26E 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[Jult, 
red is ihe most valuable variety for the New 
York market. 
CUCUMBERS. 
For field culture tlic "While Spine" is best. 
Pick the cucumbers when from four to six inches 
long, anil pack ihem iu bushel crates made 
the same as described under tomatoes. Pack 
tight, and keep out all crooked, gnarled, or yel- 
low ones. They may also be packed in clean 
barrels, will) holes bored in the sides, and cov- 
ered with muslin or bagging to give ventilation. 
GREEN BEANS. 
Pick when the dew is off and the beans per- 
fectly dry, and put in the shade a short lime 
until lliey have lost the heat received from the 
sun. Keep out all bruised or decayed ones, 
and pack in bushel crates same as recommended 
for tomatoes. For beans, the laths on the crates 
must be closer together than for tomatoes. The 
beans should be young and lender when picked 
and snap when broken, as it -will not pay to 
Bend them -when too old to snap. They may 
also be shipped in barrels covered with cloth, 
aud the sides cut or bored for ventilation. 
GREEN PEAS 
should be picked, handled, and packed the 
same as green beans. 
CHERRIES. 
There is none of the small fruits that require 
so much care and that is more difficult to get to 
market in good order than the cherry. They 
should be picked when perfectly dry, leaving 
the stems on, biking hold of 1 1 le stem instead of 
the fruit in picking. Keep out all over-ripe and 
rotten ones, and keep the fruit spread out thin 
in the shade a short time to cool and thoroughly 
dry off. Put in crates made of two ends and 
a middle piece, four inches wide by 1C inches 
long, of Vi-md' stuff. Make the sides with 
lath or thin boards leaving sufficient, openings 
for ventilation. Fill the crate full, and gently 
shake or press down Ihe fruit. Mark the tare 
of the crate on one end. Cherries can also be 
put in loiiL r flat, baskets holding about 25 pounds; 
these are covered with muslin. 
GRAPES. 
There is a greater variety of packages used 
for sending grapes to market than for any other 
kind of fruit. For a long distance, or where 
the cost would be too much for the return of 
the empty boxes, the best packages are small 
boxes holding from three to five pounds. These 
are made as light, as possible, but strong enough 
to bear the handling and shipping. The boxes 
should lie put in skeleton crates holding from 
60 to 90. Of the small boxes, we think the 
Fairchilds and the veneer box of the " Ameri- 
can Basket Co " among the best. The boxes 
should be packed from the bottom, first laying 
in a sheet of white tea-paper, then lay in the 
bunches keeping the steins up, and gently press 
the grapes close together. Fill the box so as to 
press them down solid, lint not hard enough to 
mash the grapes. One crushed or bruised grape 
will ferment and Spoil the whole box. Nail the 
bottom on the box, and put the label on the 
other side, so that that will be the side to open, 
and when opened will show a nice, smooth sur- 
face of fruit, with the stems hidden from view. 
Mark tare of crate on each end. 
"We think the long, flat, tight, boxes holding 
about 30 pounds very objectionable, as they 
are liable to rough handling, and the fruit in- 
variably comes to market mashed and bruised, 
and consequently will not command a fair price. 
The very best way to send grapes to market 
is in crates such as are used for forty-five pints 
of strawberries ; those that have the comer- 
pieces on the inside are preferable. Flat boxes 
or trays are made that will easily fit the crates. 
Tiie trays are so made that three will fi'.l the 
crate. Each tray should have the shipper's 
name and also the tare marked on it. The 
crates should also have the tare of trays and 
crates marked on them. If the tares are not 
plainly marked on each package, we have a 
trouble when making sales to deduct the weight 
of the package. For want of knowing the tare, 
we are delayed in making returns of sales until 
the return to us of empty packages — which 
ofien gives great dissatisfaction. 
Boxes with the covers hinged and furnished 
with a hasp are good packages for grapes. 
They should be made about five inches deep, 
fourteen inches wide, and twenty-two inches 
long inside; they should have the bottom put 
on with screws, so that it may be taken off and 
the box packed from the bottom. Put sheet 
of while paper in first, and then a layer of 
bunches, then a sheet of paper, then grapes, and 
so on, taking care that the bunches lie close 
together with the stems up. Pack so full as to 
make it necessary to press the bottom down 
gently to bring it to its place, thus compressing 
the grapes so that they will not move in 
handling. 
Round paper boxes, holding three, four, or 
five pounds each, may also be used. In packing 
these, use a tin hoop of the same size and depth 
as Ihe paper box inside. Place the tin hoop on 
the cover, anil pack the grapes in the hoop, 
stem-up, and fill and gently press down ; then 
put the box on and draw out the hoop; Ibis 
will leave the grapes all tight and the stems out 
of eirlit when the box is opened. Pack the 
paper boxes in skeleton crates holding 12, 18, 
or 24 boxes each. 
In gathering the grapes use care to not rub 
the bloom off more than can be helped. The 
best plan, if crates and trays are used, is to put 
the trays on a wheelbarrow and move along 
among the vines. In gathering, take bold of 
the stem of the bunch and cut off with a pair 
of scissors; at the same time trim out all un- 
ripe berries, and lay Ihe bunch iu the tray stem 
down. When the trays are full they require no 
further handling. Use care to put none in but 
good, fine clusters. The seconds should be 
shipped by themselves, or used up at home. 
Alter the trays are filled, put them in the shade 
to cool off before packing in crates. If to be 
packed in light boxes, the grapes should be cut, 
carried to a cool, dry place, and allowed to 
lay about twelve hours to dry and wilt the 
stem, which will facilitate the packing and also 
prevent molding. If the stems are not dry 
when packed, and the boxes lie any length of 
time, the. grapes soon become moldy, aud the 
sale of them is spoiled. 
Notes on Asparagus. — "Trojan," Lansing- 
burgh, N. T., in commenting upon Mr. Hel- 
frich's article on asparagus in the May number, 
says: "He might have added that the knives 
were better for being ground half-moon shape; 
that the easiest way to raise it was either iu 
rows two feet apart, or in beds three feet square, 
with U-foot space between, which allowed of 
the ground being plowed through both ways 
and the earth thrown on top of the square nice 
and evenly, so as to smother all the weeds; 
that the best way to sell it is by weight, so as to 
save the labor of bunching, which we find to be 
one of the greatest expenses attending it; that 
brewers' hops, privy or blood, or very fine bone 
manure were the best, as horse-dung contains 
so many weeds that you can not get along, no 
matter how well rotted; that in warm weather 
it must be cut every other day, or else let 
grow up for good; that where salt can be pro- 
cured cheap enough it is the great desideratum, 
as it will both kill the weeds and improve the 
asparagus." — If " Trojan " can sell unbundled 
asparagus, so much the better for him; but 
when one sends produce to the New York or 
any other market he must conform to the cus- 
toms of that market if he expects 1o get satis- 
factory prices. If a lot of loose asparagus, or 
strawberries in the large trays used in Cincin- 
nati, were sent to the New York market, they 
would probably find their way into the garbage- 
cart. The object of the articles by Mr. Helfrich 
is to let people at a distance know what is re- 
quired in the New York market, and unless 
they can conform to this it will be better for 
them to seek a market near home. 
»-. < t » ■ . 
Notes from the Pines. 
A great deal has been written in prose and 
verse about the resplendent hues of autumn 
foliage, and, if I mistake not, spring flowers 
have had mention by the fine writers, but I do 
not recollect that any one has gone into 
ecstasies over 
Spring Foliage. — Yet there is much in the 
varied hues of the just developing leaves to at- 
tract the observer who has an eye for the minor 
beauties of nature. The expanding leaves of 
the pear and those of the ash-leaved maple are 
both of a tender green, but quile unlike, and 
both arc quite different from the near-by Vir- 
gilia (more properly Cladrastis). Then just 
beyond is a Weeping Poplar, the young leaves 
of which are of a brownish green, fonce the 
French would say, as dark as the neighboring 
Gingko tree is lively. An artist would describe 
the foliage of this last-named tree as "gamboge 
green." Then a little nearer the house is a 
golden glow from the young leaves of what the 
nurserymen call Spirata aurea, but which is only 
a bright-leaved variety of the well-known 
Nine-bark (Spirant opiilifolia). A little more at 
the right is the charming purple-leaved variety 
of the common Barberry, anil still farther along 
are the Purple Hazel and Purple Bush. These 
last-named are varieties cultivated for their 
colored foliage, but there is enough iu the 
different shades of the young leaves of trees 
in their normal condition to make the effects of 
spring foliage worth}' thestudy of the landscape 
gardener. I have alluded to the 
Weeping Toplar, which is one of the most 
desirable of lawn trees. Its branches are most 
decidedly pendulous. It comes out very early, 
the leaves hold on late, and all through the 
season ils quivering foliage upon the drooping 
branches makes it a most enjoyable tree. This 
and similar weeping trees increase in height 
very slowly, and I hey are grafted upon upright 
stocks of some Kind. The nurserymen graft all 
such trees too low. My poplar was grafted at 
about eight feet, but Ibis is not high enough; 
the branches already sweep the ground. I am 
growing a L'ombardy Poplar to a straight stem, 
and when it gets about fifteen feet or so high I 
shall graft it with the weeping variety, aud 
hope for a tree worth having. I saw to-day 
that a neighbor had planted near his house a 
Weepiug Ash, grafted not above six feet high. 
