1 888. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



H5 



WALKS AND JOTTINGS. 



BY A. M. PURDY, PAOIYRA, N. Y. 



Early Strawberries. Some such may 

 be had by taking up a few sods of matted 

 vines the first open spell and putting in the 

 greenhouse or liot-l)ed, l)ut care must be 

 taken to have tliem close to the sash and 

 have them well covered every day when it 

 will do to raise the sash. 



Shelter Belts. These are indispensable 

 as a rule. We know of a row of Sugar 

 Maples growing on the west side of a large 

 field, and east of that for forty to sixty rods 

 wheat will, after severe ojieii winters, turn 

 out much heavier than beyond that line. 

 The row of trees breaks the force of the 

 wind and scatters it. A Strawberry planta- 

 tion on the east side of wood land does not 

 heave, while away from its protection plants 

 heave badly. We are planting rows of the 

 Russian Mulberry on west and north lines 

 of our grounds, as they grow so rapidly. 



As old orchardist says he has trimmed 

 Apple trees every month in the year and 

 considers June the best time, as wounds 

 readily heal then, The next best time is 

 November, March being the worst month in 

 the whole year, as the cut bleeds badly and 

 the under bark rots. Water sprouts should 

 be pulled oft from June to September, but 

 never cut off from January to April, as two 

 or three will come out where one was cut 

 off. He says he would cultivate young 

 orchards five to six years after setting and 

 manure broadcast every other year. Trees 

 should not be grown permanently nearer 

 than 40 feet. Apples are later and drop from 

 trees less in grass than in cultivated land. 



To M.\KE SuPEKi'Hosi'H ATK. Crush bones 

 and put into diluted sulphuric acid of suffic- 

 ient strength to dissolve them. A layer of 

 plaster under and over will absorb the am- 

 monia when dissolved. A good way to use 

 is to mix thoroughly with flue sifted coal 

 ashes, (not wood ashes), or fine dry earth, 

 and scatter in where plants are set or on the 

 surface and work in. 



Mulching with stones may sound strange 

 and yet it is very beneficial. The best 

 Strawberry crop we had on our grounds one 

 e.xceedingly droughty seiison was in a field 

 almost literally covered with cobble stones 

 from the size of a butternut to a cocoanut, 

 and when a boy we always found fine crops 

 of Raspberries and Blackberries on bushes 

 growing out through stone heaps, and better 

 crops of Apples on trees having a pile of 

 stones around them than those growing in 

 sods, and, too, one of the tjest Corn crops in 

 this section of the country one very dry sea- 

 son was in a field alnn)st covered with 

 cobble stones. Does not this prove their 

 value as a mulch y So we say, don't be afraid 

 to plant small fruits in a stony field. 



Strawberries AiList;. We have letters 

 from different parties asking what is the 

 trouble with their Strawberry vines; that 

 they seem to blight and roll up and die. 

 Some say by close inspection they find a small 

 minute worm. It is the varmint common- 

 ly called " Leaf Roller " or " Strawberry 

 worm." He does his mischief in hot, dry 

 weather. They niake a plantation look as 

 though a fire had run over it. When living 

 in Indiana we had oiu- Strawberry planta- 

 tion entirely used up and destroyed by this 

 pest. The best remedy we ever tried was to 

 scatter over ihe bed straw or hay, ,iust thick 

 enough to cover plants from sight and burn 

 it over. This should be done right after 

 fruiting season. This not only destroys the 

 worm, but also weed seed and all weeds, 

 and is also a remedy for Strawberry rust. 



Corn Fodder as a Mulch. Yes, it is ex- 

 cellent, especially if run through a feed 

 cutter of sufficient power and capacity. 



Evaporated Raspberries. We have .lust 

 sold our Black Raspberries (evaporated), 

 part of them hand picked and part harvested, 



for'.J4 cents per pound net, to a Chicago party. 

 We sold our Red Raspberries early to a 

 Philadelphia party for .30 cetns net, They 

 are now selling for 38 to 40 cents per pound 

 net, which is as good as 8 cents per quart 

 net for the fresh berries. 



SITE FOR the orchard. 



Mr, Geo. J. Kellogg, a weU known horticultur- 

 ist of Wisconsin, says many of the orchards in 

 that state are on the wrong side of the hill— they 

 should be on the highest, driest, poorest, clay 

 timber ridges with our northern and eastern 

 slope. Never on the s< mth and southwestern side 

 of a hill, and noprott't-tion nn tlu- ixn-tli uikI rust, 

 and with a low wimilireak on tlie soutliwest. 

 Never plant on a gravel or sand knoll witliout 

 clay or limestime within four feet of the top. If 

 you must plant on low, level black loam, plow 

 as deep a dead furrow as possible where each 

 row is to stand, then flU this with stone with an 

 outlet if possible, as drainage, then plow back 

 and raise as high an edge as possible where the 

 trees are to stand, and if you have an outlet put 

 a tile drain halt way lietween the rows of trees. 



We clip above from the Journal of Horti- 

 culture, and are reminded by it that many 

 farmers in Western New York find that the 



to bear, and he stated that when the 

 Wealthy of the same age bore a bushel and 

 a half to the tree, not one of the Russian 

 varieties bore over halt a bushel. He said 

 that most of them blighted of those that 

 remained, and the rest did not bear enough 

 only to make up a collection for a fair. 

 Pierce, of Minneapolis, reported difficulty 

 and described a twelve year old orchard 

 with twenty-five varieties which had borne 

 well, and some of the fruit of fair quality. 

 J. E. Corlett, of Iowa, had tried a hun- 

 dred varieties of the older sorts, and lost 

 all, and his only hope was in the Russian, 

 Secretary Hoxie of the Wisconsin Experi- 

 mental Station had found that not more than 

 one in three of the Russian Apides was as 

 hardy as the Duchess of Oldenburg, 57 per 

 cent of the former and only 10 per cent of 

 the Duchess dying. Peter M. Gideon said 

 the true road to success was in crossing the 

 Siberian Crab with the common Apple, and 

 he had worked on that tree ever since the 

 production of the Wealthy, 2S years ago, 

 and the results had surpassed his strongest 

 hopes in more than twenty first-class 

 Apples. He expected a great deal from his 

 30,000 select seedlings, not yet fruited. He 

 had tried many Russian sorts and the blight 

 destroyed all but three in one orchard; 

 the fruit of these were worthless. He got 

 230 more and the blight destroyed them. 



Fig. 5. Plan for the improvements shown in Fig. 6, by the 

 lAanting of Shrubs. Highway on two sides. 



best use to put their west and northside hills 

 to is Apple orchards. These locations keep 

 the fruit back from early blossoming and 

 thus save the crop from destruction by late 

 spring frosts and from cold northeast storms 

 that we have many times in late spring. 



MANURING SMALL FRUITS. 



All the animals that die a natural death, all 

 the butcher offal and such other offensi\ c matter 

 as accumuhites about a farm i^honhl lif Intried in 

 the i>ateti nf miKiII fruit, between the rows. Last 

 summer our Itusiibenies were a sight to behold, 

 both in size and quantity, and of the best flavor. 

 Yet it would be hardly proper to mention to 

 sensitive ears the animal matter in different 

 forms that the plants had chemically transpo.sed. 



The above we take from the Weekly Trib- 

 une, and wish here to protest against such 

 indiscriminate and dangerous advice. We 

 are not told in what proportion to apply this 

 offal, or how. When applied direct and 

 in large quantities it would produce such an 

 excessive and unnatural growth as to make 

 the plants unproductive and too tender to 

 withstand winters in most sections. No bet- 

 ter fertilizer can be used, but it should first 

 be mixed with four times its bulk of earth 

 and thrown over two or three times for one 

 season, and then applied at the rate of not 

 to exceed a bushel to the square rod and 

 then only on poor soil. 



RUSSIAN APPLES. 



We take from the report of the Minnesota 

 Horticultural Society the following items 

 in regard to Russian Apples, in the trade of 

 which there is now such a "boom." Mr. 

 Tuttle admitted that blight was the great 

 enemy of the fruit, and that those sorts not 

 killed by winter did not bear much. He ex- 

 hibited T.i varieties. O, F, Brand exhibited 

 0.5 sorts in his orchard, mo.stly large enough 



ANSWERS TO SOME CORRESPONDENTS. 



W. G., Of Ohio, enquires how we manage to 

 keep grubs away from Peach trees. Simply by 

 giving the trees once a j'ear a good coat of white- 

 wash, in which we put a spoonful of salt and 

 carbolic acid to a 14-quart pail <if the whitewash, 

 and also scatter a spoonful of salt all around the 

 tree an inch or two away, but not up against the 

 body of the tree, say twice a year, once in April 

 and August. 



J. K. enquires if Strawberries, pistillate and 

 hermaphrodite sorts,will mix or rim out if planted 

 together or near to each other. If the question 

 has reference to the fruit mixing so as to be dif- 

 ferent in its character, we answer no. Fruit 

 mixes or changes only through the seed and by 

 planting the same. They will not run out by 

 being mixed tog-ether, but the sorts will so run 

 together and intermingle that it will lie impossible 

 for any but an e.\pert to tell one from the other. 

 Sometimes one sort will be a niot-e rapid multi- 

 plier and increaserthan the other and in this way 

 run out the other sort. 



Another correspondent enquires how we get 

 rid of gophei-s. Simply by mi.ving str.vchnine or 

 arsenic with meal or sugar and then taking a 

 quill and making an opening into their rimwa.v, 

 depositing some of this. 



J. S. R. enquires if the Pear is as long li\ed on 

 the Quince stock as on its own. We can only say 

 that we know Dwarf Pear orchards and trees fifty 

 years old that are vigorous and productive, and 

 that show no signs of failing. These, howe\er, 

 are growing in a strong, heavj' clay soil, and have 

 made such a growth that one could hardly tell 

 them from standards only for the peculiar shape 

 and growth. If planted deep the Pear stock will 

 take root. 



Samuel Williams. Yes, ,\ini can grow Peaches 

 and small fruits in a .^ oung newly planted .■Vppk' 

 orchard for twelve years, and tlien they can lie 

 cleaned out and the land given to the Apples. 



Ralph T. No better time than this to scatter 

 manure broadcast over your lawn, and early in 

 spring rake off all the coarse material. Ye,s, hone 

 dust is one of the liest and most liusting fertilizers 

 for the lawn. Yes, Strawberries may be mulched 

 now the same as the lawn and ti*eated in the same 

 way in the spring. 



In answer to another correspondent as to the 

 cost per acre of small fruit .netting, we would say: 

 It requires 10,(X)0 Strawberry plants to the acre: 

 these can be had for $i'>.CiO. The cost of setting 

 need not exceed ten dollai-s. Rjispberries, 2,(X)0 to 

 the acre. Cost of setting five dollai-s and ot 

 plants $12 to 815. Of coui-se, after you have got 

 one plantation out you will get all the plants 

 afterwards j ou lequire from these, and hence no 

 cost of plants after the first year. It will well 

 pay if you have land south favorable for Peach 

 growing to plant it out and give a reliable party 

 the use of the land and ciops he may grow from 

 it to take care of the trees till they come to lii-ar. 



