1 888. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



T2I 



has not been done before, then tlie warm 

 (lays of February (or March fiutlier north) 

 are next best. 



Let young trees be started with low heads, 

 the lower limbs not over two feet from the 

 ground. Every fall before freezing weather 

 1 scrape away from around the base of the 

 tree weeds, grass, and soil and dig out borers 

 and leave these parts exposed until spring, 

 .hist before blooming time I ptit from one 

 ([uart to one-half gallon of imleached ashes 

 ai'onnd the base of each tree. I have never 

 had tlu' yellows to attack a tree so treated. 



A wash made of .5 lbs. of concentrated lye, 

 1 peck of stone lime aud n lbs. of lard makes 

 a wash that will make the bark of a Peach 

 tree almost as smooth as glass. Dissolve 

 tlie lye in .5 gallons of boiling water; slack 

 the lime in h gallons of boiling water, and 

 heat the lard to a boiling point. While all 

 the parts are hot, mix in a barrel or large 

 tub, adding ten gallons more boiling water. 

 When cool ajiply to the tnink and large 

 limbs. An old broom is tlie best thing to 

 use. Do not apply after the tree is in leaf. 



A Fine Michigan Vineyard. 



F. E. SKEELS, GRAND RAPIDS, MICH. 



It is probable that nowhere this side of 

 California could be duplicated the sight we 

 saw here at the vineyards of H. H. Hayes in 

 Ottawa County, this State, on the occasion 

 of the last September meeting of the Grand 

 River Horticultural Society at this place. 

 The vines were weighted down with mas- 

 sive clusters of fruit, very tew of them 

 weighing less than half a pound each, and 

 eight bunches showu weighed together nine 

 pounds; a si.x inch piece cut fi-om one vine 

 held five pounds of Grapes. The vineyard 

 contains about ten acres of bearing vines, 

 .situated upon a high hill of heavy clay loam, 

 and is all of one variety— the Niagara. As the 

 club reassembled after its trip to the vine- 

 yard, Mr. Hayes told how these things were. 



About sixteen years ago Mi-. Hayes' family 

 had settled here, and for some years had 

 straggled along on short rations, raising 

 common farm products, until in 1884 he was 

 offered *10l) per acre for his farm, the would- 

 be purchaser dropping the remark that he 

 wanted it for a Grape farm. But Mr. H. 

 thought it worth a.s much to himself as any- 

 body, and undertook the planting and care 

 of a vineyard himself, with the success we 

 saw. Mr. Hayes has never neglected the 

 care of his vineyard a moment since plant- 

 ing it out, and has devoted much time to 

 the study of the habits of the vine, and at- 

 tributes his success largely to points learned 

 at the horticultnral meetings. 



One point which he emphasized strongly 

 was that he never allowed a crust to form 

 on the surface after a light or heavy shower, 

 always keeping the soil well worked and 

 mellow. No fertilizers were applied the 

 first year after planting, but each succeed- 

 ing .spring he applies unleached wood ashes 

 and raw bone dust, at the rate of a peck of 

 ashes and a pound of bone dust for every 

 vine; the ashes and bone dust being thor- 

 oughly mixed are applied broadcast all over 

 the vineyard, and immediately after the 

 sower comes the haiTow working the fertil- 

 izers beneath the surface. 



.Just before winter sets in in earnest he 

 applies about a bushel of well rotted com- 

 post to each vine as a mulch and as a pro- 

 tection from too severe frost. With this 

 treatment his vines had never sustained auy 

 injury from winter. His trellis consists of 

 two wires, and each vine sends out two hit- 

 erals from each side along the wires, the 

 laterals iH'ing nipped off at the eighth bud. 

 .fust after forming fruit thinning is coni- 

 nienced, tini.shing up in .June by removing 

 every loose, misshaped or misplaced cluster 

 and arranging the remainder so that they 



will have room to grow and be harvested 

 without damage. No shoots are allowed 

 from either the root or the main vine, his 

 aim being to throw- all growth into leaves 

 not needed by the fruit. 



IVl. B. Faxon on Crowing Garden Veg- 

 etables. 



1)11 till- supposition that a garden of one 

 acre has been prepared and is remiy for 

 plantuig, first lay it off in rows, uniformly 

 if possilile, and next assign to each intended 

 crop the rows or portions of rows that will 

 be suitable for it to occupy. Ijct it be as- 

 sumed that the piece is oblong in shape, one 

 hundred feet wide and four hundred and 

 thirty-si.\ feet long; this to be so divided 

 into rows as to give one hundred and nine 

 rows each one hundred feet long; each row 

 being understood to include a surface of 

 one foot wide, on which would be placed the 

 seeds or plants; there would then be left an 

 interval of three feet between each planted 

 strip and the next one, affording ample 

 space for horse cultivation. 



AsPAR.\GUS.— The roots should be planted 

 at intervals of twelve inches in the row, the 

 crowns from four to six inches Jjelow the 

 surface. The spring is the preferable time. 

 Two-year-old roots should be used; and it is 

 not desirable to cut Asparagus for the table 

 until the .second season from the planting, 

 but afterwards it may be cut annually. 

 The variety known as Conover's Colossal is 

 recommende<l. Three rows will not be too 

 much, and will take about 400 plants. 



The Bkkt.— It requires a deep, sandy 

 loam; should be sown as early as the ground 

 is in good working order; and the plants, as 

 soon as well uii, should be thinned to eight 

 or ten inches apart for the early crop. Sow- 

 ing for the winter crop should be about 

 .July 1 or a little earlier. I^ess thinning 

 will be proper than for the early crop, as 

 the warmer weather favors the growth of 

 the plants enough to admit of their stand- 

 ing closer. Four to five inches apart will 

 be enough. The Early Bastian and Dew- 

 ing's Early Turnip are standards for both 

 early and late crops, though other good 

 kinds are in common use. Beet tops used 

 as greens are by many preferred to Dande- 

 lion or Spinach; the Swiss Chard or SUver 

 Beet is grown entirely for this purpose. It 

 sends out fresh sprouts continually during 

 the season, no matter how often cut off. 

 One row should be planted with Beets for 

 supply of greens and early roots, and an- 

 other with Dew-ing's for winter use. 



C.\BB.\GE.— One had better buy the few 

 plants he will require for the early crop 

 than attempt to raise them from seed, un- 

 less he has hot-beds or chooses to raise the 

 plants for the pleasure of growing them. 

 They should be set in the gi-ound about the 

 ;20th of April. Winter Caljbages can be 

 raised from seed sown in open ground the 

 10th and 30th of June. Half a row of the 

 kind will suffice. Of the late sorts we may 

 plant freely, as there will be plenty of room 

 to put them in after the Pea crop has been 

 gathered and cleared away. 



The Cahliflow-er.— This crop can be 

 grown quite successfully by some amateurs, 

 though it is generally left to the experienced 

 market gardeners. Strong, stocky plants 

 are needed. The culture is the same as 

 that of the Cabbage. At least a row will be 

 needed, and this will take seventy-five 

 plants. One can raise his own plants if he 

 chooses, or at the proper time can supply 

 himself by purchasing. Early Snowball 

 and Dwarf Erfurt arc good kinds. 



Celery.— This is also a -market garden- 

 ers' crop," though not difficult of cultiva- 

 tion. The plants are obtained by growing or 

 purcha.siiig them in the same way a.s Cab- 

 bage or Caulitlower plants. They are to be 

 set in the open ground hetween the 1.5th 



of .June and the 1st of .July. The crimson 

 Celeries have one advantage over the white 

 kinds, that in the spring, when the latter 

 have become soft and lost their aroma, the 

 former are as good as when gathered in the 

 fall. One hundred plants will occupy one 

 of the rows we are speaking of, as the plants 

 should be about twelve inches apart; it 

 would be well enough to iilant two rows, as 

 Celery usually follows some early crop. 



The C.\RROT.— To grow Carrots to jierfec- 

 tion thei-e is needed a good, light and well 

 enriched sandy loam. The earliest kind is 

 the French Forcing, a little, round Carrot, 

 of delicious flavor. The early Scarlet Horn 

 is ne.xt in order, a very fine-grained and 

 agreeably flavored kind. A good strain of 

 Danver's Half Long is best for general use. 

 One-half row will be sufficient for flavoring 

 the winter soups and stews. 



Lettuce requires to be grown in a moist 

 soil and in cool weathei-; for this reason the 

 best is obtained only in the spring or early 

 summer. For New England, the black 

 seeded Tennis Ball when solid heads are re- 

 quired, and the Boston Fine Curled for a 

 curled Lettuce, are both desirable varieties. 

 One half-row of Lettuce will be sufficient. 



Onions foe Seed.— Plant seed in rows as 

 soon as the ground is workable in the 

 spring, and when well up thin to four 

 inches apart. They must have clean, 

 thorough and constant cultivation diiring 

 the growing season. There are white, red 

 and yellow Onions; the yellows are favorites 

 in this section. If not strictly fashionable, 

 they are at least good, and it will be well to 

 have three or four rows of them. 



t)xiONS FROM Sets.— Sets produce Onions 

 much earlier than could be grown from 

 seed. They should be set out about the 

 middle of April. The white ones are by far 

 the best. Half a row of sets will be enough, 

 making the row a foot wide and setting the 

 bullis four inches apart, thus having a row 

 of three sets wide. Twd iiuarts of sets will 

 be needed. 



The Parsnip.— The seed should lie plant- 

 ed very early, and when well up thinned to 

 si.x inches apart. The quality of the roots is 

 improved by frost, and a portion of the crop 

 may be left in the ground, to be gathered in 

 the spring or earlier, as occasion favors. 

 The long, smooth white is a favorite kind. 

 Two rows will supply a good yield, for 

 which one-fourth pound of seed is required. 



Pe.\s. — This vegetable, eaten by every 

 one, is almost always placed first upon the 

 list for the family garden, and is so much 

 liked that there is not much risk of provid- 

 ing too abundantly. To have a good suc- 

 cession of Peas for the table from the ITth 

 of June until the middle of July or first of 

 August, or later even than this, it is neces- 

 sary to make several plantings and to use 

 quite a number of varieties; early, medium 

 and late. If the Peas planted are such as 

 grow over two feet In height they must be 

 bushed, otherwise they will fall over and 

 mildew and the crop will he less than if 

 they are properly staked u|>, and the garden 

 will not look as neat and tidy as it should. 

 For first early, the early Dan O'Kourke and 

 First-and-Best are good as any. For second 

 early. Bliss's American Wonder, McLean's 

 Advancer and Yorkshire Hero. For the 

 general crop. Champion of England, Car- 

 ter's Stratagem, and Bliss's Ever-bearing 

 The green, wrinkled kinds are more tender 

 than the white ones and should not be 

 planted till later. It is better to plant too 

 many than too few. It will be well to plant 

 six rows, say as follows: As soon as the 

 ground can be worked sow- a row of Early 

 Dan O'Kourke. These will be ready for the 

 table June 17. and will supply us till the 

 •i5th or ;3tith. About April 20, or a little 

 later than the above planting, put in a row 

 of First-and-Best, which can be picked be- 



