mulberry and similar small seeds germinate very readily 

 when gathered, dried, stored in bags, and planted in 

 spring. Light, chaffy seeds, like those of the sugar 

 maple, may be handled in the same manner. Sow all 

 these in well-prepared, loamy soil, covering very lightly, 

 and otherwise treat as you would fine garden seeds. — 

 G. R. 



2684. Winter Protection for Raspberries and 

 Grape Vines. Some localities in the vicinity of Liv- 

 ingston County, N. Y., have a rather trying climate, and 

 some of the tenderer sorts of raspberries and grapes are 

 liable to suffer unless winter protection is given. Our 

 hardier fruits, however, seldom suffer by the winters of 

 western New York. A field of Kittatinny blackberries 

 in an exposed situation of that section, suffered injury 

 only once or twice in ten years. On the whole we do 

 not think that winter protection here is absolutely indis- 

 pensable, so long as we refrain from planting tender 

 things. If we must have Brinckle's orange raspberry, 

 for instance, and other fruits of that tender nature, we 

 have no choice but to bend the canes down to the ground, 

 and cover at least the tip end lightly with soil. This 

 covering, however, is more for keeping the cane down to 

 the ground, than for the protection it affords. But while 

 it is true that most of our grape vines will stand our 

 winters unprotected, we still believe that it will pay us 



