146 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[May, 
but it grows larger and sometimes is longer than 
this. The shape of the fruit, with its short 
thick stem and small closed calyx, are sufficient¬ 
ly seen in the engraving, and we add the follow¬ 
ing characters fjjpm Downing: “ Skin, fine gold¬ 
en yellow, thinly sprinkled with dots, some¬ 
times slightly netted with thin russet. Flesh 
yellowish, tender, juicy, almost melting, with a 
rich refreshing, vinous, aromatic flavor; core 
rather large. November to February.”—This 
apple is highly valued by those who cultivate 
it, as a table fruit, for cooking, and as a good 
keeper. The tree does not come into bear¬ 
ing when young, but later it is very productive. 
With Mr. Carpenter it gives good crops every 
year. This is different from the English Gold¬ 
en Pippin grown in some parts of the country. 
A Cheap Fruit Box. 
Every raiser of fruit knows that producing 
the fruit is but one half the work, and that 
gathering and sending it to market is an equal 
task. Mr. C. W. Idell, a well-known commis¬ 
sion merchant of Washington market, N. Y., 
gives us the plan of making a very cheap box 
for marketing fruit, which is adopted by most of 
his customers. He takes an ordinary starch 
box, which is 20 inches long, 14 inches wide, and 
6 inches deep, removes the top, and nails in a 
wooden strip, 2 inches wide and $ inch thick, 
extending across in the middle from side to side, 
inserting it so that the top or flat side of the 
strip comes up on a level with the edge of the 
box. This answers as a handle and also strength¬ 
ens the box. A box of this size contains 16 
quarts, and is veiy convenient for huckleberries, 
currants, cherries, etc. They are preferred by 
some, of only half the depth, and are made by 
nailing the cover upon the box and sawing it 
in two, putting the cross piece in as before. 
Boxes of this kind are packed in a skeleton 
case, containing twelve of the small boxes, and 
six of the large ones. Where ready made starch 
boxes can not be easily procured, suitable 
ones can be readily put together out of light 
stuff of the proper thickness. 
Culture of Musk- and Watermelons. 
New Jersey is famous for its musk- and wa¬ 
termelons, immense quantities being sent every 
season to the New York markets. “ E. J. K.,” 
of Bergen Co., in that State, gives the details 
of his practice in cultivating watermelons, 
from which we extract the following: “Our 
soil is a sandy loam with a sub-stratum of pure 
sand. In the early part of May the land receives 
a compost of muck and barn-yard manure at the 
rate of twenty-five loads to the acre, is then 
plowed, harrowed three or four times to pulver¬ 
ize it thoroughly, and then marked off so that 
the hills shall stand 8 feet apart, and exactly 
opposite to each other, so as to allow of the use 
of a horse cultivator. Excavations are then 
made of a depth of 4 to 6 inches, and a foot in 
diameter, into each of which is put one large 
forkful of manure or compost, which is thor¬ 
oughly incorporated with the soil. The holes 
are then filled up with the earth that was taken 
from them, which raises the hills 3 or 4 inches 
higher than the surrounding soil. The seed is 
planted in the hills half an inch deep, and 8 or 
10 to the hill. In about 8 days they will 
germinate, and the appearance of the plant 
may be greatly facilitated by gently loosening 
the earth around them with the finger. In 
three weeks from this time, they will have 
made two rough leaves, wheu all the plants but 
three should be pulled out. Should they be at¬ 
tacked by bugs, dust the plants in the morning, 
while the dew is on them, with wood-ashes or 
plaster and pepper. If attacked by worms, 
which eat the young stalks of the plant off near 
the earth, the only remedy is to search diligently 
until you find them; they are generally at the 
root of the plant. The plants should be hoed at 
least once a week and kept perfectly clean until 
they begin to put forth runners, when all culti¬ 
vation should cease. When the runners have 
reached 4 feet in length, the ends are to be 
pinched off, and this should be continued 
throughout the .season, to force the strength of 
the vines into the fruit. By pursuing this course 
the melons will be of superior excellence as re¬ 
gards size and quality. This system answers 
equally well for growing nutmeg and citron 
melons, squashes and cucumbers_Mr. J. Yan 
Riper, of the same County, and a very successful 
cultivator of muskmelons for the New-York 
market, sends a statement of his last year’s crop. 
Early in April he plowed in manure and a dres¬ 
sing of salt hay, harrowed on May 2d, and plant¬ 
ed on May 14th, manuring in the hill. From 
Bi acres Mr. Yan R. gathered 1000 barrels of 
melons, which brought $1608.00. Expenses of 
cultivation, sending to market, commission, etc., 
$560.50, leaving a profit of $1047.50. 
Preserving Grapes. 
Mr. F. J. Boving of Lancaster, Ohio, has been 
very successful in preserving grapes during the 
winter in the following manner: On a clear, 
dry day he gathers perfectly ripe and sound 
bunches and lays them carefully in stone jars 
holding one or two gallons each. The jars are 
then set in the ground in a trench deep enough 
to allow their tops to be 8 or 10 inches below 
the surface. Some boards are then laid over 
the jars, the trench filled up and the remaining 
earth ridged up over it. Grapes packed in 
this way keep perfectly well until the first of 
March, and he has some yet untouched to test 
the length of time they can be preserved. Mr. 
B. exhibited some of his grapes to an extensive 
grower of the fruit who offered to buy his secret, 
but he prefers to make it public through the Am¬ 
erican Agriculturist. It is well to make a note of 
this for reference and experiment next autumn. 
—----—-s- 
The Effects of Cross Fertilization. 
In the January Agriculturist , there was a short 
article on this subject which stated that there 
was some evidence to show that the character 
of one variety of the strawberry was affected 
by growing in the vicinity of other sorts. Hi¬ 
ram Walker Esq., of Washington Co., N. Y., 
who has practised grafting since 1818, writes, 
that according to his experience the same thing 
takes place with apples and other fruits, and he 
thinks the fact that some winter apples do 
not keep, is not due to their being grafted on 
stocks of early sorts, but to the impregnation of 
their flowers with the pollen from early varie¬ 
ties. We regret that we have not room to pub¬ 
lish the article of Mr. W. in full, and can only 
give some of his statements in brief. He says 
he never knew any difficulty in the keeping 
of winter fruit, where the orchard was all of 
one kind, but that when early and late sorts 
were all together, late fruit was rendered early, 
and early fruit was made late from cross impreg¬ 
nation. He mentions a tree in Saratoga Co., 
which was in part grafted with a sweet variety, 
but the grafts bore sour apples for several years; 
the grafts of the sweet apple had been put into 
the lower limbs of a sour apple tree, and as 
long as the upper limbs of the original tree re¬ 
mained, the sweet grafts bore sour fruit, from 
the blossoms being impregnated by those on 
the limbs above them; when the natural limbs 
were removed then sweet apples were produced. 
Mr. W. mentions other instances of a similar 
character which have fallen under his observa¬ 
tion. The subject is one not only of scientific 
interest, but of actual importance to all fruit 
growers. It is within the observation of every 
one that a variety of fruit is not the same, even 
in not widely separated localities. This differ¬ 
ence is by some attributed to soil and exposure, 
by others to the character of the stock upon 
which the fruit is grafted, and now we have 
the influence of the pollen of neighboring sorts 
charged with being the disturbing the cause. 
Other observations on these points are needed. 
Don’t forget the Climbers. 
In arranging for the adornment of the grounds, 
by which is meant anything from a park to a 
small front yard, a fair share of climbers should 
be introduced. They are useful to make screens 
to hide unpleasant objects, and are attractive by 
their own grace and beauty, whether grown 
upon trellises or pillars, or used to cover the sup¬ 
ports to a verandah or porch. Even upon a 
lattice over the door, or grown directly upon 
the walls of a stone or brick house, they are al¬ 
ways in good taste. It is not too late to put out 
most of the woody climbers, and we suggest the 
names of a few desirable ones. Of those culti¬ 
vated for the beauty of their foliage alone, the 
Virginia Creeper, one of our native vines, stands 
pre-eminent It is found all over the country, 
and is readily distinguished from any other 
woody vine by its shining five parted leaves. It 
bears transplanting well, grows rapidly, and at¬ 
taches itself readily to wood, brick, or stone. It 
is sometimes incorrectly called American Wood¬ 
bine, and Ivy. Its botanical name is Ampelopsis 
quinquefolia, and it belongs to the same family as 
the grape. The European Ivy is an evergreen, 
every way desirable where it will endure the 
climate. It does best on a northern or western 
exposure, and should be grown against a stone 
or brick wall.— Gelastrus scandens, (the Wax- 
work or Climbing Bitter-sweet,) is a pleasing na¬ 
tive vine, having inconspicuous flowers, but 
good foliage and showy fruit in autum; it is 
perfectly hardy and grows well wherever it has 
a chance to twine.—The Chinese Wistaria, ( Wis¬ 
taria sinensis,) is one of the finest of all climbers, 
producing large grape-like clusters of purplish 
flowers. It is perfectly hardy around New- 
York, but much further north it needs to be re¬ 
moved from the trellis and covered with earth.— 
Our native Virgin’s Bow'er, (Clematis Virginiana,) 
is useful for its foliftge, flowers, and fruit, and 
the European Cleniatis Fldmmula, has very fra¬ 
grant flowers, and is fine for the pillars of a 
verandah.—The curious Dutchman’s Pipe, ( Aris - 
tolochia Sipho,) found wild west and' south, has 
enormous leaves and most singular flowers. 
The various Honeysuckles are all valuable, 
our native as well as the foreign.— Lonicera Belgi- 
cum, (the Striped or Dutch,) L. Periclymenum, (the 
English Woodbine,) and L. Sinensis, (the Chinese 
Honeysuckle,) are among the best of the foreign 
ones, and L. sempervirens, (the Scarlet-Trumpet,) 
and L.flava, (the Yellow Honeysuckle,) are the 
