52 



THE AMERICAN GARDEN. 



[April, 



SEASONABLE HINTS. 



Any one who has visited some leading nur- 

 wries this spring will have noticed more than 

 usual activity, and we are informed that many 

 nursery-men have already more orders on hand 

 than they are able to fill. This may be partly 

 owing to the extreme earliness of the season, 

 and in some degree to the severe drought of 

 last summer, which destroyed many trees and 

 plants which are now replaced, but largely, no 

 doubt, to an increasing interest and taste for 

 Gardening, perceptible throughout the country. 



Improved Hardy Va- 

 rieties, and simplified 

 methods of cultivation 

 have made fruit grow- 

 ing a pleasant pastime 

 compared with the ted- 

 ious work formerly con- 

 nected with it. Conse- 

 quently the demand for 

 fruit bearing plants is 

 constantly increasing, 

 and in the vicinity of 

 many cities, where for- 

 merly one or two nur- 

 series could amply sup- 

 ply all demands, a dozen 

 similar establishments 

 are carrying on a profit- 

 able business. 



WJiat to Plant, is 

 naturally the first ques- 

 tion of any one con- 

 templating the setting 

 out of a fruit garden, 

 and the long lists in 

 fruit catalogues do not 

 assist the beginner 

 much in its solution. 

 The fact is that a list 

 of varieties, adapted to 

 all soils, situations and 

 climates can not be 

 given. Such fruits do 

 not exist and never can. 

 under the present con- 

 ditions and laws which 

 govern the universe ; 

 nor are there varieties 

 which are equally grati- 

 fying to all tastes. Yet 

 there are some which by 

 experience have been 

 found suited to a large 

 extent of country and 

 which combine hardi- 

 ness of plants, productiveness and good quality 

 in a higher degree than others, and beginners 

 in fruit culture should confine themselves to 

 such kinds mostly. To furnish a fair supply of 

 fruit for a small family there will be needed: 



Strawberries, 300 plants, 100 Duchess for ear- 

 ly; 100 Charles Downing, for medium and 100 

 Kentucky, for late, or, if not satisfactory try 

 Miner, Cumberland Triumph, Bidwett. 



Raspberries, 1 doz. Doolittle, 1 doz. Mammoth 

 Cluster, 25 Turner, 50 Cuthbert. 



BlaMerries, 50 Snyder, 50 Kittatinny. 



Currants, 25 to 50. For the table , Versailles 

 and White Crape are best ; for Jelly, Red Dutch. 



Gooseberries, 25. Houghton or Downing. 



Crapes. — Concord, Brighton, Martha, Dela- 

 ware, Worden, Lindley, Salem. 



SHAFFER'S COLOSSAL RASPBERRY. 



We have in our last preceding numbers given 

 illustrations and descriptions of the most prom- 

 ising novelties in Black Cap and Red Rasp- 

 berries, and present herewith a new variety 

 which belongs to an intermediate class, that 

 of the Purple Canes. These are by some sup- 

 posed to be hybrids between Rubus occidental-is 

 and R. strigosus, but sufficient facts to sub- 

 stantiate this hypothesis do not exist, and most 

 botanists consider them only as a sub-species of 

 R. occidental is. Ganargua, Gardiner and New 

 Rochelle are the best known varieties of this 

 class. 



Shaffer's Colossal possesses all their charac- 

 teristic qualities but excels, as we are informed 



and Blackberries is the "American quart 

 basket " with the package known as the Dela- 

 ware 32 quart crate. The slats of this crate 

 are upright, thus giving a view of each layer of 

 baskets in the crate, whereas in the others the 

 lower slat conceals the bottom layer of baskets, 

 so that on the return of empty crates to the 

 dealer, the purchaser could readily conceal from 

 the dealer the fact that the bottom layer was 

 not full of baskets, unless he turned them all 

 out. 



There is one important item connected with 

 all crates that is too frequently overlooked, 

 namely, that all the layers of fruit in the crate 

 are bound by the one above it, except the top 

 one, which is supposed to be bound by the lid. 



But too often this is 

 not the case, and there 

 is so much space just 

 here, that the fruit in 

 the top tier can shake 

 about, if it does not get 

 out of the basket, and, 

 as a rule, the top tier 

 of berries in a crate is 

 by no means a standard 

 of quality for the whole. 

 This is the reason why 

 berries are so often sold 

 for a lower price than 

 they would bring did 

 they arrive in as good 

 order as when they 



SHAFFER'S COLOSSAL^RASPBERRY. 



by Mr. Charles A. Green, its introducer, in 

 vigor and hardiness of plants, productiveness, 

 and size of berries. The berries are of dark 

 purplish red color, firm texture and sprightly 

 sub-acid flavor somewhat intermediate between 

 a Black Cap and Red Raspberry. It propa- 

 gates from tips only. 



MARKETING FRUITS. 



The subject of marketing fruits is always an 

 interesting theme to those who grow them for 

 sale, for much of the profits depend upon 

 knowing how to prepare and ship them to the 

 market they are designed for. As berries are 

 the first fruit of the season, I will first speak 

 of these. 



The most popular basket for Strawberries 



Sometimes dealers 

 take these top tiers off 

 and sell them for what 

 they can get, but as a 

 general thing they have 

 no time to do that. 

 This defect in crates is 

 especially noticeable in 

 those containing the 

 one -third of a quart 

 Raspberry cups, from 

 which, as they are 

 smaller and easier mis- 

 placed, the berries can 

 readily jolt out. I have 

 frequently received 

 cases of this tender and 

 delicious fruit in which 

 not less than one-third 

 of the contents of the 

 top tier lay in the bot- 

 tom of the crate, and 

 all growers of berries 

 know that it is in) possi- 

 ble to pick them up 

 and restore them to 

 their place until every 

 cup is taken out of the crate. 



Raspberries should never be marketed in 

 cups, or baskets, that contain more than a pint 

 'on account of their being so tender. 



If a grower questions this point, next season 

 when he is carting his fruit, let him examine 

 his crates on arrival at the depot or dock, com- 

 pare them with his neighbors fruit marketed in 

 a different style, and see if this statement is 

 not correct. To overcome this difficulty and 

 have the fruit arrive just as the shipper packed 

 it, would well repay the grower for all the 

 efforts' he makes in altering his crates. This 

 neglect is a more frequent source of loss and 

 dissatisfaction with sales to the Raspberry grow- 

 ers than any other they have to contend with. 



C. W. Idell. 



