Category: Horticulture

There are two principal classes of pears the European and the Chinese. All of our finely flavored varieties belong to the former class. The Chinese group contains such undesirable though extensively grown varieties as Kieffer, Le Conte, and Garber. No self-respecting person would have any one of these varieties in his home orchard, and no […]

The question- frequently arises, when to ,prune. Among the earlier horticulturists this question was often answered as follows : Prune when your knife is sharp. This is a comparatively safe method to follow with most plants, but where the problem involves the management of extensive commercial plantations it is not so easy to prune in […]

No fruit will replace the plum. It makes the choicest of preserves, and many of the varieties are unsurpassed as dessert fruits. Every farm should have at least a dozen trees of various varieties to extend the season, as Professor Ballou outlines below: The plum does best in rather strong, rich clayey loam, but even […]

“After trying many different methods of keeping the winter supply of vegetables,” writes L. Hunt of Orleans County, Vermont, “I have settled upon the following plan as best suited to my needs: Apples I tried in barrels, boxes, and wrapped in paper on shelves. I then tried spreading them out not more than three or […]

The quince is probably the most neglected of the cultivated fruits in America. It is usually allowed to shift for itself. There is no reason why this should be. The fruit is well worth a place in the home garden, and in very many localities there is a good demand in the local markets. The […]

At a recent fruit growers’ meeting considerable attention was attracted to the exhibit of boxed apples by the uniform packing, but more especially by the way which the exhibitor, Fall Brook Farms, was taking to advertise the fruit. A neat four page circular showing two full-page scenes on the farm, the other two pages telling […]

“My small fruit garden,” writes Mrs. Zacheus McAllister of Maine, “is about 195 feet long north and south by 115 feet wide, with a portion in the northwest corner 33 by 75 feet, taken up by a hen-house, also four rows of red raspberries 140 feet long and three rows of blackberries 75 feet long. […]

It is more profitable to use soil for gardening than for writing autographs on newly scrubbed floors. Buell McCrawley. There is no set standard for measuring the qualities or classifying the merits of soils. Some soils are naturally fit for fruits and vegetables, others have to be bolstered up and coaxed and others are altogether […]

The apple succeeds over a wider territory than any other temperate climate fruit; it offers wider opportunity for utility than any other fruit, and it can be put to a larger variety of uses than any =other. Some varieties do better on one kind of soil than other varieties will, but in general apples will […]

Many old apple orchards have declined in bearing because they have not been properly managed. Usually such trees are full of dead wood, water sprouts and interfering limbs which later bear fruit in small amount and of poor quality. Too often such trees are cut down as unprofitable without first giving them an opportunity to […]