AMERICAN AGRICULTU RIST. 
307 
Gathering Pears. 
Now that Autumn pears are coming to maturity, 
it is well to consider the best way of gathering 
and ripening them. A few sorts need no atten¬ 
tion : they attain their highest perfection if al 
lowed to hang on the tree until perfectly ripe. 
But not so with the majority. We have explained 
the reason of this formerly in our columns, and 
need not repeat it now; the fact cannot be ques¬ 
tioned. Many sorts, which are only second or 
third rate if left to mature on the tree, become 
rich, melting, and delicious, when gathered before 
they soften and ripened in the house. Many 
which rot at the core, under the first named 
management, remain sound under the other. 
The only rule for gathering, is to pluck them 
while yet hard, when just beginning to change 
from green color to yellow, and when the stem 
parts readily from the branch en lifting the fruit 
gently with the hand. This is generally from a 
week to a fortnight before the ordinary ripening 
of the fruit. 
In regard to gathering Winter pears, Thomas, 
author of the Fruit Culturist, says : “ Winter 
pears should hang upon the tree as long as safety 
will allow, and when gathered, should be kept in 
a cool room till near their usual period of matu¬ 
rity, when the ripening is to be completed in a 
warm room, at a temperature of 60° to 70°. 
They should be kept covered to prevent shrivel¬ 
ling. Some cultivators have wholly repudiated 
Winter pears, merely for want of skill in the 
management of their ripening, or the want of a 
good cellar to ripen them in. Some sorts, how¬ 
ever, as the Beurre d’Aremberg, require but little 
care; others, as the Vicar of Winkfield, need 
particular attention. But the transfer from the 
cool to the warm room is of great importance to 
most, and will convert tough and hard specimens 
into those -which are juicy, melting and excellent.” 
---- ■ » — - •— - 
Preservation of Grapes in Winter. 
We gave, last Fall, a chapter on the preserva¬ 
tion of grapes fresh for Winter use. The meth¬ 
ods then advised insured to all who adopted them, 
a good degree of success. But we have since 
learned a better mode, which we can recommend 
on the authority of others, and our own experi¬ 
ence. The plan is the one practiced by Mr. 
McKay, of Naples, N. Y. This gentleman is well 
known to fruit-growers, as a very successful cul¬ 
tivator of the Isabella grape, being to Western 
New-York, what Dr. Underhill, of Croton Point, 
is to Eastern. Some clusters from his vineyard, 
which we saw, last Winter, were nearly equal in 
size to Black Hamburgs, and were as plump as 
when first gathered from the vines. His method 
is substantially as follows : 
Let your grapes be fully ripe before gathering : 
several sharp frosts will not hurt them. All de¬ 
fective berries should be picked out from the 
bunches with a pair of sharp pointed scissors. 
Saw a barrel in two, to make tubs for harvesting 
the grapes, and bore several holes in the sides of 
the tubs to furnish air to the fruit. Handle the 
bunches carefully when plucking them, and carry 
them without jolting, to a cool, airy chamber. 
Leave the tubs partly uncovered, and let them 
stand a week or ten days, for the fruit to go 
through the sweating process. This having been 
done, pack the grapes in boxes containing six or 
eight pounds each, and set them away where they 
can be kept uniformly dry and dark, with a tem¬ 
perature ranging from 35° to 40°. If they are 
packed between layers of cotton, or in dry bran, 
it will be all the better. It should be borne in 
mind that light, heat and moisture promote fer¬ 
mentation, and of course decomposition. The 
nearer the fruit can be kept to the freezing point 
without actually freezing, the better. 
--- 
Fruit Shelves and Boxes 
Samuel Woodruff, of Kalamazoo Co., Mich., 
gives us his arrangement for keeping fruit in the 
cellar, which is essentially as follows : A series 
of boxes are made, 11 to 2 feet wide, and 10 to 
15 feet long, according to convenience for the 
space to be occupied. He does not give the depth, 
but we should say 5 or 6 inches, at most, as it 
is better not to put the apples in too deep layers. 
In these long boxes several divisions are made 
by strips of board running crosswise. When the 
apples are first put in, one of these divisions in 
each box is left empty, so that in sorting over the 
fruit, the sound apples can be transferred to the 
vacant division, and from the next division to the 
one just emptied, and so on. These long boxes 
can be seffone above the other—first against the 
wall, and then another tier far enough from the 
first, to allow a good passage-way between. The 
lower box of each tier should be raised, at least 
a foot from the ground, by placing blocks under¬ 
neath. With boxes thus arranged, one can be 
taken out at a time for sorting over, which should 
be done quite frequently. 
Our Best Gardeners. 
An observant traveler passing through what is 
termed our good farming districts, and the villages 
scattered through them, will readily detect, as a 
general thing, the superiority of the vegetable gar¬ 
dens in the villages, to say nothing of the fruit 
and ornamental attachments. What makes this 
difference in the simple department of gardening, 
and why is the mechanic, the day-laborer, the 
professional man, or the shop keeper, a better 
husbandman in his limited plot of a few square 
rods, with his manures to buy or scrape up as he 
can, while the farmer has his garden of any de¬ 
sired size and quality, with his whole barn yard 
for enriching it 7 
It is either a question of taste with the farmer, 
or his family ; of necessity with the villager ; or 
his superiority in skill over the farmer in the cases 
where the latter excels—perhaps all combined. 
The farmer from education, or choice, thinks his 
garden of little account in comparison with the 
better cultivation of his farm. He may have no 
immediate market for his surplus vegetables, or 
small fruits, and so neglects them ; or if there be 
a market, does not think it an object to cultivate 
more than for family use. And this very fact 
makes him careless of even a wholesome family 
supply. We have known hundreds of such cases, 
of farmers’ families, even, depending on the gar¬ 
dens of their village cousins, or friends, for occa¬ 
sional presents of choice fruits, vegetables, and 
flowers which they think it beneath their atten¬ 
tion to cultivate, although to produce them would 
occupy only the time devoted to no appreciable 
profit on the farm. We like good farming—the 
very best order of farming—but we know of no 
reason why a good farmer should not at the same 
time be a good gardener. There is a profit in a 
garden, if only for family use, which some farm¬ 
ers little think of. It adds to the comforts, as 
well as luxuries of the table, the health of their 
families, and the economy of their living. As a 
general thing our farmers need to pay increased 
attention to their gardens. 
With our villagers and town folks, gardening is 
to most of them—poor and rich alike—a necessi¬ 
ty, a pleasure, and a recreation. A necessity, 
because it gives them, at less expense, bett 
vegetables than they usually buy in market, bet 
ter for being fresh, at any rate ; a pleasure, be 
cause it fills their leisure hours with an agreeable 
occupation; and a recreation, because the time 
spent within it is healthful, promoting cheerful in¬ 
tercourse with their families, and friends, and 
good in every way. They thus become superior 
gardeners by giving their minds to it. 
- -—=*-*-■—«a€> gr- —*-o-- 
Maggots in Mushrooms. 
Mr. Samuel Wheelock, of Tompkins Co., N. Y. 
informs us that he followed closely the full and 
minute directions for cultivating Mushrooms, 
given in the last November Agriculturist (Vol. 1C : 
page 262.) and as the result he has a very large 
crop. But, unfortunately, all the plants that grow 
to good size are infested with maggots or worms. 
He has taken care to twist out the stems that 
no decaying portion be left in the ground ; but 
even the first that grew upon the plot were in¬ 
fested. There must be some local cause for this 
difficulty, either in the soil, manure or mulching. 
We know not what to recommend. A sprink¬ 
ling of salt upon the bed might be beneficial. A 
toad or two would pick up many insects that 
infect such places. 
Watering Strawberries, and Killing them. 
J. G. Leverich, Vermillion Co., Ill., writes, that 
in 1856 he read a newspaper account, that some 
one in Georgia had produced strawberries ten 
months in a year, by planting near a stream 
and watering the beds daily. Mr. L. resolved to 
try the experiment, and here is his statement: 
“ Last season, having a bed set with ‘ Prolific 
Hautboy,’and ‘ Hovey’s Seedling,’I determined 
to make experiment of watering daily, in order 
to produce a Fall crop. The plants were con¬ 
fined to hills, the runners closely trimmed, and 
the ground mulched. From July 1st to Sep. 16 
they were watered at evening, every day that it 
did not rain, but not so much as a blossom made its 
appearance. Last Spring, the Hovey’s were en¬ 
tirely used up, but the Prolific bore a fair crop 
the present season.” 
Remarks. —We have frequently seen it stated, 
that strawberries could be raised with no manure 
except water, and that they would become almost 
“ everbearing,” by showering them every day ; 
but, as with many other theories which from 
time to time creep into newspaper columns, 
we did not consider this of sufficient importance 
to notice, much less to advise atrial. The straw¬ 
berry delights in a fair amount of moisture, and 
is benefited, in dry weather, by an occasional 
watering, but not being a “ water plant,” it may 
be drowned out, as were the Hovey's Seedling 
above alluded lo. 
----—-- —-— 
“ Fblten’s Great Seedling Strawberry.”— 
This was first announced this season as “ Felten’s 
Improved Albany Seedling.” This was a misno¬ 
mer, as it is a seedling from Wilson’s Albany, and 
therefore a distinct variety. It is represented 
as superior to the noted parent variety, in size, 
flavor and productiveness, which is saying a 
great deal for it. We have had no opportunity 
to see it in bearing, and, of course, can not speak 
definitely of its claims, but if half of what is 
claimed for it be true, it is destined to take a 
foremost rank. For the purpose of testing it, we 
have put out some of the plants obtained from 
Messrs. Spangler & Graham, Philadelphia, 
whose advertisement may bp fpund in tfie Sep¬ 
tember Agriculturist. 
