76 
April, 1890. 
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/ ORCH PiRD iffSoj^ 6R RDE N 
©RCHARD^ARDEN 
AN ILLUSTRATED MONTHLY JOUR- 
NAL OF HORTICULTURE. 
Devoted exclusively to the interest of the American 
Orchard, Vineyard, Fruit, Vegetable and 
Flower Garden. 
Progressive ! Reliable ! Practical ! Scientific 1 
Subscription Price, 50 Cents per Annum 
Five Yearly Subscriptions for $--\00. 
Entered at the Post Office at Little Silver as second class 
matter. 
H. G. Cornet, Editor. 
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reil, 50c. Preferred position ten per cent, extra. 
LITTLE SILVER. N. J.. APRIL, 1890. 
CONTENTS. 
Berry Patch. Small Fruits for the Farmer— April 
Notes— Spring Planting of Strawberries, Rasp- 
berries, Blackberries. Currants and Gooseber- 
ries — Shuster’s Gem Strawberry 71, 72 
Biographical. P. J. Berekmans 76 
Catalogues Received 77 
Editorial 76, 77 
Flower Garden. Garden Culture of the Rose — 
The New French Dwarf Cannas— Floral Notes 
for April— Ada Spaulding Chrysanthemum— Nic- 
otians afflnis 73, 74, 75 
Fungi. Notes and Queries about Fungi— Dotted or 
Speckled Anthracnose of the Vine— Cracking of 
Pear Fruit 82 
Household. U. S. Mail— The Spring Cleaning— 
What Women are Doing— Label Everything — 
The Care of Carpets— Seasonable Recipes— The 
Daughter’s Room 83, 84 
Insects." Plant Lice 80,81 
Lawn. Beautitul Flowering Shrubs The Hardy 
Japan Orange 69 
Orchard. The Lincoln Plum— Two Summer Ap- 
ples— Work for the Month— Growing Apples for 
Proflt — Choice Dessert Apples— Some Select Va- 
rieties— Culture of Choice Apples— Apples for 
Proflt 67. 68. 69 
Ocr Book Table 77 
Our Clubbing List 76 
Vegetable Garden. Garden Work for April— 
Building up a Market— The Culture of Rhubarb 
— New Early Potato 78, 79, 80 
Vineyard. April Operations— The Ornamental and 
Useful in Grape Vines— Some Good Grapes — 
Does Girdling prevent Rot? 70 
When advising us of change of address it 
is necessary that the old address be given as 
well as the new, being careful to always give 
the State. If the old address be omitted 
we cannot find the subscriber’s name on our 
list. Kindly remember this, please, and 
6ave us much trouble. 
Memorial Trees. 
The approach of Arbor Day leads us to 
refer to the beautiful custom, not too fre- 
quently followed, of planting trees to per- 
petuate the memory of a friend or relative. 
Spreading elms shading the wayside are a 
constant reminder of him who planted 
them and will outlast the monument in the 
cemetery. Trees are often planted, too, in 
memory of a friendly visit and become per- 
petual and growing evidences of regard. 
Mendocino Co.. Cal.. Dec. 22, 1889. 
This Is my third annual subscription to the Orchard 
and Garden and I hope I may live to see the day when 
I can say it Is the thirtieth, lor a better paper, both in 
tone, finality and style, was nev* r Issued by the Amer- 
ican press. T. H. Burgoyne. 
Prosper J. Berekmans. 
Whilst nearly every horticulturist and 
pomologist in the country knows P. J. 
Berekmans, there are probably few outside 
of those who have been so fortunate as to 
attend the meetings of the American Porno- 
logical Society, that have seen his face. It 
affords us pleasure to present our readers 
with his portrait, together with a brief 
sketch of his life. 
Mr. Berekmans was born at Aerschot, 
near Brussels, in Belgium, in 1830, his father 
being Dr. Louis E. Berekmans, a gentleman 
of learning and culture, and a recognized 
authority upon horticultural, pomological 
and agricultural subjects. It was but nat- 
ural that a taste for horticulture should de- 
velop amid the surroundings of his home 
and the associates of his father, men emi- 
nent in pomology. As he advanced in years 
he showed much zeal in the pursuit of hor- 
ticultural knowledge, and at the age of 
eighteen years we find him ably assisting 
his father in the preparation of the “Album 
de Pomoiogie,” the best and most complete 
work of its time on pomology, and still a 
standard authority. He graduated in his 
native country, taking a Bachelor’s degree, 
and afterwards finished his studies in 
France. 
In 1850 Mr. Berekmans came to the 
United States. His father arrived in the 
following year and settled at Plainfield, N. 
J., where he bought a large estate and im- 
proved it. He brought with him his large 
collection of fruit trees from Belgium, 
which included the largest collection of 
pears known in Europe at that time. Here 
father and son remained for six years 
when, the health of Dr. Berekmans fail- 
ing, they removed to Georgia and pur- 
chased the tract of land known as 
“Fruitland,” near Augusta This has been 
improved and beautified until it has become 
one of the most charming estates in the 
South. It is much more than this, however, 
for here are tested new trees and plants of 
all sorts which, if found adapted to the cli- 
mate, are propagated and distributed. Here 
also were established what are now the 
largest Commercial nurseries in the South- 
ern States. In 1876 Mr. Berekmans, in con- 
nection with a few friends, organized the 
Georgia State Horticultural Society, of 
which he has been the president ever since. 
From the year 1860 he has been an active 
and earnest member of the American Pomo- 
logical Society and has filled honored posts 
from the time of his entrance into it. He 
succeeded Chas. Downing as Chairman of 
Com. on Native Fruits in 1871; was elected 
First Vice-president in 1883; and in 1887 
was the unanimous choice of the Society to 
succeed the late Marshal P. Wilder as Pres- 
ident, which office he still holds, an un- 
doubted and universal recognition of his 
merits and fitness for the high station. 
Mr. Berekmans has originated and dis- 
seminated many valuable new varieties of 
fruit among which are Peen-to, Thurberand 
Piquet peaches. He is widely known as an 
able horticultural writer; his knowledge of 
pomology is large and his decisions on fruit 
are generally accepted as final. 
The Kussian Apricots. 
We would be glad to learn more concern- 
ing these apricots from those of our read- 
ers "who have grown them. We desire to 
learn more particularly of the improved or 
selected varieties. In the valuable bulletin 
of the Iowa Agricultural College, recently 
issued. Prof. Budd says, “At present we do 
not propagate any one of the SouthRussian 
apricots. Those we have fruited are small 
in size, rather low in quality, and the trees 
are not hardy. If the named varieties of 
Nebraska prove when fruited, better in size 
and quality, and hardier in tree, they will 
be included in our lists sent to trial sta- 
tions.” And in a recent letter the Professor 
says, “Fora wonder, the nurserymen trok 
these up and are inclined to ignore other 
fruits infinitely more valuable.” 
The type of Russian apricots introduced 
by the Mennonites, from which the named 
varieties have been selected, is not such as 
would seem adapted to the severity of the 
cold North-west of the United States, the 
climate of the region, in Asia Minor, from 
which they come being much miider and 
where these trees do not die out in winter. 
In the latitude of New York city they do 
not winter-kill in the least degree. If the 
claim to entire hardiness proves unfounded 
there will be little inducement to grow them . 
Prof. Edward B. Voorhees, Chemist of 
the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment 
Station bids purchasers of fertilizers to re- 
member: 
1. That they ought to buy in them nitro- 
gen, phosphoric acid, and potash. 
2. That the nitrogen exists in three forms 
— nitrate, ammonia, and organic matter, and 
that of these nitrate is the most soluble 
and available and consequently should be 
used with caution, to attain the best re- 
sults. 
3. That phosphoric acid exists in two 
forms — insoluble and soluble or available; 
that in the insoluble forms much depends 
upou the mechanical condition; and that 
available phosphoric acid is equally valu- 
able from whatever source derived. 
