loam is the best. It will give splendid results in heavy clay if well
cultivated and if at the blooming season in case of drouth the plants
are well watered.
Of all soils a sandy one is the poorest for the production of bloom,
although, on the contrary, for the rapid production of roots the lighter
soils are ideal. Such soils not only produce roots much more rapidly
than the heavier soils, but produce a root that divides easier and to
better advantage. But it is with the cultivation of the plant that we
are most interested.
As I have said before, no plant will stand more abuse than the peony and
still give fairly good results, but if given a good soil and then good
cultivation we have no flower that will give us more satisfaction for
the care we give it.
When grown in large numbers peonies should be planted, if possible, so
that the plants can be cultivated with a horse. Deep cultivation seems
to bring the best flowers. Where we can give horse cultivation we start
the cultivator just as early in the spring as we can. As a rule we start
by the middle of April and keep it going through the plants once a week
at least, and oftener if necessary, right up to the time when the buds
start to open. Cultivation here ceases until the blooming season is over
and is then resumed often enough to destroy all weeds up to the first of
August. We use one and two-horse cultivators and run the shovels to
within three or four inches of the plants and two to three inches deep.
But few of us can cultivate in this way. Field cultivating methods are
hard to apply to the lawn and garden. But we may get the same results in
other ways. Clumps of peonies on the lawn should be so planted that a
cultivated space encircling the plant at least a foot wide is left.
This space should be covered in the fall with a mulch of well rotted
barnyard manure which should be forked or spaded into the soil in the
spring. And the soil about the plant should be thoroughly forked over,
to a depth of two to four inches, three or four times before the
blooming season.
Where the plants are planted in borders and beds in the garden, mulch
and cultivate in the same way, stirring the soil all about and between
the plants. Care should be taken in applying the manure mulch not to get
it directly over the plant if the tops have been cut back. The stems are
hollow as they die out in the fall, and thawing snow and occasional
rains of winter leach the strength out of the manure, and this filters
down through these hollow stems and comes in contact with the roots and
rots them.
For the sake of protection the peony needs no winter mulch. For this
latitude it is perfectly hardy.
After the blooming season cut all the blossom stems back to the leaves
for looks. Do not cut the leaf stalk back until about the middle of
September. By that time the plant is dormant, and all top growth can be
removed with perfect safety.
Most of us are willing to spend this time and labor if we get results
and to get the best results with peonies we must have good varieties. Of
named peonies there are somewhere in the neighborhood of 2,000
varieties. Large collections now catalogue all the way from 250 to 500
sorts. From such collections it is hard for those not thoroughly
familiar with the merits of the varieties to make an intelligent
selection of moderate priced peonies for a small planting. For people so
situated I make the following suggestion of varieties:
_White_: Candissima, Festiva Maxima, Duchess de Nemours, Duke of
Wellington, Couronne d'Or, Queen Victoria, Avalanche, Madam de
Verneville, Mons Dupont, Marie Lemoine.
_Pink_: Edulis Superba, Model de Perfection, Monsieur Jules Elie,
Livingston, Mathilde de Roseneck, Alexander Dumas.
_Light Pink_: Eugene Verdier, Delicatissima, Marguerite Gerard,
Dorchester Eugene Verdier.
_Red_: Richard Carvel, Felix Crousse, Meissonier, Rachel, Delachii,
Purpurea Superba and Rubra Superba.
So much for the old peonies. Now to the new ones. And the question
naturally comes, why any new ones? With over 2,000 varieties shouldn't
we be satisfied? No! Many of the varieties catalogued might be
eliminated, and we should be the gainer thereby. I believe I am safe in
saying that if the present list were cut down to 300 sorts it would
cover all the varieties worth while. And there is such a great chance
for improvement! So many beautiful varieties coming to us of late years
beckon us on. Crousse, Dessert and Lemoine have set the pace, and we of
America will not be left behind.
[Illustration: Looking up the rows of a bed of our seedlings three years
after transplanting. The white variety in the centre of the picture is
Frances Willard, considered by us one of the world's best whites. At the
time this picture was taken, the flowers were just opening, so one gets
no idea of the size of the blooms after they open.]
Either eighteen or nineteen years ago my father definitely set about the
bringing forth of a line of new peonies. For years he had been
experimenting with seedling apples. His immense collection of peonies
gave him the idea of producing something better along that line. A great
bed was planted out from which to collect seed. Hundreds of the best
varieties obtainable were planted in this bed, two of each variety, with
a very liberal use of the three varieties, Edulis Superba, Fragrans and
Triumph de l'Ex. de Lille. Some twelve varieties of the most vigorous
singles of all colors were also used. Bees and the elements were
allowed to do the cross-fertilizing. In the fall of 1899 the first seed,
amounting in all to about a peck, was harvested and planted. This seed
was allowed to dry and was planted just before it froze up, directly
into the field where the plants were to remain and bloom.
The seed was planted about two inches deep, in rows two feet apart, with
the seeds six inches apart in the row. Immediately after the ground
froze a two-inch mulch of coarse slough hay was spread all over the
field. This was removed in the spring and the field kept perfectly clean
that season by hand weeding, as cultivation could not be practiced. No
seed germinated that year. That fall the ground was again mulched, and
this mulch removed early the next, or second, spring.
This second season just as soon as nature began to quicken the little
peonies began to pierce the soil. Standing at one end of the field and
looking down the rows one could fairly see the little fellows burst
forth from their long confinement and thrust their little red heads in
serried ranks through the brown earth. They reminded one of line upon
line of miniature red-coated soldiers on parade.
A fourteen-tooth Planet Jr. horse cultivator was immediately started
amongst them, and intense cultivation given the bed that season. By the
end of the growing season the little plants were from two to four inches
high.
The next spring, the third from the planting of the seed, the young
plants burst through the ground strong and robust. Cultivation was
started immediately, as during the season before, and the plants made
rapid growth. By the middle of May, most of them were eight inches high
with an abundance of foliage.
We noticed a few buds appear this season. The strong, vigorous
development of the buds, of one plant in particular, continued to claim
our attention, and we watched it with intense interest. Day by day the
buds grew larger, and then finally a day came when the first petal
lifted, and the next morning the petals spread forth in all their glory.
It was a gem, we realized we had something first class. My father said
after he had studied it a while, "It pays me for all my time, and money,
and work. If I never get another as good I shall be satisfied." It was a
beautiful dark red, very early, as good a red as Terry's Rachel. We
named it Richard Carvel.
Six other plants bloomed that season. One was of the Japanese type. The
others singles.
By the next spring the small plants were well established, and we knew
by their vigorous growth that we might expect the most of them to bloom
that season.
Thorough cultivation was given from the start, and by the middle of May
the bed was covered with a mass of buds. June came. The blooming season
was at hand. Slowly the buds began to show color. Here and there over
the field a petal began to lift. A short space of anxious waiting, and
then a day came when it seemed as if the bed had been touched by a hand
of magic, for from one end to the other it was one solid blaze of color.
Before us were thousands upon thousands of flowers and no two alike.
As quick as the flowers began to open we started to grade and mark them.
It took two men working steadily for a week to inspect and mark this
bed. Everything that looked choice was marked No. 1. Everything that
looked as though it stood a chance of coming choice, if given a better
chance, was marked No. 2. All other doubles were marked double with
their color. And all singles were marked single with their color.
When the digging season came those marked Nos. 1 and 2 were lifted and
divided and each planted in a bed specially prepared for them. Each sort
was staked. These plants were set in rows three and one-half feet apart
and three feet apart in the row.
Intense cultivation was given them for three years. The performance of
each sort was recorded for each year. At the end of the third year those
sorts which had come good two years out of the three were again lifted
and planted in another soil and watched closely for another period of
three years. This gave us a pretty definite knowledge of their behavior,
made us acquainted with them. It toned down, as I might say, the
enthusiasm with which we first selected them, allowed of our making
careful comparison with the best sorts, and finally enabled us to keep
what were really choice. We did not have any need for the others.
Of the ones first selected as No. 1 from the seed bed, about thirty-five
in number, we finally kept eight; of those marked No. 2, about sixty. We
afterwards selected two as first class.
Those plants simply marked double in the seed bed were planted in a
regular field bed by themselves. Each plant was divided and staked. This
bed was allowed to stand three years and the plants were carefully noted
each year as they bloomed for varieties that we might have accidentally
overlooked in the seed bed. Among these thousands of plants we found two
sorts which we called first class. One of these, though it is sixteen
years since the seed was planted, we are just about to send out.
I have given you the history of this single bed because it shows about
how the seedling peony must be handled. We have since varied our method
in handling in a single respect. We no longer plant our seed direct in
the field. We find it much better to plant broadcast in seed beds. These
are much more economical to keep clean the first year. After the little
seedlings are one year old or, better, after they are two years old, we
lift them in September and plant them in a permanent bed.
[Illustration: Our seedling Harriet Farnsley, a very late all one color
pink. This variety is in bloom at the same time as Richardson's Rubra
Grandiflora, at a time when most good peonies are gone. The flower from
which this photo was taken measured seven inches across.]
Now if any of you are tempted to grow peonies from seed let me warn you
not to get too enthusiastic in anticipating results. The chances are
that 999 out of every 1,000 will have to be discarded. Test thoroughly
before you decide to keep. The flower my father and I both decided our
best when it first bloomed we no longer keep. Our best flower is one we
took no particular notice of the first two years it blossomed.
But do not let me discourage you. Though eight or ten choice varieties
may seem small returns, still there is a pleasure in the work that you
cannot fail but feel. And when you go forth into your fields after your
stocks of better sorts have increased so that you can have each kind
blooming about you in long rows, and as you see first this beautiful
variety and then that come into bloom, you feel well repaid for the
years of waiting and the labor you have bestowed upon them.
Mr. Brand: A great many people ask the question whether just as soon as
the peony has blossomed they cannot cut the top off. It would be a great
mistake to do so. Your peony growth does not complete its development
until about the middle of September, and if you cut the top off just as
soon as the plant has blossomed you are going to have a great many of
them rot. We had a very striking illustration of this two years ago.
Just as our peony season was closing we had a severe hailstorm which cut
our peony beds right off down to the ground. We couldn't save the tops
if we had wanted to. That fall when we dug our roots it was almost
impossible to fill our orders, because the roots were in such terrible
shape. The tops were removed before they ought to have been.
Talking about disappointments with peonies, I think the peony I was most
impressed with of all the seedlings we have had came good but once. That
was eleven or twelve years ago. As I look back upon it I think this was
the most beautiful flower we ever grew, but it never came good but that
once. I was so impressed with its beauty that I took it from where it
bloomed in the seedbed and planted it at my house in the garden. When it
came on to bloom, it was a disappointment and has been such ever since.
I still keep it, hoping that some year it may bloom again as it did that
first year.
Mr. Harrison: Not a bit of it. They are the most lying vegetable on the
face of the earth. May I ask if Mr. Peterson, of Chicago, is here? He is
an expert peony man. I presume we will all like to hear from him.
Mr. Peterson: I haven't anything to add; if you want to ask questions I
will be glad to answer them.
The President: Ladies and gentlemen, you probably know that Mr. Peterson
is one of the expert peony men of the United States. In fact, as far as
fifteen years back we were able to get some of the newer and better
varieties from this gentleman. I never had the pleasure of meeting him,
but we want to meet you, Mr. Peterson. You have all heard of Mr.
Peterson, the peony man of Chicago and a life member of this society.
(Applause.)
Mr. Peterson: I have nothing to add. I have been in the game a good many
years. We have systematically kept track of over three hundred varieties
since 1888, so that it may be if you have any questions to ask I might
be able to answer them, and I would be glad to. The proposition that
Mr. Brand has stated is actually within the facts. We have raised
thousands of seedlings, and not one of them do we now grow. You see some
of the Peterson seedlings listed in other people's catalogues, but I
don't have one myself.
A Member: What kind of varieties would you suggest for the ordinary home
garden, best dozen varieties?
Mr. Peterson: I would name for the white peonies, the Madam de
Verneville, Avalanche, Couronnes d'Or; of the pale pink, Delicatissima,
Marie Crousse, Grandiflora; of the red, Monsieur Martin Cohuzac,
Monsieur Krelage, Felix Crousse; of the deep pink, Modeste Guerin, M.
Jules Elie and Claire Dubois. I do think that Mr. Brand has some of
exceptional merit that will probably be put in the red class. I don't
know his others, but Felix Crousse is undoubtedly the best of its type
in the red.
A Member: Have you tried out the Baroness Schroeder?
Mr. Peterson: I surely have. It is very fine, but it is a little
changeable, not only in its habits but in its shade. If you want a
perfect white, it isn't that, it is a nearly flesh white. I would say
that the Madame Emile Lemoine is finer.
A Member: Do you advise spraying for them?
Mr. Peterson: No, but I tell you what was asked of me today, which is
the secret of having no disease in our plants. Any two-year-old plant in
our field that doesn't bloom, we dig it up and throw it away, and that
will nip any trouble in the bud, and then you will not get any strain
that is not blooming. If we see any other defect, any that won't head
good, we take it up and throw it away. That one point I think all of you
can well follow, and that is, to dig up every two-year-old plant that
doesn't bloom and throw it away, that is, during the blooming season.
Mr. Harrison: Some varieties will bloom and some won't. You have got to
punish the whole on account of the few?
Mr. Peterson: I do that. If I have a two-year-old plant that is blooming
in a section I keep it and follow it up.
Mr. Harrison: Any special rule about multiplying or dividing?
Mr. Peterson: No, except to divide in September, even possibly the last
week of August, and the earlier they are divided at that time when the
eyes are large, the better it is.
* * * * *
CAN FRUIT WITHOUT SUGAR.--_Canning Specialists Say Boiling
Water May Be Used Instead of Sirup._ Fruit for use in pies or salads or
as stewed fruit can be put up or canned without the use of any sugar at
all, according to the canning specialists of the department. They,
therefore, advise those who, because of the high price of sugar, have
been thinking of reducing the amount of fruit they put up to can as much
of their surplus as possible by the use of boiling water when sugar
sirup is beyond their means. Any fruit, they say, may be successfully
sterilized and retained in the pack by simply adding boiling water
instead of the hot sirup. The use of sugar, of course, is desirable in
the canning of all kinds of fruits and makes a better and ready
sweetened product. Moreover, most of the fruits when canned in water
alone do not retain their natural flavor, texture and color as well as
fruit put up in sirup. Fruit canned without sugar to be used for sauces
or desserts must be sweetened.
Fruit Retail Methods and Costs.
CLARENCE W. MOOMAW AND M.M. STEWART, FRUIT AND PRODUCE MARKETERS,
PORTLAND, OREGON.
On studying the various phases of city apple marketing, special
attention was given to retail methods and costs. The purpose of this
study was chiefly to learn whether the wholesale supply controls the
price. The cost of operation as a factor in determining retail prices
also was investigated as far as possible.
Retail apple distributors may be classed as follows:
(a) Fruit-stand vendors.
(b) Fancy grocers, fruiterers, etc., catering almost exclusively to
high-class or fashionable trade and doing a very extensive credit
business.
(c) Grocers catering to a cheaper class of trade, largely upon a cash
basis.
(d) Hucksters or street peddlers.
Relatively high prices were charged for apples purchased at fruit
stands. Extra fancy Northwestern and Colorado Jonathans were sold to the
dealers during October and November at prices ranging from $1 to $1.25
per box. Apples which grade 150 to the box retailed at two for five
cents, or $3.75 per box. This meant a gross profit of about 250 per
cent. In the ninety-six size, extra fancy Jonathans sold at three for
ten cents, or $3.20 per box, showing a gross profit of about 200 per
cent.
In the East Side tenement section of New York City it was learned that
by reason of the cheap prices prevailing and the heavy supply of apples
arriving the peddlers were operating to the detriment of fruit stands.
The fruit-stand dealers were selling only about one-third to one-half
the quantity of fruit handled in former seasons. The pushcart and wagon
peddlers as a rule buy packed or loose fruit cheap and go direct to the
homes of the residents, selling at prices considerably below the
fruit-stand men. The peddlers handle a large quantity, make quick cash
sales, and pay no rents. Other dealers incur heavy operating expenses
and generally sell not for the purpose of moving a large quantity, but
for the highest price obtainable. Consequently, the movement is
restricted.
The largest profits were found usually in barreled apples. For instance,
New York B grade, two inches minimum, approximately 600 apples to the
barrel, sold for a cent each or $6 per barrel. These apples cost the
retail dealer not over $2 per barrel delivered to his store, allowance
being made for jobber's profit and drayage. The investigator saw "A
grade" fruit, 2-1/2 inches minimum, averaging about 400 apples per
barrel, which cost the retailer not over $3, being displayed for sale at
two for five cents, or $11.25 per barrel. Such prices prevailed at no
less than twenty-five retail stores visited in one day. Apples were
being offered for sale at retail all over New York City at prices
ranging from one cent each at the cheap corner fruit stands, to fifty
cents and eighty cents per dozen at the fanciest fruit stores.
In general, it may be said that the gross profits of fruit-stand vendors
range from 100 to 250 per cent. Operating expenses other than rent in
most cities except New York are not relatively high and all sales are on
a strictly cash basis; hence the net profits on good fruit are large.
Grocers catering to high-class trade buy only the best apples. Extra
fancy Jonathans, Grimes, etc., preferably 138's and 150's size, were
purchased at $1 to $1.25 per box. These apples were taken from the box
and repacked in small splint trays similar to the peach basket used in a
six-basket carrier. Each box of apples filled approximately ten trays.
Each tray sold for thirty cents; hence the box brought $3, representing
a gross profit of about $1.75. Extra fancy Delicious and Winter Banana,
72's size, purchased at $2 per box, retailed at five cents each, or
$3.60 per box. Other sizes and varieties brought corresponding prices.
No attempt was made by this class of grocers to stimulate consumption by
temporarily reducing prices.
The retail prices quoted above were maintained consistently throughout
the 1914 season, regardless of prevailing jobbing prices. The large
margins charged by the retailers, for the most part, were due apparently
to the small amount of business handled, the perishable nature of the
commodity, and the cost of operation.
An elaborate and efficient delivery service must be maintained by the
grocers, and many small deliveries are made each day at an actual loss
to the dealer. A large proportion of the grocery-store patrons buy on
credit and pay when it becomes convenient. Many of these accounts are
never paid. Hence it becomes apparent that the good customer who pays
his bill regularly each week, or who pays cash, must suffer for the
shortcomings of others. However, there can be little doubt that reducing
prices would materially increase consumption and in the end result in
equally good profits for the dealers. Reduced prices and better business
practice should prove to be very beneficial to grower, dealer and
consumer.
The profits derived from the sale of cheaper grades of apples to the
poorer class of consumers are not so large. It was learned that those
catering to such trade operated on a margin of 75 to 100 per cent. of
the purchase price.
Raspberries.
F. C. ERKEL, FRUIT GROWER, ROCKFORD.
Raspberries are so easily grown it is surprising we do not find more
farmers and back lot gardeners in the city giving them attention. I
believe more people would raise raspberries if they could be made to
realize what great returns they would receive for a little work and
care. As a commercial proposition raspberries are the poor man's friend,
yielding large returns with very small investment and requiring but
little land.
I will attempt to give a few essentials in raspberry culture without
going into detail, with the hopes that at least a few more patches of
raspberries may be planted as a result of my effort. With the main
points of raspberry culture given, there is no reason why any one with
ordinary intelligence can not solve the details and meet with success.
Raspberries have a little advantage over strawberries with the man who
is not greatly enthused over small fruit culture. When once established
the plantings do not have to be renewed annually but with ordinary care
will last several years, in fact they will stand more Junegrass sod and
weeds and general neglect and still produce results than anything else I
know of unless it is apple trees.
Another point in favor of raspberries over strawberries is that it is
not quite so hard on the back to pick them, and when large quantities
are grown it is easier to get pickers.