This is an open department for the use of all interested observers , from whom correspond- 

 ence is solicited on any topic of horticultural interest. Valuable items are freqiioitly crowded 

 out, hut all zvill appear in dice time. 



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 Golden-Rod. 



Summer burned the meadows all around her, 

 Autumn walking softly through the land, 



Gave the fields her radiant smiles for sunshine, 

 Dropped the golden-rod on every hand. 



Far against the woods its gold is shining. 

 Tipped with diamonds in the early morn ; 



Back against the blue-gray mists we see it. 

 Mingled in the fields of rustling corn. 



Summer, doubtless, is a clever painter, 

 Spring hath many a stroke at her command ; 



But which one can match the varied splendor. 

 When the brush of Autumn paints the land ? 



— Elinor Baldwin. 



What was the most profitable fruit you had this year? 

 Everyone wants to know. 



California Profits in Oranges. — The Pomona Pro- 

 gress of a recent date publishes the following figures 

 concerning profits of orange culture in Southern Cali- 

 fornia : "The following figures concerning the money 

 there is in the orange industry have been obtained from 

 the leading orchardists of Pomona. We have been ex- 

 tremely careful to get the exact figures. John D. Cas- 

 on's orchard of 1,100 trees, ten years old, has yielded 

 2,631 boxes of oranges that were sold to the shippers 

 here for $1.40 a box ; that means $3,683.40 from eleven 

 acres. The net profit is $3,530. R. F. House's eleven- 

 year-old orchard of 1,800 trees yielded better ; some 

 of the trees bore four boxes of fruit. The whole crop 

 of the orchard amounted to 4,261 boxes, which were 

 bought on the trees at $1.40 a box, yielding $5,965, and 

 a net profit of $5,250. Wm. O'Connor's orchard of 

 twelve acres, or 1,200 trees, yielded 3,065 boxes that 

 brought $1.25 a box, or $4,137.75 for the whole. C. E. 

 White, who has the finest orchard in this valley, re- 

 ceived the best price for his fruit. His fruit is of the 

 Navel variety, and from his ten acres of ten-year-old 

 trees he had 2,932 boxes, that were bought on the trees 

 at $2.65 a box. Mr. White received for the crop a 

 check for $7,769.80 ; in other words, his receipts were 

 $776 an acre. Wm. Woody's orchard of 1,350 trees 

 yielded 2,877 boxes that brought $4,314.50, or $331.88 an 

 acre. 



The largest orange orchard returns in this valley are 

 those from the Meserve orchard. The trees, 1,640 in 

 number, are twelve years old, and have the best possible 

 care all the year around. They are Navel orange trees. 

 Mr. Meserve sold his crop late, and got the highest 

 price. He had 5,169 boxes that sold for $2.90 a box, 

 and last week the fruit was paid for by a Chicago draft 



for $14,990.10. The net profit 

 per acre from the Meserve orch- 

 ard for the year has been $936. 

 We don't wonder that the eastern people are incredu- 

 lous at reports of such profits, but there is an abund- 

 ance of facts to prove that the average bearing and well- 

 kept orange orchard in this section is worth about $300 

 an acre, while we have known some orange orchards to 

 yield a net profit of $1,000 a year. The Crafts' orange 

 crop sold in 1888 at the rate of $1,173 an acre net, but 

 that was unusual. 



Horticultural Advice for Oregon. — As California, 

 Oregon and a portion of Washington are the only prune 

 producing districts on the continent, and as Oregon 

 prunes head the list, why not set a few more prune trees ? 



You will probably not miss it if you set two thousand 

 Italians, or one thousand Italians, five hundred Coe's 

 Golden Drop (Silver prune), and five hundred Petite 

 d'Agen (French prune); and if you wish to extend your 

 acreage and become a fruit grower, put out one thou- 

 sand Bartlett pears. If you still have a few acres of 

 well-prepared rolling land — and make an orchard on no 

 other — add two hundred Royal Ann and fifty Black 

 Republican cherries ; and if yet not satisfied, set King, 

 Northern Spy, Baldwin and Gravenstein apples in equal 

 numbers. By well-prepared land is meant that which 

 has been deep-plowed, cross-plowed, thoroughly har- 

 rowed and sub-soiled, twenty to twenty-four inches deep; 

 dead furrows every twenty feet apart for prunes, and 

 every twenty-five feet apart for pears, cherries and ap- 

 ples. Set thrifty yearlings or two year old trees in dead 

 furrows twenty and twenty-five feet apart ; shovel on 

 top dirt and set two inches deeper than grown in the 

 nursery. The soil should be clay loam, with previous 

 sub-soil. Dig no holes to hold water to sicken and kill 

 young trees ; in our wet climate it is not best. 



Then if you wish a thrifty-growing, polished, paying 

 orchard, give thorough and clean cultivation and care- 

 ful trimming every year ; thus you will have a ten-year, 

 old tree in five years, and a paying investment. 



To illustrate what is meant by thorough and clean 

 cultivation, note the following contract made by A. T. 

 Hatch, one of the most successful fruit growers of Cali- 

 fornia, and a fair sample of the California method. The 

 contract price was $12. 50 per acre, and includes the fol- 

 lowing specified operations : 



First. Plow away from the trees, followed by har- 

 rowing. 



