POPULAR GARDENING 



AND FRUIT GROWING. 



"ACCUSE NOT NATURE, SHE BATH DONE HER PART; DO THOU BUT THINE."— Jiivrot). 



Vol. III. 



IsTOAT E! 3S4: B E la, 18 87. 



No. 2. 



In the Autumn Woods. 



The busy woodpeckers tattoo the trees.— 

 Quail whir and whistle, ami wild doves call,— 



In the grasp of squirrels the ripe nuts fall! 

 On the loftiest houghs the jays are shrill, 



But silvery soft Is the thrush's trill! 

 As his perfect music outpours to-day. 



He forget-s that summer has slipped away! 



—IT. n. Baynes. 



Pansy plant.s are hartly, but they suffer from 

 alternate freezint^ and thawing of the soil in 

 which they are growing. To prevent this cover 

 the surface with a light coat of leaves or straw 

 after the first hard freeze. 



Anthracite coal ashes should be saved for 

 the land instead of going to the dumping ground. 

 We are satisfied that they are of benefit to any 

 kind of soil, but especially to such as is heavy. 

 A small proportion, say one-tenth, of coal ashes 

 in potting or hot-bed mold we have found a good 

 ingredient. 



The fait that Hyacinths and bulbs of a sim- 

 ilar class reach such high perfection in Holland, 

 a land constantly swept by moist sea breezes, and 

 well watered, should teach us that free moisture 

 in the atmosphere, and in the soil (wth drain- 

 age), are prime factors to the best cultivation of 

 these favorites. 



An estimate concerning the Cranberry crop of 

 the country arrived at at the recent convention 

 of American Cranberry Growers at Philadelphia 

 makes the entire crop this year 569,000 bushels. 

 Last year it was 687,000 bushels. The crop of 1885 

 was very large in Wisconsin and small in New 

 Jersey. In Nova Scotia the product is increasing. 



Secretary Woodward of the New York State 

 Agi-icultural Society has in view holding twent,v 

 farmers' institutes the coming winter. Last sea- 

 son only a few institutes were held, because there 

 was not money to pay necessary expenses, but 

 such as were held were very successful. An ap- 

 propriation was voted by the legislature last 

 winter, and now the society can proceed without 

 check. The secretary is now issuing circulars 

 requesting farmers in various localities to fix 

 times and places for the meetings. 



The Onion Crop is said to be short all over the 

 country. In Massachusetts the yield is small. 

 The Connecticut crop is slight; the average yield 

 ou 800 acres is 100 barrels an acre, much below 

 hist spring, and inferior in size and keeping 

 (luality . The Onion-growing towns of New York 

 generally report a small crop, and in Orange 

 county the shortage is serious; the 2,500 acres of 

 Onions will produce some :i50,000 bushels in all, 

 against nearly 600,000 in 1885, which are now sell- 

 ing at %'i per sack of 100 pounds. The New Jer- 

 sey crop is also short. The same story comes 

 from all the West. 



One of the marked advantages accruing t« the 

 fruit grower, as well as consumer, by the im- 

 proved methods of transporting fresh fruit in 

 these days is the equalization of the crop between 

 districts where fruit has failed and where it has 

 not. Samuel Miller, in the Rural World, says, 

 for instance: " Notwithstanding the failure of 

 the Grape crop in this vicinity. Grapes were 

 never so abundant and cheap as they are this year. 

 Ohio and New York are shipping here quite 

 freely by the car load, and as freight charges in 

 this way are but a mere trifle, the growers can 

 market their crops almost as cheaply in this and 

 other western markets as in the home or local 

 markets. 



brought in from adjoining counties, conservative 

 buyers think that Niagara County will turn out 

 500,000 barrels. As for cider making, the largest 

 mill in this part of the State has already used 

 200,000 bushels, and tons of Apples are being re- 

 ceived in the store-houses daily. Good red fruit 

 brings $2 a barrel; cider Apples 20 cents per cwt. 

 In this connection it may be stated that an ex- 

 periment has been made in Lockport of burning 

 apple-pomace as a fuel with brilliant success. 

 This was done by several large manufacturers 

 with the refuse of the large mill I'cferred to. 

 Pomace being a wood or fibre pulp, when thrown 

 on a coal fire it quickly becomes inflammable and 

 makes a hot fire. 



The Appi/E Crop of Western New York fruit 

 section is exceeding expectations. A report from 

 Lockport. puts it that, with what fruit is being 



TJNDOtJBTEDLY the most popular and deserving 

 hardy cUmber of the day is the Japanese Ivy, 

 AfUi^doitsiA VeitchiU also called the Boston Iv3\ 

 because the people of Boston were foremost to 

 duly appreciate its worth. It grows and propa- 

 gates with as much ease as the ordinary Virginia 

 Creeper, save in this respect : that yoiuig vines 

 the first winter, and before the roots have reached 

 well down, are a little tender, and will bear a 

 slight covering over the roots. But we have 

 never seen a vine after its first successful winter 

 injured in the least. It grows with a firm hold 

 on stone, unpainted wood or bark, and its leaves 

 are so dense as to overlap almost like shingles. 

 The foliage is a fine green during the growing 

 season, changing to the richest autumn tints later 

 on. It is so easily propagated from cuttings that 

 no nui-seryman should charge above twenty-flve 

 or fifty cents per root. 



In view of the frequent references to the 

 Japanese Plums and Persimmons in the rural 

 press it cannot be amiss to caution our readers 

 everywhere, except those of the South, to leave 

 them severely alone as outdoor fruit trees. To 

 our knowledge these trees are being offered by 

 salesmen throughout the North at $1.00 and up- 

 wards each. Whoever buys on the claims of 

 some salesmen will have only chagrin and the 

 loss of money and trouble as a return. It is in- 

 deed questionable whether any genuine stock is 

 at the disposal of the tree agents offering it, but 

 that is a point of slight consequence to many of 

 these men, and orders are constantly being 

 solicited. It seems likely from all accounts that 

 in the Gulf States both of these fruits will prove 

 valuable, and they are known to succeed in Cali- 

 fornia. Here in this latitude they can be recom- 

 mended only for a single purpose : they make 

 nice ornaments when grown in a tub, put in the 

 cellar over winter and set out in the spring. 



What an Amateur has Observed. 



That many people plant their gardens too 

 thickly; the rows of vegetables should be 

 wider apart and the plants thinned out in 

 the rows, and the ground between the rows 

 should be kept clean of all weeds. 



That Celery grows very rapidly after you 

 begin to bank it up. 



That some people let Pears ripen on the 

 tree. They should be picked before they are 

 mellow; when the Pears will come otf easily 

 without breaking the stem, then is the proper 

 time to pick them. 



That a garden can be kept looking nicely 

 late in the season if the leaves are raked 

 up; clean up where the early vegetables 

 have been; cut off all old dried flowers, tie 

 and stake up plants that need it: in a word, 

 tidy it all up and keep it so. 



That an old fence or shed may he made 

 beautiful if covered with Virginia Creeper. 



That weeds between the bricks in a pave- 

 ment may be killed by pouring boUing water 



on them; salt added to the water is more 

 effective; if one application does not kill 

 them try another; it's a much easier way 

 than to dig them out with a knife. 



That Squash do not set near the roots of 

 tlie vine, but away out on the vines; if the 

 end of the vines are nipped out when they 

 are about a yard or so long there will be no 

 Squash to pick in the autumn. 



That the White Japan Cucumber is supe- 

 rior to the green varieties for slicing and 

 eating raw; it is as easily raised and is as 

 productive as the green varieties. Try it. 



That sprinkling Currant and Gooseberry 

 bushes with white hellebore (a tablespoonful 

 stirred in a gallon of water, and put on with 

 a watering-pot) whenever the CuiTant worm 

 makes its appearance(two or three times dur- 

 ing the season) will rid the bushes of them. 



That the love of flowers and the cultiva- 

 tion of them is on the increase among the 

 people. May the good work continue. 



That women are interesting themselves 

 more in gardening, and even doing consid- 

 erable farming. 



That Tomatoes are much better if the 

 vines are trained upon a trellis, than if left 

 to ripen on the ground. 



That Lima Beans do weU on both light 

 and heavy soils. I have raised Dreer's 

 Lima on the sand (not sandy loam) enriched 

 with well rotted manure, and I have raised 

 the King of the Garden Lima on a clayey 

 loam with the same success. E. W. L. 



Transplanting Evergreen Trees. 



N. ROBERTSON, SVn. GOVERNMENT GROUNDS, OTTAWA, 

 CANADA. 



Considerable advice has been given as to 

 the best time to transplant Evergreens, 

 some advocating one time, some another. I 

 have tried all seasons, but am as yet at a 

 stand-still as to which is the best. I would 

 certainly favor September, provided condi- 

 tions were favorable, a moist time and a 

 clouded sky, which generally go together. 

 There are several things that require great 

 care to be successful. 



In taking up trees the greatest care should 

 be observed not to destroy the fibers by 

 pulling and stripping them through the 

 ground; they are very tender and easily 

 destroyed. Some Evergreens cannot be 

 moved with a ball of earth, owing to the 

 nature of the roots and of the soil in which 

 they grow, and when once taken from the 

 soil no care can be too great to protect them 

 from exposure, even to air, until planted. 

 The roots should at once be wrapped or 

 covered up in some moist substance. 



In planting be sure your soil is free fi-om 

 all impurities, for above all things, Ever- 

 greens like a clean soil and as near the na- 

 ture of that from which they are taken as 

 possible, and even if this has to be substi- 

 tuted. But let it not be forgotten that 

 moisture is a principle element in successful 

 Evergreen planting. Select a moist time for 

 it if you can. Spring planting I have always 

 found with its drawbacks; you are at once 

 upon dry hot weather, with newly packed 

 soil around the roots, and which is quite 

 liable to dry sooner than when it settles 

 from fall. 



Winter mulching should not be neglected 

 with pea straw or sawdust until the trees 



