1 888. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



143 



Bush oi; Uwai:f Beans. Though some- 

 what hardier than the preceflinfjc, they shoulrl 

 not be planted until settled weather. All 

 Beans do best in warm, light soil, but will 

 flourish in almost any soil or situation un- 

 less shaded or very wet. Piarly Yellow, Six 

 Weeks and Dwarf Horticultural are the best 

 among the green-podded kinds. For yellow 

 varieties, Golden Wax, White Wax and 

 Black Wax take tlie lead. Of string beans, 

 as we need a bountiful supply, two rows 

 should be planted, divided somewliat as 

 follows: One half-row of Early Yellow Six 

 Weeks and one half-row of Golden Wax, 

 planted say May 30. Then wait till about 

 June 10, and plant at that time another half- 

 row of Golden Wax and half a row of Dwarf 

 Horticultural. The latter, if not needed as 

 a snap bean, can lie allowed to grow for 

 shelling, tor which use it is one of the best. 



Sweet Cokn. This is universally grown, 

 being ready for the talile at a time when the 

 early summer vegetables are nearly gone 

 by and the fall vegetables are not quite 

 ready. It is better to plant in rows than in 

 hills, and if the plants are thinned to about 

 eight inches apart, the yield of the rows will 

 be larger than can be obtained from hills. 

 By successive plantings every two weeks 

 from the 30th of May to the 1st of July, 

 made with any good early variety, a contin- 

 uous supply may be had, covering a longer 

 period than if several different varieties, of 

 early and late kinds, are planted at the same 

 time; for as the season advances it seems as 

 if all kinds were ripening together. It is 

 well to plant enough for a bountiful supply 

 all through the season. 



The CrcU-MBEi;. Cucumbers in the open 

 ground should be planted about June 1. A 

 dozen hills will supply all that are needed 

 of the table sorts; but in planting for pickles 

 each family must consult its own needs. 



The Muskmelox. The Cantaloupe Melon 

 is one of the Mu.skmelon family, and is a 

 delicious fruit, too well known to need any 

 lengthy description. It is to be planted in 

 hills, and thinned to three or four plants in 

 each hill; but must not be planted until the 

 ground is warm, for it is almost as tender 

 as the Squash. When the plants have made 

 foiu- leaves, the ends of the main shoots 

 should be pinched off; this will strengthen 

 the growth of the vines and hasten the ma- 

 turing of the fruit. The Arlington, Montreal 

 and Hackensack are three as goodCantaloupe 

 Melons as can be found. 



The Watekmelon. Watermelons are not 

 grown with very good success here, as our 

 seii.sons are not long enough. A few hills 

 may be planted by way of experiment, and 

 it they fail the loss will not be great. The 

 same culture as for the Muskmelon. 



The Potato. The cultivation of this 

 vegetable is a large subject in itself. 

 Thorough and clean culture sh(mldbe given 

 until the blossoms appear, after which no 

 further attention will be required until har- 

 vesting time. At each successive hoeing, 

 gather the earth about the plant, adding a 

 little each time for support and also to de- 

 velop the side shoots. 



The Sqi'.\SH. This is one of our tender 

 annuals, and should not be planted until all 

 danger of frost Ls past: and, aside from the 

 tender nature of the plant, the seed itself is 

 liable to rot in damp, cool weather. Fine 

 plaster is about as good an article as has yet 

 been found for driving away the bugs. 

 Plant Early Summer Crookneck and White 

 Bush ScoUop for summer use: Boston Mar- 

 row for fall; Hubbard, Essex Hybrid and 

 American Turban for winter. The crop 

 must be gathered before it is nipped by 

 frost, or it will not keep well. A dozen hills 

 of the summer kinds will be enough, but of 

 the late sorts plant five or sux rows. 



The Tomato. Tomato plants should be 

 set out about the 1st of June; the ground 



should have been made very rich, and if it 

 is kept free from weeds, no further attention 

 will be required. Just befcjre frost the vine 

 may be taken up with all the earth that can 

 be kept adhering to the roots, and transferred 

 to the cellar, where all the full grown Toma- 

 toes not already picked will ripen. I have 

 seen perfect ripe Tomatoes of most excellent 

 quality on the table at Thanksgiving which 

 had been ripened in this way. There are so 

 many good varieties of this vegetable that 

 it is hard to make a selection. Three or 

 four dozen plants may be required in order 

 to furnish a good .supply all summer; they 

 should be set eight feet apart and will occujjy 

 about two rows such as described. — Before 

 the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. 



This, That and the Other. 



M. T. THOMPSON, EAST ROCKPORT, OHIO. 



As Spring is at hand, is the required 

 amount of manure or fertilizers ready for 

 use ? Has the plow been fixed and painted 

 ready for work, and have w-e got an extra 

 point or two in case of breakage, so that a 

 wiiole day going to town will not have to 

 be lost to get one wiicn work has com- 

 menced? Just one day lost in Spring might 

 from unfavorable weather or other causes 

 put you back one to two weeks, with not 

 near the crop you ought to have had by the 

 earlier planting. Are your other imple- 

 ments ready to go to work the first good 

 day that comes, or will you aimoyingly 

 borrow from a good neighbor again, waiting 

 until his work is all done? Say nothing of 

 the delay to ycm, this is bad business. Your 

 neighljor may not like to refuse you, but 

 the tools are his and he needs them. He 

 may think he will be through by to-morrow, 

 but when night comes the chances are he 

 did not get quite done and you are put off, 

 to your detriment. Of course this applies 

 to other tools and articles also. 



The fact is, that to compete with the low 

 price of produce and fruits* you have got to 

 have the necessary equipments for work 

 all ready when the time comes. I recall a 

 few years ago, wiien we had very open 

 weather in February, and on the second day 

 of March I sowed my Yellow Danver Onion 

 seed. The next day it snowed and I could 

 not get any more in until the last of April. 

 The weather then came off hot and dry, and 

 the first seed in came up finely and was two 

 weeks earlier than the late April sown. The 

 result was the first lot brought twice over 

 what those did planted two weeks later. 

 Onion seed is not hurt by freezing, and the 

 earlier you get them in the less " stiff 

 necks " (such as do not form a bottom) you 

 will have. For Onions, therefore, have 

 your land ready, your drill ready, and your 

 seed also ready. Don't put it off on the 

 plea that there is time enough yet. 



Strive this year as never before to excel. 

 Have everything ready on time and beat 

 your neighbor if you can by raising better 

 crops on the same kind of soil, through giv- 

 ing it more intelligent attention and better 

 and cleaner cultivation. In marketing see 

 if you cannot manage to get home earlier 

 and not detain yourself by trifles. If a 

 gi-eat many more that I know would do 

 this, I am sure they w-ould be the gainers. 



Teach the boys to market by taking them 

 with you frequently. It helps them and in 

 turn will help you. I have a ll-ycar old 

 boy that will take to nuirket ,iust as big a 

 load as I can get on a two-horse spring 

 wagon, and sell it just as well as I can, and 

 this he has been doing for several years. 

 Another way to encourage the boys, and the 

 girls as well, is to give each a piece of land 

 to have all they can raise on it. l-et the 

 piece be according to the size of your place, 

 and let them have a horse to plow and cul- 

 tivate it, and give them the planting stock 



to put in; just such as they think they 

 woidd like. The boys can get sister to 

 help, and thus become partners in .such en- 

 terprises. They will work on it when often 

 times they would be into mischief. 



I favor doing all one can to keep your 

 children from the cities; they are much bet- 

 ter off on the fann, as is shown by the fact 

 that our leading men in all walks of life 

 were bnmght upon the farm. There is no 

 doubt but what soil tillage is the glorious' ' 

 work of man. If it has its ups and downs, 

 so do all other enterprises. 



Right Methods in Setting Out Trees. 



Z. C. FAIRBANKS, TRAVERSE CITY, HICH. 



My convictions are that nine tenths of all 

 fruit and other trees .set out are set and 

 treated in a way that they cannot thrive. 



I recall an instance of some two years ago, 

 in which I supplied a man in this state with 

 30 Apple trees. He had them heeled in, and 

 on a certain drizzly morning when some of 

 his neighbors and myself were present, he 

 asked me to show him how to set out one of 

 those trees. He flrst dug a hole for it, then 

 said, " now set the tree." My response was 

 made by taking his shovel, and laying coat 

 and vest aside, throwing out the dirt the 

 width of the shovel around the hole he had 

 dug. The surface soil was about the depth 

 of the shovel blade's length, beneath which 

 was clear gravel and sand, in which there 

 was not a particle of vegetable mold. 



Reaching this sterile subsoil I threw of it 

 out to a full shovel's depth. One of the 

 lookers on asked whether I was digging my 

 grave. I filled the lower part of the hole 

 thus made with surface soil, on which the 

 tree was set. " If that tree does not live, re- 

 marked a bystander, no tree ever will live." 

 The owner received his lesson with the re- 

 mark that he had set a great many trees, 

 but had never seen one put out as that one 

 had been, and that all the others should be 

 similarly set to live and to grow. 



But alas for good resolves. That was the 

 last and only tree of said 30 trees that was 

 set that spring. The following fall the bun- 

 dle of trees stood heeled in just where it did 

 that morning. I could account for it only 

 <in the grounds that my friend, having re- 

 solved to set said trees by the thorough 

 method I hiid shown him, failed to sum- 

 mon courage to take hold and do it. Had 

 there been no greater call for muscle than 

 his usual mode of setting did, the trees no 

 doubt would have been planted. 



On another occasion a gentleman of this 

 State was about to plant two Standard 

 Pear trees, and remarked to me that he in- 

 tended setting them in his door yard. That 

 to me meant no culture. Taking dinner 

 with him I suggested that after dinner we 

 set out the trees, to which he agreed. When 

 the holes were dug to the size of six to seven 

 feet across and two feet or more deep I 

 asked for the wheelbarrow, and filled it 

 with scrapings from the barnyard, which 

 we thoroughly mixed with the other soil to 

 put in the holes and bottom. Into this mix- 

 ture we set the trees. They bore the second 

 year, one of them six, the other 11 nice 

 Pears, and to-day they are fine trees, having 

 continued to bear each year since. 



My convictions are, that if as much time 

 and labor was to be applied in the prepar- 

 ing of the soil and in the setting of the av- 

 erage tree as it would take to earn the 

 money to buy said trees, the foundation for 

 successful fruit growing would be laid. 



.ITS. Land for Strawberries. Hy all means 

 l>lant on the high land. When i)lanted on low 

 land ttu-\ are aiit to lie destroyed by ice or water 

 lying on them duriuM- the winter season. —C. E. P. 



."iiiT. Fropagation of Hydrangea Panicnlata. 

 You can readily increase this shrub on a limited 

 scale by luyei-s.— C. E. P. 



