POPULAR GARDENING 



AND FRUIT GROWING. 



"ACCUSE NOT NATURE, SHE HATH DONE HER PART; DO THOU BUT THEVK."— MiuroN. 



Vol. III. 



J"^IiTTJ.A.ie"5r, 1888. 



No. 4. 



The New Year. 



Rich 1,'ifl of Ood ! A year of time ! 



What pomp of rise and shut of day; 

 What hues whereiu our Northern clime 



Makes Autumn's drooping woodlands gay, 



What airs outbl()wn from ferny dells, 



And clover bloom and sweetbrier smells. 

 What songs of brooks and birds, what fruits and 



flowers, 

 Green woods and moonlit snows, will In their round 

 be ours. —Whittier. 



It is dibtnal-lodking (faitU'iiinst thsit leaves the 

 veranda baskets hanging out all winter and the 

 lawn vases no better off. 



The land of some nui'serymeu is foul with 

 weeds and of the worat kinds too, such as Quack 

 Grass, Canada Thistles, etc. The weeds on this 

 account become scattered far and wide through 

 adhering roots or seeds to the stock, packing 

 material, etc., that goes out from these nurseries. 

 We shouldn't wonder if some day the public 

 would And out which nurserymen are the great- 

 est tratisgressors in this respect and that there 

 would be a wholesome discrimination shown 

 against the guilty ones. 



The Government Seed Bcreait. Commis- 

 sioner of Agriculture Coleman in his last annual 

 report with propriety sides in with the widely 

 prevailing sentiment in favor of abolishing the 

 Seed division of his department. He recom- 

 mends that the testing and distributing of new 

 seeds, plants, etc. be turned over to the respective 

 state experiment stations. This suggestion is one 

 which without doubt will in time be adopted and 

 the sooner the better. A distributing station in 

 each state for that state, instead of a central one 

 for all states with their needs and adaptabilities 

 so widely at variance, is obviously an improve- 

 ment in the right way. 



A Word in Time. When the agents cime 

 around this winter for your orders do not, if you 

 have any faith in your ability to gi*ow some- 

 thing better, invest in the Kieffer or LeConte 

 Pear trees, however highly they may praise 

 them. For the North, where the growing 

 of good varieties is not difficult, the kinds named 

 can hardly be rated as tit to eat; at the South 

 they are better. What kinds to choose? For one 

 dozen, ranging from the earliest to the latest, 

 and reliable in almost all sections, we would say 

 Bartlett, Summer Doyenne, Tyson, Angoulema, 

 Belle Lucrative, Flemish Beaut.v, Howell, Louise 

 Bonne. Sheldon, Anjou, Lawrence,Easter Beurre. 



Fractionai. Currency. Concerning the de- 

 sirability of a re-issue of fractional currency or 

 of silver certiiicates. for use in the mails, M. 

 Lammar of Wisconsin remarks: I believe that 

 if our Congressmen were for one year subject- 

 ed to the vexations, loss and inconvenience of 

 the present dirty, sticky, postage-stamp-e.x- 

 change system to which the rural population is 

 condemned we should get the much needed 

 fractional paper denominations immediately. In 

 cities and large \illages fractional parts of a 

 dollar can be sent, but only by pajing tribute to 

 the bank, express company or postmaster, but to 

 the country there is nothing left but the stick-to- 

 everything postage stamp. And I presume that 

 people doing business in cities when they receive 

 lumps of sticky stamps instead of crisp, conven- 

 ient paper money are about as much annoyed as 

 their country customers are— first the counting 

 and recounting, and then the getting them ex- 

 changed into something that >vill not cling to you. 



news. It is to the effect that the railroads em- 

 bracing the Western Classification Committee, 

 more than .50 in number, have granted the im- 

 portant concession of classifying Nur^eru t^lnch 

 boxed, or shipped in bor car.i, an thiru-ci.ass 

 freight. Heretofore this same stock hivs been 

 classified as flrst-class, and frequently at one and 

 one-half and twice first-class i-ates. Still, as will 

 be noticed, the relief is but partial, and the gen- 

 tlemen of the committee feel that until the same 

 classification is secured from all railroads their 

 work is not done. They have some active meas- 

 ures in view to which the attention of all nur- 

 serymen is called, and further information will 

 be given by addressing any member of the nurs- 

 ery committee, as follows: S. M. Emery, Lake 

 City, Minn., Chairman; J. B. Spaulding, Spring- 

 field, 111.; V. H. Albaugh, Dayton, Ohio. 



The Christmas Rose. Mrs. M. D. Wellcome, of 

 Cumberland Co., Maine, writes that her Christ- 

 mas Rose, HeUehnnts niger, took a freak not to 

 wait for the hoUdays, but to bloom in Septem- 

 ber ! "How lovely this singular plant is both in 

 foliage and flower. Its deep cut, glossy ever- 

 green leaves are alone ornamental. Why is this 

 desirable plant, so hardy as to bloom amid frost 

 and snow, so little known ? Why do not florists 

 catalogue it ? I find it only in two catalogues. 

 Why is it called H. ntflcr— black— when it is pure 

 white '/ There are many other varieties of differ- 

 ent colors." To which questions we would answer 

 that the fact of its being increased with some 

 diiBculty, hence its price being higher than most 

 plants of its general class, and the further fact 

 that its culture, although not very difficult, is 

 yet not the easiest, are against its popularity. 

 The same reasons explain why the plants are not 

 more generally kept for sale by the catalogue 

 men. We do not know why it is called H. niger, 

 indicating black, when the flowers are white, 

 unless it be from its dark-colored root. The 

 usual season of floweiing in this vicinity is March 

 or April, but under some conditions the flowers 

 appear in the fall, and if the plants are covered 

 with glass coming true to name — at Christmas. 



Reduced Freights. The committee appointed 

 at the last meeting of the American Nursery- 

 men's Association to secure better freight classi- 

 fication on nursery stock ofller some gratifying 



The Extremes of Gardening. 



BY L. H. BAILEY, AOEICCLTURAL COLLEGE, MICH, 



The tendency of fruit growing and vege- 

 table gardening is to specialize, to grow one 

 or two products upon a large scale and solely 

 for the money there is in them. Fruits 

 which endure rough handling, long ship- 

 ments, which are large and showy, are taking 

 the places of the better fruits. To grow and 

 to pick their own fruits is becoming less and 

 less common among suburban residents, 

 even among the fanners themselves in some 

 places. We are all depending too much upon 

 the markets. We are losing the miscellan- 

 eous gardens, which are made for all the 

 good things which they contain. 



The person who depends solely upon the 

 city markets cannot know or appreciate 

 good fruit. The freshness of the product, in 

 most vegetables and fruits, determines its 

 dessert value to a large extent. This modern 

 loss of the home garden is emphasizing the 

 value of fruits which simply look well tipon 

 the grocer's table, and is depreciating the 

 refinements of horticultural pursuits and 

 products. Quality must always suffer when 

 dessert fruits are grown and handled by the 

 wholesale. The products become simply so 

 much bulk, so many pounds or nuarts of 

 gross food, which the boarding-house mis- 

 tress uses in abundance because they are 

 cheap. The flavor and relish of the individ- 

 ual varieties, the appreciation of delicacy of 



texture, the appetizing influence of the best 

 and freshest products of the thriftiest gar- 

 den, do not appear. The commercial ten- 

 dency of the times is towards the money 

 rather than the product. 



But the situation is by no means a hopeless 

 one. There are still an abundance of people 

 who dislike the market and who are willing 

 to pay weU for the best,even though they can- 

 not or will not grow it. Every town contains 

 such people. They are ready to support a 

 better hu-sbandry. They make it possible 

 for the gardener who is ambitious to exer- 

 cise his skill in the production of the very 

 best produce to make a living. I rarely 

 advise my students to pursue horticulture 

 on a large scale. I urge them to grow less 

 and to grow better. Superior fruits and 

 vegetables command a remunerative price 

 at nearly all times. Let the grower establish 

 his line of customers and then supply their 

 tables for the season: or, at least, supply the 

 choicest kinds. 1 still believe in the tidy 

 horse and wagon which carries the f rttit and 

 vegetables directly to the door of the con- 

 sumer while they are fresh and crisp. There 

 is money in it. There is satisfaction to the 

 grower who appreciates the best products. 

 Or, if the grower does not care to raise a 

 general line of fi'uits and vegetables, let him 

 select two or three specialties, such as are 

 not can-ied to perfection in extensive culture, 

 and prosecute them to the utmost extent of 

 his skill. I believe that the right man can 

 even make money from true dessert Apples. 

 The right man can do well with winter 

 Pears. When it is once known among the 

 best families that the grower is always to be 

 relied upon and that he otters nothing in any 

 way inferior, his success is assured. He 

 may not attract attention from the magni- 

 tude of his operations, but he ought to draw 

 the full measure of comfort and happiness 

 from life. He carries a sure business and 

 enlarges it only upon a safe foundation. 



As a people, we cannot prosecute the best 

 horticulture until we intensity our energies, 

 and add to manual skill a mental apprecia- 

 tion of all there is of the art. The gardener 

 should grow as well as his garden. 



Horticultural Notes by Samuel 

 Miller, Bluffton, Mo. 



The old year that has just passed has not 

 been a favorable one for the horticulturist in 

 most parts of the country. Let us look for- 

 ward to the coming sea.son with hopes for 

 better crops. In the meantime we must not 

 forget the young trees under our care. 



Rabbits and Mice. During winter these 

 two troublesome little animals must be 

 kept off. A sure and simple remedy is 

 given by a member of our State Horticul- 

 tural Society, and not being patented, may 

 be used by all. 



Take fine wire netting, such as is used for 

 window screens, shear into strips 18 inches 

 broad, then into lengths to surround the 

 trees and lap over considerable. 



I^ay your piece of screen on a table, lay a 

 round stick on the edge, {a piece of broom 

 handle will do), roll your wire around it, 

 let it slide, and prepare another, etc. These 

 can be opened out and put on the tree, let- 

 ting one end rest on the ground; it will 

 clash around the tree, will expand with the 



