1887. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



WALKS AND DRIVES. 



In gardens which possess dry and grav- 

 elly soils, a carriage-way consisting of the 

 natural soil will answer very well. Or in 

 case the soil is a kind that inclines to mud, 

 it may be covered with some inches in 

 depth of gravel for making a firm and 

 agi-eeable surface. The matter of walks is 

 also, for the average garden, a more simple 

 one than some hooks would lead us to sup- 

 pose. Provided the land is in that thor- 

 oughly drained state which .shonld mark 

 every good garden, the making of ordinary 

 walks may he rednced to the simple idea 

 suggested above concerning carriage-drives. 

 A few inches in depth of fine gravel 

 that will by rolling combine into a firm 

 body, and with the surface at the sides 

 about an inch below the line of the 

 lawn, and the center slightly rounded 

 over, and about every requirement of 

 a good ordinary garden walk is pro- 

 vided. But that a more thoroughly 

 made walk or drive would, cost aside, 

 possess advantages over the cheaper 

 one suggested no one would think of 

 denying, hence some attention will be 

 given to the making of the latter. 



What is knoNvn as the Telford road, a 

 cross-section of which is partially repre- 

 sented in Fig. 3.5, is undoubtedly the 

 best style of garden road or walk that 

 can be made, and with variations is 

 suited to almost every ease of ror.d 

 making. Beginning with an excava- 

 tion of earth from one to two feet below 

 the ordinary surface, the lowest layer 

 of road material, consisting of good 

 sized stones, is first brought into place. 

 This in the figure is showTi at a. To 

 insure no irregularity in the roadway 

 from later settling, the stones should 

 be set regularly together much as in 

 street paving. On these large stones is 

 to be brought a heavy layer of stones 

 (h in the engraving), Ijroken to the aver- 

 age size of hen's eggs, spreading these 

 for presenting rather an uneven sur- 

 face. Upon this layer is to come an 

 upper and finishing coat of fine gravel, 

 (f), which by heavy rolling should be 

 reduced to a firm body and smooth surface. 

 The edge of the walk or drive against the 

 grass should be defined by a line of coping 

 stones, and next to this on each side there 

 should be a gutter, as shown at d. This 

 gutter should not be faced with gravel 

 after,;the manner of the regular surface, but 

 should be paved with stone to prevent wash- 

 ing out by heavy rains. 



In grounds that are properly drained 

 there is little need of providing special un- 

 derdrains to walks and drives. Whenever 

 these may seem necessary they are readily 

 provided by laying one or two lines of about 

 four inch tile in the bottom of the excava- 

 tion before the stones are filled in, making 

 connections at suitable points with the 

 drain system of the place. 



The matter of surface drainage, for the 

 escape of the water that accumulates and 

 flows in the gutters, is rather important in 

 walks and drives of every character. Such 

 water should be disposed of by constructing 

 silt basin connections with the underdrains 

 of the place here and there at the lowest 

 places on the line of the gutters for effect- 

 ing its escape. The cross section of a silt 

 basin in position, and with proper drain 

 connections, is shown in Fig. 3(). A square 

 or circular brick-lined basin about a foot 

 and one-half across and three feet deep is 

 built under the gutter, with a movable iron 

 grate at the top. This is tapped Ijy a drain 

 about half way down its side. In the space 

 below the water Une the silt may accumu- 

 late without danger of clogging the drain, 

 and by occasionally lifting the grate this can 

 without difficulty be scooped out. 



In some cases stone, asphaltum or plank, 

 would be i)referred to gravel notwithstand- 

 ing their greater expense. As these are us- 

 ually i)ut down by those regularly in the 

 trade of supplying them, no directions for 

 this purpose will here be needed. 

 ( I'll br continued. ) 



Abutilons for Winter Flowering. 

 Among flowering pot plants there are per- 

 haps none which for ease of culture and 

 profuseness of bloom over a long season 

 excel the Abutilons or Indian Mallows. 

 Then their distinctness from the general run 

 of winter flowering plants, both as to ap- 



GROUP OF ABUTILON FLOWERS. 



pearance of the large leaves and the droop- 

 ing flowers of various colors, is another 

 point in their favor. Their value in the 

 window garden no less than in the summer 

 garden is also widely recognized. 



The plants of the Abutilon grow rapidly, 

 and having a largely developed root system, 

 require frequent shifting into larger pots to 

 induce a continuous growth, for it must be 

 constantly borne in mind that flowers are 

 only produced by plants in an active state 

 of growth. A good rich soil is also an essen- 

 tial to the ijest results, and the assistance of 

 manure-water to the growing plants is at 

 times desirable. A temperature of .50 to .5.5 

 degrees is the most suitable one for the 

 plants and these should be kept as near the 

 glass as possible, to keep the foliage healthy 

 and the plants from being drawn. 



In the matter of training, some cultivators 

 prefer plants confined to a single stem, and 

 the neat cylindi'ical outline of plants grown 

 in that manner is not devoid of attractive- 

 ness. They are well suited for table decora- 

 tion In that form, and, although there is 

 never a profusion of flowers at any one time, 

 the succession produced constitutes a special 

 redeeming feature of this deficiency. 



Some of the more free pendulous kinds 

 are specially adapted as pillar and roof 

 plants in the greenhouse, under which 

 condition the gracefuUy-drooping bells show 

 to the best possible advantage. Many years 

 ago we remember the old A. striatum trained 

 along the roof of a conservatoi-y, where it 

 was always much admired and was seldom 

 out of bloom, and now that there are so 

 many hybrids of much improvetl character, 



there ought to be no lack of varieties suit- 

 able for such purposes. 



The well-known white kind, Eoule de 

 Neige, as a pillar plant, unfortunately is a lit- 

 tle stiff, but is admiraVjly adapted for cover- 

 ing a trellis or wall. When grown in this way 

 it requires anniuil pruning in, so as to get 

 plenty of fresh, young breastwood, on which 

 the blooms are formed; but the first thing 

 of all is to get it to flU its allotted space, by 

 encouraging the leading shoots to reach the 

 trellis before being stopped, when by nip- 

 ping out the buds they soon break and fur- 

 nish the bare parts below. A. vexiUarium is 

 one of the best with which we are acquainted 

 for training up under a girder or roof, 

 where if the house it is in happens to 

 be a little warm it will flower the 

 whole year through. 



If bushy plants are considered most 

 desirable, they should be pinched back 

 several times as soon as they have taken 

 to the soil and I'ecommenced growing 

 after their transference fi-om the cut- 

 ting pots. Of course, under such a 

 system of treatment, they will require 

 to be rooted earlier for winter flower- 

 ing than where they are allowed to 

 run up unchecked, and may be treated 

 accordingly. 



REPLIES TO INQUIRIES. 



419. Currant Worm Remedy. I know of 

 U()thinj? better than hellebore. Are you 

 certain tbat it iojured the leaves? It should 

 be upi'lietl whik* the worms are yet small, 

 and thfu there will be no occasion for using 

 it in such quantities as to destroy the foli- 

 age.-C. E. P. 



420, 4.'i8. Moon Flower. I think that Ipo- 

 mea noctiphlton is a perennial plant. At 

 any rate it can be treated a:3 one. Trim 

 back, lift and repot carefully, and winter in 

 an average temiieratin'e of .55 defrrees. In 

 pottinj^" use ordinary ]n>ttiny: sitil, ii jiot prn- 

 portiniiutc to the .size of the plant, and 

 water caretiilly until growth uonimcnies. 

 Place the plant in a light, sunny situation 

 and use it iis a climbing vine for the green- 

 house or window garden.— C. E. P. [See 

 also Peter Henderson's article elsewhere in 

 this edition.— Ed.] 



417. Cauliflowers Not Heading. I think 

 that you are cultivating some inferior va- 

 rieties, or else procured cheap seed. Noth- 

 ing can be done to make them head. Auother 

 season tr.v Hendei-son's Early Snowball, Early 

 Erfurt, Thorburu's Nonpareil, and procure the 

 very best seed regardless of cost. Cheap Cauli- 

 flower seed is not worth planting.— C. E. P. 



418 Sheldon Pear Cracking. I do not think 

 any thing can be dime to pire vent the cracking of 

 the fruit, but before destroying the tree I would 

 remove the sod, and for a .veai- or two cultivate 

 it as before.— Chas. B. Parnell. 



414. Grape Rot. Bagging will prevent it ap- 

 plied iis soon as the berries commence to develop. 

 Mcjsfiuito netting will not answer.— G. E. P. 



415. Transplanting Walnuts. Transplant as 

 early in the spring as possible. Don't prune the 

 roots, but trim the tops into shape.— C. E. P. 



41H. Grapes in Northeast Iowa, (o.) The l)est 

 time to plant is as early in spring as possible, (ft.) 

 Would recommend Concord, Diana, and for a 

 white variety it would be well to give the Niagara 

 or Pocklington a trial.— C. E. P. 



413. Gooseberries and Currants. These are 

 best incresised by cuttings prepared and treated 

 as follows: About the end of October select the 

 strongest and straightest young shoots of the cur- 

 rent season's growth, carefully cut out or rub olf 

 all the buds that you intend to grow below the 

 ground and plant them in a nicely prepared, 

 deep, moderately enriched, shaded border, one 

 on the n;irth side of a fence being preferred. 

 Place them in rows six inches aparf, the cuttings 

 being three inchi-sapart in tlie row. Insert them 

 !is deep as possilile, allowing only three or four 

 inches tt) remain abt)ve the surface of the ground. 

 Press tlie s..il \ery flrmly about the cuttings, and 

 protect dLUiug the winter with e\'ergreen 

 brandies. Tlii' next season keep them clean and 

 from weeds, and the ensuing spring they can he 

 i-omoved to whei-e it is intended they should re- 

 main.— Chas. E. Pahnell, Queens, L. I. 



437. Keeping Grape Seed. Mix with dry sand 

 and place in a dry, co<jl situation until wanted. 

 Guard against rats and mice. Sow as early in the 

 spring as possible. Y'our failure no doubt was in 

 permitting the roots to become too much ex- 

 posed to the sun and wind while planting, or else 

 the work was improperl.v iiert'ormed.- C. E. P. 



