After pruningand care.—If young trees are properly pruned when set out, they will require but little pruning until they begin to bear, except to check the growth of shoots coming out on the trunk or along the main branches that are not desired to make a well-formed head. Here and there should be cut out branches that cross others or tend to smother their foliage by drooping down on them. The tree should be kept shapely. In pruning old fruit trees, the aim should be to pre vent crossing and crowding of the branches and to thin out the old wood, so that the number of fruits is reduced, and young and vigorous wood will take its place. The ends and the highest branches should be cut back so that the lower branches will be renewed and sunlight and air admitted.
Pear, peach and plum trees are pruned in prac tically the same way as the apple, except that they all need more heading in to force the growth into the lower and lateral branches.
l'arieties of large fruits.
The nursery catalogues give long lists of varieties of all of the large fruits, and from their description it would seem as if all were valuable, when in any one locality perhaps a half-dozen varieties comprise nearly all of the valuable qualities desired. Varieties suggested as excellent for general cultivation for home use are as follows : Apple's: Summer : Astrachan, Oldenburg, Will iams, Yellow Transparent —Autumn : Gravenstein, McIntosh, Wealthy, Fall Pippin.—Winter: Hubbard ston, Jonathan, King, Baldwin, R. I. Greening, Spy.
Pears: Clapp, Bartlett, Seckel, Sheldon, Bosc, Hovey.
Peaches: Mountain Rose, Oldmixon, Crawford Early, Elberta.
Plums: Eur o pe a n: Bradshaw, Lombard, Imperial Gage, Damson, Lin coln, Quackenboss, Fellenburg, General Hand .—Japanese : Abundance, Bur bank, Wickson, Oc tober Purple.
Cherries: Sweet: Governor Wood, Yellow Spanish, Black Tartarian, Downer Late.— Sour : Early Rich mond, Mon t m o rency.
The following va rieties are adapted for home use in the colder parts of Ontario and Quebec (W. T. Macon): Apples: Yellow Transparent, Duchess, Lowland Raspberry, Langford Beauty, St. Lawrence, Wealthy, McIntosh, Fameuse, Swazie, Milwaukee, Scott Winter, Baxter.
Pears: Flemish Beauty, in favorable localities.
Plums: American : Bixby, Mankato, Cheney, Wolf, Hawkeye, Stoddard.—European : Mount Royal, Baynes, Glass, Montmorency, Perdrigen.— Russian : Early Red.
Cherries: Orel 25, Ostbeim (Minnesota), Mont morency.
For Iowa (A. T. Erwin): Apples: Summer: Duchess, Lowland Raspberry, Benoni.—Fall : Wealthy, Grimes Golden.—Winter Roman Stem, Jonathan, Stayman Winesap, Crabs: Florence, Whitney.
For severe locations in northern Iowa : Apples: Duchess, Charlamoff, Patten Greening, Wealthy, Okabena.
Pears: Seckel, Lincoln, Long-worth, Kieffer. Peaches: Champion, Greensboro, Hill Chili, Russell. Plums: Wyant, Brittlewood, Hunt, Hammer, Wild Goose, Miner.
Cherries: Montmorency, Early Richmond.
For Colorado, eastern slope (W. Paddock): Apples: Summer : Yellow Transparent, Red June, Oldenburg.—Fall : Wealthy, Utter, Plum Cider.— Winter : Jonathan, Stayman Winesap, Delicious. Plums: DeSoto, American Eagle, Arctic. Cherries: Montmorency, Morello.
For Colorado, western slope : Apples: Summer: Yellow Transparent, Red June. —Fall : Maiden Blush.—Autumn : Strawberry.— Winter : Jonathan, Winesap, Rome Beauty, Grimes.
Pears: Bartlett, Howell, Seckel.
Peaches: Crawford, Elberta, Mountain Rose, Plums: Burbank, Italian Prune, French Prune. Cherries: Mayduke, Black Tartarian, Bing.
For Alabama (R. S. Mackintosh): Apples: Early: Early Harvest, As trachan, Horse, Red June. —Autumn Buncombe, Equine. tele.—Late : Wine. sap, Terry, Yates.
Figs: Celestial, Brunswick, Brown Turkey, Lem on, Green Ischia.
Pears: Kiefer, LeConte, Garber.
Pecans: Stuart, Frotscher, Pabs t, Centennial.
Peaches: Sneed, Greensboro, Alex ander, Mamie Ross, Carman, Elberta, Family Favorite, Belle, Mountain Rose, Emma, Gen. Lee, Globe, Picquet, Columbia. Persimmons, Japanese: Hachiya, Yemon, Okame, Tsura-no-ko, Yedo-Ichi, Hiyakume.
Pomegranates: Acid, Large Sweet, Spanish Ruby. Plums: Red June, Burbank, Abundance, Gonzales.
Gathering fruit for home use.
Most fruits for home use should be allowed to ripen on the tree, and with low-headed trees this can be done, if there is a mulch on the surface so that fruits that fall on the ground will not be much in jured. With early, bright-colored apples, this is the practice of many growers. The fruit is allowed to color perfectly, when it falls to the ground and is picked up every morning and marketed in open bushel-boxes. Pears should be allowed to reach full maturity, but should be picked while hard and ripened in a dark, dry place. Peaches, plums and cherries should get mellow on the tree before being picked for home use. For market and to extend the season, all of these fruits may be picked before they are mellow, but they should be fully grown, and may be kept several weeks or months if put in cold-storage at a temperature between 32° and 33°. The season may be considerably extended without cold-storage by gathering at one time only the fruits that are fully ripe.