56 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



December, 



tooth rake will save the work of two or three 

 days if carelessly left weeds be plenty, if the 

 work be done in time. 



The prevalent custom in town and country to 

 crowd the vegetable garden with fruit trees and 

 bushes ought not to be tolerated. The walk, 

 rather than Raspberries, Peaches and sour Cher- 

 ries, ought to be next the fence all around. 



Every garden ought to have an Asparagus bed 

 laid out and planted as soon as it is located- 

 Then there should be English Peas, Black Wax 

 and Early Valentine Bunch Beans, Jersey Wake- 

 field and Plat Dutch Cabbage, Deacon Lettuce, 

 Perfection and Acme Tomatoes, Egyptian and 

 Eclipse Beets, Boston Market Celery, Carter 

 Watermelon, Montreal Market Cantaloupe, 

 Early Rose, Beauty of Hebron and Mammoth 

 Pearl Iiish Potatoes, and the Shaker Red Sweet 

 Potatoes, these being the best of their several 

 kinds. The old-fashioned Long Green Cucumber 

 is the best of its kind for all purposes. The gar- 

 den ought never to be found without Parsle.v, 

 Mint, Thyme and Sage. 



We conclude one must enjoy seeing his vege- 

 tables grow to have success. But to have a good 

 garden its owner must look after it and take a 

 hand himself. As a steady thing it is not for fun 

 as good as fox hunting, but it is infinitely more 

 so than sitting around whittling pine boxes and 

 talking politics, and vastly more profitable, and 

 to a professional man far better exercise than Is 

 usually sought ffir at much more expense. 



In the fruit section, apart, there should be of 

 red Raspberries a row of Turner and Cuthbert; 

 of the blacks, Gregg, and our native plant to be 

 found in the woods. Of Strawbenies, Cumber- 

 land Triumph, Warren and Crescent, which last 

 if sour and small, is persistent and jirolific. 



Horticulture for Cemetery Lots. 



[From a paper by Jnhit G. Barker be/ure the Massa. 

 rhtttietts Horticultural Society,] 



The Landscape Idea. First of all, without 

 good grass you may plant whatever else you 

 please, aud yet never have a good looking 

 lot. Let all the ground be well prepared 

 before sowing, to give the seed something to 

 feed on. I know by sad experience the great 

 drawbacks from the want of thorough 

 preparation. 



Proprietors whose lots were graded many yeai-s 

 ago, by the men who would do it cheapest, are 

 surprised that theirs do not look so well as many 

 others. Now every lot in all well conducted 

 cemeteries is thoroughly prepared before being 

 sold. Top dressing is good, but food for the deep 

 roots is better; a dry spell will soon convince a 

 close observer of this fact. By aU means let us 

 have good grassing. 



Happily many of the old unsightly hedges, 

 fences, and granite curbings that formerly were 

 permitted to surround the lots, are giving way, 

 each year, to grassy slopes and rare trees and 

 shrubs; so that in this modern style the \-iews of 

 the foundei-s are becoming realized. It is not 

 until a few years ago. comparatively speaking, 

 that the landscape lawn plan has been carried out. 



What to Plant. Not long ago a lady, who 

 owned a small lot, said to me : "I want some 

 shrubs, or plants, or both, on my lot ; what do 

 you ad\isei"' In the center was set a weeping 

 Kilmarnock Willow (which can be easily removed 

 if a monument is erected), and on each front 

 corner a plant of Yucca aUtifoUa; with a Spinea 

 and a Hydrangea placed near the back corners. 

 Properly cared for, this simple arrangement wiU 

 look well for years to come. 



I do not advise flower beds on lots, although 

 many wish for them, but do think a good-sized 

 vase, well fiUed, and placed in the center of the 

 lot (especially where there is no monument), is 

 very desirable. Larger lots will admit of more 

 extended work ; but still the principles are the 

 .same. We must aim to attain aU the variety we 

 can in embellishment, and yet strive for an effect 

 of neatness and simplicity; anything like osten- 

 tation is entirely out of place. 



I can show you a beautiful vista where once 

 was an assemblage of unsightly hedges and 

 iron fences, with ragged banks and terraces, half 

 dead trees and scraggy shrubs. We now have 

 there a range of well kept lots, with vases and 

 beds of flowers, and choice trees and shrubs; the 

 whole area is a pleasure to all, and not one of the 

 several proprietoi-s would restore its former con- 

 dition on any account. It took time of course to 

 accomplish this result. 



On the larger lots, of a thousand or more square 

 feet, a good way is to form a ciicle, described 



about the center of the lot. This will leave 

 spaces in the front and back corners, which may 

 be planted, if you please, with Cut-leaved Birch 

 on the back corners, Deutzia gracUiis in the front, 

 or Yuc^a aU)lfolia, or anything to suit your taste. 

 if not of too strong growth; place a tree in the 

 center, to occupy it until you are ready with 

 your monument. 



The planting of trees and shrubs, in the ceme- 

 teries of which I have charge is controlled entire- 

 ly by the trustees; and with " perpetual care "' 

 there is no reasonable objection to this restriction. 

 Large trees are not planted on the avenues, but 

 only between the lots, on the back of the front 

 row. If you adhere to the the landscape lawn 

 plan you can keep all unpleasantly distinctive 

 lines out of sight. 



In suitable spaces I recommend a free use of 

 shrubs and herbaceous plants. I would never 

 plant very close, but would let each have room to 

 show what it is. I believe in massing the differ- 

 ent kinds, but not in swamping them. But before 

 any kind of planting is done, prepare your beds 

 in the best possible way— it will pay to do it; and 

 if you do not, disappointment will be your doom. 

 I have one ornamental piece, on a flat surface, 

 seen on all sides. It is broad in the center, aud 

 comes to a sharp point at either end. In the 

 center of the piece a Salistmi-ia adiantifiilia is 

 planted, and at each of the ends are six or eight 

 plants of Yucca aloifuUa. On the edges between 

 the Yuccas at each end is a row of low-growing 

 Phloxes— aU seedlings. The spaces between the 

 Phloxes on the sides and the Yuccas at the ends 

 are filled in with Hydrangea paniculata graiuli- 

 fliiva ; the whole forms a very satisfactory bed. 



Another prominent corner, of good size and 

 triangular in shape, is planted as follows : At the 

 point on the back, about thirty feet from the 

 avenue, is a very fine specimen of VirgiUa lutea; 

 half way between this and the avenue is a Kil- 

 marnock WUlow, grafted high. Between these, 

 and bordering the two sides, are Spineas, Weige- 

 las, Dculziascabra and D. crenatafl. pi., F(rrKjithia 

 virkllisima, and Hydrangea paiiiculafd uranili- 

 flora ; and on the front Deutzia (//(iciVi.-.; these 

 are all gro%vn as specimen plants and tliej- barely 

 touch each other. A circle of five feet is kept 

 open around each, and the grass spaces are cut 

 at the same time with the lots on each side. I 

 assure you this is a very satisfactory group. 



I would plant single specimens of both trees and 

 shrubs wherever there is space for them, if the 

 condition of the treasury will pei-mit. Do not be 

 discouraged if you cannot set them all in one 

 season; keep at it— plant some every year. 

 Don't put them in hap-hazard; look out for effect, 

 and get all the pleasing vistas you can ; and you 

 will be surprised to find what a few years of 

 steady, persevering, faithful work will do. 



Successful Pear Culture. 



iFruiu a paper read by John Pierce, before Miami 

 County (O.) Horticultural Society.'] 



The Pear, according to Downing, is unde- 

 niably the favorite fruit of modern times 

 and modern cultivators. A native of Eu- 

 rope and Asia, it has on our continent found 

 a soil adapted to its growth and a climate 

 calculated to more fully develop the fruit. 



The Pear is said to have been known to sur\'ive 

 .'MO years and to attain to an enormous size. The 

 great Pear tree of Herefordshire, England, shades 

 half an acre and has produced in one season 300 

 bushels of fruit. A famous tree near Vinceunes, 

 in our own country, at the age of forty years, 

 produced 180 bushels of fair fruit. The Pear is 

 not only profitable as a fruit tree but the wood 

 is fine grained and heavy; Yankee ingenuity has 

 succeeded in making of it a fair quality of ebon.v. 



The soil for the Pear should preferably be a 

 tolerably heavy clay loam, with clay subsoil, 

 although it will succeed in a greater variety of 

 soil and climate than any other cultivated fruit. 



The selection of varieties should be determined 

 by the object for which we plant. If for market 

 I would plant few vai-ieties; say Madeleine, for 

 very early; Bartlett, Duchess, Beurre d' Anjou, 

 and Lawrence. If for home use I would plant 

 about as follows, named in the order of ripening: 

 Madeleine, Tyson, Bartlett, Sheldon, Seckel, 

 White Doyenne, Duchesse, Beurre d' Anjou, Law- 

 rence and Beurre Easter, or some other late var- 

 iety. This will give an abundance of choice fruit 

 through the season. 



If possible, go in person to some reliable nurse- 

 ryman, take two-year-old trees, none older; se- 

 lect good, stocky trees, have them taken up in 

 your presence and immediately mossed, that the 



root may not dry, for therein lies the length of 

 life and thrift of your tree. 



The ground having been previously prepared 

 by deep plowing in the fall, turning under a 

 liberal supply of manure, and marked twenty- 

 five feet each way, dig two feet square and one 

 and a half feet deep, fl 11 with rich loam to the 

 proper depth to receive the tree, which should 

 be a very little deeper than it stood in the nur- 

 sery. The soil should be tramped well around 

 the roots and watered, if dry; then two inches of 

 dry soil should be put on top. 



The soil should be carefully cultivated for a 

 few years, or until the trees commence bearing. 

 Then, with an occasional top-dressing, they will 

 be able to care for themselves. In closing, I 

 must add that most varieties are better if ripened 

 in the house, especially the later sorts, although 

 thei'e are exceptions to the rule. 



The Philadelphia Chrysanthemum 

 Show. 



Competent judges who were in attendance 

 at the great Chrysanthemum Show of the 

 Pennsylvania Horticultural Society in 

 Philadelphia, held Nov. 8th to 11th, were not 

 slow to pronounce it the best show of its 

 kind ever held in America. And among 

 such judges must be included the numerous 

 visiting florists from New York, Boston, and 

 elsewhere, men who have themselves helped 

 to make many a successful show. 



The most conspicuous exhibit was that of 

 Craig & Bro., and which received the award of 

 the grand prize fif $300. This exhibit consisted 

 of a collection of 2.5 plants in as many varieties. 

 The other entries for the prize were the follow- 

 ing, to which fell the premiums connected with 

 their names respectively : 2d Wm. Dewar, $150; 

 M John Shaw, $100; 4th John Kinnear, $50; 

 specials— W. K. Hairis, $40; Fred. Muller, $2.5; 

 Karl MuUer, $20. 



In the Nui-serymen's and Florist's Class the 

 following were the exhibitors with the rewards 

 respectively : Six standards in 6 varieties, Craig 

 & Bro. Six yellow, 6 varieties, W. K. Harris. 

 Six white, 6 varieties, W. K. Harris. Twelve, one 

 of a kind, W. W. Coles, J. W. Colflesh, Fred. 

 Muller. Twelve Japanese, one of a kind, J. W. 

 Colflesh. Twelve Chinese, W. K. Harris. Speci- 

 men plant, white, W. K. Harris, W. W. Coles. 

 Specimen plant, yellow, W. W. Coles, 3d W. K. 

 Harris. Specimen plant, any other color, W. K. 

 Harris, W. W. Coles. Specimen standard, Craig 

 & Bro. Six single flowering, 6 sorts, 3d W. K. 

 Harris. Seedling plant, W. C. Pyfer, W. K. 

 Harris. Three specimen plants, 3 distinct colors, 

 W. K. Harris, W. W. Coles. 



Special prizes were awarded as follows : The 

 Wooton prize— 4 Chinese, 4 varieties— John Shaw, 

 silver cup. The Pembroke prize — I Japanese, 4 

 varieties— W. Dewar, silver cup. The Red Leaf 

 prize— 3 yellow, 3 varieties— W. W. Coles, $15. 

 The Sunnyside prize— best seedling never before 

 exhibited— W. K. Harris, silver cup; Ch. W. Trot- 

 ter, silver medal; H. Surman (E. W. Clark) silver 

 medal; J. W. Colflesh, bronze medal. Therecoi-d 

 prize— 6 plants grown without disbudding— Thos. 

 Eoulds (Mr. Singerly, Sr.), $25. Collection seed- 

 lings not less than three plants, 1st H. Surman, 

 3d R. Carey; special, R. Carey, bronze medal. 



In the Amateur Class there were many exhibits, 

 and these naturally attracted much attention 

 from visitors. The display of cut flowers and 

 floral designs, both in the line of Chrysanthemums 

 and of other flowei-s, was large and attractive. 

 The floral stork stationed at the entrance as if 

 extending a greeting to the multitudes of visitors, 

 and the pleasing fence made of Chrysanthe- 

 mums, were a fitting introduction to the grandeur 

 within horticultural hall on this occasion. 



Identification of Varieties of Hardy 

 Orchard Fruits. 



^Continue(t from page 'Ai.) 



The Peach is a fruit of plainly separated strains 

 or races. We all know the distinctive type called 

 Indian, with its peculiarly brownish and striped 

 fruit and dark colored twigs. The Spanish and 

 Chinese strains, now coming into successful 

 culture in the South, where our common varie- 

 ties of the Persian stock fail, have their own 

 peculiarities of tree and fruit. All kinds easily 

 divide into clings, semi-clings, and freestones. 



In form they are either round, oblong, pointed, 

 like Heath Cling, or unequal. A crease or suture 

 running parallel to the edge of the stone is found 



