THE AMERICAN GARDEN. 5 



leave it, as it stands to-day, without a peer 

 and without a rival. From all indications, 

 this Raspberry will soon become as popular 

 as the Concord Grape, Baldwin Apple, and 

 Bartlett Pear, with which worthy varieties of 

 fruit it may justly be classed. 



[The accompanying beautiful illustration 

 is from Rev. E. P. Roe's excellent work, 

 "Success with Small Fruits," and is used 

 here by the kind permission of its publishers, 

 Messrs. Dodd, Mead & Co., New York.] 



CURRANTS. 



If there is any living thing that possesses 

 the Christian virtue of returning good for 

 evil in a higher degree than the Currant- 

 bush, we should like to know its name. 

 Neglected and despised in an out-of-the-way 

 corner, half-smothered under a turubled- 

 down garden-wall, or on a rubbish heap 

 where nothing else could grow, a few Cur- 

 rant-bushes are frequently tolerated, and 

 never thought of until the scorching July 

 sun makes our system long for cooling and 

 refreshing fruit acids. It is then that we 

 call to mind our patient Currant-bushes, and 

 become eager to gather — without blushing — 

 their bright, glossy clusters, as interest for 

 the worthless spot we have suffered them to 

 occupy. Perhaps the advent of the Currant- 

 worm is only a blessing in disguise, sent to 

 teach us more charity and wisdom, and to 

 compel us to give better treatment to our 

 much misused bushes. Try it for once to 

 give the Currants a respectable place in the 

 garden, and cultivate them like any other 

 shrub or plant which you expect to bear 

 fruit, and you will soon become convinced 

 that "it pays" to give fair play even to a 

 Currant-bush. 



AMERICAN WINES. 



The Wine industry of the United States is 

 rapidly increasing in importance. Missouri 

 has 1500 acres in vineyards, producing over 

 500,000 gallons of Wine; the Lake Erie 

 islands and vicinity have 4000 acres, pro- 

 ducing 16,000,000 pounds of Grapes, used 

 mostly for Wine; California has 60,000 

 acres in Grapes, producing now 12,000,000 

 gallons of Wine, which quantity will be 

 doubled within a few years, when all the 

 young vineyards come into bearing. In 

 Western New York, Virginia, New Jersey, 

 North Carolina, and other States, thousands 

 of acres are already devoted to vineyards. 

 Notwithstanding these facts, a leading French 

 journal on Viniculture says : "We are aware 

 that the Grape is cultivated in America less 

 for the making of Wine — which nobody 

 drinks — than for the trade in Grape-wood." 



It is true that we have sent many millions 

 of cuttings from our vigorous native species 

 to France, to give new life to her Phylloxera- 

 smitten vineyards ; and that the importation 

 of French Wines has so much decreased 

 within the last few years as to alarm the 

 French Grape-growers. This, however, is 

 not owing to the fact that " nobody drinks 

 Wine in America," but that our own Wines 

 have become so much better in quality and 

 lower in price that they are gradually driv- 

 ing the foreign Wines out of our market, 

 and are already competing with them in 

 European markets also. New York City 

 alone has received 2,500,000 gallons of 

 native Wines during the past year. 



THE BEST APPLES. 



"Good-morning, sir. I have called to con- 

 sult with you in regard to a few Apple-trees 

 for my garden, as your soil and situation do 

 not materially differ from my own. My 

 ground is limited, and I wish an assortment 

 of such varieties as will be likely to succeed, 

 and I thought your experience would be a 

 guide to me." 



Perhaps so. How many kinds do you want ? 



" I have room for only five trees." 



You cannot have much of a variety with 

 that number. What kinds have you in your 

 mind that you think you would like to have ? 



"Well, I have made this list. Holland 

 Pippin, Spitzenberg, Northern Spy, Newtown 

 Pippin, and King of Tompkins County. How 

 do they succeed here ? " 



Regarding the first, I have no experience, 

 but I have with the Fall Pippin, a little later 

 and better Apple, and I should not hesitate 

 to recommend it as a substitute. The Esopus 

 Spitzenberg, though a fine variety for cook- 

 ing or the market, never was a favorite with 

 me as a dessert fruit on account of its close 

 grain and firm flesh, and, from all I learn, it 

 has not given very good satisfaction in this 

 vicinity by those who have tried it. The 

 Spy is excellent, a good producer when it 

 gets at it, rather tardy in that respect, and it 

 has a habit of rotting badly when grown 

 here. Western fruit keeps much better. 

 The Newtown Pippin is generally a failure 

 here of late years, though old trees this year 

 have done well, but it seems to be more at 

 home in New York State, along the Hudson. 

 I have no personal experience with the 

 King, but I know of an instance, not many 

 miles away, where a party put out an orchard 

 of them when they were first introduced, and 

 when they came into bearing they were so 

 unsatisfactory from some cause that he put 

 new heads on all but one. 



" What would you name instead?" 



Baldwin, most decidedly; it is an excel- 

 lent Apple, and does well, generally. I only 

 regret it does not keep longer. All our winter 

 Apples, of late years, ripen earlier than 

 formerly. For Newtown Pippin, I would 

 suggest Peck's Pleasant, an excellent, fine- 

 grained, high-flavored, good-keeping Apple. 

 I consider it the best of its season, December 

 to March. Then, there is the old and uni- 

 versally popular Rhode Island Greening, 

 Smith's Cider, Ben Davis, Roxbury Russet, 

 etc., so that it ought not to be a difficult 

 task to supply the place of the Spitzenberg. 

 But wait a moment — with one exception, 

 all the above are winter Apples. What will 

 you do for Apples till these ripen ? 



" Go without, or depend on the market, I 

 suppose." 



Just so; but I have found that generally 

 a dependence on the market for early Apples 

 was nearly equivalent to going without. 

 With only a garden and the few trees you 

 want, you will hardly be able to compete 

 with regular orchardists, and if the case was 

 mine, I should look to a home supply of early 

 fruit, and depend on the market for my 

 winter needs. Summer and early autumn 

 Apples are tender, will neither bear trans- 

 portation well nor keep long, and a succes- 

 sion, from July on, is a good thing to have. 



" Well, that is a view of the matter I had 

 not thought of, and I don't know but you are 

 about right. I will talk with my wife about 

 it and see you again." 



All right. "Good-day, sir." 



STRAWBERRIES. 



To obtain the best results in Strawberry 

 culture, as in anything else, requires con- 

 siderable skill, care, and labor; it is time and 

 money thrown away to attempt to grow 

 choice Triomphe de Gand, Jucunda, or Presi- 

 dent Wilder under the slipshod system. 

 There are, however, a number of varieties of 

 a more submissive character, which give a 

 fair return even under neglect, and will, when 

 given even half a chance only, produce 

 bountiful crops of good berries. Charles 

 Downing, Miner's Prolific, Duchess, Cum- 

 berland, Kentucky, Captain Jack, Crescent, 

 and a few others, are of this class, and, with 

 such a list to choose from, there remains no 

 valid reason why there should be any garden 

 in the land without its Strawberry-bed, or, 

 better, Strawberry-row. The erroneous idea 

 that Strawberries have to be planted in 

 beds and laboriously cultivated by hand, 

 appears to many a formidable bugbear, and 

 the sooner we do away with this antiquated 

 notion the better, for the health and comfort 

 of all those who have as yet not enjoyed the 

 luxury of picking Strawberries from their own 

 gardens. 



Let us have Strawberries with the least 

 .possible labor. When garden-making time 

 comes, mark out one furrow in addition to 

 those wanted for Peas, Beans, and other 

 vegetables ; in this set out your Strawberry 

 plants a foot apart, as you would Lettuce or 

 Cabbage, and give them the same care — 

 they need no more — as the other plants culti- 

 vated in the garden. Next winter cover them 

 lightly with straw, leaves, or corn-stalks, 

 which have to be removed the following 

 spring; and when Strawberry-time comes 

 around again, you will thank The American 

 Garden for the advice it gave you to-day. 



Marshall P. Wilder says : "I would 

 rather be the man who shall originate a lus- 

 cious fruit, suited to cultivation throughout 

 our land, of which successive generations 

 shall partake long after I shall be consigned 

 to the bosom of mother earth, than to wear 

 the crown of the proudest conqueror who 

 has triumphed over his fellow-men." 



Firming the Soil.— A common mistake 

 of beginuers in planting is to pack the sur- 

 face of the soil. The packing, or firming, 

 should be done directly around the roots, so 

 as to bring the fine rootlets into immediate 

 contact with soil. The earth which is filled 

 in afterward, and the surface of the ground, 

 should be left as loose and light as possible, 

 so as to admit air and moisture. 



Deep Planting.— Do not plant your trees 

 and shrubs deeper than they stood in the 

 nursery rows. You might as well expect a 

 man to breathe when covered with six feet of 

 soil as a tree to live when planted so deep as 

 to deprive its roots of the warmth and air 

 necessary for its life. 



Imported Fruits. — The value of fresh 

 fruits imported and entered at the port of 

 New York last year amounted to $3,856,- 

 510, being for — 



Oranges and Lemons, . . $2,919,003 



Grapes, 227,014 



Pine-apples 105,297 



Bananas, 382,473 



Cocoa-nuts, ...... 213,438 



Limes, Shaddocks, and Mangoes, 9,315 



