140 



SOME NORTHERN FRUITS. 



bed plants as rapidly as desired, procure some 

 small boxes from the grocery, put in them about 

 three inches of good soil, draw the plants from the 

 beds and put them in the boxes, and leave for sale 

 at the best grocery store in the place. Put the 

 plants close together in rows containing fifty or a 

 hundred each. Cover the roots well with the soil, 

 and lay a small twig between the rows so they may 

 be counted out easily. If kept out of the sun and 

 wind, and moistened each morning, the plants may 

 be kept in good condition for several days. It is a 

 mistake to leave the plants in the beds too long ; 

 as soon as a plant is large enough to handle it is 

 large enough to transplant. 



Now that we have fairly entered upon the sea- 

 son's work in the garden, the beginner will have a 

 thousand questions to ask. Every day some new 

 problem will confront him, many of which in the 

 nature of things he must work out for liimself, and 

 wait with what patience he may until the progress 

 of the season writes his answer in success or 

 failure. Many of the questions may be answered 

 in some single horticultural work, or within a single 

 series of papers, but not all of them. The ques- 

 tions that arise are too diverse to be met within so 

 limited a compass. The library of our little place 

 should be stocked — not with a single work on gar- 

 dening — but with as complete a reference library 

 concerning the art horticultural as our means will 

 warrant purchasing. Particularly should there be 

 treatises by the best authorities upon especial sub- 



jects, such as the arts of pruning and grafting, the 

 values and uses of fertilizers, the chemistry of ag- 

 riculture, the culture of small fruits, of especial 

 money crops, etc., etc. To these should be added, 

 or rather the first place should be given to, the 

 best current periodicals. These should not be for 

 effect, nor to ornament the shelves of the library, 

 but should be consulted in every operation until we 

 have become so familiar with every process that 

 theory and practice are wholly reconciled. Thus 

 utilized, every book and magazine will amply re- 

 pay the investment made in them. 



If to the above is added a practical work on 

 botany, and we make use of it to identify the 

 plants and weeds and grasses that we find every 

 day in our strolls and work about our country home, 

 we may gain from its study both pleasure and 

 profit. If we are able to identify the weeds upon 

 the lawn it may help us in rooting out something 

 that may become specially obnoxious if passed by 

 in ignorance. To know the flowers and shrubs, to 

 name and class them, does not show pedantry, but 

 a healthful interest in nature and her works, which, 

 if we do not possess, loses us something of that 

 very flavor that we came hither to seek. In the 

 city it may be that the proper study of mankind is 

 man. But in the country our proper study is na- 

 ture and her works, and this we should pursue dili- 

 gently to the end that we may become better 

 custodians of the treasures which she will pour 

 upon our little plot of earth. 



SOME NORTHERN FRUITS. 



NOTES FROM THE ISLANDS OF LAKE CHAMPLAIN. 



Tobias Seedling Apples. When white men first 

 settled Grand Isle they planted fruit-seeds, espec- 

 ially those of the apple, and the fruit of the trees so 

 raised was of course of varying quality. A few 

 proved to be very valuable in regard to hardiness 

 of tree, productiveness, flavor and keeping quality, 

 particularly some raised by Mr. James Tobias, one 

 of the pioneers. 



The first of these I will mention is the Tobias Black. 

 The tree is very hardy with a large spreading top, and 

 very productive. The fruit is large to very large, dark 

 dull purplish-red with many dots all over it, flattish and 

 often uneven, calyx and stem rather deeply set. Skin 

 thick and tough ; stem small, a little over one-half inch 

 long. The flesh is solid and brittle and when mellow is 

 tender, retaining its brittleness ; it is yellowish in color 

 and juicy, with a very mild sub-acid flavor. A good 

 apple for any purpose. Season from December to 

 May. 



The next of the Tobias seedlings is the Tobias apple. 

 The tree is hardy, with spreading top, and is productive. 

 The fruit is large, heart-shaped, a little corrugated, 

 especially around the calyx, which is closed in a cavity of 

 medium depth ; stem rather deeply set, slender, about 

 one inch long. Skin yellow, dotted all over, slightly 

 reddened on the sunny side near the stem. Flesh yel- 

 lowish, firm, not crisp, with a peculiar aromatic odor 

 and flavor which is very pleasing ; mild sub-acid. A 

 very good apple for the dessert. Season December to 

 January. 



Tobias Gage Plum. On the farm of James Tobias 

 there originated more than fifty years ago a plum that is 

 evidently a seedling of the Green Gage. In the growth 

 of the tree, size, shape, color and season of the fruit it 

 is identical with the Green Gage, but the tree is hardier 

 and, without exception, all who have tested both sorts 

 agree that this seedling, which for present convenience 

 I shall call Tobias Gage, is considerably the better plum. 

 One defect of the Green Gage is that it cracks during 



