THE\ 



have the "bulge" for a score of years. These orchards 

 paid last season from $50 to ^350 per acre net. — D. B. 

 WiER, Pctaltiina , Calif oriiici . 



Strawberry Raising for the Girls. — The farmer is 

 so busy and has so many things to attend to that the 

 strawberries will not be likely to get the care that they 

 need. It is quite a science to raise large crops of fine 

 berries ; one must read and study, and then attend to 

 them at just the right time all through the season. This 

 pays finely when one makes a business of it. One day 

 my girls were telling me that they wanted to do some 

 work away from home so as to get some pocket money. 

 It struck me this was a laudable ambition, and the 

 strawberry business occurred to me, and I asked them 

 how they would like it to take charge of the whole mat- 

 ter and pocket the money. Well, the result was I gave 

 them the nicest, richest (mark that — not some poor cor- 

 ner) piece of land on the farm, and have engaged from 

 a grower what plants they will want, leaving the choice 

 of varieties to him. I have bought them books enough 

 to study, so they can learn all that is possible in that 

 way. The men will plow the ground when we do the 

 rest of the lot, and harrow and roll it ; and when we are 

 cultivating potatoes we will run through the berries ; 

 but the girls are to take the whole responsibility. I 

 think it will do them good. It will teach them business. 

 It will be healthful work. I thought best to start them 

 with a little over one-fourth of an acre, not on account 

 of lack of vim, but because I have learned that concen- 

 trated farming is best, in the berry patch as well as 

 elsewhere. In a year or two they can spread out a little 

 if desirable. I do not hesitate to advise any farmer or 

 other person to go at it in this way. It will cost only 

 $5 or $6 for plants. About the market : Make one 

 among the people living right around you. There are 

 ten bushels of strawberries sold in Hudson, where I 

 live, now, where there was a quart when I first came on 

 the farm, and the end is not yet by any means. Plenty 

 people would buy nice fresh berries at a living price, 

 ■hey were put right before them, who hardly know 

 taste of the fruit now. Now, I want to stir up the 

 ildren as well as the old folks a little by telling what 

 has been done on a single quarter of an acre I have seen 

 the ground, and spent four days with ihe man who did 

 it — the venerable J. M. Smith, of Green Bay, Wis. It 

 was not convenient to measure all the land and keep 

 track of the crop, so our friend marked off one-fourth 

 of an acre and picked from it 3,571 quarts — the largest 

 crop, it is said, on record. Just think if you do not 

 know of hundred acre farms that do not do much better. 

 At 10 cents a quart this would be $357. This is enor- 

 mous, but not greatly above Mr. Smith's average. From 

 3J^ acres last year, although terribly dry, he sold I2,- 

 215.24 worth berries, besides taking plants to the value 

 of $300 from the same land in the spring. But this was 

 not enough. After the berries were picked he plowed 

 the patch and put in cabbage and celery — 1700 more ! 

 Just $3,215.24 from 3>^ acres of land! I took the 

 figures right from his books, where each day's sales were 



SA Y. 379 



put down There isn't a question about their exact 

 truth. — T. B. Terry ^ in Gleanings in Bee Culfine. 



The Worden Grape is commonly supposed to be a 

 poor shipper. If picked as soon as fully colored, how- 

 ever, it will ship well. 



Mr. Worden, the originator of the Worden grape, 

 still lives near Oswego, N. Y., a very old man. He is 

 still working at the origination of new fruits. 



From New Mexico. — One of the greatest needs of 

 orchardists and gardeners in this new region, is very 

 full and frequent quotations from markets. All 

 such quotations regularly given for a series of years 

 would be a guide of great value. The value would be 

 greater still, if it were possible to make quotations from 

 different points of supply and markets of consumption, 

 for instance : New York, Baltimore, Chicago, Kansas 

 City, Salt Lake and San Francisco, or others. Being 

 without information, the orchardist is at the mercy of 

 the commission or packing house, and the buyer for re- 

 tail purposes is not much better off'. Besides, in this 

 Rocky Mountain region where fruit-tree planting is oc- 

 cupying a great deal of attention, and where it is of the 

 greatest importance to plant the best varieties for the 

 markets which must consume the produce ten years 

 hence, the need of some reliable guide is greatly felt. 

 There can be no surer guide than the open market, and 

 any concern which will give regular and reliable quota- 

 tions of some of the largest markets will be regarded by 

 the gardener and orchardist as a benefactor to his busi- 

 ness. —Arthur Boyle, San/a Fe, N . M . 



Peach Yellows. — The interest taken in Dr. E. F. 

 Smith's bulletin on peach yellows, issued from the De- 

 partment of Agriculture, may be measured by the fact 

 that second-hand book dealers are selling it for $1.50, 

 the original edition having been exhausted. 



The Patterson Peach is a new variety which orig- 

 inated at Greenfield, Hancock county. The Indiana orig- 

 inal tree is five years old, and in 18S8 bore one bushel of 

 fruit, all of uniform large size, four specimens weighing 

 3ij-2 ounces or nearly H ounces each, and measuring 3^4 

 inches in diameter. Last year the best specimens, four, 

 only weighed 22 ounces, as the tree was overloaded, 

 having 2ji bushels of fruit on it, and it had not been 

 thinned out any. Ba?k very smooth and fine, dark 

 colored, more like a plum or cherry than peach. They 

 have never thrown out a limb or sucker below the head 

 which is 3 '2 feet from the ground. The trunk of the 

 tree is 3*4 inches in diameter, one foot from the ground. 

 There will be no trees for sale for a year yet. 



Cold Graperies. — The peculiar method of glazing 

 spoken of in the March issue (p. 186), in which spaces 

 of half inch are left between the panes of glass, looks 

 like a very " cranky " notion to an old grape grower. 

 We grow exotic grapes under glass solely because we are 

 thus enabled to control the atmosphere surrounding 

 them, keep it close or otherwise, impregnate it with sul- 

 phur, tobacco fumes, etc., to destroy fungi and insects, 

 and finally, but by no rpeans least, to keep moisture 



