136 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



March, 



58". Musk Melons for Forcing. The best lor 

 this purpose iis asked lor hv your correspondent 

 is only determined by what purpose the product 

 is intended, as any of the varietiea as far a^f ray 

 experience goes are equall,>" adapted to forward- 

 infr in this manner. If for home use, where qual- 

 ity instead of quantity is the desideratum, then try 

 the Emerald Gem or Miller's Cream, which are A 

 No. 1 in this respect, but tof) small for market 

 (generally. It for the latter purpose, try such 

 sorts as Burpee's Champion Market, and the New 

 Early Hackensack for green fleshed. Perfection 

 or Improved Orange Chi'istiana. for 

 yellow fleshed. The seeds are sown about 

 April 1st in a greenhouse or hot-bed. si.\ 

 or eight in a five-inch flower-pot. sufhricnt 

 for one hill, afterwards thinning to three 

 or fom* of the strongest. These are al- 

 lowed to grow in this manner till such 

 time as the weather will admit of their 

 lieing set in the open ground, which is 

 done as follows: After thoroughly pre- 

 paring the land, mark the location for 

 each hill, take one of your jars, invert it, 

 and gentl.y tap the edge, when the con- 

 tents will come out intact without the 

 least in.iury to the working roots, the 

 essential point In the operation, and can 

 then be planted in the hill, and will 

 grow without auy apparent check. This plan 

 will insure Melons considerably earlier than from 

 seed sown iu the open ground, but if the matunty 

 of the crop at the earliest moment is the ilesired 

 point, it will pay to stlU further protect each hill 

 by a box or frame covered vnth water-i)roof 

 filjer cloth set over the same. Cucumbers may 

 also be forwarded in the same manner, wntn 

 generall.v a considerable profit.— G. H. Mahan. 



ais. Fertilizer for Strawberry. Not knowing 

 the size of jour bed, I am unable to say why the 

 guano did not help it. I infer from your quer.v, 

 however, that tJie gi'ound was improjierl.v pre- 

 pared before planting, and if so, would advise you 

 to plant a new bed this spring, and to destroy the 

 old one as soon as the crop is gathered. In pre- 

 paring for a new bed, apjjly an abundant supply 

 of good, well rotted stable manure, and work it 

 in as deeit and as thoroughly as possible, remem- 

 bering that to ensure a satisfactory crop the 

 ground caiuiot be too well prepared or made too 

 rich and deep. — C. E. P. 



574. Fruit for Small Plat. Bartlett, Duchess 

 d' Angouleme, (on Quince), Beurre d' Anjou, and 

 Lawrence Pears. DuohessofOldenburgh, Peck's 

 Pleasant, and Baldwin Apples. Columbia, Duan's 

 Purple and Washington Plums.— C. E. P. 



58S. Storing Cabbage. When it is deemed advis- 

 able to seciu-e the crop, pull up on a dry day and place 

 the heads iu a downward position so as to drain all 

 moisture from them, then place in pits, roots inward, 

 as close together as possible, and gradually cover with 

 earth to the depth of eight or ten inches. One or two 

 hundred heads can be placed In each pit. A covering 

 of coarse litter placed on one si.Ie of tnr pit will ren- 

 der access much easier if apjilied as sonn as the ground 

 commences to freeze. These pits shituia l>e r.irini-ii and 

 finished precisely as those used for storing Turnips, 

 Oarrots, etc.— C. E. P. 



W3. Hibiscus Buds Dropping. I am not acquainted 

 with Hibiscus rubra. I suppose you refer to H. rosea 

 sinensis, anil if so would say that the plant is not sen- 

 sitive about being touched while in bud, except to the 

 extent of the expanded flowers being ill-shaped In the 

 event of the ijutls being liruised or severely injured. 

 No insects or worms are injuring the buds, and you 

 may altrilmte the dropping of the buds to one or Tuore 

 of tlie following causes: 'the plants may tie j,o-o\ving 

 in tint low a temperature. The pot or tub may Ije im- 

 properly drained, and in con.sequence of this the roots 

 may have l>ecome iujuied bv being kept too wet. Or 

 iu the event of the pot or tub being well filled with 

 roots, the plant may not have been thoroUKlilv watered ' 

 at times. To grow and flower tlus nibiscus sue.ess- 

 fully liuriug the winter season it sliould be ^;i\en a 

 light, sunny situation, and an average temijcrature of 

 from 56 to fit) degrees. Water tlioroughlv whenever 

 necessary, and if the pot or tub is well flllecl with roots 

 give liquid niaimre once a week. A compost composed 

 of one-third well decayed manure and two-ttilrds 

 turfy loam Is the most suitable, and the tub or pot 

 must he well drained. Re-pot the plant In May, or be- 



warm, on account of liability to rot. For the very ear- 

 liest sowings I prefer Thorburns' Early Market, or 

 Rural New Yorker. The Alaska is recommended as a 

 very early blue Pea of good quality, very productive. 

 I cannot speak for It from experience.— C. E. P. 



The Fire Hot-bed at the Michigan 

 Agricultural College. 



C. S. CRANDALL, AGRICULTCR.\L COI.LEOE P. O., MICH. 



Our fire hot-bed was not alone a hot-bed, 

 but combined a small forcing house where 

 we could work under the glass, and a hot 



brick, and covered with a shingle roof. The 

 furnace was built of brick. An arched top 

 iron frame carrying doors tii fire bo-x and 

 ash pit formed the front, and was set even 

 with the inner face of the tool room wall, 

 and held in place by rods built into the 

 furnace wall. The fire box, lined with fire 

 brick, was thirty inches long, fifteen inches 

 wide, and eighteen inches liigh in the center 

 The ash-pit. eight inches deep below the 

 grates had same width and length as fire 



FlG.1 



LENGTHWISE SECTIONAL VIEW'OF FIRE HOT-BED. 



room twelve feet square. Figure 1 shows 

 depth of excavation and position of furnace. 



The hot-bed, six feet by sixty feet, was ex- 

 cavated full width, one foot deep at the 

 chimney end and three feet at the other, and 

 was fitted with frame same as for an ordin- 

 ary bed. Then narrowing the trench to two 

 and one-half feet it was continued twelve 

 feet to the furnace, where it was lowered to 

 six feet from the surface, and continued on 

 this level for furnace bottom and tool room 

 floor. Seen from above the excavation would 

 appear as in Figure 2. 



The dotted line indicates the outline of 

 forcing house portion. This was 11 feet 

 wide. The outer walls consisted of pieces 

 of "2x4 inch scantling set into the gi'ound, 

 boarded on both sides, and the top capped 

 with 2xti inch scantling, on which rested the 

 rafters and sasli. These walls pro.iected 

 above ground about eighteen inches, and 

 were banked to the top on the outside with 

 earth. Upright pieces of scantling placed 

 against the sides of the trench served as 

 supports for the rafters. Five sash were 

 used on each side. The ad.ioining tool room 

 wall formed one end. the other was double 

 boarded down to the hot-bed frame, with 

 which it was connected. 



The trench was boarded up as high as tlie 

 ground level, and the bottom floored over a 

 few inches above the flue, tlius forming a 

 passage between the beds. The beds were 

 covered with boards, and on these we placed 

 our seed and plant boxes. In the hot-bed 

 frame the floor made of inch boards was 

 laid level, being close down to the flue near 

 the chimney end and nearly two feet above 

 it at the other end. The sides were extended 

 above the floor fourteen inches in front and 

 eighteen inches at the back, giving slope 

 sufficient to carry water off the sash. At 

 intervals of six feet and alternating from 

 side to side, spaces were left between tlie 

 floor and the sides for the passage of warm 

 air to the plant space above. 



Tool Room 

 12 X 12 FT. 



it- 



HoT Bed 6x60 ft. 



\^_j 



FlG.2 



GROUND PLAN OF 



fore l)Iaeiug if outside for the summer. Do not give it 

 too large a pot or tub. and never shift or re-pot It In 

 the winter or fall month.s.— C. E. P. 



i>.>4. Seed Growing, Full particulars as to how seeds 

 are grown will be found In Brill's Farm Oardcnlng and 

 Seed Growing, which can be procured from the office 

 of PoiTLAR Oardesisg. PrIce, one dollar. 16) Cauli- 

 flower .seed is Imported from Eiu-ope. It requires a 

 cool, moist climate, and even under the most favor- 

 al)lc conditions seeds perfect very siiarliiglv : this Is 

 why II is s.i . x]M-iislve. (el Alpha Is tin. i-arircst |n-:i of 

 line iiii;dit\ wiili which I am acnuiiiiued. It yields 

 well and Is of good size. It Is a wrinkled iiiarroVv and 

 shinild not l)e .sown until the ground has Itecome 



FIRE HOT-BED. 



On a portion of this floor earth to the depth 

 of eight inches was placed, and some seeds 

 sown here, but nearly all our plants were 

 started in the forcing house in boxes, and as 

 it became crowded the boxes were trans- 

 ferred to the hot-bed, placing the tender 

 sorts at the end nearest the furnace; but 

 r:ibbage plants, etc., near the chimney. 



The tool room, used also for storage of coal 

 and a ground work room was walled with 



box. We used a single flue of six inch 

 sewer pipe running straight from furnace to 

 chimney. This was supported on brick four 

 inches from bottom of trench, and the joints 

 were made tight with fireclay and mortar. 



On starting this hot^bed we found a diffi- 

 culty in the excessive radiation from the 

 flue .loints nearest the furnace. This was 

 obviated by encasing the first twelve feet in 

 an outer brick flue which was allowed to 

 open into the air chamber under the hot-bed. 

 The drj-ness of heat obtained by this method 

 of heating renders necessary the mainte- 

 nance of pans of water over the furnace and 

 at intervals along the flue. The experience of 

 the year proved so clearly Ihe utility and 

 convenience of our forcing house that we re- 

 moved the hot-bed frame and converted the 

 whole length into forcing liouse, excavating 

 full width of eleven feet and running two 

 flues, one under each bench. 



Plants can be successfully grown in Are 

 hot-beds, and in many cases at less expense 

 than in manure heated beds, the fuel cost- 

 ing less than manure. For a forcing house 

 such as I have spfiken of. the same sash, the 

 same furnace and flues reiiuired for a hot- 

 bed can be used. The only difference is in 

 the additional lumber necessary for the 

 frame, and the e.xtra labor of construction. 

 80 I would suggest to anyone contemplating 

 a fire hot-bed that they carefully calculate 

 the cost of both hot-bed tind forcing house, 

 and then do not let a reasonable difference 

 in cost prevent you from choosing to build 

 the forcing house. Very many cheap houses 

 of this character, varying somewhat in con- 

 struction according to the taste and means 

 of the owner, are being built every year. 

 Their utility has been ilemonst rated, and 

 their cost is within the means of gardeners 

 who now depend entirely upon hot-beds. 



"Roadside Trees in Beloiu.m. From the official 

 report of the head officer having charge of 

 woods and rivers in Belgium, it appeai-s that the 

 total length of highways in that countr.v 

 amounts to 4,2"™" miles, of which there are al- 

 ready planted more than one-half, or 2,417 miles. 

 The present value of the trees is now four times 

 as much as their original cost, or have a raone.v 

 value of more than two million dollars. Among 

 the trees thus planted, Elms are in the large.st 

 numbers, then Oaks, next Poplars, and in di- 

 miutshing numbers are Ash, Beech, Maples, 

 Norway Spruce and Larch. Fruit trees are in 

 much smaller numbers. 



Tricks IN ALL Trades. i.The Cincinnati Com- 

 mercial Gazette exposes a neat scheme practised 

 to stretch out the crop of " Florida '' Oranges. 

 It says: "The choicest Orange has a dark tinge 

 upon its rind. But the ingenious Dago, being 

 well aware of this fact, artfully arranges that 

 aU of his Oranges are Floridians, presenting the 

 darkskinned appearance. And after the Florida 

 (Grange passes away there takes its place as the 

 choicest feature of the market the little blood-red 

 Orange, sweet and juicy. These the artists get by 

 inserting ;in the neck of a white Orange a tin.v 

 glass s.vringe filled witli sweetened analine dye." 



