Manual of Gardening Part 61

Under nearly all conditions, the Concord will be a valuable black variety, although Worden, which is a few days earlier, may be preferred by many. Moore (Moore Early) has been our best very early black variety, but is likely to be superseded by Campbell, which is a stronger vine, more productive, bunches larger, fruit of better quality, and of superior keeping qualities, making it valuable for shipping purposes. Catawba, Delaware, and Brighton are among the best red varieties, although Agawam and Salem are much used. Winch.e.l.l (Green Mountain) is the best early white variety, and in most sections Niagara, a late white sort, does well. Diamond (Moore Diamond) is a white grape of better quality than Niagara.

_Grapes under gla.s.s_ (S.W. Fletcher).

The European grapes rarely thrive out of doors in eastern America. Grape houses are necessary, with or without artificial heat. Fruit for home use may be grown very satisfactorily in a cold grapery (without artificial heat). A simple lean-to against the south side of a building or wall is cheap and serviceable. When a separate building is desired, an even-span house running north and south is preferable. There is no advantage in having a curved roof, except as a matter of looks. A compost of four parts rotted turf to one of manure is laid on a sloping cement bottom outside the house, making a border 12 feet wide and 2 feet deep. The cement may be replaced with rubble on well-drained soils, but it is a poor makeshift. Every three years the upper 6 inches of the border should be renewed with manure. The border inside the house is prepared likewise. Two-year-old potted vines are planted about 4 feet apart in a single row. Part of the roots go through a crevice in the wall to the outer border and part remain inside; or all may go outside if the house is desired for other purposes. One strong cane is trained to a wire trellis hanging at least 18 inches from the gla.s.s, and is cut back to 3 feet the first year, 6 the second, and 9 the third. Do not be in a hurry to get a long cane. Pruning is on the spur system, as recommended for arbors on p. 430. The vines are usually laid on the ground for winter and covered with leaves or wrapped with cloth.

As soon as the buds swell in early spring, tie the vines to the trellis and start out one shoot from each spur, rubbing off all others. After the berries begin to color, however, it is better to leave all further growth to shade the fruit. Pinch back each of these laterals two joints beyond the second bunch. To keep down red spider and thrips, the foliage should be sprayed with water every bright morning except during the blooming season. At least one-third of the berries should be thinned from each bunch; do not be afraid of taking out too many. Water the inside border frequently all through the summer, and the outside occasionally if the season is dry. Mildew may appear in July. The best preventives are to syringe faithfully, admit air freely, and sprinkle sulfur on the ground.

Fruit may be kept fresh on the vines in a warm (or artificially heated) grapery until late December; in a coldhouse it must be picked before frost. After the fruit is off, ventilate from top and bottom and withhold water, so as thoroughly to ripen the wood. Along in November the canes are pruned, covered with straw or wrapped with mats and laid down till spring. Black Hamburg is superior to all other varieties for a cold grapery; Bowood Muscat, Muscat of Alexandria, and Cha.s.selas Musque may be added in the warmhouse. Good vines will live and bear almost indefinitely.

MULBERRY.--Both for fruit and ornament the mulberry should be more generally planted. Even if the fruit is not to the taste, the tree is naturally open-centered and round-headed, and is an interesting subject; some of the varieties have finely cut leaves. The fruits are in great demand by the birds, and after they begin to ripen the strawberry beds and cherry trees are freer from robins and other fruit-eating birds. For this reason alone they are a valuable tree for the fruit-grower. Trees may be purchased cheaper than one can propagate them.

If planted in orchard form, place them 25 to 30 feet apart. About the borders of a place they can go closer. The Russian varieties are often planted for windbreaks, for they are very hardy and thrive under the greatest neglect; and for this purpose they may be planted 8 to 20 feet apart. The Russians make excellent screens. They stand clipping well.

The fruit of the Russians varies in quality, as the trees are usually directly from seed; but now and then a tree bears excellent fruit.

New American, Trowbridge, and Thorburn are leading kinds of fruit-bearing mulberries for the North. The true Downing is not hardy in the northern states; but New American is often sold under this name.

Mulberries thrive in any good soil, and need no special treatment.

NUTS.--The nut trees demand too much room for most home-ground fruit plantations, although they are also useful for windbreaks and shade. The hickories, all American, make excellent lawn trees, and should be better known. The filberts and cobnuts, small trees or bushes, are not successfully grown in this country except in very special cases.

The commercial nut-growing in the United States and Canada is chiefly of almonds, walnuts, and pecans, with some attempt at chestnuts. Of these the chestnut is the most adaptable for home places in the northeastern section.

Of chestnuts there are three types in cultivation: the European, the j.a.panese, and the American. The American, or native chestnuts, of which there are several improved varieties, are the hardiest and most reliable, and the nuts are the sweetest, but they are also the smallest.

The j.a.panese varieties are usually injured by the winter in central New York. The European varieties are somewhat hardier, and some of the varieties will thrive in the northern states. Chestnuts are very easily grown, although the bark disease now threatens them. They usually bear better when two or more trees are planted near each other. Sprouts in old chestnut clearings are often allowed to remain, and sometimes they are grafted to the improved varieties. The young trees may be grafted in the spring by the whip-graft or cleft-graft method; but the cions should be perfectly dormant, and the operation should be very carefully done.

Even with the best workmanship, a considerable percentage of the grafts are likely to fail or to break off after two or three years. The most popular single variety of chestnut is the Paragon, which bears large and excellent nuts when the tree is very young. When the home ground is large enough, two or three of these trees should be planted near the borders.

ORANGE.--Oranges are grown extensively in Florida, in places along the Gulf, and in many parts of California, but in the most favored sections there is occasionally some injury from cold or frost to the trees or fruit.

The soil preferred for oranges in California is a rich, deep alluvium, avoiding hard-pan or adobe subsoils. Stagnant water in the subsoil is a fatal defect. Although they can be grown near the ocean at a lower level, an elevation of 600 to 1200 feet is generally desirable. While southern California is particularly adapted to orange culture, the fruit is successfully raised along the foot-hills of the San Joaquin and Sacramento valleys and in other parts of the state.

In Florida, pine lands with a clay subsoil are generally preferred for oranges, but if properly handled, good results can be obtained from hammock land. As elevated spots cannot be secured, a timber belt surrounding the orchard or along the north and west sides is desirable.

The distance for the large-growing kinds of orange in the orchard is from 25 to 30 feet each way, but the half-dwarf kinds, such as Bahia or Washington Navel, may be as close as 20 feet each way, although 25 feet will be desirable. If the roots are sacked, the trees should be placed in the hole without removing the covering, and the soil should then be packed about them; but if they are puddled, a mound should be made in the bottom of the hole. In the center an opening should be made into which the tap-root can be inserted. After the soil has been firmly packed about it, the other roots should be spread out and the hole filled with good soil, packing it carefully. Care should be taken that the roots are not exposed in handling the trees, and if the weather is hot and dry, the tops should be shaded. Water may often be used with good results in settling the soil about the roots.

When transplanted, the tops should be cut back in proportion to the amount of roots lost in digging the trees. The head is usually started with the branches about 2 feet from the ground. Each year while the trees are small, the strong shoots should be cut back to preserve a symmetrical form and the weak and surplus shoots should be removed.

The cultivation of orange orchards should be the same as recommended for other fruits, except that as they grow in hot, dry climates, it should be even more thorough, that the evaporation of moisture from the soil may be reduced to a minimum. California growers have found that by frequent shallow cultivation they can reduce the amount of water that must be applied by irrigation, and that frequent tillage and a little water will give better results than little or no cultivation and a large amount of water. The amount of water required will also depend on the season and the character of the soil. Thus on strong soils and after a heavy rainfall no irrigation will be required, while sandy soils will need irrigating as often as once in three or four weeks from May to October. As a general rule, two or three irrigations in a season will be ample. When used at all, water should be applied in sufficient quant.i.ties to wet down to the roots of the trees. Frequent scanty waterings may do much harm. The water is usually applied in furrows, and for young trees there should be one on either side of each row, but as the roots extend the number should be increased, until when five or six years old the entire orchard should be irrigated from furrows 4 or 5 feet apart. In Florida, irrigation is not practiced.

Cover-cropping in winter is now common in Florida and California, some of the leguminous crops being used.

_Varieties of the orange._

Among the best varieties are: Bahia, commonly known as Washington Navel, Thompson Improved, Maltese Blood, Mediterranean Sweet, Paper Rind St.

Michael, and Valencia. h.o.m.osa.s.sa, Magnum Bonum, Nonpareil, Boone, Parson Brown, Pineapple, and Hart are favorites in Florida. The tangerines and mandarins, or the "kid-glove" oranges, have a thin rind that is easily detached from the rather dry pulp. Orange trees are frequently injured by various scale insects, but for several of the most troublesome kinds, insect parasites have been found that keep them partially or wholly in check, and for others the trees are sprayed, or fumigated with hydrocyanic acid gas.

PEACH.--Given the proper exposure, peaches may be fruited in many sections where now it is thought impossible to have a crop. It is usually the practice of the amateur to set peach trees in the shelter of some building, exposed on the south or east to the sun, and "in a pocket" as regards winds. This should be reversed, except in the close vicinity of large bodies of water. The fruit-buds of peaches will stand very cold weather when perfectly dormant, often as low as 12 or 18 below zero in New York; but if the buds once become swollen, comparatively light freezing will destroy the crop. Therefore, if the trees be set on elevations where a constant air drainage may be obtained, sheltered, if at all, on the south and east from the warming influence of the sun, the buds will remain dormant until the ground becomes warm, and the chances of a failure will be lessened. This advice applies mostly to interior sections.

A well-drained, sandy loam or gravelly soil suits the peach better than a heavy soil; but if the heavier soil is well drained, good crops may be secured.

Peaches are short-lived at best, and one should be satisfied with three or four crops from each tree. They bear young, usually a partial crop the third year. If a crop may be had every other year until the trees are eight or ten years old, they will have well repaid the effort of cultivation. But they often bear twice this long. Young trees may be set every four or five years to replace older ones, thus having trees at a bearing age at all times on a small place. Trees should be set 14 to 18 feet apart each way.

Peach trees are always bought when they are one year old, that is, one year from the bud. For example, the bud is inserted in the fall of 1909.

It remains dormant until the spring of 1910, when it pushes into vigorous growth; and in the fall of 1910 the tree is ready for sale.

Peach trees that are more than a year old are scarcely worth the buying.

It is a common practice, when setting peach trees, to prune them back to a whip, leaving a stub bearing not more than one bud where each branch is cut off.

The three great enemies of the peach are the borer, the yellows, and the curculio.

The borer is best handled by digging it out every spring and fall. Trees attacked by the borer have an exudation of gum about the crown. If the borers are dug out twice a year, they will not get sufficient start to make the operation very laborious. It is the only sure way.

The yellows is a communicable disease, the cause of which is not definitely known. It shows itself in the fruit ripening prematurely, with distinct red spots which extend through the flesh, and later by the throwing out of fine, branching, twiggy tufts along the main branches (Fig. 215). The only treatment is to pull out the trees and burn them.

Other trees may be set in the same places.

The curculio must be captured by jarring on sheets (see _Plum_).

_Varieties of the peach._

For home use it is advisable to provide varieties that will ripen in succession, but for market purposes, in most sections, the medium and late kinds should be most extensively planted. Although there are many varieties that have a local reputation, but are not commonly found in the nurseries, the following kinds are well known, and can be generally grown with success: Alexander, Hale Early, Rivers, St. John, Bishop, Connett (Southern Early), Carman, Crawford (Early and Late), Oldmixon, Lewis, Champion, Sneed, Greensboro, Kalamazoo, Stump, Elberta, Ede (Capt. Ede), Stevens (Stevens' Rareripe), Crosby, Gold Drop, Reeves, Chairs, Smock, Salway, and Levy (Henrietta).

PEAR.--No fruit plantation should be considered complete without trees of various kinds of pears, ripening fruits from early in August till winter. The late varieties are generally good keepers, and extend the season into February, thus supplying fruit for six or seven months.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 281. Seckel pear.]

As the pear grows to perfection on quince, the dwarf tree is peculiarly adapted to planting on small home grounds, and is often used as a boundary plant, or to serve the purpose of a screen. These dwarf trees should be set deep--4 to 6 inches below the union--to prevent the stock from growing. Dwarf trees may be set as near together as 10 to 16 feet, while the standard or tall-growing pears should be set 18 to 25 feet apart. Trees are planted when two or three years old.

[Ill.u.s.tration Fig. 282. d.u.c.h.esse d'Angouleme pear.]

[Ill.u.s.tration Fig. 283. The Kieffer pear.]

The pear thrives on clay soil, if well under-drained, and for this reason may succeed in places where other fruits might fail. A good, steady growth should be maintained, but the use of nitrogenous manures should be avoided, as they tend to make a rank growth and invite attacks of pear blight, which is the worst enemy of the pear (p. 211).

_Varieties of the pear._

As a selection to supply a succession of varieties throughout the season, the following list is recommended:--

_Early._--Summer Doyenne, Bloodgood, Clapp, Osband, Elizabeth (Manning's Elizabeth).

_Autumn._--Bartlett, Boussock, Flemish (Flemish Beauty), Buffum, Howell, Seckel (Fig. 281), Louise Bonne, Angouleme (d.u.c.h.esse d'Angouleme) (Fig.

282), Sheldon.

_Winter._--Anjou, Clairgeau, Lawrence, Kieffer (Figs. 283, 284), Winter Nelis, and Easter Beurre.

For ordinary market purposes the following have been proved valuable: Bartlett, Howell, Anjou, Clairgeau, and Lawrence. In the central and southern states, Kieffer is grown successfully. For home use this variety is not to be recommended in the North, because of its poor quality and smaller size.

For growing as dwarfs, Angouleme (d.u.c.h.esse d'Angouleme), Louise Bonne, Anjou, Clairgeau, and Lawrence are most popular, but many other varieties thrive on the quince.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 284. Kieffer pear.]

PLUM.--Of plums there are three general or common types: first, the common Domestica or European plum, which gives rise to all the older varieties, like Lombard, Bradshaw, Green Gage, the Prunes, the Egg plums, the Damsons, and the like; second, the j.a.panese plums, which have become popular within the last twenty years, and which are adapted to a wider range of country than the Domesticas; third, the native plums of several species or types, which are adapted to the plains, the middle and southern states, and some kinds to the cold North.