266 
THK 
Fruits. 
SEASONABLE HINTS. 
Duviug the mild days of early November, 
trees and shrubs may still be planted wh^re 
the soil is dry, and there is no danger of 
water standing during winter. The later in 
the season a tree is planted the more careful¬ 
ly should the work be performed; iu exposed 
situations the stems should be tied to stakes 
to prevent their becoming bent or blown over 
by winter storms. 
Heeling-in.—Being aware of the frequent de¬ 
lays iu obtaining nursery stock ordered 
iu spi’iug iu time for planting before the 
rush of work begins, many fruit growers 
prefer to order what trees may be wanted, 
iu the fall, and to heel them in carefully, 
so as to have them at hand iu good season 
next spring. This is a good plan, Avhlch 
not only saves time and vexation but 
insures better success. ■ The holes in which 
the trees are to be planted may be dry at 
any time before the ground freezes: the 
frost will pulverize the soil thrown out, 
and in spring the trees may be planted 
at the earliest opportunity, without ex¬ 
posing their roots more than a few minutes. 
Baspberries and Blncl-berries shoidd, 
whenever feasible, be planted in autumn, 
the canes be cut oft’to within a few inches from 
tlie ground, and some coarse manure be scat¬ 
tered along the rows. 
Grape Seed maj- be’sowu at any time be¬ 
fore the ground freezes. Only seeds from 
the ripest and most perfect bunches and ber¬ 
ries should be selected. Tlie seed bed should 
be made rich and mellow: the seed be cov¬ 
ered with about one inch of soil, and in win¬ 
ter be lightly mulched uith leaves. Oi- the 
seed may be washed out, dried, kept iu moist 
soil during winter, and i)lanted as early in 
spring as possible. The seed should be sown 
thin euough];that the young j)Iant.s may not 
crowd each other. When a year old the 
seedlings have to be taken up and transplant¬ 
ed iu rows, allowing them suflicient space 
for full development. 
Cleaning Cid/-r Barrels .—The best time for 
cleaning a cider barrel is immediately after 
its contents have been drawn oil. iVhen the 
sediment has once become dry and hard, and 
has formed a crust in tlie barrel, it is ex¬ 
ceedingly difficult, and often irniiossible, to 
so thoroughly clean a barrel as to make it 
suitable for fii-st-class cider. 'I’lie most ef¬ 
fectual way to clean a barrel is to take out 
one of the heads, and scrub all the innei- side 
of the barrel thoroughly with boiling water, 
and after the head is replaceil to buj ii some 
sulphur tape in it. With musty casks it is 
of no use to spend any time; they can never 
be completely cleaned again, and will spoil 
vinegar even. The best use to make of them 
is for swill or fire wood. 
From the returns to tlie .Sgriciiltiiral de¬ 
partment it appears that the Apple crop is 
little, if any, above tliat of an average •‘o/l’” 
year. The excejitions to this arr; those or¬ 
chards where from spring frosts or other 
cau.«es, the yield of last year was deficient. 
This was the case in New Knglanri, esjiecially 
in Comiecticut and llhode Island, and as a 
consequence a full, mediiitn crop was gath¬ 
ered there this year. 
November, 
--- ^mi rants in tree form than in a bush, but the 
nrinclnal reason why it is not more frequent- 
iv practiced is that when the Currant borer 
jets into the stem the whole tree is lost, 
while ill the biish the loss of one or more 
shoots is of comparatively little consequence, 
as others will soon take their places. Some 
the hardier species, however, Bibes aure- 
um, the Missouri Currant, especially, are 
almost entirely exemiit from the attacks of 
the borer, and by msing these as stocks for 
<n-!ifting the improved varieties upon them— 
similar'to the methods employed in produc¬ 
ing standard Koses—the danger from borers 
'’is reduced to a minimum. To amateur 
fruit growers who have never seen Cur¬ 
rants trained in this manner, experiments 
in this direction will aiford much intere.st 
and fasciii.ation. 
WANDAED oijbeants. . 
To many persons 
as fit companions only to b . gugges- 
in neglected fence cornei-,. seem 
tion to grow them for ornament mayseen_ 
somewhat startling. Yet well 
rants and Gooseberries aie high y .j, , 
al and useful as well, and form be.autilul 
objects in the mixed bprdeivs. , ; . . 
Training Currants in tree fomi should be 
gin with the planting of the cutting, y ' 
moving every bud but the uppei j 
to throw all the strength into the te, m mU 
shoot, if a low heading tree is desired this 
A STANDARD CURRANT. 
Shoot is cut oir the second year, at a, height 
where all tin; branches aia; to foi'm tlie liead. 
.Not more than ff.iir upper side shoots slionid 
be allowed to grow. 'I’ln, following year 
tin;,sc !ire al.so cut back, and each sma-.Ms’lim- 
year the strongest shoots have to be. 
ened in, the snperlhnai.s ones tind 
e..t o,,taltogetherso,tsi,M,.aintaina,, open, 
wcll-sl,aped head. ,r ^ higher stem is del 
.sired, the terminal grewth has to .. 
iiged or two or three years, enlting olf all 
Mie branches every year from lime i,, 
time until the proper hei"ht 
Somewhat more care Is necmsi 
short- 
old wood 
IS 
leccssary 
reached, 
to train 
LABGE PEOFITS. 
Ilmv net ProfUper acre of Slrawbcr- 
ries u-ere made py T. M. Augur & Sorns. 
IVitliiu a stofie’s throw from the Mid- 
dlclield Center, Conn., Station on the “Air 
J.ine" Railroatl lies the now famous 
“.fewell” Strtiwberry patch of Mes.srs. P. 
yi. Augur & Sons. Having \isited the 
place the luist season, just before the 
generiil ])icking commenced, and hav¬ 
ing tlieii and ilierc lielield the most abundant 
eroi) of Strawberries we thought we had 
ever seen, wc bectime much interested to 
learn the details of cultivatiou and the 
amonnt of tlie profits derived from the 
plantation, wliieli information was cheer¬ 
fully given by the ])roprietors. 
The bed measured one twenty-.second part 
of an acre—as we kiiow from actual measure¬ 
ment. In 1882 it was in grass, and yielded 
at flic rate of half a ton of hay per acre; in 
the spring of 188.‘{ it was turned over smooth¬ 
ly, and about two cords of good stable ma¬ 
nure spread ami harrowed in with a La Dow 
harrow: tlieu iilanted as a kitchen garden. 
In tlie siiring of 1884 another cord of fine 
stable manure was spread, and the ground 
sowed with Peas; a dressing of about four 
bushels of ashes was tiiqilied to the soil at 
the Sana* time. 
After ilie Peas liail been harvested the 
ground was well plowed and planted with 
•lewell Strawberry plants, twenty-six rows 
two feel ai’iirt, eaeli row eontaining twenty- 
six plants IS inelies apart. Every fifth row 
was a hi-sexiial variety not included in the 
maimri'd area, nor w;ts their yield counted 
witli tin' .lewells. 'riu> plants' ordinary lay¬ 
ers were set out the first week in August. 
Ashes, iieii mamire and a eompost of leaf 
mould, lime ami aslies were seattered luv 
tween lla- rows and lined in. 
I'he planis were hoed eight times before 
winter and the rnimers ent at each hoeing. 
When tile ground froze the plants were 
ninlfiied willi eoar.se hay. ..\hoiit yfay 1st 
Ihe mnleli was rmnoved and the ground 
skim hm'il; after blooming and when the 
lirsi Irnit had fully set, Ihi' ninleli, or a ptirl 
ol il, was replaei'd hi'lweeii Ihe rows. 
I h(> yiidd was 1178 iinarts of large, heauti- 
Inl berries, e.\elnsiv(> of those sampled by 
hundreds of visitors, and Ihe many quarts 
given away In vaiions per.sons timl exhibited 
Now as the average iiriee received 
berries was .sixteen cents jier quai't’ 
al fairs, 
for the 
(some .sold 
for twenty-live cents), tltc to- 
