1895. 



GARDENING, 



247 



HEATING A GREENHOUSE 



there is of any neighboring tree. Our experi- 

 ence is the opposite. Peach trees are show- 

 ing more dead wood than usual, and now 

 that the buds are starting we can readily 

 tell the dead twigs and branches. We 

 haven't time to cut all of the dead ones 

 out, but we do remove the larger ones. 

 We have unearthed the fig trees and lev- 

 elled up the ground about them. They 

 have wintered well. Our orchard is in 

 cultivated land and ismanured broadcast 

 every year. All of the open spaces be- 

 tween the trees are filled with garden 

 crops, such as peas, beans, com, squashes, 

 rhubarb and the like. Root crops as car- 

 rots salsify and turnips, however, like 

 rnore open ground. 



The grape vines have been tied up to 

 stakes or trellises, and layers detached, 

 lifted and transplanted. What big finely 

 rooted plants we get from layers in a year. 

 As soon as the wood buds begin to swell 

 and before they burst into leaf we go over 

 the vines and rub off all weak, useless and 

 ill' plicate buds. Too many canes mean 

 weak canes. 



Raspberry m'snES that were buried 

 overwinter have survived perfectly, those 

 that were left uncovered have suffered a 

 little. We have shortened the tips a little, 

 tied the plants to their stakes or trellises, 

 cleaned prong-hoed the ground and 

 mulched it with h If decayed sedge. 



Bi.ACKHEKRiES have been treated in 

 much the same way. As soon as they 

 begin to grow look out for rust. If any 

 sprouts come up vs'hose leaves on the back 

 are covered with a golden yellow rust, 

 root them out unsparingly. There is no 

 cure for it. And as it is common among 

 wild plants there is no certainty of im- 

 munity from it. But we find if a planta- 

 tion is badly affected with it another 

 (ilantation a few rods away from it may 

 be perfectly clean from it. Be very ca refill 

 though never to save sprouts for a new 

 plantation from the infested beds. 



Currant and gooseberry bushes are 

 bursting their leaf buds and will be green 

 in a few days. They were pruned some 

 time ago, and recently we cleaned the 

 ground and prong-hoed it to make it 

 readily accessible to air and water, and 

 then we mulched it with old sedge to keep 

 it cool and moist and the berries clean. 

 Don't wait till the caterpillars come and 

 eat up the leaves of the bushes before you 

 think of destro\'ing them, (iet a powder 

 bellows— not a little 5 cent arrangement, 

 but a regular insect powder bellows — and 

 at once some fresh hellebore powder. 

 When the bushes are wet with dew in the 

 morning dust them over with the pow- 

 der; if you don't see a caterpillar before 

 that time powder them again in a fort- 

 night, and again a fortnight later. But 

 the moment you see a caterpillar run for 



yourbellows and puffalittle powdero\er 

 the grub and the bushes it eats. And you 

 will get rid of the pests without any hurt 

 to the bushes. 



Strawberries.— A little while ago we 

 uncovered them, piling up the sedge 

 mulching close by the beds. Then we 

 cleaned the beds, freeing them from grass, 

 dandelions or other weeds, and prong- 

 hoed between the rows to even and un- 

 fasten the land to admit air and water 

 readily. Then we replaced the mulching. 

 We carried it in big forkfuls all over the 

 patch, shaking it evenly and loosely over 

 everything — plants and ground. Then 

 laying our forks aside we straddled the 

 rows, parted the straw aside from over 

 the plants, although drawing it in closely 

 to them. Now the plants are exposed to 

 the light and their roots are kept cool and 

 moist by the mulching between them, giv- 

 ing t hem unrestricted freedom to grow and 

 bloom. After we get a rain to pack down 

 the mulching better and the plants are in 

 full growth we will go over them again to 

 pack the straw more closely in about the 

 plants to keep the berries clean. It is well 

 to do this just before they are in full 

 bloom. If you want to makeanew plant- 

 ation you can do so j'et. It jou are to 

 use your own grown plants by lifting 

 them with a ball and planting them care- 

 fully, they transplant well. Bought 

 plants although they haven't any ball 

 of earth to their roots, are generally well 

 rooted stock, and if thev are taken, 

 planted and watered, and kept cultivated 

 and moist in summer they should do well 



Melons.— We got a lot of pots and 

 filled them with light loamy soil and set 

 them close together in a warm frame out 

 of doors. We then dropped two or three 

 seeds into each pot and covered them. 

 Over the frame we then placed sashes and 

 wooden shutters till the seedlings ap- 

 peared, when the shutters were dispensed 

 with. The sashes are retained, however. 

 This should give us nice strong plants to 

 set out in hills a few weeks from now, 

 further we find that such strong plants 

 are seldom destroyed by cut worms, as 

 seedlings raised in the open garden or 

 field are apt to be. 



MY HOME OflRDEN. 



After an absence of nearly a year I am 

 once more at home and in my garden, 

 that blest resort for a worried mind and 

 impaired digestion— that superb cure for 

 pessimism, the outgrowth of city life. I 

 ri.se early in the morning in order to get 

 in it and at the same time fill my lungs 

 with pure air, and everything in it seems 

 to smile a greeting at me and give me a 

 hearty welcome home. 



The" first thing to attract my attention 

 was my raspberry bushes. I have here- 



tofore done more or less summer pruning, 

 pinching off the tips, etc., but I became 

 thoroughly satisfied that it was not a 

 gciod method, and last season they were 

 all allowed to grow at their own sweet 

 will. It has s enied to me that pinching 

 back sent out many laterals which never 

 properly ripened their wood and which 

 were badly winterkilled three years out 

 of four. This spring to my delight I find 

 Shaffer, Columbian and Cuthbert in the 

 best possible condition, every part of 

 them alive to the tip of the vine. This in 

 spite of the fact that the winter has been 

 a severe one, the temperature being 10 

 degrees below zero for a week at a time. 

 At present I think I shall never again do 

 summer pruning of my raspberries. My 

 blackberries were treated in the same way 

 with similar results. 



A word here as to the Columbian rasp- 

 berry, of which I have a dozen plants 

 sent by the originator to me for testing. 

 So far (they have borne two crops) they 

 seem perfectly hardy and are, without 

 exception, the most wonderful growers I 

 have ever seen. The fruit isof the Shaffer 

 type, of better quality and they are more 

 productive. 



My strawberries are yet under a 

 heavy winter mulch of coarse manure. 

 Here and there a green leaf may be seen 

 where the mulch has been dragged or 

 blown off. If uncovered, in this pleasant 

 April weather, they would be growing 

 ra|)idly, but that is just what I want to 

 avoid. Our great trouble with straw- 

 berrie< is the late frost which rarely omits 

 a visit here, coming generally between 

 the 1st and 15th of May. By keeping 

 my strawberries covered until about 

 April 20th I retard their blossoming, and 

 so escape the ravages of the frost. Among 

 them I have a short row of Timbrell, a 

 strawberry which has had higher praise 

 and severer denunciation than any other 

 before the public. I have been pleased 

 with its vigor of growth and more than 

 pleased with its superb quality (I know 

 of no other variety so good), and this 

 season I hope to know something of its 

 productiveness, etc. We will discu.ss it 

 later. E. O. Fowler. 



Orange Co., X. Y. 



Strawberries.— Every man, woman 

 and child having a rod of ground should 

 grow strawberries. They may be pro- 

 duced on almost any soil, and a child 

 may grow them. There is no fruit so 

 delicious, none more productive, health- 

 ful, so easily grown, or easily protected. 

 Berry plants are huge feeders and hard 

 drinkers; they require the atmosphere 

 above and the soil beneath to sustain 

 them. Every little fibrous root is a 

 suction pipe, pumping up food and moist- 

 ure from below. Neither are they partic- 

 ular what they feed on. When well pre- 

 pared for their use they will take all 

 refuse, drippings and droppings. Thej' 

 should have all the good, well prepared 

 food they can utilize. This, to the fruit 

 grower, means rich soil well prepared, 

 and always in good condition. 



Sparta, Wis. M. A. Thayer. 



Sweet Chestnut Trees.— In reply to 

 several correspondents: The leading nur- 

 serymen advertising in Gardening can 

 supply them, yes, all of the varieties men- 

 tioned. Three to four feet high, 2year 

 grafted plants. Send for the catalogues 

 and see what they say. 



Let me express my thanks to you for 

 the courtesy of your replies to my in- 

 (|uiries, I have found them of much value. 



.Newark, N.J. V. W. B. 



