Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-01-25

as well sitting as standing, and not until
women study conveniences and comforts
] for the kitchen as carefully as for the other
rooms, will homework cease to be what
clever woman called an everlasting chore.
DEMAND FOR FRUIT TREES.
Last years crop of croakers predicted
that there would be a slack demand for
| fruit trees during the spring of 1890.
Even some of the nurserymen were
somewhat dubious and reduced their con-
templated acreage. These forebodings have
had no effect on the vigorous demand
which bids fair to deplete the nurseries
of all desirable stock The trees and vines
most in demand are prunes, peaches,
apricots, oranges, lemons, olives figs, Mus
cat grapes, English walnuts, apples, pears
and almonds. The run is on a limited
number of varieties and. nurserymen
who have a large mixed stock will expert
ence some difficulty in clearing up, while
those with large stock of but few stand
ard sorts will be sold out entirely long be-
fore the season is over. The demand is
for young trees and buyers are more
particular than usual about clean stock
Owing to the excessive rains, nursery
men have been unable to deliver stock
in December this year as they did
last. Although large orders are upon
their books, and the outlook for the
spring trade fully equals, if it is
not in excess, of last years ex-
traordinary demand, the deliveries made
up to the present time have been very
light, purchasers being unable to prepare
their ground to plant trees. Those who
have ordered and received their stock have
heeled in the same, in order to have their
trees on hand at short notice as soon as
fair weather sets in, that they may able to
plant without furter delay.-Fipit Groleer.
THINNING APPLES.
The following advantages are given by
successful orchardist of thinning the APP
Piles on heavy-bearing trees while the fruit
is small: o. You get rid of the knotty
and wormy apples before they have grown
long enough to occupy the places of better
ones (2) You thus destroy, before they
can increase, the insects in such as are
stung by the curculio and infested by the
Goblin worm. (3) The best ones being left,
they have plenty Of room to grow into
large, fine, salable specimens. "a You
are not obliged to gather twice as many
small ones, the labor of picking depending
on number and not on size. (5) The bad
ones are removed in time at less than half
the labor required for manipulating when
they become large. (6)sYou avoid much
labor in asserting the gathered crop,
and in separating the scabby and knurly
from the best fruit. e. The moderate crop
which is allowed to grow will exhaust the
trees less than the heavy crop of poor and
seedy specimens He thinks that to allow
all the poor and worthless apples to grow,
is like the practice of the farmer who
would permit all coarse weeds to grow in
his corn, to be assorted from his grain after
harvesting.
cAPRIFIcATIoN NEEDED.
One thing our figs yet lack is "caprifca-
tion," which is technical word, signify
ing fertilizing. Fig trees are male and
female The capri, or male fig, is no good
in itself, but its pollen is necessary to fer
tilize the fruit of the female tree. In ASIA
this is done by wasp called "blasto-
phaga," which carries the pollen from one
to the other. Here we have neither capri
figs to supply the pollen nor blastophaga
to carry it, so our fruit gets no fertil
izing or "caprifcation," and there
by lacks two qualities: First, the seeds
will not grow without such fertilizing, and,
second, the fruit itself is somewhat de-
fcient in flavor as theresult of the depriva-
ton. 1t will be noticed that in eating an
imported fig the seeds themselves are
agreeable to the taste, imparting fine, nutty
flavor. In the home fig the seeds are dry
and tasteless. The dark figs seem the
richest in flavor with us, and appear to
suffer less than the white ones from this
want of fertilizing.-Los angeles Times.