106 
June, 1891. 
/ ORCHARD 
GARDEN \ 
The Goumi. 
Elazagnus pungens, from Japan, known 
as the Goumi. is described by Pomologist 
Van Deman as a pretty, red, gold-flecked 
berry, fairly pleasant for eating and likely 
to prove an addition to our gardens as an 
ornamental shrub as well as a fruit. Its 
hardiness has been partially tested, and the 
probabilities are that it may not prove suffic- 
iently hardy for the Central States. The buf- 
falo berry of the West is a member of the 
same genus. The fruit is eaten raw in 
Japan, or either pickled or preserved, and 
either way it is quite palatable. It is also 
valuable for jelly, resembling currant jelly, 
to some extent. The fruit appears like an 
elongated pie-cheiTy, and averages one-half 
to five-eighths of an inch in size. Color 
bright red. surface appearing as if covered 
with small golden brown dots: stem long, 
one and one-eighth inches: slender, brown. 
Fruit slightly depressed at each end: acid 
and somewhat astringent until fully ripe, 
when it acquires a pleasant aromatic flavor. 
It ripens in midsummer. Wood bright 
brown, slender; buds small, brown, coni- 
cal: leaves alternate, oval, acute, pointed, 
thin, light green above, silvery with bright 
dots below, both surfaces covered with 
stellate hairs. Grows freely on tolerably 
dry soil: reproduces closely from seed; a 
shrub about six feet high. 
We have grown a plant of this Elaeagnus 
on our grounds here in New Jersey for over 
a year and it has proved perfectly hardy 
with us. 
Currant Worms and Curculio. 
I have found “Slug Shot” very effectual 
in destroying the worms on my currants, 
and it is easily applied. I fill a common 
dredge flour box with the powder, and as 
soon as I discover the worm at work, I 
sprinkle the bush with it, and the enemy 
disappears. I don't know what becomes of 
him but he. is soon gone, and I have a grand 
show of currant bushes, with prospects of 
ample fruit. I don't take any pains to put 
the powder on the under side of the leaf. 
This is not necessary. 
I use Slug Shot also to save my plums. 
To do this, I put a full gallon of water in a 
bucket, and then put into it half a pound 
of the powder; and, if I have it, a little dis- 
solved soap of some kind — whale oil proba- 
bly being the best; with this liquid I can 
sprinkle a tree from forty to sixty feet in 
height, with a force pump I have. I do 
this early in May, and then again two or 
three weeks later. Instead of sprinkling, 
however, 1 sometimes use the powder by 
tying the dredge box upside down on a long 
pole, which I push up into the tree and 
shake about so as to distribute the powder 
among the branches; and then I have nice 
plums. — J. Van Count, Camden Co., N. J. 
Marketing Strawberries. 
One would be apt to think that if he had 
plenty of strawberries he would have no 
trouble in selling them. But experience 
teaches that it is one thing to grow straw- 
berries and quite another to market them 
profitably. I have had a great deal of ex- 
perience in both. To grow good berries re- 
quires a certain amount of knowledge, skill, 
patience and industry; to market them re- 
quires talent of a very different character. 
To grow the fruit is comparatively easy but 
it is much more difficult to place it in the 
best condition in the hands of the city con- 
sumer, at its true value to him, and with a 
reasonable compensation to the grower. 
In the cultivation of strawberries the ob- 
stacles are of a physical nature, such as 
grass, weeds, soil, etc, which can be over- 
come and subdued by manual skill and la- 
bor. but the antagonisms met with in mar- 
keting the fruit are chiefly of an intellec- 
tual character and present difficulties re- 
quiring mental ability to overcome. 
I have heard men fairly rage at paying 
twenty-five cents per quart for strawberries, 
and infer that the grower wanted to “get 
rich all at once,” but they forget that the 
commission man has his commission and 
the transportation company its charges to 
come out of this twenty-five cents, the 
grower sometimes getting no more than five 
or six cents. Sometimes we have long dis- 
tances to ship, long delays with rough and 
careless handling, and the perishable nature 
of the strawberry renders it often impossi- 
ble to give the consumer strawberries in the 
best condition. 
There is a vast difference between market- 
ing at home and abroad. The berry for 
shipment to a distant market must be pick- 
ed before it gets fully ripe that it may reach 
its destination in a firm condition. Berries 
which are perfectly ripe and at their best 
for table use will not bear carriage any dis- 
tance without damage and decay. The city 
consumer seldom, if ever, gets such luscious 
berries as the grower is enabled to put on 
his own table. 
In sending berries to distant city markets 
the grower is often or, perhaps, all the time, 
at the mercy of those who handle his ber- 
ries. I have myself suffered considerably 
by commission men claiming my berries to 
be small and badly bruised, which was not 
at all true, but so reported in order to get 
the most of the profit themselves. 
It should be the aim of growers of fruit 
to obtain the most speedy and direct con- 
veyance to the consumer possible. Such, 
however, is the practice of trade at the pre- 
sent time that it seems impossible for the 
producer to supply the consumer without 
intermediate agencies that absorb too much 
of the profits and benefits pertaining to both. 
I think if growers would plan more about 
marketing their fruit they would find that 
their own market could be brought up to 
pay them better than distant shipments. 
Home markets may be poor at first, but try 
and cultivate the appetite of the small 
towns in the neighborhood. If prices are 
not as good we have no transportation or 
commission charges to pay. In fact I be- 
lieve most of our little towns would pay 
better prices for berries than many of our 
large cities. — T iios. D. Baikd. 
June Jottings. 
Tliis month young trees and nursery stock 
require good and thorough tillage to kill 
the weeds as well as to keep the ground 
moist. Thorough and constant cultivation 
is equal to mulching if it is kept up from 
the start, and no weeds allowed to grow. 
Rub or cut off suckers and limbs that ob- 
struct the natural growth. This should be 
done while trees are young and then it will 
not be necessary to do it when they get old. 
Train trees according to their natural form. 
If large wounds have to be made, as is 
sometimes necessary when limbs are broken 
off by storms or otherwise, cover the wounds 
with paint or thin grafting wax. The hints 
of last month in regard to insect remedies 
apply with equal force now in some sec- 
tions, and should be attended to. 
June budding is now in order and this is 
thebest time for budding peaches. It is per- 
formed exactly like fall budding, but to suc- 
ceed well must be prepared for in season. 
The young stock should be kept pruned up 
clean to where the buds are to be inserted 
and they should be kept in active growth 
by clean tillage. In about two weeks after 
the budding is done, if they have united, or 
taken as it is often called, the stock should 
be cut off close to the bud, and the bass lig- 
ature cut loose, so that the buds may start 
into active growth at once. All the suckers 
must be kept off the stocks and by fall will 
be produced handsome little trees. These 
will not be as large as fall budded trees but 
for mailing and shipping they are better. 
This season of budding enables the North 
to grow good peach trees, which they can- 
not well do by fall budding as the buds are 
often killed in the winter unless protected. 
Remove the suckers that come up around 
grafts, as often as they appear. If top 
grafting has been done and they are making 
too rapid growth pinch the leaders back, to 
cause them to throw out side branches, and 
make them more stocky. This we do to 
prevent the wind from blowing them off, 
which sometimes happens during hard 
storms. — J. Stayman. 
Dangers from Arsenical Insecticides. 
I know from observation that O. & G. is 
not afraid of a reasonable amount of frank- 
ness on the part of those of its readers who 
cannot always quite agree with its opin- 
ions, and I therefore make bold to dissent 
slightly from your editorial on this subject. 
Not that I, either, would “let the crop go, 
and enemies prevail,” rather than make 
use of insecticides. In the case of helle- 
bore you are quite right, for this is hardly 
more a “poison” than tobacco. But when 
it comes to the mineral poisons, and es- 
pecially to such insidious and virulent ones 
as the arsenical preparations, I must urge 
