70 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



January, 



WALKS AND JOTTINGS. 



BV A. M. PFRDY, PALMYBA, S. T. 



WATER CRESS. 



This is a very palatable dish to a large 

 number and should be more largely grown. 



We have grown it successfully along a 

 running stream of water, the soil being of a 

 loamy, mucky nature, and have also seen it 

 growing on gravelly soil. Sow seeds in 

 early spring. The plants can easily be ob- 

 tained and set along such running streams, 

 and these will rapidly spread and increase. 



WINTER BURNING OF STRAWBERRY BEDS. 



We are asked the question if we would 

 burn over the beds in winter. By no means. 

 It might be the ruination of them. The 

 proper time is after they are through bearing, 

 so that they make a strong new gro\\'th 

 before winter sets in. And here we would 

 say that if mulching material is not handy 

 and plenty to cover the ground well after 

 weeds are cleaned out in the fall, it is better 

 to let weeds or grass grow among them from 

 August or September as a protection through 

 the winter and clean this out in the spring. 

 Some growers sow buckwheat or oats at 

 the North among the plants in August, and 

 this being killed down by the frost gives 

 the best of protection and mulch. 



wherever tried it has improved the health 

 and appearance of bodies and limbs so far 

 as applied at least 100 per cent. We began 

 it thirty years ago in Northern Indiana and 

 have followed it up nearly every year, and 

 one needs but to see trees on which it has 

 been applied and compare them with trees 

 that have not been so treated to see the 

 difference in health and appearance. 



THE CLINTON GRAPE AND OTHER WINTER 

 SOKTS. 



We do hope that this old sort vrill not be 

 entirely discarded. It is an "iron-clad " and 

 will succeed where many others fail, and if 

 allowed to remain on the vines until "dead 

 ripe " it is certainly excellent, while its pro- 

 ductiveness is marvelous, and, too, once 

 planted and started to run over a tree it will 

 take care of itself for a great many years. 

 It is also a good keeper, and here we would 

 say that among the best keepers are Isabella, 

 Catawba, Roger's 1.5,Oneida, and Vergennes. 



The best plan for keeping Grapes is to 

 wrap each bunch in paper and lay them 

 away in shallow bo.xes in a room that will 

 not get too warm and where mercury will 

 not drop below 20 to 30 degrees. 



DO FRUITS DETERIORATE ? 



Practical men take both sides of this 

 much mooted question. We remember 

 while living in Indiana that the Wilson, 

 grown by us for years and often renewed, 

 would deteriorate, while plants of the same 

 sort ordered from other States would produce 

 well. It must, however, be remembered that 

 as a rule new sorts are grown with great 

 care and attention and often renewed, and 

 seem to keep up their productiveness and 

 size well. Again, we believe that some soils 

 are peculiarly adapted to certain kinds of 

 fruit, like the Strawberry, while others are 

 not, and that on the first they may not 

 deteriorate if renewed often and well fed, 

 while on the other soil they soon run out. 



We have noticed the practical talk from 

 J. M. Smith before the Pomological Society, 

 in which he takes the ground that "the 

 Wild Strawberry is no better nor worse than 

 2000 years ago, and that wild fruits do not 

 deteriorate or become e.xtinct." 



Plant these wild fruits on soil different 

 from what they are found growing on and 

 let them run and we think they will soon 

 run out, and even if cultivated they must be 

 renewed. Again Mr. Smith says " all im- 

 proved varieties, in order to succeed, should 

 have the same conditions under which they 

 originated." A variety that originates and 

 succeeds well on a sandy soil may grow 

 there years and years with proper attention 

 and cultivation, while if planted on a rich 

 virgin soil would be of little value, and I'iYc 

 versa. We concur in Mr. S's closing remarks. 



WHITEWASHING TREES. 



Our old friend. Prof. Riley, does not ap- 

 prove of this and says: " In reality only one 

 of the four troublesome insects that infest 

 shade trees can in any way be affected by 

 the wash, and that is the Tussock Moth. So 

 far as the whitewashing reaches a certain 

 number of the cocoons will be loosened and 

 exposed to the rains or rubbed off by the 

 washing, and it may be possible that the 

 lime will affect them, though there is no 

 evidence that such is the case. But it is of 

 no earthly use against the Bag Worm or the 

 Elm-leat Beetle or the Web Worm." 



Now, while we have the highest respect 

 for the Professor, we must say that we have 

 whitewashed trees for years, with the most 

 beneficial results. We have practiced on 

 thousands of fruit trees, and whenever and 



ICE HOUSES FOB FRUIT. 



Every fruit grower should have an ice 

 fruit house to keep many kinds of fruit in. 

 Parties In Ulster County have told us that 

 they have kept Concord Grapes till midwin- 

 ter, getting six to eight and even ten cents 

 per pound, while it sold when taken from 

 the vines they would have brought but two 

 to three cents per pound. The Rural World 

 gives a very simple plan as follows: 



Those vrho have not good frost-proof 

 cellars in which to store fruits and vegetables 

 can easily and cheaply make a house that 

 vrill answer the purpose admirably. A room 

 built with double walls, having a two foot 

 and a half space between, boarded up on the 

 inside and out, the space closely tilled with 

 cut straw, a double roof with a three-foot 

 space, and also filled with straw, will keep 

 quite an even temperature the year round. 

 Such a room is all that is needed for an 

 ice house, and now is the time to be thinking 

 of making one for this purpose. The two 

 ideas will work together well. Both the 

 fruit and the ice need a low temperature for 

 their preservation, and what provides it for 

 one will for the other. Therefore, simply 

 enclose more space, divide it into two parts, 

 one for fruit and vegetables, the other for 

 ice. A supply of ice will greatly aid in pre- 

 serving the summer fruits, by simply putting 

 a piece in the fruit room daily. 



To be able to keep fruits fresh for a long 

 period is a source of profit, and to have a 

 supply of ice during the hot weather is a 

 luxury that is so cheaply obtained it is sim- 

 ply astonishing any farmer does without it. 

 The Farmers' Review adds to the above: 

 Instead of the two and a half foot space 

 filled in with cut straw an air space made 

 air tight by the use of buOding paper and 

 not more than twelve inches in width is 

 both cheaper and better. The straw or other 

 filling absorbs moisture and rots out the 

 lumber. There is no better non-conductor 

 than a dead air space. 



We have the promise of full directions for 

 building a fruit ice house from a well known 

 writer, which we hope soon to have for the 

 columns of this paper. 



THE NEW SOUTH. 



For three years past we have spent con- 

 siderable of our time in North Carolina and 

 Virginia, and from observations and conver- 

 sations are satisfied that what is needed is 

 the proper system of cultivation and feeding 

 to make a paradise of the South. 



The practice of cropping heavy every year, 

 and on much of the land two crops in a sea- 

 son, has "run out" a very large portion of the 

 land, but the fact that it comes up so quickly 

 by applying but a small quantity of manure 

 or by seeding down with Grasses or Peas, 

 etc., with some fertilizers applied when 

 sown and this ploughed under, and the 

 crops it produces after such treatment, is 

 sufficient to prove that it has the " bottom " 

 if only cultivated right. 



The animal and vegetable kingdom are 

 the same in this respect, that to have good 

 results from them the food must be suffi- 

 cient. We have in mind now a farm in 

 Virginia that has been badly run, and on 

 which we were shovrn a piece of corn, a 

 portion of which was producing a large crop, 

 while on another portion the crop was light 

 and poor. On inquiry we found that Sweet 

 Potatoes had been grown the previous year 

 and a small quantity of manure put under 

 the ridges, on which the Potatoes were 

 planted; on this ground grew the large 

 stalks that produced so abundantly the 

 following year. Near by were forty or fifty 

 rows of Strawberries. Six or eight of these 

 rows were very luxuriant, while the balance 

 were poor enough. On the plat where the 

 first were planted a small quantity of ma- 

 nure had been scattered and plowed under; 

 the other had none, hence the difference. 



A Red Raspberry plantation on the same 

 farm showed like results with like treatment. 

 We noticed on some market farms near 

 Richmond, where manure had been applied, 

 as fine truck and Strawberry plantations as 

 one could find in any section, all showing 

 that the soil is naturally good and will pro- 

 duce if properly fed and cultivated. 



The land is largely a clay loam with a 

 hard clay subsoil. What is needed on most 

 farms that we saw is a good system of 

 drainage, which we think might easily be 

 done with the "mole" plow used at the West, 

 or even a system of subsoiling— that is, 

 running a subsoiler after the common plow, 

 loosening up as deep as possible, but not 

 throwing much subsoil to the surface. Tur- 

 nips grow freely on most of the farms, and 

 as seed is cheap and if sown so as to grow 

 thickly and make a dense top, and this 

 ploughed under, it will be found an excel- 

 lent fertilizer. 



We question the propriety of using com- 

 mercial manures so constantly and freely, 

 as it draws from and gives nothing back, 

 unless used for green crops to be ploughed 

 under. It acts like some stimulants on the 

 human system— stimulates for a short time, 

 but reaction comes and leaves the body in a 

 worse condition than before. What it needs 

 is food that is lasting. 



The trouble (and therein will prove the 

 failure) with many who go South, they plant 

 too largely with too little preparation, and 

 especially is this so with fi-uit growers. 

 Better get one acre in good order and 

 properly ploughed and marked and planted 

 than five to ten acres without the proper 

 preparation. 



Most farms that we saw were admirably 

 adapted to stock raising, because of having 

 so large a proportion of bottom land that 

 gives grass the year round, and by keeping 

 stock and using the manure on the upper 

 land farms can easily be brought up. 



A large share of the land is covered with 

 second-growth timber, which when cleaned 

 produces good crops aud is easily kept up. 

 And as for market, the great cities of the 

 seaboard are so near the best prices can be 

 obtained. 



Then again, most fruit crops there are 

 more certain than in over four-fifths of the 

 Northern States. 



In sections where we went we found a 

 very large proportion of the inhabitants 

 Northerners, and very social and hospital. 



