186 
October, 1889. 
Seasonable Talk. 
In small-fruit growing ‘-a stitch in time” 
will often save many more than the pro- 
verbial nine as well as prevent the injury 
which is inseparable from neglect. Hence 
the perennial weeds should be pulled up 
wherever seen in the plantations. By get- 
ting them out of the beds now much after 
trouble and labor may be avoided. The 
early frosts will soon kill off the annual 
weeds but the perennials will flourish all 
winter and start out early in the spring 
with renewed vigor if not destroyed now. 
Small fruits do not require an excessive 
amount of labor in their production but 
they are quite exacting as to the periods 
at which the necessary work shall be per- 
formed. If neglected the plants will be in- 
jured a great deal more than those of al- 
most any other crop and a great deal more 
work will be required to get the bed into 
tolerable condition again than would have 
been needed to keep it clean if it had re- 
ceived prompt attention at the proper time. 
W eeds are difficult to dislodge from among 
any crop but the labor involved is compar- 
atively light to that which is required in 
cleaning a weedy straw berry bed. 
At the South, plantations of strawberries 
may yet be made, but farther North it will 
be better to wait and plant early in spring. 
Raspberries and blackberries set in the fall 
should have the canes cut back to within 
six inches of the ground and at the ap- 
proach of freezing weather mounded over 
with earth. It is not advisable to plant 
blackcap raspberries in the fall. Their roots 
do not fully mature until very late in the 
season and it is best not to disturb them at 
all until spring. Currants and gooseberries 
may also be planted to advantage in fall 
and the soil around them heavily topdressed 
with manure. Fall planting is a commend- 
able practice and should be more largely 
followed. Not only do we get the work 
done and out of the way at a season when 
there is comparative leisure but it is also 
better for the plants, with the exceptions 
noted above. They will start to grow in 
the spring much earlier, indeed often 
long before the ground can be ploughed, 
and success in planting small-fruits depends 
largely in getting them started early whilst 
the weather is cool and moist. 
Before freezing weather arrives the canes 
of tender raspberries and blackberries may 
be laid down and covered with earth, but 
this should not be done too early in the sea- 
son; the wood should be allowed to ripen 
fully. In laying them down care should be 
taken not to bend them too abruptly or they 
may break instead of bend. A good way is 
to place a shovelful of soil at the foot of the 
canes and then bend them gently over it, 
another shovelful of earth on the ends of 
the canes will hold them down and they 
may be completely covered at leisure. 
Where there are many to cover it may be 
done by throwing a furrow over them from 
each side with the plow after they have 
first been laid down as described. To pro- 
tect] some varieties it is only necessary to 
lay them down whilst others will require to 
be entirely covered. 
To the novice the selection of varieties is 
usually a matter of some doubt and uncer- 
tainty on account of the large number 
placed before him. There are in nearly all 
fists, however, a few standard sorts that he 
cannot well do wrong in planting. Among 
red raspberries there are none that will give 
him better results and that are more easily 
cared for than Marlboro, Turner and Cuth- 
bert or among blackcaps than Souhegan. 
Ohio and Gregg. Golden Queen is the best 
yellow raspberry for general use yet intro- 
duced and is about identical with Cuthbert 
except in color. Erie and Kittatinny will 
furnish a reliable supply of fine blackber- 
ries, though the latter rusts badly in many 
localities, and if a hardier variety is desired 
Tavlor’s Prolific may be substituted for it 
with a gain in quality and a loss in size. 
Small-fruit Notes. 
May King has proved an excellent straw- 
berry, very good and productive, and is the 
best early berry, a little later than the Mon- 
mouth and continues longer in bearing. 
Gandy's Prize is a very strong grower, large 
and handsome, but too acid to please us. 
Sharpless yet is the most in demand and is 
planted for family use more than any other, 
but we still hope to find a better variety, as 
all are not yet perfect. 
We find the Triumph gooseberry fills all 
the requisites of a good gooseberry. It has 
not mildewed in the four years that it has 
fruited with us, has borne abundantly of 
large berries, as good as any, and is more 
productive than the Industry under the 
same conditions. 
We cut out many of the vines of the Lu- 
cretia dewberry last spring, shortened 
the remainder, and placed a wire fastened 
to stakes about 18 inches from the ground 
and they were fine and abundant. Unless 
they are carefully treated and kept from 
the ground it will not pay for the trouble 
of growing them. The vines are nearly all 
covered with small spines. 
We find the Erie Blackberry is distinct 
from the Lawton, more round, not so erect 
in growth, and hardy so far, which the 
Lawton is not here. — Isaac Hicks, Queens 
County, New York. 
Mt. Vernon strawberry with me has prov- 
ed to be in every respect ahead of its chief 
rival, Kentucky. My soil is loose clay. The 
Kentucky I have no more use for, its crown- 
ing fault being its rusty foliage. This goes 
to show how environment affects varieties. 
I hope, however, that Gandy will throw 
both aside. — Charles McFadden. 
Review of the Seaton. 
October is a good time to figure up the re- 
sults in the vegetable garden, to note what 
has been especially good and what has 
failed. The failures should be our spe- 
cial study, since they often teach more than 
success. Sometimes a crop fails from rea- 
sons beyond our control, sometimes by in- 
herent defects in the variety used, but gen- 
erally the failure is largely chargeable to the 
gardener, for some omission or transgres- 
sion on his part. We should therefore study 
well our failures in order to avoid a recur- 
rence of similar ones hereafter. With us 
here in Virginia, as almost everywhere else 
on the Atlantic seaboard, the summer of 
1889 has been characterized by continuous 
and excessive rainfalls. These have dam- 
aged some garden crops seriously. Potatoes 
have rotted worse than ever before and 
while the quality of the sound ones is rath- 
er better than usual the crop will be far be- 
low the average in quantity. We have 
noted that the old Peerless withstood the 
wet better than any other sort with us, while 
the Beauty of Hebron and White Elephant 
are almost totally lost for rot. 
Melons are inferior in quality for the same 
reasons; too much water. We have grown 
this year of watermelons — theVolga, Kolb's 
Gem, Cuban Queen, and Gipsev or Georgia 
Rattlesnake. For earliness and quality 
Kolb’s Gem is in the lead, Volga is utterly 
worthless for market purposes, but is of 
good quality. Its small size will ruin it for 
market. The Gipsey is the heaviest crop- 
per and the Cuban Queen makes the largest 
melon, but is late in ripening. Of musk- 
melons the Emerald Gem is still our favor- 
ite. It is the only one which did not entirely 
succumb to the wet. In peas we would like 
again to call attention to the wonderful pro- 
ductiveness of the Yorkshire Hero and to 
recommend it as the best sort we have yet 
grown as a second or general crop pea. We 
have grown this pea for a number of years 
and have not yet found its superior for pro- 
ductiveness and quality combined. We be- 
gin with Alpha and Premium Gem for we 
have long ago discarded the little ExtraEarly 
pea, which has more aliases than a pick- 
pocket, for its poor quality and its habit of 
giving its whole crop at one picking; 
This may suit a market man but for family 
use is a bad quality in any vegetable. 
In tomatoes the Dwarf Champion has ac- 
quitted itself nobly. Its uniform solidity 
and smoothness, its productiveness and 
above all its ability to endure wet 
weather without cracking or rotting all 
combine to make it the best tomato we have 
ever grown. It will be some time before 
its superior appears. I believe too that it 
will be found to be the best for forcing un- 
der glass, particularly for pot culture. I am 
