November, 1889. 
209 
ORCHARD 
GARDEN 
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Figs at the North. 
[Can you give me any information in the 
culture of the Fig, as to the proper time to 
pick the fruit and how to prepare them for 
eating? I have some very fine fig Irees 
growing splendidly and they are full of fruit. 
I wintered them all right last winter by 
bending them down and covering them 
with earth. There are several others having 
some trees in this vicinity who will be glad 
to get information on this subject. — J. H. 
Moore, Monmouth Co., N. J.] 
The Fig is at its best in the fresh state, as 
picked from the tree, when it is indeed a 
luscious morsel. Fresh figs are not com- 
mon in northern markets and hence bring 
good prices. Owing to their scarcity the 
delicious flavor and fine quality of the green 
fig is not known to many whose knowledge 
y of the fig is confined entirely to the dried 
article. At the North the season is so short 
that the fruit may be left as long as possible 
on the tree before picking, and there are 
various ways in which the fig may be pre- 
pared for keeping, the most common of 
which is by drying. They may also be 
preserved in sugar, crystallized with sugar, 
put up into marmalade, or sweet pickle, or 
made into what is known as fig-cake. Can 
any of our readers, especially those at the 
South, give us some recipes for preserving 
the fig ? 
As a general thing fig-growing at the 
North is not satisfactory but it is possible 
for the amateur to grow a few trees with 
care and winter protection as in the case of 
our correspondent here. They should he 
grown in bush form that the limbs may be 
laid down and covered with earth during 
winter. Soil snould be deep and moist and 
<«0the location sheltered: the fig loves mois- 
ture and is a gross feeder, but does not suc- 
ceed on low and wet soils; mulch thickly 
with stable manure. Cease cultivation af- 
ter the middle of August that the wood 
may ripen perfectly, and if the growth is 
luxuriant check it by nipping out the ter- 
minal buds at that time. 
To enable us to bear the expenses con- 
nected with the making of a good paper 
and to carry out the improvements we have 
in view, we require the appreciation of the 
reading public, not merely in words, but 
also in subscriptions, and especially in 
clubs. Every one of our present subscrib- 
ers can at least get one of his friends or 
neighbers to subscribe. Many send large 
clubs. Will you not do so ? 
^ The following plan for storing apples out- 
side has been recommended as preserving 
the fruit until spring in all its plumpness 
and freshness of flavor. Plough a few fur- 
rows deeply in a straight line and with the 
shovel open them sufficiently to form a 
trench capable of sinking a barrel on its 
side halfway. In this trench place the bar- 
rels of apples, tightly headed, on their sides 
and end to end, then cover the upper and 
exposed half of the barrels with earth suf- 
ficient to keep out frost, spread equally over 
it, and being careful to fill up all holes or 
trenches alongside that water may not 
stand therein. The barrels may be taken 
in the house as wanted during the winter, 
taking them always from one end. 
We want a permanent agent in every vil- 
lage in the country to solicit subscriptions for 
Orchard and Garden. The paper is popu- 
lar, the price is low and our terms to agents 
liberal. See our premium list if anything we 
ofer there should suit your wants. Persons 
desiring cash commissions should write us lor 
terms. School teachers, stationers, postmas- 
ters and all other persons whose calling brings 
them in contact with the public can with little 
effort turn an honest dollar by soliciting sub- 
scriptions for Orchard and Garden. 
The Burlington Comity Fair. 
The Fair at Mt. Holly, N. J. was in pro- 
gress from Oct. 7th to 12th. It was visited 
by a representative of Orchard and Gar- 
den who reports t hat taken as a whole the 
display was very creditable. In spite of 
the very unfavorable weather for fruit 
growers, during the past season, in this part 
of the country, the fruit tables were well 
filled with fairly good specimens, and some 
of them were surpassingly fine ones. The 
exhibit of grapes was large and included 
nearly all the varieties that are to be found 
in the vineyards of New Jersey. Mr. E. 
Williams of Montclair, the veteran secretary 
of the New Jersey Horticultural Society, 
showed some especially fine grapes, and so 
did Mr. Copley, of Stapleton, N. Y., and 
others whose names were not learned. The 
show of pears was fine; but it must be ad- 
mitted that as far as good appearance is 
concerned none was more attractive than 
the Kietfer, with, perhaps, the exception 
of a plate of some handsome, rosy speci- 
mens of Beurre Clairgeau. 
The show of apples was large, but the 
specimens were for the most part small and 
off color, being covered with mildew spots, 
due, no doubt, to the wet summer. 
Potatoes were shown in numerous varie- 
ties, but aside from these, and some cab- 
bages, squashes and pumpkins, the display 
of vegetables was not remarkable. 
Some handsome trays of cut flowers, and 
some fine decorative plants in pots were 
seen; but on the whole the floral depart- 
ment was poorly represented both in regard 
to quantity and quality of the exhibit. 
The show of farm produce, within the 
strict meaning of the term, was exception- 
ally fine. The attendance was large and 
orderly, and the fair had but few objec- 
tionable features. Refreshment stands 
were numerous, chief among them, and es- 
pecially commendable for the quality of the 
refreshments dispensed from it, was one pre- 
sided over by the Women's Christian Tem- 
perance Union. 
Whiteside Co., III., Oct. 10th, '89. 
I am in receipt of the second number of Orchard 
and Garden and am well pleased with the contents of 
both numbers. The articles are of a practical and in- 
structive character. It is doubtful whether any other 
publication furnishes as much valuable matter for so 
small an amount of money as this.— J. T. Stager. 
We ask our subscribers to send us the 
names of their friends and neighbors, those 
who may be interested in hoi ticulture, and 
we will be glad to send them sample copies 
of Orchard and Garden. 
Our B ouk Table. 
University of Illinois, Agricultural Experiment 
Station. Bulletin No. 6. A Bacterial Disease of Corn. 
Thomas J. Burrii.l, Ph. D., Horticulturist and Bot- 
anist. 
University of Minnesota. Agricultural Experi- 
ment Station. Bulletin No. 8. Siloing Clover. Sources 
of Home-made Manures. The By-Products of Wheat. 
The Rocky Mountain Locusts in Otter Tail County, 
Minnesota, in 1889. N. W. McLain, Director, St. An- 
thony Park, Minn. 
U. S. Department of Agriculture. Office of Ex- 
periment Stations. Experiment Station Bulletin 
No. 2. Digest of the Annual Reports of the Agricul- 
tural Experiment Stations in the United States for 
1888. W. O. Atwater, Director. 
Mass. Agricultural College. Hatch Experiment 
Station. Bulletin No. 6. October 18S9 Experiments 
in Greenhouse Heating; Steam vs. Hot Water. Report 
on Strawberries. Fungous Diseases of Plants. The 
Blacc-spot of Rose Leaves. Black-knot of the Plum. 
Potato Blight and Rot. H. H. Goodell, Director, Am- 
hurst. Mass. 
U. S. Department of Agriculture. Report of the 
Statistician. Report No. 67. October 1889. Report 
on Condition of Crops, Yield of Grain per Acre and on 
Freight Rates of Transportation Companies. J. R. 
Dodge .Statistician. 
U. S. Department of Agriculture • Division of 
Chemistry. Bulletin, No. 23. Record of Experiments 
at the Sugar Experiment Station Calumet Plantation at 
Pattersville, La., by Hubert Edson. Dr. W. H. Wiley, 
Chief Chemist. 
U. S. Department of Agriculture. Album of Agri- 
cultural Statistics of the United States. The Results 
of Investigation under the Direction of the Statistician. 
This is a valuable and interesting work consisting of 
sixteen colored maps of the L nited States, each present- 
ing a separate topic. These maps are based mainly on 
results of past investigation conduced by the Statisti- 
cian, who says iu his letter of submittal to the Secretary 
of Agriculture “The distribution of the three principal 
cereals, which together iuclude all but 3 per cent, of 
cereal production, has so remarkable a differeutation 
and so extreme a range as to justify its selection as a 
leading topic. The rate of yield based on yields of ten 
annual crops, showing the results of climatic adapta- 
tion, different soils, and methods of culture, is another 
topic fruitful in suggestion and thus worthy of consid- 
eration. The average value of farm stock in different 
sections are equally suggestive of differences in breed, 
degree of improvement, and effect of distance from 
market. It is to be hoped, that the results here embod- 
ied in matter aud form, will be found worthy of this 
presentation.” The book is elegantly gotten up and 
bound in stiff boards; the maps are 12 by 17 inches, 
wtll arranged and furnished w’ith scale, color key and 
explanation. Should be in the library of every pro- 
gressive agriculturist. 
There are doubtless many fruit-growers 
and others interested in out-door life, in 
your \ icinity who would be glad to sub- 
scribe for just such a paper as Orchard 
and Garden if they knew of its existence. 
Please tell them of it, show them a sample 
copy and invite them to subscribe. Or send 
us their names and we will send them sam- 
ple copies. Not only will you thus do both 
them and us a kindness but also earn for 
yourself some of the liberal premiums of- 
fered in this number. 
