128 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



March, 



X ^ ,1 /«-'. 



|gGHT '^SOCIETIES 



""^~ ''<^-^EiNQ Matter THAT observes 



"^ ~ TO 8E WIDEIY KNOWlU 



Shaffer's Colossal Itesp- 

 lieriy does well either in 

 a wet or dry season.— £. 

 r. Teas. 



The Worden Grape, 



thinks Gran\ille Cowing, 

 Sit^/ti "* Muncie, Ind., will 



f^^ -JS, crowd aside the Concord 



'^" ■ as the Grape "for the 



million." So believe many cultivators. 



Always to be Remembered. That one common 

 plant, lovingly cared for so as to be thrifty and 

 lu.\uriant, is better than a larg-e yard fiill of 

 neglected, weedy, or hen-scratched attempts at 

 floriculture.— TT^i I (a/tcf. 



Okra, or Gumbo, is pre-eminently a Southern 

 veg-etable, excellent to jjut in soup, which every- 

 body likes, and there is a growing demand for it 

 in all Northern markets. Somebody should 

 supply the demand. Prices are usually remun- 

 erative.— .4. A. Cowiliii. 



Celery Among Other Crops. Some gardeners 

 sow seed with a machine between the rows of 

 eai-ly Onions or Lettuce, and afterwards thin out 

 the plants. In some seasons this method is suc- 

 cessful, but it often fails in dry seasons, and is 

 not so sure as sowing under glass. Celery de- 

 mands clean siunmer cultivation. —TT. W.Baw&in. 

 Arbor Day and the School Yard. The celebra- 

 tion of Arbor Day fosters a taste for tree-planting, 

 especially among school-children. Through its 

 kindly influences every school-yard will in a few 

 years be pro\ided with grateful shade, and the 

 pupils will aei|uire instruction through the 

 planting of trees. It is a beautiful custom, 

 growing in favor.— 27»)ma.>! Meehan. 



Peach Yellows. At the recent annual meeting 

 of the Peninsula Horticultural Society of Dela- 

 ware, the subject of the yellows in the Peach, 

 which is devastiiting the orchards of Kent 

 County, Delaware, was discussed at length, and 

 the stamping out process advocated. The society 

 will ask the Legislatures of Maryland, Delaware, 

 and Virginia to enact a law compelling growers 

 to destroy all trees affected as soon as discovered. 

 Sub-irrigation. Within the last few months I 

 met a gentleman from Arizona who is perfecting 

 a system of sub-irrigation through pipes laid one 

 foot or more below the surface of the ground, 

 the claim being that water can be let out in small 

 quantities as desired to the roots of trees or other 

 growing plants, and that more than twice as 

 much water would be necessary when applied to 

 the surface of the ground.— PresixJerit Johnson of 

 the Kansas Hm-ticullural Society. 



Safe Advice about Varieties. Pres't Pearson 

 struck the right key when, at the recent horti- 

 cultural meeting of New Jersey, he deprecated 

 the offering by managers of highest prizes for 

 "largest collections of fruits." regardless of 

 iiuality. He had himself received these prizes 

 for Grapes— "encouraged for e.\hibiting the 

 multiplicity of his misfortunes." The bulk of 

 these large collections are of little value and only 

 serve to occupy space and bother and confuse 

 the e.\ami)iers. 



Ornamental Trees for the North. The follow- 

 ing list has the endorsement of the Wtsconsin 

 State Horticultural Society. Everynen^ in the 

 order named— White Pine, Norway Spruce, White 

 Spruce, Arbor Vitie, Austrian Pine, Scotch Pine. 

 DccUhwm trees, for timber— White Ash, Black 

 Cherry, Black Walnut, Hickory, Butternut, 

 White Oak, European Larch. Street (rffcx— White 

 Elm, Sugar Maple, Basswood, Ash Leaf Maple, 

 Norway Maple. Hardy shrubs— Snowball, Up- 

 right Honeysuckle, Purple Fringe, Purple- 

 leaved Barberry, Lilac, Black Alder. 



Celery versus Corn, There is a gentleman liv- 

 ing in Ottawa who la.st season had a Celery bed 

 of about Ave feet in mdth and about one hundred 

 feet in length, in which he grew eight hundred 

 plants that brought him ten cents apiece, or three 

 for twenty-flvc cents. The bed was kept well 

 tilled and watered, and the result was an immense 

 profit for so small a jiiece of land. The way corn 

 has yielded this season it would take at least one 

 hundred acres to make the owner as much money 

 as was procured from that little flve-by-one- 

 hiindred-foot tract.— iriOis of Katisa.i. 



Gardening for Profit. F. Y. Jarvis recently 

 told, before an Otsego Co., New York Hoj-ticult- 

 ural Society, how he raised 170 bushels of ( inions 



on a little more than 1-5 of an acre of ground. 

 How, also, he had used about 30 bushels of ma- 

 nure and ashes, and had 200 bushels of Parsnips 

 on 45 rods of ground. Culver Gillette told of the 

 possibilities of a fourth of an acre of ground. 

 He raised and marketed about $3.50 worth from 

 it. He planted Potatoes, Sweet Corn, (lelery. 

 Turnips, Cucumbers, Squashes, Tomatoes, etc. 

 His secret of success was in heavy manuring and 

 thorough cultivation. 



Enlarging its Field. At the annual meeting 

 of the Western New York Horticultural Society 

 at Rochester, in January, the matter of changing 

 the Society to a State Association was brought 

 up, discussed and favorably acted upi>u, as the 

 following resolutions, which were unanimously 

 adopted, show: Resolved. That the name of 

 the Western New York Horticultural Society be 

 changed to the New Y'ork State Horticidtural 

 Society, and that its sphere of operating be en- 

 larged to cover the entire State, and that its 

 officers be authorized to make such changes and 

 to procure a new charter or amend the old one. 

 Resnlred, That the officers of the said New York 

 State Horticultural Society be requested to peti- 

 tion the Legislature for an annual appropriation 

 of $2,.50O for promoting horticulture in the State. 

 Bees and Fruit. At the December meeting of 

 the Michigan Horticultural Society much testi- 

 mony was taken u pon the old question of whether 

 Bees Injure Maturing Fruit; nearly all in 

 favor of the Bees. Mr. J. A. Pearce had a new 

 point in their fa\or. He said that birds punc- 

 tured a large number of his early Grapes and the 

 juice ran out, disfiguring the clusters, and he 

 thought they would be entirely unsalable. But 

 the Bees came to his rescue and sucked up all 

 the oozing juice, cleaning out the injured Grapes, 

 so that a sUght brush would rub off the dry skins, 

 thus the unpunctured Grapes were clean and he 

 was able to put them on the market, securing 

 fair remuneration for them. Many instances 

 were given where Bees were indispensable in 

 promoting the setting of fruits, especially in 

 Squashes, Melons, etc., and the fertilizing of 

 Beans, Clover and Peas, which could not go on 

 without the aid of the Bees. 



How They Succeed in Indiana. Prof. Throop, 

 in his lecent paper before the Indiana State So- 

 ciety, mentioned several new Blackberries which 

 had been tested at the college farm. Early Har- 

 vest he thought of little account, not perfectly 

 hard.v; Wilson Jr., likewise, vei'y promising in 

 other respects, was too tender for the rigors of 

 the Northern Indiana winters. His opinion of 

 the Snyder was in accord with the sentiments of 

 the members of the Society generally, viz.i that 

 it was perfection. The Kelsey Japan Plum win- 

 ter-killed. The Nemaha Black Cap Raspberry 

 takes the lead at the college farm, is nearly as 

 large iis Gregg, is hardier and very productive. 

 Other members of the Society who had tested 

 Nemaha gave it words of praise. Many new 

 Strawbenies were being tried, but a few were 

 very promising. Itaska, strong, healthy plant, 

 very abundant bearer, berries larger and better 

 in flavor than Crescent. Logan was larger than 

 Itaska, very fine in e^■ery point, making a valua- 

 ble Strawberry. Lida and Jessie had made good 

 growth; needed more time for determining merit. 

 Of older Strawberries he thinks Cumberland best. 

 Much of Beauty for Little Money, Take any 

 fanner's dooryard and without much expense or 

 labor it can be transformed into an exfjuisite 

 lawn. A few flowers, a vine over the door, some 

 shrubbery and trees by the roadside will be sug- 

 gested. Here, too, great satisfaction can be got 

 without much outlay of money. It is marvelous 

 what large returns can be obtained from a very 

 small investment. He should not attempt too 

 much in the shape of elaborate gardens and fan- 

 tastic designs. The plain, rich carpet of grass 

 woiUd be preferable to such things. Simplicity 

 always looks better than over-ornamentation. 

 But everyone can rai.se a few of the beautiful old- 

 fiishioned flowers which grow easil.>' and do not re- 

 quire a great amount of attention. Their com- 

 moiuie.ss does not change the immutable laws of 

 proportion and color which constitute the beauty 

 of a Hower or plant. A group of Hollyhocks, 

 Sunflowers or Dahlias in the back-ground, and 

 such flowers as Phloxes, Zinnias, Asters, Lark- 

 spurs, Marigolds or Petunias in api)ropriate 

 places, and Morning Glories and Sweet Peas over 

 the porch will add many fold to the attractive- 

 ness and home-like appearance of hundreds of 

 farms. A few flowering or ornamental shrubs, 

 judiciously placed about (he lawn <u- flf)wer 

 garden, will add much to the appearance. But 

 do not overload. It is much better to have a 



little that is thrifty and healthy than to have 

 more than can be well cared for. The Lilac and 

 Syringa are better than many of the uncertain 

 novelties that are offered.— rvco. M. WJiitaker 

 before tlir Masmehii.'tett!^ Horlieultiiral Society. 



Deep Culture and Drought. I would counteract 

 drought by a deeper cultivation. To substantiate 

 this I wiU refer to a strip of land Ijing along the 

 east side of Marion County, where a number of 

 years ago only twenty or thirty bushels of Corn 

 to the acre were produced; while now that same 

 land yields readUy from fifty to sixty bushels jjer 

 acre. Nearly double in twelve years, and all 

 brought about through deep and thorough culti- 

 vatii m. In this section inigation is impracticable. 

 My son has a farm in the Cottonwood Valley, 

 upon which he broke twenty acres, very deep, 

 with a strong plow to which was attached'a four- 

 horse team. The result was thirty-five bushels 

 of Corn to the acre, while his neighbors only 

 harvested twenty bushels to the same amoiint of 

 ground. Hitherto the people have been content 

 with ordinary cultivation, but now it is different. 

 There is a Frenchman residing in my vicinity 

 who has a vineyard in which he put men to work 

 spading up the soil to the depth of two feet. The 

 result was wonderful. The vines thus treated 

 knew nothing of dry, hot weather, but through 

 it all continued to grow and prosper, bearing an 

 abundant supply of the choicest fruit, while the 

 vines growing on shallow tilled ground struggled 

 hard to live and in many instances succumbed t« 

 the dire effects of the dro\ight. Thus spoke J.W. 

 Byram before the Kansas State Horticultural 

 Society recently. He was followed by E. P. 

 Diehl who said he heartily endorsed what had 

 been s;iid. About eighteen years ago he pro\ ided 

 a subsoil plow by taking an old plow to the shop 

 and getting the upright Ijeam drawn out and 

 strengthened. With this his gromid was deeply 

 subsoiled, thus enabling it to withstand success- 

 fully all droughts. 



, The California Meeting- of the Am- 

 erican Horticultural Society. 

 The annual meeting of this society was 

 held according to programme, Jan. 34, 2.5 

 and 2Ci, and Feb. T, 8 and !i ; the first part at 

 San .Jo.se, the second at Riverside, Cal. While 

 the attendance of eastern horticnlturi.sts 

 was not large, it was strong in the sense of 

 Including numerotis prominent cultivators. 

 The local attendance was good throughout 

 and the exhibition, which consisted largely 

 of improved varieties of Oranges, and other 

 California products, was a great success. 

 Ntimerous valuable papers, on fruit cultiu-e 

 in the main, were read and discussed, and 

 some of these will later be printed in our 

 coltirans. 



The time between the two meetings was taken 

 up by excursions throughout the State. Not the 

 least enjoyable and profitable feature of the 

 meeting was a banquet tendered to the delegates 

 by the ladies of San Jose, on January 26th, at 

 which .500 people were present. 



In the course of the meeting resolutions were 

 adopted and forwarded to Congress in the inter- 

 est of forest protection, and also on the tariff on 

 fruits, in which latter it was set forth that any 

 reduction from the present duty on fruits would 

 work great injury to, if it would not destroy, 

 many of our fruit interests. The unique paper 

 by Dr. Albrecht, of New Orleans, on the PiUm 

 Tree, was so well received that it was ordered 

 printed for distribution. 



On Feb. Kth at the Riverside meeting the elec- 

 tion of officers for the ensuing two years took 

 place, resulting as follows : President Parker 

 Earl, Cobden, III.; Vice-President, T.V. Munson. 

 Denison, Texas; Secretary, W. H. Ragan, Green- 

 castle, Ind.; Treasurer, J. C. Evans, Harlem, Mo. 



Orchid Crowing for Amateurs. 



[A -Paper by 3Ir. A/cxan(h-i- Wriaht bcfoic a recent 

 meetiyig of a Hortie tilt unit and Cottage Qariten 

 Society.] 



The amateur who undertakes the cultiva- 

 tion of Orchids, if he becomes interested in 

 them, will soon conquer tlte difficulties of 

 making a good start. Unfortunately the 

 idea has got abroad that Orchids are difficult 

 to cultivate. It may be so with a few btit 

 by no means with the ma.iority of this re- 

 markably distinct class of plants. 



