HOUSE AND GARDEN 
October, 1909 
141 
Dr. Kendall’s currant bushes, though fifteen years old, are kept pruned down to three feet in height. They bear 
fruit that is as large as cherries 
of poor or even of 
medium quality.” 
In training the grape¬ 
vine he has a method 
of his own. 11 is 
not allowed to grow 
more than four or 
five feet high be¬ 
fore the vines are 
stretched from the 
trellis or support to a 
tree or post a few 
feet away, and upon 
these separate wires 
the grape-bearing 
branches are trained. 
The fruit clusters 
thus have the best 
chance possible for 
absolutely unob¬ 
structed growth, air 
and light. Dr. 
Kendall’s grapes 
have several times 
been prize winners. 
His leaders are Dela¬ 
ware, Worden, 
Campbell’s Early 
and Green Mountain. 
The doctor has tried 
cultivating the modern 
Japanese plum, but has 
set the variety aside in favor of the older American strain known 
as the Jefferson. The latter has been lost sight of in recent years, 
but is invaluable for domestic use, rich in flavor, prolific in bearing. 
Like many other amateur gardeners, Dr. Kendall has had his 
fancies and fads in experimenting with foreign fruits and nuts, 
but says the returns do not warrant the time and expense. Apri¬ 
cots, nectarines, etc. have been nursed to maturity, but the New 
England climate is not favorable to such attempts. Huckle¬ 
berries and blueberries, of our wild fruits, have been planted within 
the garden border, but, in his experience, they cannot be satis¬ 
factorily domesticated. 
Doubtless, one secret of Dr. Kendall’s success with his single 
acre is the intensive cultivation he gives it. By intensive cultiva¬ 
tion is meant heavy fertilizing, rigid pruning, and generous 
thinning-out of the green fruit. Another secret is the personal 
care he gives to everything and the fact that he has the interested 
help of a man whom he has trained to the work, and who has been 
his faithful assistant for fifteen years. 
The experience of Dr. Kendall in his selection of varieties 
is the experience of one man in one particular locality. It should 
not be inferred that no other varieties of currants or goose¬ 
berries or pears are worth while. Another gardener under like 
conditions of soil and climate, or Dr. Kendall in another loca¬ 
tion, would perhaps have made an entirely different selection. 
The grape vines are permitted to grow only three or four feet high, 
then stretched out over wires to get the maximum air and sun 
Dr. Kendall’s one-acre home garden is made to yield prize fruits through 
heavy fertilizing, hard pruning, and thinning out the green fruit 
