Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1884-11-20
FRUIT ON RAILWAY GROUNDS.

Improve Them.
FRUIT ON RAILWAY GROUNDS.
In recent issue attention was called
to the manner in which the grounds
about railway stations were being i'm
proved by the planting of flowers and
ornamental shrubs and trees. Another
scheme for utilizing all the land be-
tween the roadbed and fences at some
distance from stations. for the produc-
tion of fruits. has been proposed by
contributor to The Garden His sug-
gestions are as follows:
Whatever blessings we derive from
our railways. and they are many, they
certainly absorb something like 1872
square miles, 116, 480 acres of good
lands. There is always one and some-
times two sunny sides to railway en-
bankment and on these Strawberries
enough to supply the whole country
might be grown, besides such low
growing fruit trees rs gooseberries and
currants, while on the margins of cut
tings cherries, plums. apples and pears
might be advantageousiy cultivated.
The waste land on the sides of the lev
els should be utilized for vegetables.
How all of this is to be profitably done
is the difficulty. An intinitesimal part
OF the scheme is now carried out at the
country stations and crossings. Nearly
all railway men are gardeners, and all
praise to them for the roses and hardy
flowers in which their huts and houses
are frequently embowered. They get
land near home from their employers
at little or no rent, and on that the off
duty hours are spent. In scheme for
The conversion of railway banks into
fruit gardens, directors and managers
would have to be appealed to, and it
would be necessary almost in the first
instance to supplement each plate-lay-
ers gang of men by ono who knew
something about fruit tree manage
ment-one who can utilize his time
when not fully occupied by railway
duty Gas is now done by plate-layers in
hedging and ditching) in attending to
the fruit trees. 1t is not generally
known that just as our coast is peram-
bulated every night by coast guards, so
the whole sixteen thousand miles which
we have of railways, mostly consisting
of double lines, are walked over each
morning by plate layers.
One or two garden inspectors would
be required on each railway, on some-
what the same scale as telegraph in
spectors now are; these would have to
superintend the laying out of nurseries
on such suitable lands as are to be
found on every line, and to direct the
transport of the trees to the places re-
quired to be planted. After such o
plan as that here sketched had been
fairly started the rest would be easy;
requirements. pruning and gathering
the fruit would not be difficult Fruit
hampers might lay empty at the sta
tions as meat hampers do now. and of
never-to-be-claimed, returned empty
packages there is no lack; these filed
with fruit, a few basketfuls daily from
each station would so change the mar
kets of our metropolis and large towns
that the poor could eat and have to
spare. Food would be grown where
now is none; it would be grown on
banks inclined to the sun at such an
angle as to render the conditions equal
to those in the south of Europe. Es-
pecially would this be the case if the
planting was judicious. so as to secure
shelter from cutting winds.
Many objections to this scheme may
be raised, but to all new schemes,
whether good or bad, objections are Of
fered. 1t may be said, for instance,
that the smoke from passing locomo-
tives would be adverse to successful
culture; that sparks might fire the fruit
bushes, etc., that thieves would clear
off what remained of such fruit rs the
plate-layers did not eat and the shift
ing character of many of. our cuttings
would be against the plan. These are
the principal objections that occur to
me at the moment. The first and Sec
ond would dispose of by saying that
they do not hold good in the station
masters garden or the porter's plat;
these are praiseworthy examples Of
good-paying work. As to thieves, they
would be as open there to capture as
elsewhere. and away from towns the
villager so disposed can grow his
own, or if too idle can, as matters now
stand, steal from his more industrious
neighbors. The plate-layer, under the
eyes of the gardener representative Of
his gang, would have no. more chance
of getting fruit than he has of stealing
scrap iron under the eyes of his gauger.
With regard to the shifting character
Of the ground, drainage and borings
would be used then as now, and the
garden Inspector would only authorize
the planting of suitable plats. The
work should be begun in the middle Of
railway lines, and be gradually ex-
tended to the termini; by this means
suitable markets could be reached with
facility, and thus railway gardening
economically and efficiently conducted
might in time even have favorable
effect on the dividends.
FALL PLANTING THE STRAWBERRY.
The following suggestions are from
a circular issued by M. Crawford, Of
Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio:
The strawberry is perennial, and
grows all the year except () when the
ground is frozen. Next years crop of
the fruit will be, made up princip cipally
from the food gathered and stored up