122 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



March, 



tween June 25 and July 1 or 2; then Bliss's 

 American Wonder (if it has been planted 

 about the 35th of April) will be ready for 

 picking; and next in order will come 

 McLean's Little Gem, McLean's Advancer, 

 Yorkshire Hero, and Champion of England. 



The Radish.— This will thrive in any 

 good soil, but t« be crisp and tender must 

 be grown quickly. If a continuous supply 

 is wanted, make sowings every ten days or 

 two weeks. French Breakfast and Early 

 Long Scarlet are both excellent. Half a 

 row, planted at Intervals, will be sufficient. 



The Turnip.— Turnips are propagated 

 from seed and they do not bear transplant- 

 ing. The chief difficulty with them is their 

 coming up so thickly together, which makes 

 a great deal of trouble in thinning out. 

 Early crops are sown as early as possible in 

 the spring; Swede Turnips later, about June 

 1; while the purple-top varieties may be 

 planted either early or late; and from sow- 

 ings as late as Aug. 15 good crops may be 

 secured. The Sweet German and also Car- 

 ter's Imperial Swede are good for winter 

 use. The first-named is commonly known 

 as the Cape Turnip and is raised extensively 

 on Cape Cod; its flesh is white; that of the 

 Imperial Swede is yellow. At least three 

 rows of Turnips of the different varieties 

 should be planted. From the 1st to the 1.5th 

 of August many spaces of our ground will 

 have been cleared by the gathering of early 

 vegetables, and may be used to good pur- 

 pose with little labor by sovring with the 

 Purple Top Turnip.— Before Massachusetts 

 Horticultural Society. 



Notes on the February Number. 



WM. F. BASSETT, HAMMONTON, N. J. 



Work for Winter, r. 97.— In pruning 

 Blackberry canes, all those swellings which 

 are found in the Wilson and Wilson Jr. 

 should be cut off and the waste burned. 

 These swellings are the work of a borer 

 which comes out when the plants are in 

 bloom and deposits its eggs on the new 

 canes, and this is the only effectual method 

 of destroying them. All the fruit which sets 

 above these ripens imperfectly; nothing Is 

 lost by cutting below them. 



Rhubarb at the South, p. 9T.— Too high 

 summer temperature causes the roots to de- 

 cay and become hollow, and it requires 

 dividing and replanting once in two years. 

 We succeed here in Southern New Jersey 

 by renewing, thus making the soil very 

 rich. A neighbor gets a magniflcent 

 growth of Linnaeus Rhubarb in low land 

 which receives the surface drainage of all 

 the adjacent land and streets for a mile or 

 more, to such an extent that water often 

 stands a foot in depth for several days. 

 Try planting it on a sharp northern slope or 

 on the north side of a high fence or build- 

 ing and mulch it heavily with swamp moss. 



Propagation of Red Raspberry Plants, 

 l>. 97. — I once manured a newly planted 

 patch of Cuthbert with horse manure from 

 a stable where cedar shingle sawings had 

 been very freely used for bedding, and 

 wherever the roots struck a mass of this 

 material buds were formed in great abun- 



An Improved Asijaragxis Knife. 



dance. Probably vei-y coarse strawy ma- 

 nure would have the same effect and pro- 

 duce plenty of suckers the following season. 

 Varieties of Raspberry, p. 103.— When 

 Hansen succeeds I like it better than Tur- 

 ner, even for family use. It is earlier and 

 larger, and I cannot see that it is inferior in 

 quality. Hopkins is more than slightly 

 smaller than Gregg, but is far better in 

 quality. Ohio, as grown here, is nearly all 



hard seeds, and I cannot help suspecting 

 that this is what causes it to weigh so much 

 more than the others when evaporated. 



Tobacco Fumigation, p. 105.— The state- 

 ment that Tobacco smoke will not injure 

 the t«nderest plant when cool hardly ac- 

 cords with my experience. I always expect 

 the foliage of Smilax and some other plants 

 to get browned when I fumigate, even if at 

 considerable distance from the fumigator. 



Garden Walks, p. 106.— Walks, whether 

 in the garden or elsewhere, are much nicer 

 in wet weather if made of quite sandy loam, 

 and in dry weather it is as good as clay loam. 



Fuchsias, p. 106. — As these must be kept 

 grovring rapidly to bloom well, old plants 

 are much better if cut back very severely in 

 early spring, then give them pots one or two 

 sizes larger, leaving a little space in the new 

 pot at the top and aroimd the ball of earth, 

 and apply one-half to two ounces of dry hen 

 manure (according to size of plants) and 

 cover with a little soil or swamp moss. 



Strawberries for Profit, p. 113.— Cres- 

 cent can be made to yield a very heavy crop 

 and nearly all large berries by the following 

 plan : Plant in rows three or three and one- 

 half feet apart, and plants two to three feet 

 in the row, of course planting every third 

 row of some staminate, in land made very 

 rich. Allow enough of the first runners to 

 grow to All in plants in the rows to 6 inches 

 apart, placing them by hand, after which 

 cut all runners as fast as tfiry appear. 

 This may seem like a tedious job, but I 

 think the extra labor will be offset by the 

 reduced labor in picking the fruit the next 

 season. Probably those who ship sandy 

 fruit do not realize that the constant jarring 

 and thumping together in transit imbeds 

 the dirt and sand into the berries so that it 

 cannot be rinsed off as when brought in 

 from the fields for home use. Mr. Thomp- 

 son's list of varieties may be all right for his 

 locality, but Mt. Vernon is worthless here. 



How do you Cut your Asparagus? 

 There have been improvements from time 

 to time in the making of Asparagus knives, 

 until the desirable form figm-ed herewith 

 has been reached. In one of the earlier 

 forms the blade, which was strong and fixed 

 in a handle, was blunt at the sides, but with 

 a sharp end like a chisel. Another had a 

 blade slightly hooked and with saw-shaped 

 teeth at the end. The better form, which is 

 here illustrated, is sen'ated both at the end 

 and one side, and this one is destined to 

 come into wide use. This improved Aspara- 

 gus knife is kept for sale by a number of our 

 leading dealers in gardening implements. 



wide, or scantling of the same length, are 

 nailed along the top of the posts. 



For retaining the berry bushes, either slats 

 or wires may be used, nailing four of these 

 horizontally from post to post on each side. 

 This brings the slats or wires that are oppo- 

 site each other nine inches apart, and it is 

 in these spaces that the canes are trained. 



Why I like this trellise is that I can by its 

 use grow Blackberries in my garden with 



Blackberries in the Garden. 

 A chief objection to the culture of Black- 

 berries for home use is the spreading habit 

 of the thorny canes, which, without mercy, 

 lay hold of those who happen to brush against 

 them. To overcome this objection to a fruit 

 most desirable in other respects, a corres- 

 pondent, W. G. Raines, Litchfield Co., Conn., 

 employs a trellis for confining the growth, 

 which we have thought well enough of to 

 have had engraved. Our corre- 

 spondent refers to the trellis as 

 follows : 



" Along my Blackberry rows, 

 which by this method I can 

 place as close as four feet from 

 each other, with the plants about two 

 and one-half feet in the row, I set posts at 

 eight feet apart. If the posts vary in thick- 

 ness I set one side to line, and then nail a 

 nine inch board up and down any posts that 

 are less than nine inches through, bringing 

 the front of such boards to the line. If it is 

 desired to give the trellis a finished appear- 

 ance as well as to add to its stability a line 

 of inch boards, 16 feet long and 6 inches 



Blaekbenij TreUm in Garden. 



scarcely more inconvenience than Grape 

 vines. I can till closely to them, keeping 

 down all weeds, and twice the number of 

 plants can easily be grown to the same area, 

 as without its use. 



Is Grape Growing Overdone? One- 

 Cent-a-Pound Grapes. 



At a recent meeting of the Grape-growers 

 of the adjoining coimty of Chautauqua the 

 question, "If we raise better Grapes than 

 othei; sections can the business be overdone? 

 met with the following consideration : 



Mr. Ryckman. — Certainly not. In Phila- 

 delphia our fruit side by side with that 

 of other sections sold for one cent a 

 pound more. We shall make money even 

 if we get prices lower than at present. More 

 money can be made raising Grapes at a cent 

 a pound than in any other kind of farming. 

 An acre of good bearing vineyard ought to 

 yield three tons, which at one cent per pound 

 are worth $60. A hundred acres would bear 

 .*6,000 worth of fruit. The entire annual 

 outlay would not exceed $2,500. This leaves 

 a profit of *.3,.500. 



Mr. Becker.— A vineyardist cannot raise 

 Grapes at one cent per pound and live. I 

 read only the other day that Grapes had 

 sold for one ceut per pound at Hammonds- 

 port and the statement was made that such 

 prices meant ruin to growers in that section. 

 Mr. Ryckman.— I have given you the facts 

 and you can figure it up for yourselves. A 

 man to make money in Grapes at one cent 

 per pound must grow Grapes and nothing 

 else. A farmer has no business to grow 

 Grapes. His seed time, haying and harvest- 

 ing, each interfere with his vineyards. He 

 will neglect his vines when they need care, 

 and he cannot make money in Grapes at 

 much less than a cent per pound. I know 

 this by experience ; whatever happens my 

 Grape-vines are going to be cared for. 



Mr. Watson.— I do not wish to raise cent 

 a pound Grapes. A hundred acre vineyard 

 would involve a vast outlay for land, vines, 

 posts, wire and labor, on all of which inter- 

 est should be allowed. I don't believe a 

 hundred acres would average three tons per 

 acre each year. It may be done in a small, 

 favorable spot, but not on a large scale. 

 Twenty-five dollars per acre is not enough 

 for expenses. The picking and packing of 

 a ton costs U to $13 per acre. The remain- 

 ing *;13 is not enough for pruning, tying, 

 plowing, cultivating, etc. All these things 

 considered I conclude that Grapes cannot be 

 raised at a cent per pound. I agree in the 

 main with Mr. Ryckman. I don't believe 

 in the plan of letting weeds grow lat« in the 

 season to hold the snow during winter. It 

 may do in some seasons, but often we have 

 a long late drought during which the weeds 

 injure both fruit and vines. I prefer to 

 plant my vines nine feet apart each way. 



