MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
SEPT. IS 
§omol00ical. 
GRAPES FOE EXHIBITION AND TRANS- 
POETATION. 
Very much depends upon the proper ar¬ 
rangement of fruit for exhibition, and in 
none are mistakes more frequently made 
.v than with grapes, whose thin skins, covering 
a soft, pulpy mass of juice, are peculiarly 
liable to injury. A correspondent of the 
London Gardener gives an illustration repre¬ 
senting the proper mode of setting up grapes 
for exhibition, and we have had the cut en¬ 
graved as timely and uppropriute for the 
fair season now in progress. Tli« bunch rests 
on a slanting board, secured at the top by a 
string tying the stem of the vino attached to 
a nail driven in behind. The board is first 
covered with a sheet of cotton butting and 
' then with a piece of thin, white tea paper. 
If necessary, the lower part of the bunch 
may be further scoured by a string carefully 
passed between the grapes und tied beneath 
the board. It is always best to fix the 
bunches just as they are cut from the vines, 
always laying them on their flattest side. In 
doing this it is never desirable to lift a bunch 
after it is laid on the board, for it cannot be 
.1 easily done without more or less disturbing 
* the bloom of the scrape. When all are fixed 
in their places, fit the exhibition platform 
into a square box just wide enough to take 
it in and deep enough to ciour the fruit when 
the lid is screwed on j then put a couple of 
screws through the box from the outside 
into the back board of the platform and they 
cannot move. In conveying them care must 
be taken to keep the box level and not to 
jolt it severely. 
PAQKIHQ DRAPES. 
The packing of grapes to be sent long dis¬ 
tances by rail and other conveyances requires 
to be carefully managed. There are many 
ways of packing them, I have seen each 
buuoh laid on a thick, stiff sheet of paper and 
folded up sufficiently tight to prevent the 
bunch from moving about in the paper. 
They are then packed closely in boxes suffi¬ 
ciently deep to admit a layer of paper shav¬ 
ing under and over them, so that when the 
lid of the box is fastened down ouch parcel 
was held securely In its place. The stillness 
of the paper is supposed to coma ui contact 
with the bunch at fewer points than when 
wrapped up in more flexible paper, and on 
t account to better preserve the bloom. 
. ore is, however, at the same time room 
left for the oscillation of those berries not in 
mi mediate contact with the paper, and this 
is objectionable. In sending grapes to a dis¬ 
tance I have never adopted this mode of 
packing, but have either wrapped each bunch 
in a sheet of line tissue paper, and packed 
them, on a firm bed of paper shavings as 
close as they would lie, with just sufficient 
wadding between each to fill up the irregu¬ 
larities of the outline of the bunches. When 
the box is thus filled a sheet of wadding is 
s read regularly over the bunches, and over 
all a layer of paper shavings, so that when 
t he lid is shut down they are subject to as 
much pressure as prevents their moving. 
At other times, when only sending a few 
bunches in one compartment of a box, 1 
have spread a sheet of paper over the shav¬ 
ings in the bottom of the box and laid all 1 
the bunches, as nicely fitted into each other 
as possible, on it, then put another sheet of 
tissue paper over them, then some cotton 
wadding, finishing off with a layer of paper 
shavings. In this way I have always found 
them go quite safely. When a quantity has 
to be sent in one box it should be divided 
into compartments, so that when the box 
happens to be set down standing on end or 
side the grapes at the lower part of it cannot 
possibly be subject to much pressure from 
the top end of the box. I do not know any 
way of sending them to preserve their bloom, 
for unless some person is sent with the box 
there must be packing material on the upper 
side of the grapes. 
Those who grow grapes extensively for the 
fruit market, and have to send them in large 
quantities by rail, pack differently from any 
of the methods described above. Indeed, 
they use next to no packing materials what¬ 
ever. Thqy place a few flexible paper shav¬ 
ings in the bottom of a uearly oval-shaped 
wicker basket with open sides. The grapes ' 
are cut and laid in layers round the sloping 
side of the basket, and layer after layer of 
grapes are laid on without any packing ma- f 
terial until the basket is finished with a , 
bunch in the centre. In this way they are , 
packed firmly to prevent oscillation, and it j 
is astonishing how Utile the bloom is tar¬ 
nished, The baskets are then put into ^ 
i i wooden boxes, generally two stories deep, e 
_ 
and sent by passenger train. The fruiterer 
or salesman meets them at the terminus. 
Tons of grapes are thus sent hundreds of 
miles to market with the greatest safety. 
--♦ « » - 
TREATMENT OF FRUIT TREES. 
A writer in the Farmers’ Home Journal 
writes as follows on the management of 
fruit trees from planting till the age for 
bearing fruit : 
My grafting was commenced on stock, 
but on grafting fifty I changed to root, and 
they cannot be grown with a profit on the era that is twenty-four inches in ctrcumfer- 
Soutbem coast, unless at places exceptionally ence and fourteen inches from base to sum- 
free from frost, either near the ocean or on 
the hillsides. The frost which we have men¬ 
tioned, was one of the severest ever felt in 
that part of the State, but Its damaging 
influence was not appreciated until lately. 
It was followed a few weeks afterward by a 
sirocco, or hot wind from the ocean that 
also did much harm to fruit which had been 
spared by the frost. The orange trees were 
not injured, but it is thought that the orange 
crop of next Winter will be small. Fruit 
(JltAPES PREPARED FOR KXHI7UTION. 
found this the best for both apples and pears, now is generally dearer at Los Angeles than 
After a thorough cultivation for one year, I 
transplanted to their permanent place, a 
high, dry plat of ground with a stiff clay 
subsoil; cultivated the first year in potatoes 
and melons. When I set out a tree of any 
kind I trim off all the limbs and top it right 
where I want it to head. The second year l 
sowed wheat, and gave each tree a wheel¬ 
barrow load of well-rotted cow' manure. 
Tlie third year I sowed oats and clover ; cut 
the clover for ten feet around each tree and 
mulched them with the green clover to the 
depth of two L'cet in the fall. I plowed the 
clover under each time, plowing the rows in 
single lauds, throwing the dirt to the treeB ; 
by (hat mode I now have a mound around 
each tree and a drain in the center. The 
fifth year I planted it in potatoes and melons. 
The sixth year 1 planted corn in the center 
of the rows, cultivating both waj’s. The 
seventh, back to oats ; the eight back to po¬ 
tatoes and gardening ; ninth, back to corn ; 
tenth, back to oats; eleventh in clover, 
without any other crop this summer, and 
sow to rye next, and turn that under in May 
of the next year. This was for apples and 
pears, cherries, peaches aud plums and other 
fruit I treat differently, not forgetting to 
turn and shape the trees all the time. 
Young beginners aie quite apt to leave too 
much growth at the start, aud which will 
have to come out at a time that will be a 
great draw back to the trees. I have trimmed 
at all times of the year and find February 
and March the best. I go over twice a year 
and take out all superfluous growth, and 
there need be but little piuning the next 
year. Budding or grafting is a simple opera¬ 
tion, and can be performed by any one who 
will try. And then, when your trees come 
into bearing you will not be disappointed, as 
many can attest. After your orchard comes 
into bearing you should use stable manure 
only about every six years ; used oftener it 
will produce too much growth of wood, to 
the detriment of fruit. 
In planting peaches, plums, apricots and 
nectarines, if you will sod the trees for one 
foot around the trunk with blue grass, and 
not let it spread any further you will not be 
troubled with worms, and then keep up a 
thorough cultivation of the ground. 
in San Francisco, and as the grain and grass 
crops are also short, many of the land owners 
have a scanty income from their estates. 
The loss to the local community, however, 
is more than compensated by the continued 
throng of visitors and speculators, and the 
progress of improvement. Muny buildings 
are going up in the new towns, and land is 
stil) rising in value.” 
♦ ♦+- 
Fruit Growing in Wisconsin. —Samuel 
S. Grubb writes as fellows in the German¬ 
town (Penn.) Telegraph .-—Interested parties 
may differ with me, but I now venture the 
assertion that Wisconsin can never become a 
profitable fruit-growing State unless there is 
a radical change In the climate. When I 
say a radical change, I do not allnde to 
extreme cold, but to our clear, dry at.nios 
phere here and the scorching effect of the 
sun’s rays. The fact is we must give in 
creased attention to the culture of the grape 
and smaller fruits. The grape does remark¬ 
ably well ; I did not lose a vine out of 
forty-one varieties. The fruit is of extra 
fine flavor aud the vine comparatively free 
from insects and disease. 
cjloriqultuiial. 
THE COMING SHRUB. 
THE CALIFORNIA FRUIT CROP. 
The San Francisco Alta of July 12, says : 
“ The grape crop promises to be. good in the 
State generally, and is unusually large in 
some districts near San Francisco Bay, and 
scanty in some others, especially about Los 
Angeles and San Gabriel. A frost which 
came in the latter part of April was very 
severe at Los Angeles, and in early pruned 
vineyards, where the shoots were far ad¬ 
vanced, the loss is complete, while at Ana¬ 
heim, where the frost was lighter and the 
pruning had been done late, there will be a 
ood yield. Tue bananas at San Gabriel 
er e cut down and it is admitted now that 
Lilium auratum among Lilies—Mad. Pol¬ 
lock among variegated Pelargoniums—the 
Bartlett and Seckel among Pears—the Spitz- 
enburg, Baldwin and Tomp. Co. King among 
Apples—the Weeping Hemlock among Ever¬ 
greens, and such distinguished favorites of 
the present and* past have not enjoyed a 
greater popularity or one better merited, 
each in its way, than is promised to the re¬ 
cently introduced new Hydrangea, li. pani- 
culata alba, among hardy shrubs. In truth, 
it is one of those first-rate plants at long in¬ 
tervals brought to light that commends itself 
to every observer, and a few seasons suffice 
to spread it far and near, and it becomes a 
fixture in every garden. 
Its first certificate of merit consists in its 
being perfectly hardy—taking the country 
about New York City as a standard—having 
endured last Winter’s severity (a sufficient 
test, certainly) without protection, not a 
branch having been injured. Though not 
quite so large, the leaves resemble those of 
the If cigela in color and shape, though the 
margins are more sharply toothed. They 
are opposite, sometimes in verticils of three, 
two inches apart upon unbranching stems, 
every one of which is terminated by a thyrse 
of flowers that bends the branch half to the 
oarth with its weight. An idea of the showi- 
ness of this plant may be gained when we 
say that the thyrses will average eighteen 
inches in circumference aud ten inches from 
the base convexly to the summit; and we 
k ve just measured one of our largest flow 
mit. We have Bix plants, one two years old, 
the others received from the nursery this 
i Spring, and these six plants now bear 120 
; thyrses of the above enormous dimensions. 
It is no mean item in Its favor that we have 
i not to wait several years for its flowers ; in- 
\ deed, there is no marked difference between 
i the one planted two years ago and those 
s planted this Spring. Its foliage and habit 
i are not such as to make it desirable that it 
> should attain a great size, and one season’s 
growth defines, we should judge, its pretti¬ 
est proportions. 
The thyrses of this Hydrangea are of the 
sugar-loaf shape ; the flowers wheu they 
first appear (about August 8th this year) are 
white, tinted with green, growing whiter 
until about September 1st, when the lower 
florets change to a faint rose, which con¬ 
tinues until frost. They may fairly be called 
white. It is not true—speaking from our 
own experience—that the color changes ac¬ 
cording to the soil. Our six plants grow in 
quite different soils, and though two of them 
have been saturated with a strong infusion 
of the tincture of the muriate of iron no 
change, of color is yet apparent in the flowers. 
The Bhowiness of the thyrse is due to the 
calyces of the external florets, which are 
white, sometimes of three but usually of 
four sepals, measuring an inch or more 
across, with a minute corolla of four petals, 
an imperfect pistil and eight rudimentary 
stamens. These impotent flowers spread 
over the whole surface, while, with the 
modesty of rare merit, concealed beneath 
and almost sessile upon the same pedicels 
are the little fertile flowers, less than a quar¬ 
ter of an inch in diameter, consisting of five 
sepals, five petals and ten stamens—five long, 
five short. 
There is no other one consideration that so 
1 smothers one’s interest in the shrubs and 
1 trees of one’s home as to find, after a season 
or so of fine growth, that a Winter of great 
severity cuts them down to the ground or 
kills them outright. And it is for this reason 
that we should prize plants, even though less 
beautiful in other respects, that are equal to 
any severity with which the particular local¬ 
ity for which they are selected is likely to be 
visited. But we have in Hydrangea panicu- 
lata alba a shrub that iB unquestionably 
hardy, and that, besides its lavish inflores¬ 
cence, blooms throughout a long period 
when, for the most part, other shrubs lend 
only their foliage to the beauty of the garden. 
It may be propagated from cuttings read¬ 
ily, and thrives in almost any situation ex¬ 
cept a hot, sandy soil. In this the thyrses 
are comparatively small and the leaves wilt 
during the heat of the day. 
We recommend nurserymen to provide an 
ample stock, for, if we may credit our own 
eyes and the unanimous voice of our friends, 
Hydrangea pnniculata alba is the Coming 
Shrub. E. S. Carman. 
ltiver Edge, Bergen Co., N. J. 
- *■■*•■* - 
FLORICULTURAL NOTES. 
The London Garden speaks of Reseda od- 
orata pyrarnidalis as the best of all the Mig¬ 
nonettes for outdoor use and a great improve¬ 
ment on the old varieties. In the same 
journal a lady, wishing to induce an earlier 
and more constant bloom in her Clematis, 
Jackmani, inquires if she shall cut it down in 
winter. Mr. Jackman replies that she shall 
cut it down to within a foot of the ground in 
November, and dig in a liberal supply of 
well-rotted manure. 
Double M orning Glory—(L.H.. F.) The leaf 
aud pressed flower of the semi-double morn¬ 
ing glory sent us are scarcely sufficient for 
determining the species, but we think it is a 
variety of our wild Bindweed, Valystegia 
septum, which frequently produces double 
or semi-double flowers under cultivation. 
This species is a perennial, while the com¬ 
mon convolvulus or morning glory of the 
gardens is an annual, if we have made a 
correct guess, the roots of your plant will 
sprout again next Spring. Save seeds, if the 
plant produces any, and sow them next 
Spring and note the result. 
German Ivy Losing Its Leaves —(Inquirer.) 
Probably the cause of your German Ivy los¬ 
ing its leaves is want of room for the roots to 
spread or scarcity of nourishment. This 
plant is quite a rampant grower and needs a 
good deal of pot-room for its roots. Trans¬ 
plant into a larger pot or take off a few cut¬ 
tings, and when they get well rooted throw 
away the old plant. We usually do this 
every year, because the plants get veiy 
large in the course of one season and the 
leaves on the lower part of the stem are 
likely to die off unless the roots are given 
plenty of room, and young plants have a 
fresh*appearance while old ones are likely to 
become somewhat faded. 
