164 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



May, 



a dozen trees, the Fern-leaved Beech (var. 

 iisplcnifoUa) would certainly be one of the 

 first. Of this fine variety vre present an en- 

 graving made from a pliotograph of a superb 

 specimen grovring in the nursery grounds 

 of William S. Little, on East Avenue, 

 Kochester, N. Y. Its foliage, as the name 

 suggests, is of a delicate fern-like form, being 

 handsomely cut. During the growing sea- 

 son its young shoots are like tendrils, giving 

 a graceful, wavy aspect to the tree. The 

 tree here figured is between 2.5 and 40 feet in 

 height, and considerably more than this in 

 breadth, and without doubt is one of the 

 finest in the country. 



There are still other valuable sorts that 

 have sprung from the European Beech. 

 Among these are the Weeping Beech (var. 

 peiuJnia), a most picturesque tree with long 

 tortuous branches, upon which the foliage 

 is apparently piled in masses. This tree 

 often seems to lie deformed when young, 

 but in time becomes very ornamental. The 

 Broatl-leaved Beech (var. viacroplujUa) is 

 another, and which possesses a vigorous 

 habit, with large handsome foliage. The 

 Crested-leaved Beech (var. cristata) also 

 belongs here. This is a curious variety with 

 small, curled leaves, that are not remarka- 

 ble for beauty. 



The Beeches prefer light, loamy soils; the 

 roots keep near the surface, on which ac- 

 count grass does not thrive well under them 

 unless it be kept well watered. All the 

 kinds bear the shears well, on which account 

 they are suitable both for small grounds and 

 for use in hedges. 



WALKS AND JOTTINGS. 



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



Seasonable Matter. If Strawberries 

 have been mulched with any coarse material, 

 pass over the rows and stir it up slightly 

 with a fork, for if not done, say on heavy 

 soil, it is apt to "sour" the soil somewhat. 

 We are asked by many if it will do to en- 

 rich the Strawberry beds in the spring. Yes; 

 if old beds, scatter well rotted maniu-e right 

 on the plants this month, but if new beds 

 and plants have made a strong growth, no. 

 You should, however, jvist as the plants be- 

 gin to show their blossoms, scatter a little 

 straw or hay over the vines and along the 

 side of rows. 



Throw a heavy mulch around Raspberries 

 and Blackberries as far out as cultivator 

 teeth reach, and give both two or three 

 good cultivations before blossoming season, 

 and if it should lie dry keep cultivator going, 

 running teeth shallow. 



Be sure to start flower seed in pots or boxes 

 in house as soon as you can after reading 

 this. If lawn is poor scatter a little well- 

 rotted compost over it. 



If you are transplanting Raspberries of 

 your own and you are badly driven with 

 work early in season, remember this can be 

 done after they have grown 6 to 9 inches, 

 when weather is damp and ground is fit. 

 Keep the Raspberry, Blackberry and 

 Strawberry plants cnliivated up to blossom- 

 ing season, iDut run shallow, and if it keeps 

 dry, keep cultivator going once a week up 

 to fruiting season, very shallow. 



Mulch Strawberries now (if not done be- 

 fore) with hay, straw or decayed sawdust or 

 tan bark. 



Raspberries and Blackberries can be safely 

 set in damp weather after they have sprouted 

 6 or 8 inches, by taking up a good root. _ 



If not done before and you have an old 

 Strawberry bed, scatter among vines a 

 liberal quantity of well-rotted compost. 



Make the Citltivatok Save Hand 

 Labor. Help is scarce and the more you 

 can save hand weeding and hoeing, by the 

 use of horse and cultivator, all the better, and 

 we do it in this way now. We mark our 



field one way with a corn-marker, teeth 3 to 

 S'^i feet apart, and plough out furrows fifeet 

 apart the other way, and as we plant the 

 Raspberries or Blackberries, we put one at 

 each crossing in the furrow (being careful 

 to plow last or after we have marked out 

 with corn-marker). By thus doing, we can 

 cultivate both ways for two years, and too, 

 halfway between the plants and furrows we 

 plant Corn or Potatoes, making them same 

 distance as Raspberries, and thus get a good 

 crop the first year that pays for use of 

 ground. 



The Best Remedy For Peach Borers. 

 Get a pint of crude carbolic acid costing 3.5 

 cents, and mix it with twenty to twenty- 

 five gallons of wash-water that has consid- 

 erable soap dissolved in it. A good plan is 

 to take a tight barrel and put in 3 or 4 gal- 

 lons of soft soap, with as much hot water to 

 thin it, then stir in the pint of carbolic acid 

 and let it stand 34 to 48 hours. Then add 

 12 to 15 gallons of water and stir well. Then 

 apply to base, body and crotches of the tree 

 with an old brush. If the crude acid cannot 

 be obtained one-third the quantity of the 

 pure will do. Apply any time from April 

 to June, according to locality, or say when 

 trees are blossoming out. 



We have noticed that young fruit trees 

 where weeds had been allowed to grow and 

 seed, were not disturl^ed by rabbits, where 

 in other blocks clean from weeds the trees 

 were badly damaged. May this not show 

 that their feeding on the weed seed keeps 

 them from eating the bark of trees. A gun 

 fired occasionally among trees will frighten 

 rabbits away. 



Spring Pruning or Grapes. Don't be- 

 lieve the man who says spring pruning don't 

 hurt the vine. In pruning select the best 

 branches of this year's wood, leave two or 

 three buds, cut off all the weak and take out 

 any old worthless wood, cut back all this 

 year's wood to two or three buds. Every good 

 bud will set from two to three bunches of 

 Grapes another year, so you see it is an easy 

 matter to get too much fruit on a vine. We 

 clipped the foregoing from the Grangers' 

 Bulletin. As a rule it is not advisable to 

 trim Grapes m spring when" sap is flowing," 

 ( ?) but we have knowTi of vines on soil that 

 made a tremendous growth of wood and 

 yielded no fruit to speak of, but made pro- 

 ductive by pruning at that season of the 

 year, so it only shows that we cannot hold 

 to everything recommended in fruit grow- 

 ing as being at all times applicable. 



APPLE BLIGHT. 



In a recent article T. T. Lyon seems to 

 doubt if the cause of Apple blight has ever 

 been ascertained. Now I think the cause is 

 easily discovered. If you will examine a 

 limb affected with blight, just as the leaves 

 begin to turn yellow, you will find a wound 

 in the bark, and under it a wound in the 

 wood; just where you find the wound in the 

 limb you can, with a magnifying glass, dis- 

 cover an insect in shape like an alligator or 

 scorpion, often so small as to be difficult to 

 see with the naked eye. You will find one 

 of these in every blighted limb in this lati- 

 tude. The blight makes its appearance in 

 June. We are in the latitude of St. Louis. 

 I don't know any name for this destructive 

 insect, nor do I know any method of destroy- 

 ing it. It horticulturists next summer will 

 make the examination they will verify the 

 truth of my statement; and if some one will 

 find a method of destroying this minute in- 

 sect he will he a public lienefactor. 



Tlie aljove is from the American Rural 

 Home, and if it proves correct (which we see 

 no reason to doubt) it will prove valuable 

 information, and we believe by the timely ap- 

 plication of poisonous liquids by spraying 

 these little varmints can be destroyed. 



PEAR BLIGHT. 



"This disease usually attacks the trees in 

 earl.v spring, makes slow iirngrress and is quit** 

 invisible until hot weather sets in, then fre- 

 quently develops so rapidly that the branches 

 seem to succumb all at once, the leaves and bark 

 turning (|iiite black. The only serviceable 

 treatment that looks toward prevention is to 

 give the orchard such culture as will best pro- 

 mote a uniform and healthy growth, without 

 stimulation. In the majority ot soils and situa- 

 tions this may be accomplished by keeping the 

 orchard in giass, if it is over three or four years 

 old, and titpilrcssing with ciinimercial fertilizere 

 or a mi>iK'i-ate amdUMt lit stable manure. After 

 the trees show the dise;isc, the best course is to 

 remove and burn the affected branches, making 

 the cut a foot or so below the lowest discolored 

 bark. If the prevalence ot the disease amounts 

 to a severe epidemic some trees will be entirely 

 lost, notwithstanding the greatest vigilance, and 

 the careful cultivator will at once replace them 

 with new stock." 



We clip the above from the pen of Dr. 

 Arthur, (jeneva, N. Y., from the Rural and 

 Workman. We have both grown in grass 

 and cultivated, trimmed and left un- 

 trimmed, yet on all the dreaded disease 

 has done its work, and the best remedy we 

 have found is to slit the bark on one side of 

 limb and body to the ground as quick as it 

 makes its appearance. Oiling the tree with 

 pure linseed oil is also an excellent preven- 

 tion. The plan of growing short bodies and 

 low headed trees, and having two or three 

 bodies, is recommended by Ulster county 

 growers, so that if one part of the tree is 

 ruined another will be left. 



COMMENTS BY READERS. 



A department to ivhich all are invited to send notes of 

 experience and observation concerning topics that re- 

 cently have been treated on in this Journal. Many 

 such contributions monthly would be weU:ome. 



Growing Early Tomatoes. Geo. Summey's 

 manner of growing Early Tomatoes is similar to 

 my way.only I prefer to transplant first time into 

 flats; and second time I use one quart tin cans, 

 with top unsoldered and taken off, and a few 

 holes punched in the bottom for drainage; prefer 

 them to pots or boxes, for there is more room for 

 the roots, and when transplanting to the field 

 there is no danger of breakage.and the same cans 

 can be used for years. My best early so far is the 

 Improved Alpha; it never rots.— >4. M. Nichols, 

 Licliing Co., Ohio. 



Early Pie Plant. This connecting link be- 

 tween Apples and Currants is anxiously looked 

 for by many a housewife in spring, but it is often 

 two or three weeks later than it should be from 

 being located in a shaded or neglected corner 

 where the ground does not thaw out, or warm up 

 quickly. It should have the warmest, sunniest 

 place in the garden, and be protected from the 

 north by a close fence or building. If the plants 

 are fully exposed to the sun, as they should be, 

 covering the ground ivlth a thin layer of soot, or 

 black muck, will help the soil to warm up quickly. 

 As a rule, Pie-plant is not divided and trans- 

 planted often enough, and becomes in conse- 

 quence dwarfed and slender, because the roots 

 cannot extend as rapidly as the crowns multiply. 

 Transplanting in the spring causes the loss of 

 a year's use, but it can be taken up and di\ ided 

 in August and reset in a new spot, and the fol- 

 lowing spring will produce fine large pie timber. 

 To those who like to watch the development of 

 seedlings, and their variation from each other, 

 the growing of pie-plant from seed affords a very 

 interesting experiment. If the seed is sown in 

 very rich ground and properly tended, the young 

 plants will grow until frost, but show a great 

 difference in vigor and habit. Some will have 

 stout stems and leaves nearly a foot long, others 

 less. In October the young plants should be 

 transplanted into a row in a sunny place and 

 mulched heavily with leaves so the groimd 

 will not freeze. Some of the rankest will do to 

 cut from to a limited extent the following spring. 

 All should be allowed to grow until the third 

 summer, when those plants showing the best com- 

 bination ot earliness, flavor and vigor, can be 

 divided and transplanted tor future use, while 

 the others may be dug up and thrown away.— 

 L. B. Pierce, Summit Co., Ohio. 



A Hardy Begonia. Has Mr. Falconer ever 

 tried the hardiness of B. ilincohir't I have culti- 

 \ated this species for many yeai-s and regard it as 

 one ot the best of the genus. The leaves attain a 

 length of eight inches, with a breadth of six; they 



