lllis is an opt-ii dcpariiiu-nl for tlic use of alt interested observers, from 'olioin eorresponJ- 

 ence is solieiied on any topic of liortiiiitlurat interest. Vatuable items are frequently iioioded 

 out, tut all u>ill appear in due time. 



A Michigan Fruit Crop. — The following amounts 

 of fruit were shipped from the village of South Haven, 

 Michigan, in the " fruit belt, " last year : 



There were 127,393 baskets of fruit, of which about 

 1 10, 000 baskets were peaches. There were 34,951 crates 

 of fruit, and 21,371 barrels of apples. An evaporator 

 used about 45,000 bushels of apples, and manufactured 

 some 3,oQo barrels of cider and between 40,000 and 50,- 

 000 pounds of evaporated apples. 



Citrus trifoliata. — The illustration on page 271 of 

 the May Americ.JlN Garden represents Citrus trifoliata, 

 rather than the Satsuma, as printed. 



The Lombard Plum is in disfavor in interior places, 

 because it does not ' ' stand up " well in shipment. 



Burying Lemons. — The Rural Califomian relates the 

 following instance of keeping lemons in sand ; "The 

 lemons had been picked by M^r. Ayers in January, pack- 

 ed in boxes, and buried in the sand, under cover, so as 

 to keep off rains. After lying three months, they were 

 dug up, and found to be as- fine as the best imported 

 lemon. We believe that as good lemons can be grown 

 in southern California as can be imported from Europe, 

 and we only need to exercise a little care in handling 

 the fruit, to make our lemons bring as good a price on 

 the market as foreign lemons do." 



Russian Apricots. — Some of the new Russian apri- 

 cots give great promise. We should like to hear from 

 our readers who have fruited them, at the close of the 

 apricot season. 



Single-Pole Grape Training.— The objection that 

 might be raised to the single pole system, and which 

 would tend to confine it to amateur culture, is the faft 

 that much labor is involved in bringing each vine into 

 position, bending the canes, tying, pinching the suckers, 

 etc. But so doing, and the systematic attention to 

 these minor details, is what brings the sure crop every 

 year. The vineyards on the Rhine are enormous, and 

 are all laid out on the single pole plan. That being the 

 great crop, it dare not fail, and every bit of labor pays. 

 Of course the American system of putting in the 

 plants and waiting for the fruit is by far the easier ; 

 but it is an off year when a crop is realized. I have had 

 but two poor crops in seventeen years upon vines train- 

 ed to single poles. — A, F. Hofer, lo-wa. 



Rapid Budding.^The Pari fie Rural Press prints the 

 following from an eye witness : "In September, 1S54, 

 at the old Soscol nurseries and orchards, Napa county. 



James Watson, a graduate from 

 Ellwanger & Barry, of Roches- 

 ter, N. Y., cut, set and tied 1,500 

 apple buds in ten hours, and but three per cent, of 

 them missed. That was when the nursery business in 

 California was in its infancy and horticulture in its 

 swaddling clothes." 



The Satsuma Orange. — I have fruited the Satsuma 

 seven years. I have a hundred times written men who 

 were planting or budding groves, "You do not want 

 more than a half dozen trees of Satsuma. " They are 

 like so many Japanese varieties, in this climate, so 

 liable to attacks of fungi and insects. They are more 

 hardy than the Mandarins, but not enough so to be 

 grown far north. On the morning of the 17th of March 

 last, at a temperature of 22°, lasting not over thirty 

 minutes before it was back to 30°, every fruit set of 

 Satsuma was killed, and the new growth all shortened 

 back. 



The Mandarins were not as forward as Satsuma and 

 were little injured, in this freeze. I have seen some 

 Mandarins which, by any standard of judging, would 

 out-rank any Satsuma I have ever seen at our horticul- 

 tural exhibits by ten or twelve points. I can take back 

 very little of what I wrote in the Florida Dispatch three 

 3 ears since : 



" The quality of the Satsuma is superior to many 

 others. It is hardly a tree. It is a small bush at 

 most, diminutive indeed. I have never seen one capa- 

 ble of holding more than half a box. True, I have no 

 buds older than six years. It is the most hardy orange 

 tree I have seen ; fruit has loose rind, is highly colored 

 and very few seeds. I'lant six by twelve feet." — Lyman 

 Phelps. Floi ida. 



The Adaptability of Fruits. — Perhaps there is no 

 horticultural subject which has called forth so many 

 conflicting opinions, as the adaptabilit}- of fruits to a 

 certain location, for one who succeeds at one place, may 

 not at another only a few miles distant, on apparently 

 the same kind of soil. This is particularly true with 

 many of our small fruits, and it accounts for the con- 

 flicting reports respecting them This fact has influ- 

 enced the establishment of our experimental stations 

 It is useless to attempt to come to a conclusion about 

 varieties, unless we know exactly the conditions under 

 which each variety is grown. This can be done by ex- 

 periment stations or individual enterprise, by collecting 

 the different varieties and growing them under similar 

 conditions, and keeping a record of the weather, par- 



