POPULAR GARDENING 



AND FRUIT GROWING. 



"ACCUSE NOT NATURE, SBE HATH DONE HER PART; DO THOU BUT THINE."-UiLrov. 



Vol. III. 



i^.A.:Ei.o:E3:, isss. 



No. 6. 



Spring is the First IVIonth. 

 No niathr what the almauac may say 



The year begins with the flrst month of Spring. 

 When the snowdrifts into rivulets slip away. 



And blueijirds of the coming Violet sing: 

 When March winds sweep the stairway of the roclcs. 



From rubbish heaps of Autumu-leafage clear; 

 And the sun turns back from the equinox 



To welcome and lead home the baby Year. 



—Lucy Larcoiit. 



A H INT for the present .year. I>eam the correct 

 Tmme ot every tree, vine and plant on your 

 (pounds. It is a task in which the youngsters of 

 the family should also take a part. 



Stefs to E.nrich Land Rapidly. Those desir- 

 ing to quickly enrich ordinary soil for market, 

 garden or other crops requiring high fertility, are 

 ad\Tsed to take the following course: Manure 

 well in the spring and plant Potatoes; dig these 

 in good time and sow Rye; spread manure on the 

 Rye in early winter evenly; in the spiing plow 

 under the Rye and manure to bury them; apply 

 ashes and sujierphosphate, harrow th<)roughly. 

 and the land will be ready for f'abbaees, early 

 Porn, Squashes or any crop of similar needs. 



A NuKSEHY or reserve garden in some form 

 should be connected with every fruit grower's 

 and gardener's home. In this hf)th the fruit and 

 ornamental trees needed on the place may be 

 grown to advantage. Both the bo.vs and girls 

 could be taught to graft and bud young trees, 

 Rose bushes, etc. It is a very simple work and 

 can be learned in a very short time by almost 

 any bo.v who is ten years or more old ; it is very 

 interesting work for boys, and under proper di- 

 rection the growing of ti-ees makes the boys 

 more strongly attivched to the home. An orch- 

 ard grown from the seed planted by the owner 

 is looked upon with far greater interest than 

 one from trees that were not watched over and 

 cared for wlien they first came from seed. 



Growing Freesia Refracta Alba. I notice 

 Cape Bulbs, page "6, January number. I am inclin- 

 ed to think that the usual i>ractice "potting in the 

 fall, keep cool till they begin to grow and root 

 well " may be improved upon, in some things. I 

 get the better Freesias potting in rich sandy soil, 

 ten bulbs in a six inch pot, give a soaking water- 

 ing and set at once on the bench of the green- 

 house, then water onlj' to keep moLst until 

 growing, and the faster growing the more \vater 

 until blooming: then withhold water to moist 

 only to gradually ripen the bulbs. 8uch planted 

 September 1st, bloom December liith, ending 

 January 10th, and ripens the bulbs February 

 1st. I get stronger and better flowers thus than 

 by the old method. I take pleasure in learn- 

 ing tlie f)ld ways, and then try other ways, seek- 

 ing to make two blades grow where one grew 

 before as a part of the work f»f an amateur florist. 

 —Jiihn Lane, Chicago, III. 



For New York St.\te Hohtictltuhe. ELse- 

 >vhere the resolutions passed by the Western 

 New York lloiticultural .Society at its hist meet- 

 ing, in favor of enlarging the field of the society 

 to the entire State of Xe^v York are publishe<l. 

 A leading object had in viev.- in this change was 

 to gi\c the people of the state at large the benefit 

 of the valuable published reports of the society, 

 and in a way similar to that done in Michigan, 

 Ohio, Iowa and many other states for distribut- 

 ing similar horticultural reports. Heretofore 

 reports of this the leading and almost only New 

 York Stiite horticultural societ.v have Ix'en pub- 

 lished in numbers only a little exceeding the 

 number of membei-s included in the society, and 

 at the society's expense. But now a petition is 

 to be addressed to the Legislature for the small 

 appropriation of S2,.T00a year for so enlarging the 

 edition of the annual repoit that citizens all 

 over the stjite may receive copies. This is a mo\e 

 which we have for years felt favorable towards 

 and we trust that the appropriation will be 



granted without serious opposition or delay. It 

 should be borne in mind by our legislators that 

 while the headijuarters of this society have been 

 at Rochester, the seat of the nurser.v trade of the 

 state if not of America, it has as a comimratively 

 local society already been of immense indirect 

 benefit to the fruit growing and other hfnticul- 

 tui-al interests of all parts of the State, but with- 

 out expense to the State. When now the society 

 comes forwai'd with a project for advancing 

 these interests more directly and widely just by 

 a wider distribution of its reports (and f<jr this 

 only it asks aid), second, to lead to a larger num- 

 bering of its members throughout the state, it 

 should promptly meet with the encouragement 

 which it deserves. All lovers of horticulture in 

 New York ai'e urged to present the case of the 

 society in this its advance movement to the at- 

 tention of their representatives in the Assembly 

 and the Senate at Albany, asking them to sup- 

 port and work for the measure when it comes up. 



Horticultural Notes by Samuel 

 Miller, Bluffton, Mo. 



A SoiTHKiiN Tkip. This communication 

 dates from Shreveport, Louisiana. Up to 

 this date {.Ian. 14) the thermometer has at 

 no time indicated below 30°, although re- 

 cently tliere was sleet on the trees for two 

 days and nights. It was a rare sight to .see 

 the Magnolia grandiflora. Wild Peach, a 

 native here, and also an Pivergreen, bowed 

 domi with the ice. Have heard the frogs 

 croak in the ponds, seen butterflies and other 

 insects out. Marshall, just 40 miles west of 

 here, is a week later, although very near the 

 .same latitude. 



Ax Extensive Socthekx Oiichakdi.st 

 Mr. G. W. Stouer(with whom I am staying), 

 has extensive orchards and fruits of all kinds 

 that will grow here. He has experimented 

 much with all the new things, and a new 

 beginner would have plain sailing if he con- 

 sulted this gentleman. He has in one block 

 3,000 Caddo Chief Plum trees, besides an un- 

 limited number scattered over the place. 

 This is the earliest of all Plums, and com- 

 mands a good price. They ship them in 

 Strawberry boxes and crates North, East, 

 South and West. The Caddo Chief Plum 

 mentioned above is hardy at Bluffton, Mo.. 

 and will no doubt be so much farther north. 

 He has 1,300 Peach trees on one littleorehard 

 that are in most admirable condition, 

 trained accunliug to my notion in all re- 

 spects, except he does not head them hack. 

 Think of ten thousand Pear trees, a good 

 proportion of them already in bearing, these 

 he has. The Howell is his favorite and 

 commands good prices. His last year's crop 

 averaged him A3.1X) per bushel. This un- 

 doubtedly is a Pear region. I have looked 

 over thousands of his trees and tind so little 

 blight that it is unimportant. He never 

 took mucli stock in the Le Conte nor Kieffer 

 Pears, and I think it is well. 



Japanksk p'liilT Cfi.TriiE South. The 

 Japanese Persimmon Mr. Stoner has grown 

 most successfully, and if I was to go into 

 the fruit business here this would be one of 

 the first to plant, for it is destined to take a 

 prominent place among fruits in the South. 

 He .sent me specimens in the fall that 

 measured ten inches in circumference, and 

 they were delicious; conunence bearing in 

 two years trom planting, and don't know 

 what fail is. The sooner some one gets the 

 names correct, describes them carefully, 

 telling the early, medium an late ones, 



with the best way to treat them in ripening, 

 the better for their success. Tliat there are 

 some of them better suited for drying than 

 othei's there is no doubt, and it .should be 

 known. If as I have recently seen stated 

 that they do well top grafted upon our 

 native varieties there is a grand field for its 

 multiplying, as there are large groves of the 

 natives in the South. What I have seen and 

 eaten of this fruit, and the success of its cul- 

 tivation in Louisiana, I predict great things 

 from. When a tree three inches in diameter 

 at the ground will produce AlO worth of fruit 

 in one season it tells for itself. I advise all 

 our readers in the south who cultivate fruit 

 to go in on them strong. 



The Japanese Plums are also receiving 

 Mr.Stoner's attention, Kelsey's in particular. 

 It is needless to state all the different serai- 

 tropical fruits he is raising here, but I see 

 enough to convince me that those who con- 

 template going to a warm climate, will do 

 well to look around before going to Cal- 

 ifornia and stick a smallfortune in land be- 

 fore they begin to gi'ow anything. When a 

 man is bordering on three score and ten, it 

 is too late in life to start a new enterprise in 

 a distant land; but were I twenty years 

 younger, would certainly try my fortune 

 lieie. Land is cheap, prices for fruit good. 

 With the shipping facilities at hand it pays 

 well to ship early fruits North. They tell me 

 that the heat .seldom reaches 100 here, while 

 that degree is (juite common in my latitude 

 in Missouri. I have now been here ten days, 

 and not ten hours of clear sunshine in all 

 that time, which prevents me from applying 

 the term Sunny South, but this has been an 

 unusual wet and cloudy spell of weather. 

 There are a number of lakes, some of them 

 pretty large, lying northwest of here, which 

 I think has a favoraljle influence on fruit. 



Trees Girdled by Mice. There is sel- 

 dom a spring comes, but the above may be 

 seen, and when merely the outside bark is 

 eaten off the banking of the earth over the 

 damage is sufficient. Hut if eaten in to the 

 solid wood, the tree is as good as gone unless 

 proper means are applied. 



The plan of procedure in the latter case is 

 to cut scions, say six inches long with a little 

 bend in them. Shave the inside about an 

 inch to a sharp edge, cut a little of the out- 

 side off near the point, cut into the bark 

 of the tree above the barked part upwards 

 so as to invert the graft. Lay the graft so 

 !is to see where to cut into the bark on the 

 lower side. Bend the graft so that when 

 yon insert it it will tit tight above and below; 

 cement well with wax at both ends, then 

 bank earth over all. A tree two inches in 

 diameter should have at least two grafts; 

 one three inches, thin grafts and so on up to 

 six inches in diameter, for I have saved trees 

 as large as that. 



The grafts will make the connection, and 

 the tree will grow on as if nothing had hap- 

 pened to it. I have had trees close all 

 around in a few years, and bear fruit sooner 

 than others beside them never injured. 



Tomato and Early Cahha(!E seed can be 

 sown in boxes, in the house in a warm room, 

 and will have a good start by the time a 

 hot-bed can be safely started outside, into 

 which they can be successfully transplanted. 

 Give them all the .sunshine possible, turning 



