332 



GARDENING. 



July 15, 



season. Have the inside of the house- 

 walls, floor, etc., washed with clean 

 water, then whitewashed with fresh 

 slacked lime. Indeed before lime- washing 

 it we ought to fumigate it with sulphur 

 to kill every living animal and vegetable 

 organism in it. Begin to gather fresh 

 manure for the early beds. Plain horse 

 manure well moistened under the horses' 

 feet in the stable, and which has never 

 fire-fanged is best. If drymoisten it well, 

 put it under cover to save it from the 

 drying effects of sun and wind, let it heat 

 gently, but never allow a violent heat nor 

 let it get whitened by heating. As one 

 cannot very well get manure enough at 

 one time for a bed, he can add to it, day 

 by day, till enough is obtained, carefully 

 observing all the while not to let it get 

 ovei-dry or overhot. 



Okra — If in rows thin it to a loot 

 apart. We sow a little of the Dwarf Pro- 

 lific even as late asthis for Septemberand 

 October pods. When vou begin picking 

 keep the pods picked oft' clean as soon as 

 they are fit for use .so as to prolong the 

 bearing period of the plants. 



Onions.— Harvest sets, multipliers, shal- 

 lots, garlic and the like as soon as thev 

 are ripe. Letting them stay in the ground 

 after the tops fall down and wither up 

 does them no good. But encourage seed 

 onions to keep green and growing as long 

 as possible. About this time thrips gen- 

 erally attack the leaves, searing them and 

 ripening them prematurely. Spraying 

 with tobacco water might be all riglit in 

 a small patch, but our large growers 

 don't do anything as a preventive orcure 

 for this pest. 



ParsCey.— As this year's sowing is 

 now in fine using order all of last year's 

 should be rooted out and thrown away. 

 If, however, you use parsley roots for 

 flavoring— and a fine flavoring it makes 

 too— keep some of the old plants for a 

 month or so yet till the roots of the 

 young ones are big enough to use. We 

 have just cleared out a cold frame, put 

 some fresh soil in it and sowed parsley 

 seed in it; this is for winter parsley. We 

 will keep it well shaded till the seedlings 

 come up. 



Peas —The early peas that weren't 

 picked are nearly ripe now. Pull the 

 straw, dry it, thresh out the peas and use 

 them for the fall crop. We sow it carlv 

 in August. Further north sow about the 

 end of July. Only early or second early 

 sorts should be used. 



Spinach.— Only in good, moist ground 

 can we get this to do well at this time 

 of year; and then we have to sow often 

 for it "bolts" very soon. 



Tomatoes —The late fruits are gener- 

 ally watery, but if you tie up the plants 

 and reduce their vine production the 

 fruits are apt to be more solid. But for 

 September and October fruit we prefer 

 plants raised from seed sown about the 

 end of May or first of June. If you sow 

 some seed now and grow on the plants in 

 jjots they should give nice fruit from Oc- 

 tober till December. 



TiKNips.— We don't sow our winter 

 turnips till ne.\t month, but much north 

 of here a good sowing should be put in 

 during the latter part of July. 



Books. 



TREES AND SflRUBS OF NEW ENOlflND. 



Wo have received from Bradke Whidden. 

 S Arch street, Boston. "A Ouide to liiui 

 lie n.imes of all wild growing Trees .-nHl 



Shrubs of New England bv their Leaves," 

 by Edward Knobel. Itisabook of 48 

 pages, 8V4x6 inches, with paper covers, 

 and it contains fifteen full page plates on 

 which are arranged diagrams of typical 

 leaves of the several genera and species of 

 trees and shrubs. Our illustration is 

 Plate VII. of the book, and shows the 

 leaves of the difierent kinds of oaks. The 

 other plates are as well filled and truih- 

 ful. Indeed the book is exceedingly help- 

 ful, condensed and intelligible. The leaves 

 of two hundred and fifteen species are 

 shown, and an analytical key to each 

 plate occupies the opposite page to it; 

 and fifteen pages are devoted to descrip- 

 tive matter of the species represented. 

 Referring to the oaks shown in the ac- 

 companying illustration we quote the 

 following: 



52. Rough or post oak. Querciis ob- 

 tusiloba. Tree 30 feet; acoriis on very 

 short stems; small and sweet. 



53. Overcup oak. Qiiercus miicro- 

 carpa. Tree 40 feet; acorns 1 inch long, 

 deep in a mossy-fringed cup. 



54. White oak. Qiiercus alba. Tree 

 fiO feet; acorns 1 inch long; eatable, i)ar- 

 ticularly when roasted. 



55. Swamp oak. Querciis rlisco/or. 

 Tree 60 feet; whitish shaggy bark. i)cel- 

 ing off in shreds; many horizontal 

 branches; acorns sweet. 



56. Rock chestnutoak. Ouerciis inun- 

 ticola. Tree 50 feet; acorn~l inch long, 

 sweet; bark reddish-gray. 



57. Dwarf chestnut oak (chinquapin). 

 Qiiercus prinoides. Shrub 4 feet, (liir 

 smallest oak Acorns s a ect, many on a 

 limb; bark bitter 



58. Chestnutoak. Quercus castaiiea. 

 Tree 30 feet Bark whitish; wood very 

 yellow; acorns -^ inch long, sweet anil 

 eatable. 



59. Scrub oak. Quercus ilicUoIia. 

 Shrub. 8 feet. Bark greenish-black, 

 dotted with gray; acorns 1/2 inch long, 

 bitter. " 



60. Black oak. Quercus tinctoria. 

 Tree 90 feet. Under bark yellow, wood 

 reddish; acorns V2 inch long, very bitter, 

 kernel yellow. 



61. Redoak Quercus rubra. Tree 75 

 feet. Bark dark un en-gray, smooth; 

 acorns 1 inch long, kernel 'white and 

 bitter. 



62. Scarlet oak. Quercus cocciiiea. 

 Tree 70 feet. Bark rcddish-grav, under 

 bark reddish; acorns M.. inch long, kernel 

 white and bitter 



Ferns and Evergreens of New 

 England, also from Bradlce Whidden, is 

 another book of the same size and style 

 as the last, by the same author. It con- 

 tains eleven full-page plates, and numerous 

 small detail drawings; and it gives a key 

 to the ferns, and concise easily understood 

 instruction how to easily fiiid the names 

 of any of our wild ones. Bv "evergreens" 

 is not meant rhododendrons, kalmias, 

 and the like, but the club mosses {Lvco- 

 poclium). Thirty-eight species of icms 

 and four club mosses ("evergreens") are 

 illustrated. It is a very helpful little 

 book, and so plain that bv its aid any 

 person who has no knowledge of botany 

 can readily determine the species. 



The price of each book is 50 cents. 



Miscellaneous. 



Gardening is the most useful paper of 

 its kind in the country; every gardener 

 ought to read it, and he would never 

 regret doing so. 1-; \\ 



Lake Forest, 111. 



CULTURE OF 0IN5EN0. 

 G. H. L., Portland, Oregon, asks: "Can 

 you give any information on the culture 

 of ginseng? How long does it take to 

 grow for market? H here can plants be 

 procured [Mr. Harlan P. Kelsey, Kaw- 

 ana, N. C, has 40,000 plants, nursery 

 grown, for sale — ED.],orisitgrown froin 

 the root? Is it a profit.-ible crop? and is 

 itcultivatcd to any extent in this conn- 



(unseng (Aralia quincjuefulia) can be 

 grown— and successfully too— but the ex- 

 act profits are by no means determined 

 at the present time, and I would hesitate 



.$2.5(1 p., poun. 



ould almost Cer- 

 ent, ginseng cmn- 



$4 I 



ap|)areiUly an iMilimited (Uiii.-nui for it at 

 thesefigures. Tii.-it the mi|,|i1\ wliuiihas 

 been in tlie ]ia-it eininK ^ii^i:iin,,l l,v 

 native collectors Hhouj^Iimiu ih, n-|,,ii 

 where ginseng is indigenous, is iiuide- 

 quate to the demand, is plainly shown by 

 the steady increase in price from year to 

 year; and sections of country where it 

 w.as abundant but a few years ago are 

 almost entirely depleted. Eventually it 

 must be a cultivated crop, but the fact 

 that it takes from four to six years' 

 growth before it is nadx for tin- ni;nket 



t;ikcs special coiHJitinns (.1 sdiI .nid treat- 

 ment to make its growing a success. It 

 can be grown from seed or 3'ouiig jilants; 

 but the latter way is perhaps the most 

 satisfactory, as seeds are very difficult to 

 procuie, and jjlants can now be had very 

 cheaply from those who grow it for this 

 purpose. 1 1 must have a rich cool loam v 

 loose soil, always preferring shade, and 

 should have a heavy mulching of wood 

 leaves in autumn, which are to be left on 

 during the next suramertodecay and con- 

 serve moisture. While it is ,1 "cl'ilM of the 



