k*l»RAL 
/CULTURE'^ 
EXCELSIOR 
II Pnrlt How, New York 
h2 liulfalo St., Hocliewtcr, 
SS2.00 PER YEAH. 
Siiiirle No., Eight Cents 
FOR THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, AUG. 13,1870 
[Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year ISTU. by D. D. T. Moons, in the Clark’s Otricn of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York.) 
the soils or our Western prairie 
or new lands, tin: extremes of 
heat and cold of our climates, 
the severe storms of winds to 
which wo are subject, etc., I am 
free to confess that at this time 
1 am an advocate of closer 
planting than has heretofore 
been generally practiced or ad¬ 
vised. T am satisfied I see a 
gain in protection and shade 
from the first, 1 see it gain in 
the crop for ton years, consider¬ 
ing the extent of land, and the 
value of culture used, by plant¬ 
ing eight feet instead of thirty 
feet or even twenty feet, apart; I 
see a health anil vigor, a less lia¬ 
bility to injury and decay from 
severe action of sun or storms, 
in the thickly planted orchard 
as compared with that to which 
we must, look forward thirty 
years for its maturity ; and I 
am disposed to think we have 
paid too little attention to a 
stock on which to work choice 
sorts, that when grown will 
bring them early Into hearing, 
and once in bearing help to pre¬ 
vent our having to thin them 
out, if inadvertently we have 
planted a little too closely. 
F. R, Elliott. 
I set out in life with the orch¬ 
ards of my father as my early 
study, ami there the trees were 
forty feet apart. 1 read author 
after author, each of whom car¬ 
ried their teaching in true rota¬ 
tion, and as 1 now view it, based 
only upon the wants of the ap 
pie tree when it reaches its full 
maturity. Thought and refer¬ 
ence to the different habits in 
growth, their upright or spread¬ 
ing forms, have never, or rarely, 
been touched upon; nor hits the 
comparative value of shade of 
the soil — as an ameliorating 
item conditional with the health 
of the tree—been duly consid¬ 
ered by advisers as to the dis- \ Ik 
tance at which to plant trees; 
and even at this day, I read nr- H v 
tides saying, “ Plant, your apple 
trees thirty-five to forty feet 
apart.” Now, I have no action v. 
to take with such advisers; it is 
their view, and is worth what it .jfcv 
is worth; to many, it is correct 
and wise; to me it is the re¬ 
verse. 
In -1850 I commenced a speci¬ 
men orchard of apple trees, and 
planted them twenty feet apart, _ 
a distance which all my friends 
said would require at least, every 
other tree to be removed in ten S 
years. The trees did well, for I 
gave them good care. Then the 
property passed from my hands, 
but it lias been well cared for, and I have 
had opportunity to watch its growth, and 
now twenty years have passed and the trees 
do not shade more than one-half of the sur¬ 
face of the ground, 
other crops it has 
been of no value, as 
the working the or. 
chard, the roots, etc., 
gave more trouble 
than the value of any 
crop obtained. Ilud I 
planted those trees 
ten feet, or even eight 
feet apart and culti¬ 
vated for them alone 
until the trees were 
too large for cultiva¬ 
tion, and then mulch¬ 
ed, I am satisfied, I, 
or whoever was the 
owner, would have 
gained thereby; for 
the space, in the time, 
would not have been 
more than fully oc¬ 
cupied ; and had the 
trees been kept head¬ 
ed back, say, by prun¬ 
ing in July, the crop 
would have been an¬ 
nual ami profitable, 
while the other half 
or two-thirds of the 
land could have been 
used for other crops 
free from the annoy¬ 
ance of working 
among trees. 
In 18G3 I set out 
another orchard of 
standard apples, each 
sixteen feet apart, and 
at the same time I set 
the same number of 
dwarfs on the Dou- 
cain stock, each six 
by five feet. The re¬ 
sults are that on the 
former i have gath¬ 
ered say two to three 
bushels of fruit, and 
on the latter fifteen 
to twenty ; but now 
r bar i culture 
PEACHES IN HANGING BASKETS 
HARVESTING AND BALING HOPS 
Air. A. C. OirAMr.EKLA.iN, Brooklyn, N. 
Y., has, the past eight or ten years, been 
experimenting in growing fruit trees— 
such as peaches, figs, nectarines, &o . t —in 
hanging baskets and pots. lie plants a 
yearling tree In a zinc basket, which is 
filled with moss which, Mr. CHAMBERLAIN 
claims, has been chemically prepared with 
the necessary elements for the growth, of the 
tree. These zinc baskets are of various 
sizes—from six inches to a foot in diameter. 
The moss rests on a perforated plate, which 
fits into the kettle-shaped bottom of the 
basket, two or three inches above the 
apex, thus insuring a chamber into which 
there is drainage without loss of water. In 
some of the baskets a funnel extends into 
the chamber, and the water Is supplied to it 
direct; hut Mr. Chamberlain has found 
that dipping the basket in water once or 
twice a day is equally as well for the plant. 
We give here with an illustration of one 
of these hanging baskets with a peach tree, 
five years old, growing in it and hearing 
fruit. The tree is two feet nine inches in 
bight. The basket in which it grows is 
eleven inches in diameter. It was bearing 
fine fruit. It is trained to the drooping 
habit shown. We saw peaches, figs and 
nectarines in common six and eight-inch 
earthen garden pots, in fruit, maturing and 
mature. We gathered and ate from trees 
about two feet high, Coolidge’s Favorite 
and Heath’s Cling peaches—the former in 
excellent eating condition ; the latter finely 
colored and of good size, but not quite ripe. 
Air. Chamberlain fruits his peach trees the 
next year alter planting. lie has peach 
trees five years old which he says have 
borne four crops of fruit. These trees look 
healtlifill and thrifty. The fruit we tasted 
was finely flavored, of good size and well 
colored. 
What this will amount to practically re¬ 
mains to be seen. What peaches can be 
grown and sold for in this manner we do 
not know. In answer t.o an inquiry, Mr. C. 
thought it could he made profitable at fifty 
cents a peach. The secret of success, it is 
claimed, lies in the chemical compound or 
fertilizing material used. That is Mr. C’s 
secret. What that costs per pot we don’t 
know ; what it costs per tree to keep it a 
year, we do not know; how milch fruit a 
tree will produce annually after it com¬ 
mences fruiting, we do not know. As a 
rare thing, as a fancy, it is not a had one to 
grow peaches in pots in a common plant 
house. They are kept in a deep pit outside 
until wanted for forcing the fruit. It is 
very nice to be able to hang over one’s 
dining table a basket of fruit growing on 
the tree, and pluck It fresh therefrom. That 
it can be done Mr. C. has proved. That it 
can be made profitable to supply fruit to 
tables in this way is yet to he established. 
Tiie most important part in raising hops 
is the harvest, as any one can get them on 
the polls with cultivation ; but much care is 
required to prepare the crop for market. 
The first, is clean picking; the next is to 
have them fresh when they are put in the 
kiln, as they will heat in sacks, if crowded, 
in four hours in hot weather, if sacked in 
the fore part oft.hu day, but one box should 
be put in a sack, the sack spread ils entire 
length on the ground, and no pressure al¬ 
lowed on them. When they are put on the 
kiln floor they should he spread evenly, and 
a lire put under them at, once, and the heat 
raised to about 180 Fahrenheit, and remain 
there four or live hours, when the hops next 
the floor will begin to dry; then the heat, 
should be slowly reduced to about I GO''. 
When dry enough to turn, Which is when 
the top hops have commenced to get dry, so 
that they are getting lighter, they should be 
carefully turned over. 
The sulphur should he used ( Hie first of the 
season) at. the rate of about one and a-lialf 
pounds to forty boxes; but during the last 
Of the season the amount should he in¬ 
creased, as then the hops are not as bright. 
In using sulphur the steam should he. well 
started on the hops first, so that, they are 
quite damp; then it should nil ha burnt at 
once on the stove in a large dish like a drip¬ 
ping pan, that it may burn quick, so that 
the fumes may ba forced through the Imps 
at once. 
After turning the hops the heat should be 
gradually reduced to about 180°, as they will 
thereby be rendered tough, ami no danger 
of overdrying or the lupulin being crystal- 
ized, which renders it nearly worthless. 
After being dried so that at least seven- 
eighths of the stems on the inside of the 
hops are entirely dry, they may he shoved 
from the kiln to the cooling floor, and from 
there (when another kiln full is ready) to the 
store-room. 
In haling, care should be taken that the 
corners and outside are well packed in the 
press, that the bale he of good shape, the 
sewing well done, and the selvage edges just 
drawn together, so that, the bale will all he 
of a size. When completed the name or 
initials of the grower Should always he put 
on t he top or bottom side of the bale, so that 
when standing up it can always he seen. 
One thing every hop grower should remem¬ 
ber— that his hops are always made #r 
spoiled After they are ready to harvest. 
Lewiston, Wis. E. F. L. 
SUMAC FOR MARKET. 
THE ELLIOTT DWARF APPLE TREE. 
my dwarfs are loaded, as see a drawing 
herewith of one out of a row of fifty or more, 
all equally good ; while my standard orchard 
has perhaps two bushels for the year. 
Taking all things into account, estimating 
mac is made ready for market, in the Mary¬ 
land Farmer we find the following direc¬ 
tions. The sumac should not he taken■ be¬ 
fore the leaf is thoroughly matured—say the 
middle of July. It. 
can be gathered ns 
long as the leaves will 
stick to the stem or 
until killed by frost,. 
Its turning red does 
not hurt it. The little 
black sumac, as it is 
called, is as good as 
% any. The red berries 
n must he thrown out. 
? B may ho wilted in 
the sun, but must, he 
wW/fSa ‘ cured under cover, 
\T 7 and not allowed to 
x' /-li ffllhe burnt by the sun 
0110 wct > or to he 
f ' ’I j in such large quanti- 
t ^ Bos as to heat in cur- 
destroys its color and 
strength and renders 
^ Ulv ^ valueless. It should 
// not be thrown upon a 
iu tight floor to cure; 
(/v / /yy'- ^ hut raised up, so 
[' j as to let the air get 
/jFv' ' V v-' All sumac should 
?AY\ yv \, \J be gathered at least a 
hUbvi ' HI month before it is 
y \\g\fh sufficiently cured to 
■'MvH J ' u be brought in for sale; 
W and in had weather 
■JR even a longer time 
yv ' may he required to 
not only the leaf, but 
the stem too, must be 
thoroughly dry. All 
the sap must be dried 
out, so that the slem 
will snap short off 
like a clay pipe 
stem, or it cannot he 
received, for it will 
heat and spoil. This 
must he strictly ob- 
PEACH TREE IN A HANGING BASKET, AS GROWN BY A. C CHAMBERLAIN. served.” 
ABOUT SEED POTATOES 
Last spring seed potatoes were scarce 
here, and those on hand were made to go as 
far as possible by cuffing into Small pieces. 
In planting my White Peach Blows, I 
dropped one row of fair-sized whole pota¬ 
toes in the middle of the lot, and then cut 
the same potatoes to two eyes and planted 
them on each side of the first row. They 
are all doing well; but the row planted 
with whole potatoes is far ahead of the 
others. In looking across the patch it 
seems as if planted on a ridge or hack fur¬ 
row standing out, as if. docs, so much higher 
than the rest. On a closer examination I 
find the stalks thicker and the foliage a 
shade darker. From all appearances, it 
will yield one-half more than any other 
row. Still, I doubt the propriety of plant¬ 
ing whole potatoes for the main crop. It 
may do well when seed is abundant and 
cheap; hut it would not pay as well, in years 
when they are worth one dollar or more per 
bushel. 
But there is one feature about it which l 
think would be profitable; and tha' is, lo 
DWARF APPLE TREES. 
I have not thus far advocated the plant¬ 
ing of apple trees worked on the Paradise or 
the Doucaiii stocks, except for amateurs 
possessed only of a small extent of real 
estate, and who were desirous of having a 
few apples grown by themselves as speci¬ 
mens of beauty and illustrations of their 
horticultural love, rather than as items of 
profit in the growing of fruit. But each 
■ additional year brings with it added thoughts 
, and observations, additional teachings, and 
the overthrow of supposed knowledge, ad- 
1 ditional records of failures and successes in 
orcharding, attributed to various causes, un- 
til 1 am at times almost led to believe horti- 
L culture is like woman, beyond the compass 
S. of man’s mind. 
