4 



THE AMERICAN GARDEN. 



SEASONABLE HINTS, 



THE NIAGARA GRAPE, 



Strawberries. — When there is uo snow on 

 the ground, the beds should be examined and 

 covering, which may have been blown off by 

 heavy winds, replaced. Standing water, which j 

 may have coUected in low places, has to be j 

 drained off, when the ground is not much 

 frozen. 



From Raspberries and Blackberries, the old 

 canes should be removed during winter. The 

 pruning of the new canes is better not done 

 before the severest cold is past — the latter part 

 of February or beginning 

 of March. 



Currants and Gooseber- 

 ries, especially on heavy 

 soils, are much benefited 

 by a mulching with littery 

 manure, or any coarse ma- 

 terial. The old black 

 branches and stems should 

 be cut out, and the most 

 vigorous young shoots 

 headed back at any time 

 during winter, when there 

 is no frost in the wood. 



Grape Vines. — The har- 

 dy varieties may be 

 pruned on mild days. 

 Large branches, which 

 may have become torn 

 from the treUis should be 

 tied up, even if pruning 

 is deferred. When new 

 trellises have to be erect- 

 ed it is best to procure 

 posts and wire now, and 

 have everything ready be- 

 fore spring work opens. 



Young Trees may be 

 protected against mice by 

 making a conical mound, 

 about eighteen inches 

 high, and three feet in di- 

 ameter, around the stem 

 and firmly packing the 

 surface with the back of a 

 spade. If this has been 

 neglected before t h e 

 ground freezes, the snow 

 around the trees should 

 be stamped down after 

 each snowfall. The eggs 

 of the tent caterpillar, on 

 the small branches of ap- 

 ple trees are now easier 

 found and destroyed than 

 at any other season. 



Varieties. — There are 

 now so many excellent va- 

 rieties of almost every 

 kind of fruits in cultivation, that those who 

 want the best, need not feel disappointed if 

 they happen not to have all the latest novel- 

 ties on their list. Much progress has been made 

 in fruit culture during the last quarter of a 

 century, and the time will never come when 

 improvement shall come to a stand-still, yet 

 some varieties which have marked the first 

 steps in the era of improvements, have held 

 their own to this day, and have, in some re- 

 respects, not been superseded by new 

 comers. 



During the latter part of October we had 

 opportunity to taste some fine bunches of 

 Niagara Grapes and were surprised to find 

 them so much better than those we had eaten 

 about the middle of September, that, from 

 their eating quality alone, we would hardly 

 have recognized them as the same Grape. The 

 peculiarity of this variety appears to be that, 

 while ripening very early, it keeps a long time 

 on the vines, gradually improving in richness 

 and sweetness. With the "Niagara" the long 

 felt want of a hardy, purely native White Grape 

 of good quality, seems to be supplied. It is, 

 to say the least, in White Grapes what the 

 Concord is among the Black. The accompa- 



KEEPING WINTER APPLES, 



The abundant yield of our orchards and its 

 low market price is causing much inquiry as 

 to the best modes of preserving Apples. Dr. 

 T. H. Hoskins gives in the Mural New Yorker 

 his views on this subject as follows: ' 'The essen- 

 tial requisite for the safe winter keeping of 

 Apples is, I believe, the preservation of a low 

 uniform temperature as near the freezing point 

 of water as possible. This can be maintained 

 in dry cellars, but much more easily and per- 

 fectly in wet ones. The presence of water has 

 a controlling power over the variations of tem- 

 perature near the freezing point, as all know 

 who have had to keep water in a cold cellar to 

 keep it from freezing. The moisture does not 

 harm the Apples. It may 

 even be a direct benefit 

 in preventing evaporation 

 from and constant wither- 

 ing of the Apples though 

 this evaporation is very 

 slight at the low tempera- 

 ture necessary in fruit cel- 

 lars for success in keep- 

 ing Apples until spring. 

 In Canada, Apples are 

 rarely stored for keeping 

 in house cellars. A special 

 cellar is made, deep, with 

 thick stone walls laid in 

 inortar. These walls rise 

 above the surface only ten 

 inches to allow of small 

 windows for ventilation 

 and light. There is a 

 double floor above, filled 

 in with moss or sawdust. 

 This floor is covered by a 

 roof-like attic, and the 

 Apples are there kept 

 until the approach of se- 

 vere frosts, when they 

 are sorted, barreled and 

 lowered into the cellar 

 through a trap door which 

 is then closed and packed 

 in the same way as the 

 floor. At times during 

 the winter, when the 

 weather is not freezing, 

 this cellar is opened and 

 fruit removed for sale. 

 When properly made and 

 managed there is little or 

 no loss in the way of stor- 

 ing Winter Apples." 



SELECTION OF VARIETIES. 



NIAGARA GRAPE. 



nying illustration represents a bunch some- 

 what below the average size of clusters and 

 berries. We are informed that no vines will 

 be offered for sale during the present year. 



The Cxjthbeet Raspbekry seems to have 

 " come to stay.' 1 It is gaining new friends 

 every year, without losing any of its old 

 ones. We have grown it many years before 

 it made a stir in the world and have always 

 considered it the best Tiardy Red Raspberry. 



For the beginner it is 

 much safer to confine 

 himself to the well-tried, 

 standard varieties, than to 

 invest largely in promis- 

 ing novelties. Those not 

 familiar with the special characters of the dif- 

 ferent kinds, will generally be better suited by 

 entrusting the selection to some reliable nur- 

 seryman or dealer, than by choosing from the 

 descriptions of the long lists of catalogues ; 

 There is so much difference in the adaptation 

 of soils and localities for the various varieties 

 of fruits, — a knowledge of which can only be 

 obtained by long and practical experience, — 

 that a large portion of the failures in fruit 

 growing are caused mainly through the selec- 

 tion of unsuitable varieties. 



