I02 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



February, 



^ 5EINQ Matter That observes 



TO BE WIDEW KNOWN. 



Light Grapes. Tons of 

 black Grapes will find a 

 market where pounds of 

 white ones will ever be 

 wanted.— iV. Ohmer. 



Boot Lice on Apple 

 Trees. Mr. Demiug, of the 

 Missouri Horticultural 

 Society, says he eradi- 

 cates these by spiinkling with wood-ash lye. 



Baspberries and Corn. I cultivate Raspberries 

 in hills, running both ways. It does not cost any 

 more to cultivate an acre this way than an acre 

 of Corn or any other crop. Have given up stak- 

 ing, as it costs the same to pick the fruit staked 

 as it does without staMng.— Rockwell, of the 

 Warsaw, III., Society. 



Tellows Connecticut State Pomologist Augur 

 does not like to say are an incurable Peach dis- 

 ease but he wants more light on the subject. He 

 spoke of the experiments going on at the Massa- 

 chusetts State Agricultural College. He had been 

 a believer in potash salts as a cure for "yellows," 

 but could report no cures from this practice. 



Manuring Grapes. A. C. Hammond, Seeretai-y 

 of the Illinois Horticultural Society, has con- 

 fidence in plenty of manure for the Grape. He 

 thinks there should be a load of barnyard manure 

 the first year to each square rod, which would be 

 160 loads to the acre; and that from twenty rods 

 thus enriched, more Grapes may be gathered for 

 a series of five or ten years than from an acre 

 gi'own on ordinary thin soil. 



Strawberry Management. Mr. B. F. Smith of 

 the Douglass County, Kansas, Society, recently 

 stated that after 20 years' experience he manages 

 his Strawberry beds as follows : As soon as the 

 crop is off he rakes off the mulch and goes into 

 the patch with a cultivator of his own invention, 

 and cultivates as long as the weeds grow. He 

 only leaves narrow strips of plants and between 

 the rows scatters well rotted manure. 



Horticultnre in the Bible. The sacred writers 

 and Christ himself were students of nature. 

 Most of their illustrations were drawn from the 

 spreading tree, the cultivated field, the sower of 

 seed, the household garden, the ripening fruit, 

 the tender vine. The sweet singer of Israel 

 seems to have found the highest place in the 

 heart of nature. His son— the wisest of men- 

 wrote of every tree and plant, from the Cedar of 

 Lebanon to the Hyssop that groweth on the wall. 

 — 3fr.s. Q. A. Tnjon. 



Flowers for Beginners. I wfuild suggest the 

 following : One paper each of white, scarlet and 

 mixed Phlox, Verbena mixed. Mignonette, 

 Tropaeolum, Asters, Pansies, and one ounce of 

 Sweet Peas. Of these only Mignonette. Tropjeo- 

 lum and Sweet Peas can be sown in the open 

 ground. The others must be stai-ted in hot-beds, 

 or in boxes in the house. Then when your plants 

 are nicely started you can see how many you 

 have and wlU know how much ground to fit for 

 them.— Mrs. Umlcj-wood, at a Wuicrmsin Meeting. 



Fmning Street Trees to a Pole. The practice 

 of tearing up trees from swamps or hillsides and 

 squarely cutting off their tops before setting 

 them out cannot be too severely condemned. 

 The trees for a time do well, but as the branches 

 fork at the place where the top was cut, an ex- 

 posed place is left in which the water collects, 

 rotting the centre, when deformity or death en- 

 sues. This is the principal reason why so many 

 Maple trees of a certain age are failing. Why 

 not plant properly grown nursery stock in our 

 streets'/— Pro/. John Robinson of Massachusetts' 

 Board of Agriculture. 



Fruit and Vegetable Diet. At a recent banquet 

 of the London Vegetarian Society it was said 

 that Apples alone would sustain life and health 

 for a long time; that a mixed diet of fruit and 

 vegetables is the most valuable ; that anything 

 wrong with these can be easily seen, which is not 

 true of meat ; that Dr. Nichols, during a vege- 

 tarian experience of fifty years, had only one 

 week of sickness; that the strongest animals, 

 like the horse and elephant, are vegetable feeders. 

 Sir Henry Thompson was quoted to the effect 

 that more people injure themselves by over-eat- 

 ing (too many kinds) than by over-drinking ; and 

 Dr. Allison expressed the opinion that a general 

 adoption of vegetaiianism would greatly reduce 

 the need for services of the medical profession. 



and, moreover, gradually help British farmers 

 out of the present difflculties consequent upon 

 foreign competition in wheat and live stock. 



Ornamental Trees. The Wisconsin Horticul- 

 tural Society recently took up the subject of 

 ornamental trees. To J. C. Plumb's question. 

 What is an Ornamental Tree ? a gentleman an- 

 swered, "Any tree that will adorn my yard." 

 Another, "A shade tree— a tree which does not 

 shade me is not an ornamental tree." A third 

 said, "An ornamental tree must not only shade 

 but must hide defects." Another said " It is a 

 tree that is imported, and is not a native." An- 

 other defined an ornamental as "good for nothing 

 but to look at." Still another asserted that an 

 Oak was only a shade tree, not ornamental. We 

 are inclined to differ from all, and to regard all 

 trees as ornamental when in a healthy, uninjured 

 condition— the tracery of the branches and 

 shoots, the soft green of the foliage— while the 

 microscope reveals wonders in the millions of 

 sap vessels in the stem and twigs and the myriads 

 of beautiful pores in the surface of the leaves ; 

 whUe extended groves and broad forests make 

 up the difference between a delightful landscape 

 and a bare and arid plain. Mr. Plumb regards 

 for ornamental purposes the Elm first, then' the 

 Maple. Some would place the White Ash first. 

 After these is the Basswood, then the Western 

 Catalpa, one of the finest broad leaved trees. The 

 Butternut, Walnut and Mountain Ash, as well as 

 the Poplars and Willows, were named as beauti- 

 ful, but with some defects. The European white 

 Birch, Mr. Plumb remarked, stands at the head 

 of all ornamental trees at the North. 



Covent Garden Market, London. For hours 

 before .5 o'clock in the morning hundreds of 

 wagons had been bringing in great loads of Cab- 

 bages, Cauliflowers, Turnips, Beets, Potatoes, 

 Lettuce, Celery, Onions, etc. These vegetables 

 appeared to be sold chiefly at wholesale. Before 

 the expiration of an hour the loaded wagons had 

 all gone away, and all the litter they had made 

 had been carefully removed. But others had 

 come, so that at six o'clock the market had been 

 entirely changed, garden vegetables giving way 

 to fruits from many countries, and of almost 

 every kind ; thousands of boxes of Pine Apples- 

 Bananas, Oranges, Lemons, fresh Figs, Grapes, 

 Peaches, Apricots, Plums, Peal's, Apples, Goose- 

 berries and Currants, with Melons and Nuts of 

 ever,v kind. Of these fruits some brought high 

 prices, while other and commoner kinds were 

 comparatively cheap, and were probably within 

 the reach of the millions of that great city. 

 After these fruits had been displayed for their 

 hour, they all disappeared to the stores of retail 

 dealers about the city. When the fruits were 

 gone their places were filled, every space and 

 table, with flowers, Roses, Lilies, Pansies, Gera- 

 niums, Asters, Heliotropes, Azaleas, Jasmines, 

 Fuchsias. Tuberoses, and hundreds of othei's less 

 common. A new set of customers also appeared ; 

 thousands of flower girls as fresh and rosy as the 

 blossoms they sought were there to buy baskets 

 of flowers to make into hand or button-hole 

 bouquets for a million of customers. In an hour 

 these beautiful flowers had changed hands or 

 were removed to be sold in other quarters, so 

 that after three hours Covent Garden Market 

 was brought again to neatness and quiet. Every 

 day it was the same, and understood by all, so 

 that the market could be visited just when the 

 proper things were on sale.— JDr. Townsend at the 

 Columbu.s, Ohio, Society. 



Why Organize A Society! Robt. J. HalUday, 

 President of the Gardeners' Club, of Baltimore, 

 told why, at one of their meetings, and from his 

 remarks we gather these practical points. Horti- 

 culturists unite to promote their own interests; 

 to advance, elevate and further their business ; 

 to become better acquainted with each other ; to 

 take steps to advance education, afford informa- 

 tion, exchange experiences and views, and to 

 give to each other a helping hand and encourag- 

 ing and fraternal support in social and business 

 affaii-s. Our interests are common, our aims 

 mutual. It is for us to widen the demand for 

 our products, to better adrise the public what it 

 wants, or ought to want,and what we have to sell. 

 There is no selfishness in this; this is business; this 

 is the "trade secret" of to-day. Nurse and 

 stimulate a want, and then be prepared to supply 

 it! Do not wait for the public to buy a thing; 

 but inspire a fondness for your choice products, 

 and then be prepared to take advantage of the 

 boom that is sure to come as civilization, luxury 

 and refinement advance. But let us remember 

 that an empty bag don't stand up ; let us keep 

 up with the times ; let us accumulate knowledge ; 



let us know what progress is being made, what 

 our fellows in the trade are doing. We have in- 

 telligence enough, brightness enough, in the 

 gardening material around us here to keep pace 

 with any community. Let us take steps to begin, 

 on however modest a scale, our horticultural 

 library. There is nothing that comes before it 

 in value. We owe it as a duty to ourselves; to 

 the young men, who are coming on and are of 

 us; to the learners. A few books will open the 

 way to what may be, ought to be, a future use- 

 ful, indeed, a noble collection of these helps to 

 the gardener's trade. To give ample force and 

 influence, we need the strength in membei's 

 which comes of numbers. Do not remain satisfied 

 until our roll includes all the gardeners within 

 reach, whatever their sphere of activity. This 

 is a mutual organization, and we must expect to 

 both give and receive. 



The Culture and Varieties of the 

 Raspberry. 



[E. A. Riehl and others before the Alton Horticuttitral 

 Society.^ 



With the droughts and other unfavorable 

 circumstances from the experience of the 

 past two seasons I cannot be very enthusi- 

 astic, for the profits have been very small. 

 Any good land will answer, which should, 

 of course, be well prepared by plowing and 

 harrowing. I think, however, that the after 

 cultivation is more important than the pre- 

 paration of the ground before planting. 



I prefer to plant in rows both ways, 4x8 for the 

 blackcaps and 3x7 for the reds. Planting should 

 be done in the fall. After planting, one or two 

 furrows on the plants wiU prevent heaving. 



It is best to use plants of the black caps grown 

 one year from tips; when tips are used they should 

 be planted early in the spring, but where one has 

 grown the tips on the premises it is best tf> leave 

 them where they grew until they have made a 

 growth of about a foot, then take up with a ball 

 of earth and plant where wanted. In this way a 

 perfect stand wUl be obtained, a thing almost im- 

 possible to do when planting tips; another ad- 

 vantage in using plants over tips is that they can 

 be planted deeper, and are less liable to be blown 

 over by the wind when loaded with fruit. 



The first year after planting no fruit should be 

 grown, but the plants cut down to the ground. 

 The second summer and afterwards pinch the 

 .young canes as soon as they are 14 inches in height, 

 and then pinch no more. The following spring 

 prune the branches to about a foot in length. 



Of the caps I prefer the Tyler and Souhegan, 

 which are very much alike, and the Greggs; these 

 fill the season and are the best of the caps. The 

 reds I would not plant, as I find them to be less 

 profitable than the blacks; they sell for about the 

 same, cost more to pick and to grow, and produce 

 less. I consider the Brandy Wine and Hansell 

 best for Market and the Turner for home use. 



Mr. Jackson— Would recommend the Hopkins 

 Raspberry in addition to the foregoing. It 

 ripened between Tyler and Gregg, was hardy, 

 productive and nearly as large as the Gregg. 

 Some one asked "why the Ohio was omitted, and 

 received the reply that it was too small, though 

 hardy and productive. 



Mr. Vandeburg— Plants2x7 feet and allows four 

 to five stocks in each hill. Of red, plants Turner 

 and Cuthbert. HanseU did weU this season. 

 Shafer's Colossal was recommended by several 

 members for home use and local market. 



Relative to Blackberries, President Brown did 

 not know what to plant; was experimenting and 

 hoped to find some new variety that was early, 

 large, hardy, productive and remained black 

 after picking. The Wilson was such a berry but 

 was subject to boi-ers. The Sn.vder is too small. 



Mr. Vandeburg got heavy crops of Snyder 

 which sold well in Jerseyville market. Messrs 

 Jackson and Riggs would plant the Snyder. 



Grape Culture in the Lake Erie 

 Vineyard Region. 



l^Practicat talks before tlte Chautauqua Hortieulfura 

 Society, Dec. 5, 1887.] 



Thousands of acres of the best land o 

 Northern Chautauqua and adjoining coun- 

 ties are being devoted to this industry, which 

 in extent and importance is increasing in an 

 almost unprecedented ratio. 



President Becker.— Grapes do not need the 

 best of land; we have lots of good Gi'ape land 



