144 
THE 
June, 
low 
SEASONABLE HINTS. 
11 anyone doubts the benefieial influences 
ol fruit growing, let him go now into sec¬ 
tions, where Strawberries are raised exten- 
siveiy, and he will learn that in almost every 
Instance, fruit growing, from a small begin- 
nuig, has spread and Increased until not a 
home is to be found without its fruit garden. 
With the greater abundance ol fruit, more 
and more is used at home, resulting in the 
better health, comfort and liappiness of the 
consuYnere^ Compare with this a rural home 
destitute of luscious fruits, fresh vegetables, 
and blight, sweet flowers; and the wide dif¬ 
ference becomes apparent to even the most 
supertcial observer. Refinement, intelli¬ 
gence, and morality are the natural concom¬ 
itant,s.of fruit culture and general horticul- 
turaltlevelopment. 
Fruits is most fascinating 
emplOyuieht, productive of a great deal of 
pleasure, and, sometimes, profit too. 
Seejdling. Strawberiies are easil}" raised. 
The most perfect berries should be selected 
for the purpose. They may be dried in the 
sun, and gently rubbed so as to separate all 
the seeds;, or, when larger quantities are to 
be prepai-ed, they may be washed out and 
strained. AVhen dry, the seeds may be kept 
till the folloiving spring, or till wanted. 
But a more .satisfactory way is to mash the 
berries with enough fine, dry sand to make 
a drj' mixture, and sow at once. 
The soil should be light and friable, and 
the seeds covered not more than one-six¬ 
teenth to one-eighth of an inch. They may 
be sown in the open ground in some partly 
shaded situation where the young plants are 
to remain till the following spring, when 
they are to be transplanted in beds, like or¬ 
dinary layer plants. 
Professional growers prefer to sow the 
seed in boxes or pots, as in this way better 
care can be given to the young plants. 
Grown thus they generally become barge 
enough for transplanting in early autumn. 
In either case the plants require careful pro¬ 
tection during winter. 
Other small fruit seedlings may be raised in 
the same nianner, but the seeds, even when 
sown as soon as ripe,—which is the best 
time,—will not germinate before the follow¬ 
ing spring. 
Transplanlinij Jlaspberrks. —'I'liis yeai-’s 
sprouts may be transplanted now, by taking 
advantage of a damp, cloudy day. When 
the young .shoots are about .six inches high 
they are in the most favorable condition for 
taking them up. This should be done with 
a sharp spade, so as to preserve a good-sized 
lump of soil attached totlie roots, with wliich 
they are to be transferred to their new posi¬ 
tion. With ordinary caie .all will live, and 
produce acrop of beia ies the following year. 
Hardiness of (Jnrranls.—A friend living on 
Long I.sland told us the other d.ay that all 
his Currants were winter-killed. 'I’his was 
a surprise, as it is the first time tliat we have 
known Currants to be injured by frost in 
this vicinity. We had always considered 
them as frost-proof as fence-posts; like the 
latter we have seen them tlirown out of tiic 
ground by frost, but never killed outright. 
feuit packages. 
Suitable size, ^ 
Cost of packages foi to the 
consideiaations of more ” ’ ^ fn 
fruit grower than is general > suppos l 
regard to tlie question ^ gj,!, o„e 
lire is not preferable to a moi e costly on 
whicli has to be returned, there is consi 
able difierence of opinion. 
A few claim that the best, reg.udlcss o 
cost, is the cheapest, while the ^ 
growers prefer the cheaper packages, m co 
sequence of which, competition among m.in- 
iifactiirers of these packages has become so 
great, that the cost is nominal conipa td 
former prices. Wlien first made, the 
cost of a thirty-two quart berry crate was 
one can be bought as low 
$2.60, while now 
as 75 cts. each. _ . , ■. 
The original quart berry box invented m 
1850 by Morris Cohen, of Wasiiington Market, 
New York, for the shipping of wild Black¬ 
berries, was square with upright sides and 
cost about 6 cts. each. The introduction of 
the Beecher patterns was a great improve¬ 
ment on the former ones and cost one-half 
as much, but even then the cost was a great 
objection to many buyers, consequently 
when the Ameidcan square basket with a 
substantial decrease in price was introduced, 
it became very popular, and this style of 
basket with the Delaware crate is now the 
leading berry package in the New Yor 
market. 
For many years these packages were used 
exclusively for berries, and it is only lately 
that they are utilized for other fruits. Now 
these baskets are filled with large, fancy 
Currants, which meet with ready sale, as 
the}" require no handling by the l etail dealers 
and are sold .as received. Other growers 
take the small baskets out of the crates and 
replace them with larger ones, in which they 
pack Graiies, Cherries, Currants, etc., etc. 
The original forty-pound Grape box was 
considered a model box, but as time passed, 
others were introduced, and in turn p.assed 
away. The ten and five-pound boxes, intro¬ 
duced by the Fairchilds, were packed in 
skeleton cases, and Cor a limited time were 
all that was desired, but soon the cr.aviiiEr 
for smaller packages bi-oke out, and they 
were discarded for the three-pound box. 
This met with an immen.se demand for yc.ars, 
when it became superseded by the five and 
ten-pound covered baskets, which are now 
the leading Gr.ape packages in our market. 
Among the recent introductions, is one 
known in Ulster County, N. Y., as the “Gift 
Grape Crate. ’ It ha.s a skeleton case t!on- 
taining six shallow baskets, with a platform 
to siqiport the iqjper tier. For shipment to 
more distant cities than New York, where 
the iiackages cannot be returned, they are 
convenient enough, but I do not be.lieve it 
profitable to shij) them to our city. 
These jmckagijs are well adajited for ship¬ 
ping Currants and Cherries in. 
'Pile old sjilint Peach baskets, once so (!om- 
mon, have been suiierseded by the “.Stave” 
baskets, now generally used m, aceountof 
their cheapness. 'I’liey can la; bought for 
(> cents each, and this low (jost has devedoped 
a desire among growers, .as wfdl as (fi.ah.rs 
to do away will, the custom of returniuLr 
them to the shippers. 'I’here is so great a 
demand for I’eaclies from distant markets, 
that many shippers refuse to purchase them 
unless the baskets are sold with the fruit. 
Our local Pear growers are now shipping 
the bulk of their fruit in bushel boxes, of 
which there are two styles. Onehas a hinge 
lid with hook and eye at each end, while the 
top of the other is nailed on, but the bot¬ 
toms of each arc alike, having a narrow 
strip of about tliree inches in width, nailed 
on each side, with a center piece between. 
The whole is fastened with screws to enable 
the packer to fill the box quickly, neatly 
and compactly. C. W, Ldell. 
FLORIDA STRAWBEEBIES. 
, When Florida Strawberries are ofiered in 
our Broadway fruit stores at two and three 
dollars per quart, and there arc people able 
and willing to buy them at these prices, 
northern fruit growers who would consider 
tea cents a quart a good average price for 
their crops, will naturally look with longing 
eyes towards the laud where such a golden 
harvest seems to await them. Yet, as “all 
that glitters is not gold,” so Strawberry cul¬ 
ture in Florida has its disappointments, and 
tiic following communication from E. Wil¬ 
liams, who is an experienced fruit grower 
and remarkably keen observer, to the Phila¬ 
delphia Press, throws more light on this 
subject than anything we have read before. 
Early in February, on my way here, writes 
Mr. Williams from Indian River, Fla., I 
spent a few days with a fidend near Ocala, 
in Marion County. He was very proud of 
his Strawberry plants, and entertained “great 
expectations” as to their future growdh, 
multiplication and fruitfulness; but with 
few exceptions, his plants did not present to 
me any rosy prospect of an immediate crop. 
Most of the jilants had but feeble vitality. 
T'hey were set last fall and during a severe 
drought, and had had a hard time, but this 
summer he expected them to grow so he 
could enlarge his plantation. 
Disappointed at my failure to disceni a 
hopef nl outlook, he took me to see a success¬ 
ful grower who had ten acres in fruiting 
this season. T'he farm of 800 acres—an old 
sugar plantation—is agreeably rolling for 
this country. From the buildings, on an 
elevated iilateau, more of Florida can be 
seen at one glance than from any viewpoint 
1 had yet attained. From this the ground 
slopes to the East, South and West, to a 
broad valley of heavier and moistor soil, the 
drainage grounds of the more elevated por¬ 
tions of tile fai'in. It is on these low bottom 
lands where liie Strawberries arc located. 
We first saw about an acre, planted in 
frames, so arranged that they could bo cov¬ 
ered with muslin in .severe weather or cool 
nights, to protect them from iinlimely frosts. 
These, plants looked well, were blooming 
and setting quite freely and gave better in¬ 
dications of success than auytliipg I had yet 
seen. We sought the proprietor on a dllVer- 
ent portion of llie farm, wliere he was en¬ 
gaged witli a dozen hands in jiicking. The 
baskets were just being packed in refrigera¬ 
tor eases for sliii>inent. The berries were 
fair in size, but, as I told the proprietor, 
they were hardly ripe enongli. There were 
too many pale cheeks and white noses, to 
which he replie.d tliey carried bettor if picked 
close, and they would all color up by the 
Ume they reached the Now York market. 
