merican 
228 
SEASONABLE HINTS. 
Keeping arapes.-lUs ot «<>. 
keep Concords in good , almost 
than a few weeks. After having tried almost 
even' method recommended, we have gi 
up the attempt to keep thin-skinnec 
ties, and we fully agree with the sentiment 
somewhat tersely expressed by e 
Journal: a t- 
“ fussing up Grapes with cotton, sawdust, 
paper, wax, and so on, to keep them into 
winter, is all nonsense. Let the Grapes ripen 
perfectly, and then carefully pack into 
shallow boxes, or baskets, and, without 
changing or disturbing, keep them in the 
coolest place you can command. That’s all 
there is of it. The cooler the better, so they 
don’t fi’eeze. Some Grapes wont keep any 
way; don’t fool with them. Try the thick- 
skinned ones. Liana, Catawba, Isabella, and 
Salem have good reputations as keepers.” 
Selling Fruits — A. few Pears, Apples, 
Peaches, with a bunch or two of Grapes, and 
a few green leaves and flowers on the top, all 
neatly airanged in a small basket and cost¬ 
ing at retail about twenty-five cents, sell 
readily iu om* fruit stoves for seventy-five 
cents to a dollar, simply because the whole 
arrangement is pleasing and attractive and 
convenient to handle. This same principle 
applies to the selling of almost everything, 
and fruit-growers might take a hint or two 
from the lesson. 
Some fi'uit-growers also injure their 
reputation as well as their pockets, more 
than they are aware of, by dishonest “top¬ 
ping off.” To sell a barrel of inferior fruit 
for first-class because its top is veneered 
with a layer of good specimens is as much a 
fraud as it is to sell plated ware for solid 
silver. Market men suffer from this, unfor¬ 
tunately, growing practice fully as much as 
the growers themselves, as consumers prefer 
not to buy at all rather than be cheated 
every time. 
“ The principal discouragement to the pur¬ 
chase of Apples by the bairel by families,” 
said a prominent Washington Market dealer, 
“ is the contemptible way of filling ban-els; 
a nice layer on top and bottom, but the 
majority small, mean fruit.” 
Xahcl.sr.—The most durable and convenient 
label for trees is a strip of rough zinc. If 
ordinary smooth zinc has to be used, it 
should be Immersed in diluted muriatic acid 
for a few minutes, to roughen the surface. 
Ordinary pencil-writing will last for many 
years on such labels; they may be fastened 
with a copper wire, or if the strips are cut 
long enough their ends may be twisted 
around small limbs. 
There is nothing more discouraging, after 
having planted a collection of fruits, than to 
find when they come into bearing that the 
labels have become detached and every 
trace of them lost. The wise thing to do 
therefore, is to examine every newly planted 
tree before winter storms liave blown off the 
labels, and fasten them securely. And the 
still wiser thing after that is to make an 
accufate map of the orchard, no matter how 
rough, indicating the exact position and name 
of every tree, so that it maybe identified at a 
glance, independent of labels. 
the a 
petiningeaspbehb^^^^^.^^^ 
When I began culUvatmg ^ 
bush method was tbe 
only in tlio ipms- ^ , „„„0 
the old canes m ^anes out back the 
broke or out out the 0 
green wood ^gbes to stakes, and 
four feet, and tied tl 
thiuff of fall or spring pruning. 
i began by removing the oW canes in 
spring, butbeoame convinoed 1 was bette^ 
to remove them early m the fa . ^ 
ieoted to the removal of the old oanos 
fS that their leaves would yet play an im¬ 
portant part in the growth of the young 
Lod; that they would hold the snow; and 
that as the condition of the hill the nex 
spring cannot be determined, the work must 
be partial and done at hap-hazard. 
In reply to this I have to say that, in my 
locality (western Illinois, just on the fortieth 
parallel), the canes have winter-killed but 
once in a dozen years, and then the Injury 
was only partial; that I have foiuid the old 
eanes Inadequate to hold the snow against 
our driving prairie winds, and that only one 
ivinter was the protection of the snow re¬ 
quired; that the new canes as effectually 
secure the drifting of the snow about them, 
when we have a drifting wind, as they would 
together with the old canes; that the office 
which the leaves of the old canes perform in 
the gi-owth of the new is greatly overesti¬ 
mated in its importance, if such office exists 
at all; that it is much more convenient to do 
thisw'ork in the fall than in the spring, wiien 
thei-e is certainly enough other work to keep 
us busy; and that the field looks much better 
without the old canes than -ivith them. In 
addition, by cutting out and burning old 
canes (the latter should always be promptly 
done) soon after fruiting, you will destroy 
noxious insects and worms in various stages 
of growth, which otherwise would injure the 
canes. 
Some extensive gi-ow'ers of my acquaint¬ 
ance do not remove the old canes at all. 
They claim that this slovenly plan works 
well, but on general principles! would oppose 
it, though 17nust confess that I have never 
tried it. I have fotind no difficulty in properly 
treating the new canes in the fall, and I do 
not see why any person of good j.ulgment 
should. 
The bush inethod saves stakes, wire or 
twine, and all the disagreeable work of tying 
up, and I wo.dd strongly recommend it 
though it entails frequent primings during 
the summer. But these primings can bo 
done very rapidly. The object is to trans¬ 
form the cane into a little tree which will be 
self-supporting. As the 
removing the tip of the 
pruning consists i 
method. 
The first year’s growth 
^ust expend itself in some diT^^ 
throws out laterals; These lateral??®’ 
and support the stem and do away • 
necessity for supports. As not all ^ 
will be ready for pinching back at th 
time, it will be necessary to go 
plantation about once a week, walk'*'^ 
tween two rows and pinching on ea*?.'’®' 
In the end you will gain time by a?®’ 
weekly pranings, when you can pinch off 
tip between your thumb and Anger, iny**® 
of pruning only once, when you will ha^^*^ 
remove more or less wood; and the 
by far the best for the canes. 
In spring the laterals must be cut back t 
a length of about one foot, and for this n " 
ing I have found nothing so good as a pah"! 
sheep-shears. With these or a pruning-knif 
the work can be done very rapidly, j 
not been as successful in my efforts to train 
the rods into bushes. It is best not to pind, 
them back at all the first season, but after 
ward to keep them well cut back. 
John m. Stahl. 
Ciino only, it can bo 
succeeding year the tips of tlm ' ‘ 
shoots are pinched back when 
four to thirty inches high. This « 
influence of pollen upon FEUITS, 
Prof. Lazenby’s carefully conducted expefi. 
meuts with pollenating pistillate varieties of 
Strawberries seem to furnish ummistakable 
proofs that the appearance and character of 
the berries are modified by the pollen. The 
characteristics of the male parent were 
plainly evident in each case, with the Cres¬ 
cent as well as the Manchester. 
Where the pollen of the Cumberland was 
used the color -was very light and the berrie.s 
exceedingly soft. Those fertilized with the 
pollen of the James Vick were small, bat 
very firm and remarkably perfect in outline. 
The cross with the Charles Downing showed 
a marked resemblance in shape, color, and 
consistency to this well-known variety. 
Wliere the Sharpless was used as the male 
parent the berries w'ere large and irregular, 
and miieli more imperfect than those of any 
other. 
STEAWBEERT FEETILIZERS. 
Bone-dust and tvood-ashes will supply a" 
that may be lacking for Straw'berries in anj 
soil, says M. Crawford, of Ohio, and these 
can be obtained in nearly all parts of the 
country. Of all the commercial fertiliz'^'^ 
none is safer to buy than pure ground bone. 
It must, however, bo decomposed befoiT I '•> 
plants can use it, as they take up all tla”’^ 
food in solution. For imniediato effect 1 '* 
sometimes advisablo to uso dissolved ben® 
(superphosphate of limo), which will 'C 
washed down to tho roots by the first riua- 
done by pinching with tho thumb and lingor 
or with aprmnug-knife, largo Hci„„„rs, lie.b!. ’ 
trimmer, or slicop-slioars; but as n i ^ 
THINNING PEACHES. 
Thinning fruit is one of tho arts 
aro loss understood and practiced hy 
growers than any other; yet every one 
trios it hecomos convinced of its If 
fulness, and the following e.xporionce 0 
osteemod eorrospondont. Win. M. .j„rf 
of Tonnesseo, is woU worth ronioni ci 
another HOiisini: f.oui >' 
After having thinned tbc Poachos ' 
partieiihir tree that last year produci'i 
the size of sinall Plums, so ns to p. 
Olio I’oiicli to II spur, tho tree wns 
the groiiml with llie largest fruit *' 
