594 JOUENAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



September 26 ; Yellow Cling-stone Peaches, July 29 to October 12 ; Golden Drops, 

 August 7 to September 5 ; White Cling-stone Peaches, August 10 to October 9 ; 

 Damson Plums, August 20 to October 23 ; Tomatos, August 28 to Novem- 

 ber 16 ; Grapes, September 4 to October 30 ; Quinces, September 14 to 

 November 10." 



Referring to the manner in which canned fruits and vegetables had established 

 a position in the everyday dietary of people, a retired admiral of the United 

 States Navy once said : " The paths of our war vessels across the seas could be 

 traced by the empty cans, the contents of which had varied the fare of sailors 

 and officers from salt-horse and hard tack to a variety of vegetables and fruits, 

 which the grandfathers of the present generation would have looked upon as 

 the greatest luxuries, and which are now as essential to the health and well- 

 being of our soldiers and sailors as they are to all the people of this fair land of 

 ours, as were the staple and but little varied diet of fifty years ago." 



In a recent issue of the " Manufacturing Record," one of the managers of 

 the East and West Texas Railroads, who has taken a practical interest in the 

 development of truck-farming, or market-gardening, as we would call it in New 

 South Wales, along the railroads he controls, points out that last year enormous 

 losses were experienced by the truck-growers, because their fruit and vegetables 

 were a little late, and went to waste in the fields for lack of immediate market 

 for them. A cannery could have taken them up, and put them into shape to 

 be disposed of at leisure. 



As to whether women can achieve success in such an industry as converting 

 into the most profitable form for market the products that can be raised at 

 small cost on well-chosen little patches on an ordinary farm or orchard holding, 

 and where a man can do the occasional bit of ploughing and carting of the few 

 loads of manure from the sheep-pens or stable-yard, many living examples can 

 be quoted. The outlay for the enterprise on a farm or orchard comprises a few 

 pounds' worth of fowl and pig-proof fencing, a wheelhoe and fittings for working 

 the soil, destroying weeds, or cultivating between the rows to conserve moisture, 

 a digging fork or spade for turning under manure, a wheel-barrow, 5s: worth of 

 seeds, the occasional loan of a horse to draw a few casks of water on a skid, an 

 ordinary copper-boiler, and a set of tins, and soldering outfit. Sugar for the 

 preserved fruits, jams, and jellies ; vinegar, condiments, and salt for the pickles 

 and brined vegetables ; glassware, packing, and labels, will be the heaviest 

 items ; but there does not seem to be any reason why a pig, or two or three, in 

 the course of the year, might not be kept handy to fatten on the scraps and 

 otherwise unusable vegetables and fruit. This is the most cleanly way of dis- 

 posing of the waste, and the chances are that the returns from the pig-sty may 

 go far towards covering the cost of materials that have to be purchased. If a 

 drought does set in, the owner of a vegetable patch who can get even a very 

 limited supply of water, but plenty of mulch of straw, grass, or leaves, rotted 

 sufficiently to mat and not blow away in the winds, has the consolation of 

 getting high prices for fresh vegetables. Indeed the dry seasons are generally 

 the best for the skilful vegetable grower; though the plantations indicated 

 would be for the production of vegetables and small fruits for preservation. 



