98 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[March-, 
the packing and shipping of fruits and vegeta¬ 
bles for the New York market. Ilis directions 
■will, of course, serve for other markets.— Eds.] 
The condition in which vegetables and fruits 
should be packed for shipment requires the ex¬ 
ercise of some judgment. Some, such as Toma¬ 
toes and Peaches, are picked in a partially green 
state, and ripen up during transportation, so as 
to be in a salable condition when they reach the 
market. The grower who lives within a day 
or two of a market can pack such things in a 
much riper condition than one whose produce 
must be four or five days in transportation. 
Other articles, such as Cucumbers, Beans, and 
Peas, commence to deteriorate from the moment 
they are picked, and, especially if heated in the 
hold of the steamer, often arrive in a perfectly 
worthless condition. Packages receive much 
rough handling; injury from this cause is in a 
measure prevented by packing as firmly as the 
nature of the article will allow. Never send 
poor, small, or worthless articles to market; 
they will not pay the cost of transportation. 
Crates, to hold one and one half bushel, 
are made of two ends and one middle piece, 
of inch stuff, 18 x 8 inches square; to these, 
slats sawed of half-inch stuff, 27 inches long, are 
nailed, leaving spaces of one-half to one inch 
between the slats for ventilation. Crates of this 
kind are easy to handle, and their contents are 
not so liable to be injured by rolling, as those 
of barrels. Potatoes, Sweet Potatoes, Onions, 
Cucumbers, Beans, Peas, and Apples, are ship¬ 
ped in the size above given. For Tomatoes, 
Peaches, and Pears, a smaller sized crate is used, 
which holds two 5 | 4 peach baskets, equal to one 
and a quarter bushel. The middle and ends are 
18x8, but the slats forming the sides are but 
24 inches long, of ’| 4 or 3 | 8 stuff, allowing 
the spaces between the slats for ventilation. 
Potatoes.— These should not be dug until 
the “ skin is set,” i. e., so ripe that the skin will 
not readily rub off. When dug, they must not 
be left exposed to the sun, else the sap next the 
skin will scald, which soon causes fermentation 
and decay. From this cause, all in the crate or 
barrel are frequent])'' rotten by the time they 
reach the market, or if only a portion decay, 
these injure the sale of the sound ones. Pack in 
barrels for a near market. If sent from the 
South, potatoes should be packed in crates hold¬ 
ing one and a half bushel. In filling, leave out 
all cullings and wormy or decayed potatoes, 
and shake down before nailing up. Potatoes 
should be thoroughly dry, i. e., free from all 
outside moisture, and be cooled as much as 
possible before they are packed. 
Onions.— Pull when the.tops fall over, and 
cure in the shade. The sun soon scalds them, 
when the outer skin becomes slippery, and they 
soon rot. Cut the roots close, but leave the tops 
an inch or an inch and a half long. Onions 
should be perfectly dry and shelly when packed, 
and none that are soft or rotten put in. 
Cucumbers. —Pack only those of medium 
size and perfectly green. The "White-spined is 
the best variety for shipping. Yellow cucum¬ 
bers are perfectly worthless in the market.. 
Beans and Peas.—L et them be perfectly 
dry and sound when packed, and keep out all 
bruised or decayed ones. Do not ship Beans 
that are too old, or that will not snap ivhen 
broken. See that the crate3 are well filled. 
Tomatoes. —At the far South, Florida and 
Georgia, these should be picked just as they be¬ 
gin to turn red at the stem side. Put in none 
that are ripe, wormy, or cracked. A few ripe 
ones packed with the rest will rot and spoil the 
whole crate. Shake down and have the crate 
so full that a moderate pressure will be required 
to allow the top to be nailed on. If picked at 
the right time and properly packed they will 
ripen up so as to be salable by the time they reach 
New York. For Virginia and places further 
north they may be a little riper when picked. 
Beets and Carrots. —Cut off the tops, 
leaving about one-half an inch. Keep dry 
and pack in crates, having them -well filled. 
-- ■ M OP - -- 
Timber Culture—The Larch. 
BY D. C. SCOFIELD, ELGIN, ILL. 
[The writer of the following article is not a 
nurseryman, but a tree cultivator, who is very 
enthusiastic in the matter of the cultivation of 
forest trees. He puts the culture of the Euro¬ 
pean Larch in a striking light. It will be noticed 
that Mr. S. expresses a preference for the Tyro¬ 
lean variety, and gives his reasons lor it. We 
do not find the seed of this variety in the cata¬ 
logues of our dealers, but probably a demand 
for it would bring a supply. The common 
European Larch is sufficiently valuable to in¬ 
duce those who wish to grow timber to take that. 
We wish that Mr. S. had given us the cost of 
planting, as well as the returns for an acre. 
Seed of the European Larch is offered b) r our 
dealers at $2.50 per pound. We have had no ex¬ 
perience in sowing it, and as in works devoted 
to tree culture we find no special directions, it 
is assumed that the seed is to be treated like 
other seeds. We should advise to sow in a good 
soil as early as possible. It is useless for any 
one to sow tree seeds unless he will take care of 
the young plants, and the young seedlings of 
the hardiest forest trees need as much care as 
those of the cabbage or tomato. They need weed¬ 
ing, watering, and frequently, shading. —Eds.] 
At the Annual Fair of the Kane County, Illi¬ 
nois, Agricultural Society, held in Sept, last, 
two European, or Tyrolese, Larch trees were 
placed on the grounds for exhibition—one two 
years old and ten inches in bight, (and a fine 
plant, indeed, the usual size being only about an 
average of six inches), grown from the seed on 
American soil; and the other eleven years older 
than the former, standing thirty feet in bight, 
twelve inches in diameter at the base, which 
was a plant imported by the writer from Scot¬ 
land, in 1857, when only six inches long. At the 
close of the exhibition - the larger tree was cut 
into fence posts, each seven feet in length, mak¬ 
ing four posts, the but cut making two posts. 
This tree was cut from a grove of Larch, set 
three feet apart in the row. Now suppose there 
had been one acre of ground set eleven years 
ago with these Larch ; there would have been 
4,820 trees. Allowing that each tree makes four 
posts, we have the round number of 19,280 posts 
which at twenty cents each would amount to 
$3,856, equal to more than $350 annually for the 
crop of eleven years. But instead of cutting off 
the entire crop we take only one-lialf, and leave 
the residue to grow on at a distance of 3 to 6 
feet apart, and a crop may be gathered worth 
$1,882, or equal to an annual crop of more than 
$150 per acre. Now there are standing on the 
ground more than 2,400 trees, which, left to 
grow for twenty years, will be 60 feet, or more, 
in bight, and will each make thirty fence posts, 
or ten railroad ties, which at 20 cents per post 
will amount to $14,400. But when we take into 
consideration the increased value of these posts 
over all other kinds of wood, from their imper¬ 
ishable character, the estimate would be double. 
Allowing that the price of timber remain what 
it is now, the profits of timber culture would 
far exceed all other productions of the soil. 
Another important item in this estimate is 
the very small outlay to produce this crop. It 
costs less money to plant an acre of European 
Larch than an acre of hops, it requires cultiva¬ 
tion only two years from the planting, and the 
next labor is the gathering the harvest. If the 
good of the country and of future generations 
will not induce the farmer to plant forests, then 
let his love of gain prompt him to the work. 
(In a letter received since the above came to 
hand,Mr. S. says:—) In regard to the Tyrolese 
and Common Larch of Europe I learn from late 
replies to my queries proposed to some of the 
leading nurserymen and foresters of Europe, 
and those who have made the distinction in 
their catalogues between the two, and uniformly 
rank the “Tyrolese” Variety at a higher price 
than “Common,” that they call seedlings grown 
from seed collected in Switzerland, “Tyrolese,” 
and from seed grown in Scotland, “Common 
do.” Several years ago the late Peter Lawson, 
of the firm of Peter Lawson & Son, in answer 
to my inquiry about the durable qualities of the 
two varieties, said: “Either is more durable 
than Red Cedar, but of the two the Tyrolese 
had the preference. But the European Larch 
ivhen brought into competition with American is 
as English oak to the Basswood for durability.” 
Low-headed versus High-headed Trees. 
BY DR. E. S. HULL, ALTON, ILL. 
[A course of lectures by various distinguish¬ 
ed agriculturists and pomologists was given in 
January last at the Illinois State Industrial Uni¬ 
versity. In a lecture on Orchard Fruits, Dr. E. 
S. Hull, a most successful Illinois orchardist, 
made the following remarks, which were re¬ 
ported for the Agriculturist by Mr. O. L. Barler, 
of Upper Alton, Ill. —Eds.] 
Shall we grow our trees with branches start¬ 
ing from the ground, or shall we prune ? and to 
what bight? These and similar questions are 
often asked. It would be superfluous to give 
any illustration of growing fruit trees to low 
heads, since for the past sixteen or eighteen 
years all our journals, both horticultural and 
agricultural, have vied with each other in de¬ 
scriptions how best to accomplish, as they sup¬ 
posed, so desirable a result. Indeed, so much 
has been written on this point, that we have 
gone from trunks six to eight feet high down 
to those of as many inches. These low-headed 
orchards on coming into bearing have disap¬ 
pointed, or must soon disappoint, their owners. 
The conditions attending the growing of fruits 
are now so changed from what they were but 
a few years since, that trees with low heads are 
in the main no longer a success! They increase 
the labor of cultivation many fold. The low 
branches cut off the under circulation, inducing 
disease in the foliage and rot in the fruit. They 
invite insect enemies, and make it difficult, if not 
impracticable, to arrest their ravages. In short, 
low heads are a failure, and the sooner we can 
induce people to start the heads of their trees at 
a proper bight, the sooner will it be possible to 
successfully destroy insects, to ward off diseases, 
to insure color to the fruit, and make it practi¬ 
cable to cultivate quite up to the trees by means 
of horse-power. In planting an orchard, we 
select trees as to age, according to their kind, 
Apricot, Peach, Plum, Cherry, one year old 
from the bud or graft; Apple and Pear, two 
and three years old. The four first named, if 
well grown, will be pot less than five or six feet 
