i888. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



167 



by its seldom maturing. Our seasons are 

 too short for it. 



There has not been as wide a diversity of 

 opinion regarding the tree as of the fruit, 

 although in certain places it has been chi.ssed 

 among the hardiest. E.xperience proves it 

 to fall far short of it. In sections where 

 varieties as tenacious of life astheTetotsky, 

 Duchess and Wealthy must be planted the 

 Ben Davis has no bushiess. In hardiness it 

 compares favorably with such varieties as 

 the Jonathan, Northern Spy, Perry Kussett, 

 Knglish Golden Kussett, Sops of Wine and 

 Talman Sweet. 



Success With Celery. 



H. M. K., OREGOS, WIS. 



iiCt no one be deterred from sowing Celery 

 for fear they cannot manage it. Last year 

 the drought was very severe here, and yet 

 we raised very good Celery with really not 

 much trouble. 



The seed Wiis not sown until the weather 

 had become comfortable outdoors, tlieii it 

 was sown in boxes of one foot in height, 

 nearly tilled with rich, mellow soil. The 

 seed was covered very lightly and the l)0.\es 

 were kept covered with papers till germina- 

 tion took place, and the seedlings showed. 

 The soil of the boxes was kept quite moist 

 all the time. They stood in a very sunny 

 place, on the east side of the house. 



From these boxes we transplanted directly 

 to the garden, where they were to grow. 

 We chose a low rich spot; we diil not put 

 them in trenches, but followed mainly the 

 directions usually given for .self blanching 

 Celery. The varieties were the While Phune 

 and the Dwarf tiolden Heart. 



In the fall some of the plants were not 

 fully matured, but we t<iok it all up, leaving 

 .■iorae .soil on the roots, and set it in the cel- 

 lar in a box, placing the roots a.s near to- 

 gether as we could. When it appeared too 

 dry we watered it, taking care not to make 

 it dump enough to cause mildew. Of the 

 last we have some yet on the 17th of March. 



Ways of Delavfc^are Peach Growers. 



For the first four years of the life of the 

 orchard, says W. I^ Corsa in Farm and 

 Home, some low-growing hoed crop may be 

 grown in it. If for the production of other 

 crops there is used each year a fertilizer of 

 ground bone and a moderate amount of 

 either muriate or sulphate of potash, the 

 trees will get enough food for healthfvU 

 growth. The cost of fertilizers thus used 

 should be returned by the crop grown and 

 is not a legitimate charge to the Peach trees 

 (unless someone wishing to be more accur- 

 ate than the average agriculturist chooses 

 to reckon that, as the trees occupied about 

 one-twentieth of the space, they shouUl be 

 charged with their portion of the expense 

 which has served to bring them to bearing). 



The fertilizer for after years, and also the 

 culture, should be in (luantity and quaUty 

 as liberal as would produce a good crop of 

 corn, except that stable manure or compo.st 

 containing a large percentage of nitrogen is 

 not found to give the most healthful tree, 

 though this manure will make a large 

 growth of wood. The average cost of fertil- 

 izer per year on well-kept orchards is from 

 $3 to S-i per acre. The ground is annually 

 plowed early in the spring, and should be 

 stirred with a cultivator as often as every 

 1.5 or 'JO days till the weight of the fruit 

 threatens loss from being knocked off. 



The bulk of our fruit is now sold near the 

 orchard, sometimes to evaporators, some- 

 times to canners, quite generally at auction 

 to dealers gathered into an "exchange," 

 and some is sent to commission houses in 

 various cities. 



As to the net profit, you would hardly find 

 two men to agree. The average yield of a 



" full crop " on the larger trees of the upper 

 peninsula is estinuited at two ba.skets (five- 

 eighths of a busliel to the basket) to the 

 tree; on the smaller trees grown on the 

 higher land of tlie middle and lower penin- 

 sula, the average is nuide at one basket per 

 tree. The average price received at our 

 depots this year was about 80c. per basket. 



To tabulate, it would stand something 

 like the following: 



Average nmiiljer of trees. I(X), cost $8 



Setting tlie same 4 



Plowing ami five harrowings per year tt 



Pruning per year 2 



Fertilizer ,5 



Picking, 3c. per basket 3 



Baskets per 1110 .5 



Hauling ami incidentals, an indefinite quantity. 



The chances are about as one in live that 

 there vrill be a failure from frost or other 

 cause, to get a crop in any given year. 



Nitrate of Potash or Sal Nitre as a 

 Fertilizer. 



JAMES WOItCESTEU. HIDDLESE.X CO.. M.\SS. 



I often see articles on the use of nitrate in 

 one form or another, but never have seen 

 nitrate of potjish spoken of, and I wonder at 

 it. as it contains two of the active i>riuciples 

 of manure, nitrogen and potash, or nitric 

 acid and potassa, which amounts to the 

 same thing. I know its cost may prevent 

 large farmers from using it. but from T to N 

 cents per pound is not too nuich for small 

 gardeners or those who have house i)lants. 



I have used it successfully on Cabbages, 

 Beans, Peas, Melons and Strawberries; they 

 all grow as if they liked to. I have also 

 used it with house plants, viz.: Ccraiiiums, 

 Heliotropes. Verbenas, Calendulas, Salvias, 

 Callas. Oxalis and Ivy. They all grow well 

 and bloom well; even the Ivy has put out 

 leaves on its old bai'e .stems. 



The way in which I have n.sed it is to jiut a 

 large tablespoouful of the salt in a gallon of 

 water (it will dissolve more readily in warm 

 than in cold water), and when dissolved 

 give the plants a good soaking once or twice 

 in the sea.son. 



This .solution will be found excellent for 

 forcing young Cabbage and Tomato plants, 

 or young seedlings of any kind, and I have 

 no doubt would be more eff'ectual with bone 

 meal or some phosphate. I have used nitrate 

 of potash on different kinds of .soil, both 

 here and in New .lersey, and it has been very 

 satisfactory. I have found some difficulty 

 in getting it. it being easier to find nitrate 

 of soda, so I go to a wholesale dniggist for it. 



How a Run-Down Orchard Was Re- 

 stored. A Timely Lesson. 



Condition of the Old Trees. The Mich- 

 igan Agricultural College Apple orchard 

 was set in 18.58. The original plantings were 

 mostly Northern Spy, Talman Sweet, and 

 Seek-no-further. The soil is a strong, sandy 

 loam, in some parts inclining to be cold and 

 wet. In recent years the orchard had re- 

 ceived little attention, being allowed to stand 

 in sod. It has borne very few good crops, 

 even from the first. 



In 1885, when the control of the orchard 

 passed into the hands of the writer, the 

 trees presented a discouraging appearance. 

 The pre\ious hard winter had destroyed 

 many of the largest trees on the lower land. 

 There was only one Baldwin left in the or- 

 chard and but two or three Greenings and 

 .lennettings. and all feeble Many of them 

 appeared to be dying. All the trees were 

 very much stunted, there not being enough 

 last year's wood on most of them to furnish 

 even a few good scions. Many of the main 

 limbs had died back from the ends and the 

 dead portions were conspicuous in every 

 direction. The trunks were often mo.ssy 

 and rough. The tops were for the most 

 part very thick and low, so that no attempt 



at thorough culture could be made. Most 

 of the orchard lay in a dense .lunc grjuss 

 turf. Several careful farmers reconunended 

 that it be cut down. 



Kknovation. The first work of renova- 

 tion was to prune the trees. This was done 

 vigorously in May. 18a5. All limbs, irre- 

 spective of size, which would intefere 

 seriously with plowing and cultivating were 

 removed. At the same time the tops of the 

 trees were thinned con.siderably, though not 

 to .such an extent as to allow the sun to beat 

 continuously upon the main liranches. 



The trunks and main limbs, so far as a 

 man could reach, werescraped, all the loo.se 

 bark and "moss" being removed. This 

 was performed solely to make the trees look 

 better. Care was taken not to scrape into 

 the live bark. The implements u.seil were 

 old. well-worn hoes with the handles cut off 

 about two feet from the blade and held 

 loosely in the hand, to not scrape too hard. 



As soon as the pruning was accomplished 

 and the brush removed, the ground was 

 plowed iis deeply as possible. To be sure 

 roots were broken, but this did no harm. 

 The ground was cultivated at intervals with 

 the spring-tooth harrow, and in August a 

 second plowing, in the oppo.site direction. 

 was made. No crojis were planted. 



There was no cfl'ect produced upon the 

 trees that year. The season's growth was 

 well under way when the first plowing was 

 made. The leaves continued yellow, and 

 fell very early, as usual. 



In 1.s.S(l the same treatment was rej)eated. 

 Nearly as nuich pruning was done as before, 

 but entirely in the tops of the trees. Care 

 was exercised, however, not to prune the 

 tops so thin that the large limbs would be 

 injured by the sun. The trees early showed 

 signs of improvement. Althougli the sum- 

 mer was dry, the growth on all the trees was 

 good and the leaves a.ssumed a dark, vigor- 

 ous color, and remained very late upon the 

 trees. The improvement was a sub.ject of 

 conmion remark. A fair crop of Apples, 

 some 3(«l bushels, was also gathered. 



Kesilts Aktei! Two Yeak.s. In the 

 spring of 1887 the orchard wasagain plowed, 

 deeply as always before, and the sod was re- 

 moved from all the trees by hand. The tops 

 are now so high that the plow turned over 

 nearly all the sod. The ground was now ni 

 good heart. The trees set very full of fruit, 

 and no pruidng was attempted. Although 

 the trees have borne a heavy crop, and the 

 season has been oiieof almost nnpreceilented 

 drought, the growth has been heavy. The 

 l)earing trees are I4ll in lunnber, of which 

 le.ss than UHl— all Northern Spy — are a pro- 

 lific variety and produce Apples which find 

 a demand in market. There are a number 

 of Sweet Ktmianiles and others which can- 

 not be expected to return a profitable crop. 

 The sales for the year were as follows: 



a74bbls. No. 1 (S,S2bu.lat 81.35 $300.90 



10(1 hbls. No. 2 (SOO bu.) at 80-75 7.5.OO 



HO bu. at 80.a5 15.00 



100 bu. at $0.30 30.00 



22(1 bu. made into cider at 80.20 44.00 



300 bu. cider Apples at $0.05 l.i>.00 



1802 bu $.548.90 



The reason for the great proportion of 

 cider Apples is the heavy crop and the 

 drought, renderingit impossible forall to ma- 

 ture. Thinning would probably have paid. 

 The crop was remarkably free from worms. 

 Old Apple buyers declared that they had 

 never seen so very few wormy Apples in a 

 crop. This freedom from insects was due 

 to sprayings of Paris green. 



A Woi!D FOK Otheh Orchakos. There 

 are hundreds of orchards which are not 

 bearing but which could be brought into 

 fruitfulness for a number of years by vigor- 

 ous culture. There is no doubt but that 

 judicious pruning, good tillage and liberal 

 manuring will maintain or restore the fer- 



