1887. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



55 



copy from them. Thei-e you may see, especiiiUy 

 in Germany, not only well laid out and orna- 

 mented school yards, but (fardcn and nursery 

 grounds attaclied, where at the iiroper season of 

 the year pupils receive practical lessons in horti- 

 cultural work. This early trainint? is not only 

 liealthy, but creates an early love for the beauti- 

 ful and useful; it initiates the younj? minds into 

 a system of industry and economy, which t(^ all 

 clai*ses is very important. I full.v endoi-se the 

 statement made by our president— that we must 

 see to it that every school yard in the State is 

 ornamented— yet I am inclined to go farther and 

 combine with the beautiful the useful. This, in 

 my opinion, may be done by addinfc' suitable 

 grounds to the school houses, and introducing- 

 the proper system of training. 



It can be done and should be done. A plan 

 may be devised, connecting the practical with 

 the ornamental, making your school yards at- 

 tractive, comfortable and useful, initiating a 

 system of economy, order, industr.v and 

 cleanliness, thereby creating in the 

 young mind a love and desire for the 

 useful, refined and beautiful. 



At the close of the addiess Mr. Murry 

 stated that they adopted the plan last 

 year of meeting at the school yar-d on 

 Arbor Day and encouraging the young 

 people to bi-ing a tree and plant it. 

 They now have the grounds full of trees. 

 He thought school grounds should be 

 enlarged while lands are cheap and ac- 

 cessible, with a view to the growing of 

 flowers and other plants. The young 

 should be brought up among trees. 

 flowers and everything beautiful. 



President Evans remarked that this 

 society has set on foot the ornamenta- 

 tion of school grounds. Mr. Kern, the 

 landscape gardener, took upon himself 

 the laying out of the work and directing 

 how it should be done at Warrensburg. 

 Nurserymen contributed trees and 

 plants so freely that they could not ac- 

 cept them all. Our local society orna- 

 mented their gnjunds last spring. I 

 think it would be well if this society 

 would adopt some resolution asking our 

 State Superintendent of Schools to use 

 his influence with the legislature to get 

 them to pass a law giving us a little 

 appropriation for the purpose of im- 

 proving our school grounds, and to make a law 

 requiring the school board to have some ground 

 for the cultivation of flowei-s and fruits. 



Mr. Goodman said it is a part of the plan of the 

 State Society to take the lead in the matter. We 

 ex|>ect to have a day set apart by the State 

 Superintendent for tree phmting ne.vt sjiring. 

 We can lead in the work, tell the school boards 

 what t<3 do and how to do it. 



Mr. Speer stated that the arbor day appointed 

 by the .state was entirely too late for the work. 

 He thiuks there is no school district in the State 

 of Missouri that cannot ornament its grounds if 

 there is just one man in that district who will 

 make up his mind that it shall be done. It will 

 be worth, as an advertisement, to any nursery- 

 man all that it will cost him to furnish the trees 

 to ornament the school grounds of his county. 



here. Mine has suffered, but with this and all 

 other mishaps I still have SO per cent of trees in 

 bearing condition, and the balance coming on. 

 Such winters may not occur again, and with the 

 experience I am gaining, the new orcliard might 

 do even better, though s(jme drawbacks are 

 likely to always occur. 



I allude to these things to show, if need be, 

 that my calculations arc not visionary, and that 

 I do not e.\peet to follow in the beaten patlis of 

 the country. If I were apprehensive of doing 

 that, or that m.v sons would degenerate to it, I 

 would pull up the last tree before spring, and 

 perhaps phint some tough kind of forest trees 

 that coidd stand such treatment. 



Planting We planted the trees in rows 4 

 feet s inciies apart, placing ait<'rnately midways, 

 making each tree the centre of a he.vagon and 17 

 feet between each tree. The intention is to cut 

 out three-fourths of them whenever the balance 

 will be benefited by it, which I estimate at 12 to 



An Eighty-Acre Apple Orchard. 



lAbstra4_'t of paper read before the Adair County 

 iSfo.i Horticullitral Society, by Chas. Patterson.) 



Having planted over 1^,00() Apple trees on 

 a full HO acres last spring, I will give some 

 of my rea.S(jns and experience to the public. 



Beasons for Planting.— It is quite a general 

 impression that when we get a crop prices bare- 

 ly pay for picking and hauUng. Many are dis- 

 couraged if we tell them to cultivate, manure 

 and prune the orchard, dig out the borers, etc. 

 I have been one of the first to call attention to 

 these needs years ago, but it is very safe to as- 

 sume that less than one-tenth of the present 

 orchanls will ever receive any benefits from 

 good care, and the markets will keep being 

 glutted with inferior and very cheaii fruit, while 

 good qualities are in demand at fair prices. 



The present short crop may be an accident of 

 the season to some extent, but we need not ex- 

 pect abundant crops hereafter, only in the ex- 

 ceptionally favorable seasons. One such crop 

 well biken care of as I had last year on my eight- 

 year old orchard may easily be made worth the 

 present cost of land and trees. We have passed 

 through a senes of winters or seasons that have 

 demolished nearly all orchards not far north of 



WINTER ST. LAWRENCE APPLE. 



16 yeare, allowing them to bear four to eight 

 croi>s, which of itself can be exceedingly good 

 pay for all investment. The remaining trees 

 will then be 2fl feet i inches by 34 feet in square 

 rows. This was an oversight in planning, as I 

 preferred to have them alternating. 



We made a two inch square pole for marking 

 off, with inch holes through which to stick hazel 

 pegs where the trees should stand. Two hands 

 can run very straight between stakes at each 

 end, but in 80 rods distance it required care to 

 set the pegs always at the same side of the hole, 

 and in crossing depressions and elevations we 

 found it necessary to have cross lines of stakes 

 .as stations to verif.v and correct the run. We 

 used a re-place, that is a board four to six feet 

 long with a notch or hole in the middle to be 

 placed at the peg, and one notch for similar pegs 

 at each end, to preserve the place for the tree 

 while digging. 



We dug the holes fuU, large and deep, filled 

 round the roots with mellow soil, tramped in as 

 hard as possible, leaning the tree perhaps too 

 heavy to the southwest, which is easier correct- 

 ed than to straighten after leaning the other 

 way. We then planted com in and between 

 the rows, and had as good a crop as if there ' 

 were no trees, except that the planting of the 

 corn was delayed in some measure on account of 

 the tree planting. 



The trees were the Ben Davis variety, it being 

 by tar the most \)rofltable tree to plant, except 

 about .tOO Yellow Transparent, a new Russian 

 summer apple, earlier than any we have before, 

 and the only one of hundreds imported lately 

 that I think valuable for this latitude. 



I prepared a record btjok, and numbered a 

 page for every three rows, and a line for every 

 tree. Early in August I went to or near every 

 tree with mj' book and put zinc labeLs on the 

 permanent trees, with its number written in lead 

 pencil. With these guides I can send any hand , 

 to any spot in the field, or go myself withcmt 

 making a mistake. In replanting I can alwaj'S 

 know how many trees are wanting in each row, 

 and save much travel. It requires 44 miles walk- 

 ing to go to every tree. 



The Winter St. Lawrence Apple. 



\By R. W. Shepherd. Jr.. before Montreal Horticultural 

 .Swiety.) 



We have now ha<i some experience in 

 growing this .\pplc. Whether it be, as re- 

 ported, an old English A))ple or a ('anadian 

 seedling (like Fall St. Lawrence) may never 

 be finally decided. It certainly shows such 

 very near kinship to one or two of the New- 

 man seedlings that I am Inclined to claim it 

 as a Canadian Apple. 



There is no doubt, however, about its being a 

 most valuable acquisition to (mr fruit list. The 

 tree has proved to be quite hardy. On gravelly 

 soil I have some thirty trees, planted about eleven 

 years, not one of which shows the slightest dis- 

 ease or decay of any kind, while the Fall St. Law- 

 rence in the same orchard, on the contrar.v, is not 

 thri^^ng satisfactorily. 



The Winter St. Lawrence is a stout 

 tree, having strong shoots of vigorous 

 upright growth which ripen their ter- 

 minal buds perfectly. The tree does 

 not refjuire much pruning, a great ad- 

 vantage in this severe climate, for, in 

 many cases, disease is the effect of prun- 

 ing. It bears its fruit, as a rule, on the 

 fruit spurs of the larger branches every 

 year, but hea\ier alternately. 



The fruit drops less from the tree 

 than any other variety I know of; this 

 is owing no doubt to its stout trunk and 

 branches, which prevent the tree from 

 swajing about in high winds, and Uj its 

 shctrt thick stalk, which has a firm hold 

 of the branches. This dropping of the 

 fruit is a weak point in a commercial 

 Apple, and discounts any advantages 

 that there may be in the way of hea\'y 

 crops. The fruit does not appear much 

 affected by the codlin moth; perhaps 

 its thick skin may account for this. As 

 compared with Fameuse this is particu- 

 larly noticeable. 



When pulled in the fall the Winter 

 ,st. Lawrence is not good for eating, but 

 a fortnight or three weeks afterwards — 

 about the middle or end of November — 

 as a table Apple it compares favorably 

 with, if it does not surpass, most va- 

 rieties of its season. Carefully picked 

 and packed, the fruit will keep, in a proper 

 place, until the middle or end of January. It 

 will not export in barrels satisfactoril.v. I .should 

 recommend tracking the fruit in the Cochrane 

 Apple-case, which avoids the squeezing which 

 seems unavoidable when put in barrels. 



I think the Winter St. Lawrence deserves to be 

 ranked as one of the leading varieties for cultiva- 

 tion in this Province, both on account of its 

 hardiness of tree and excellence of fruit. The 

 fine appearance and superior quality of the fruit 

 commands a ready sale at high prices. 



Home Gardening. 



{Abstravt of paper read before the Kentucky Fanners* 

 Institute, by W. T. Dulaney.] 



Chief of all things is rich ground. Some 

 is naturally better than others, but none is 

 ever near good enough witliout large addi- 

 tions of manure, of which horse and cow 

 manure have no superior. Put on wliat you 

 regard as an e.vcess, then double the quan- 

 tity, and if you will continue the operation 

 every spring you will have it about right. 



Where there is plenty of land, the preferable 

 form of a garden is a long rectangle, the rows 

 the longer way permitting of horse cultivation. 

 Where the plat is small, necessitating cultivation 

 by hand, it is still wise to have the longest rows 

 or beds possible. Since even then the cultiva- 

 tion can largely be done by hand plows. 



Be sure the garden is broken up deeply and the 

 manure put largely near, or if very fine, on the 

 surface. The surface ought to be worked over 

 before planting, by harrow, I'ake or roller, until 

 there is not a clod as large as a lK>y's marble, and 

 no hills or ridges ought to be tolerated, even for 

 raising Sweet Potatoes. The cultivation ought 

 to be nearly level thntughout the setison. 



After the garden is yilanted, if restricted to one 

 tool I would choose a steel-tooth rake. Its fre- 

 quent use is not only death to weeds and grass, 

 but is the <*ertain and efficient preparation of a 

 well pulverized surface soil— the best mulch that 

 can be had. Three or four minutes with a steel- 



