44 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



December, 



young vineyard the first year. Potatoes is 

 the usual one, and it is a bad practice, for 

 we know that the Potato takes potash in 

 its food largely, which the vines need. I 

 grow nothing in a young orchard or vine- 



or two-thirds way through its diameter. 

 This done a week or more before the cutting 

 is finally taken off, and it vrill then be found 

 in a condition to root very easily by the pot 

 system described, and with about every 

 o r d in a r y possibility of de- 

 caying removed. 



A Cutting Pot well arranged. Treating a Cutting to Harden it. 



yard (except something new) unless I have 

 the means to return in the way of manure 

 to make up for the tax on the soil. Many a 

 young orchard has been ruined before it got 

 a start in life, and many more go down 

 when they should be in the prime of life .just 

 for the want of proper food and cultivation. 

 Quite recently I saw a Winesap tree with 

 the finest Apples of its kind I ever met with, 

 where the roots run under a hog pen. They 

 were nearly black, and I have a specimen of 

 them now that measures nearly twelve 

 inches in circumference. 



Several Points in Plant Propagation. 



A common trouble met in the rootiug of 

 slips is that of damping off or else the rotting 

 away of the part beneath the surface of the 

 sand in which they are set. The cause for 

 this is not difficult to understand, as we con- 

 sider that usually the most suitable part of 

 a plant for slipping is the young tender ends 

 of the growing shoots. These being of a 

 succulent, comparatively watery nature, to 

 place them into sand that is rather damp is 

 quite like inviting decay, unless the condi- 

 tions for inducing rooting and growth are 

 in other respects decidedly favorable. 



To overcome the tendency to decay alluded 

 to, the method of pot propagation shown on 

 this page is of advantage. It is not a new 

 method, but has long been in use by florists. 

 It should find more general use with ama- 

 teurs, and especially in rooting the more 

 succulent kinds of cuttings, .such as tri- 

 colored or any Geraniums, Fuchsias, etc., 

 throughout the winter season. 



The main idea is the use of a small inner 

 pot in the center of a large pot, and to cause 

 a narrow ring of sand between the two, in 

 which to insert the cuttings. The water 

 can be applied to the sand through the inner 

 pot, thus preventing washing and packing 

 on the surface. By providing drainage as 

 shown in this cross-section, consisting of pot- 

 sherds, charcoal, or washed cinders, with a 

 layer of Sphagnum directly underneath the 

 sand, the freest opportunity for the passing 

 off of excessive moisture is provided. 



The cuttings should be placed in the sand 

 as shown in the engraving, keeping them 

 either in a single line or else in several lines. 

 Not only by this means is the sand relieved 

 of any excess of wetness that might induce 

 decay, but from the general position of the 

 cuttings, the air has a chance to circulate 

 among and even beneath these in a way that 

 utterly forbids the presence of stagnant air 

 about them, as might be the case were they 

 massed closely together as is done in the 

 ordinary cutting bed. 



The right hand figure of the two is de- 

 signed to show how cuttings that are 

 decidedly succulent may be prepared to 

 root with comparative ease and with the 

 danger of decay reduced to a minimum. 

 This consists of cutting a niche into its side, 

 at the point where it should later be severed 

 (a in the engraving), and to extend one-half 



The Nectarine Peach. 

 This fine fiavored September 

 Peach possesses several dis- 

 tinct characteristics to render 

 it interesting in its class. The 

 fruit, of large size, has the re- 

 markable form shown in our 

 engraving of terminating in a 

 nipple. Its other striking pe- 

 culiarity is that of having but 

 little down on the skin, being 

 in this respect quite smooth like a Nectarine, 

 hence its name. 



In color the skin of the Nectarine Peach 

 is yellow, with a bright mottled red on the 

 side next to the sun; the suture well defined, 

 particularly near the nipple. The flesh is 

 semi-transparent, and vrith a brilliant red 

 stain round the stone, from which it sepa- 

 rates, leaving some strings behind it. It is 

 melting, very richly flavored, and with a 

 fine racy smack. The stone has a tendency 

 to split, and the kernel has a mildly bit- 

 ter taste. Flowers large; glands kidney- 

 shaped. 



This Peacli was first brought to notice in 

 1868, having been raised by the famous 

 Thomas Rivers from seed of the Grand Noir 

 imported from Holland. It is ottered in the 

 catalogues of several American nurserymen. 



Double Buds on Grape-vines. 



D. L. MARVIN, WATERTOWN, N. V. 



Many persons have observed that Grape- 

 vines often develop double, thrible, and oc- 

 casionally quadruple buds, yet few have 

 studied the cause of vines expending so 

 much apparently useless energy and waste 

 of vital force. 



If I should say that vines had intelligence 

 and forethought I would perhaps be laughed 

 at. But when we study into why several 

 buds appear when one would usually answer 

 every purpose, we see that there really is 

 such a thing as design manifested here. 



Two kinds of buds are developed by vines, 

 leaf buds to carry on the functions of the 

 plant, and fruit buds to per- 

 petuate the species, but both 

 sets of leaves and every 

 other function of the plant 

 has but one object, that is to 

 grow seeds. Nature's primary 

 object always. There are 

 many secondary objects 

 which are of vast importance 

 to man and animals. For in- 

 stance clothing the seeds 

 with a pulpy envelope to feed 

 the animal world, giving the 

 skin bright and attracting 

 colors to attract the birds, so 

 they will feed upon them and 

 then carry the seeds in their 

 crops to distant places and 

 drop them to clothe Nature's 

 waste places. But now how 

 could the primary object of 

 germs be produced if an 

 untimely frost should kill 

 the single buds ? an occur- 

 rence that does really hap- 

 pen more or less every year, for Grapes are 

 found wild as far north as Ottawa, Canada. 



When the buds are killed upon most 

 plants, that is the end of the fruit, for 

 although ordinary plants will develop and 

 push out what are called adventitious buds, 

 such are always leaf buds and never fruit 

 buds. So there is the necessity for the plant 



under these hard conditions to provide for 

 such untimely accidents or become exter- 

 minated. It is herein that we see why it is 

 that Grape-vines have developed several 

 fruit buds at each node on bearing canes. 



We may give this beneficent provision of 

 the vine whatever name we please, we can- 

 not help but see that there has been fore- 

 thought upon the part of the vine to provide 

 for such emergencies as the untimely frosts 

 of spring. 



It often actually happens that a frost 

 comes when the shoots are several inches 

 long and they are all killed, and it is then 

 we see the reason for and the wisdom of 

 providing the dormant buds for tender 

 plants, which immediately push out and de- 

 velop fruit with germs just as perfect as the 

 ones that would have been developed by the 

 primary buds that were destroyed by frost. 



A Talk About the Single Dahlias. 



W. A. MANDA, BOTANIC GARDENS, CAMBRIDGE, MASS. 



. Dahlia Hi.stort. Single Dahlias are by 

 no means new; we had them as long ago as 

 1789 when the two first species, the Dahlia 

 superflora and Dahlia frustranea were in- 

 troduced into Europe. Naturally they were 

 single and not much prized on that account. 

 In cultivation those two primitive species 

 got mixed and passed under the name of 

 Dahlia variabilis, a name that still holds 

 good among gardeners. Under cultivation 

 the Dahlia soon improved in size, shape, and 

 color, although the gardeners had only two 

 colors at the time, namely, purple in D. 

 superflua and scarlet in D. frustranea. 



With time the varieties increased, especi- 

 ally the double ones, until of late they have 

 arrived at their perfection as to shape and 

 size, but the colors are never so bright and 

 rich as in the single forms. Lacking this 

 last quality, and like everything else that is 

 brought to its maximum and where there is 

 no chance for a marked improvement, so 

 the Double Dahlia is going out of fashion 

 and the single forms are gaining favor in 

 the last foxir or five years. 



That the Single Dahlias should crowd aside 

 the double ones cannot be wondered at, 

 for the single has many pomts of super- 

 iority over the others. In the first place it 

 is more floriferous, the tlowers stand out 

 gracefully over the foliage, and when cut 

 they are very useful for vases or large 



THE NECTARINE PEACH. 



bouquets, for which use the double forms 

 are too clumsy. The colors now are also 

 much more distinct and numerous, for, with 

 the exception of blue and green, all the 

 colors imaginable are to be found in this 

 section, and the rich velvety colors are well 

 set oft' by the bright golden disk. All these 

 qualities referred to were lost in the double 



