172 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



May, 



Decoration Day Ode. 



Play the peace bugles low. 



And the white Roses blow. 

 And the Apple-blooms fill 



The green valleys with snow; 

 Let our sweet songs arise 



On the spring's western wind. 

 We can never forget them 

 Who died for maukiud. 



.Set the flag on their graves, 



In the Lilies enshrined, 



We can never forget them 



Who died for mankind . 



Set the flag on their graves, 



Where the vernal wind laves, 

 The Roses of peace. 



From the spring's western waves. 

 'Twas for you and for me 



Their grand lives they resigned: 

 They are brothers to all men 

 Who died for mankind. 



Set the flag on their graves 



In the Lilies enshrined. 



Let us never forget them 



Who died for mankind. 



— Ynttth's Companion. 



Tulips. 



Around the beds of the garden. 



In the earliest summer days, 

 Like a fairy torchlight procession, 



March the Tulips, all ablaze. 

 The beautiful flery Tulips! 



Did you ever pull one apart 

 And see, neath the flame of the blossom. 



How the cinders lie at its heart? 



—Bessie Chandler in Wide Aieake. 



Why does one climate and one soil endue 

 The blushing Poppy with a crimson hue. 

 Yet leave the Lily pale, and tinge the Violet blue ? 



— Prior. 



Yuccas should be more grown. 

 No Boses grow wild in the tropics. 

 A mossy lawn indicates a poor soil. 

 On heavy soils sow Carrots on ridges. 

 The smaller the weed the easier killed. 

 For "club root " shift the Cabbage plot. 

 By sowing thickly you must thin quickly. 

 Boses look finer when arranged in groups. 

 The cleanest culture ensures the best returns. 

 In ornamental work it is well not to try (or 

 too much. 



Dnmpiness in Hyacinths is a defect of the bulb 

 rather than of culture. 



Many have sent us one or more new subscrib- 

 ers recently. Have you? 



In Chrysanthemnm culture aim to secure a 

 steady course of growth. 



Asparagus should not be so much a luxury; 

 let it be a common vegetable. 



If yon think of setting a young tree in a spot 

 long occupied b,v an old one we say don't. 



Cut short the plant flea's career, by poisoning 

 with Paris green mixed with flour or plaster. 



Isolation of the different varieties of Squashes, 

 Melons, etc., is the price of securing such in 

 their purity. 



If the loam for chrysanthemums is inclined to 

 he heavy no better ingredient can be added than 

 some crushed charcoal. 



As the delights of the garden increase week by 

 week now, you should find it easy to secure one 

 or more subscribers to this journal. 



Clematises Dying Off. The cause of this com- 

 mon complaint is often to be attributed to over- 

 watering the plants, especially of such as have 

 not yet become well established. 



The good old custom of ha\ing parts of the 

 kitehen garden assigned to flowers is a most 

 pleasing one, and helpful to the making and 

 keeping of the ^■egetable plots more attractive. 



Fruit Prospects in Illinois. The Peach crop 

 promises to be larger than was expected. Trees 



are just beginning to bloom. Other fruits look 

 well in general.— H'»i. Jachnon^ Ma(iii<nn Co., HI. 

 The Fern Garden. Against the writer's house 

 on the shady side is a most satisfactory bit of 

 Fern gardening, and all the more so in ^iew of 

 the fact that nothing else would thri\'e well there. 



To the Women of America. Get out-of-doors 

 more this summer. Let the garden be the in- 

 ducement. Spend some time here every day and 

 Popular Gabdenojg and Fbijit Growing will 

 guarantee an awful appetite by fall. 



It's the Same With Other Fruits. To the state- 

 ment made to a market grower that the aristoc- 

 racy got the best of everything, the reply came, 

 "Well, the.v don't always, for when I handle 

 fruit and come across luscious specimens too ripe 

 for carrying they go to my own family." 



Drawbacks in Flam Culture The veteran 

 J. J. Thomas sums these up as follows: 1. Check- 

 ing the growth by neglected culture. 2. AUow- 

 the curculio to have the free run of the orchards. 

 3. Neglecting the black knot. 4. Leaf blight 

 from a want of manuring and good culture. 



A Jam Delusion. A Boston man who makes 

 Raspberry Jam for a bring Is authority for the 

 statement that *' we don't use any Raspberries 

 at all in ma'i^ing the jam." What " we " do use, 

 it appears, are Tomatoes, and glucose and hay 

 .seed and a " little prepared Raspberry flavor." 



Ashes around Peach Trees. I have a good 

 mulch of coal ashes around sill my Peach trees, 

 and am satisfied that a thriftier and heavier 

 growth is secured than if left awaj'. I tried the 

 plan on a few trees at first and now have all the 

 trees mulched in this way.— JV. J. Shei>herd. 



Boot Pruning. To prepare an Oak or Black 

 Walnut that has reached some size, for trans- 

 planting successfully a year later, let it be pruned 

 this month by digging down and severing the tap 

 root, and then cutting a half circle with a sharp 

 spade about two feet away on one side of the tree 

 to be followed by a repetition of this on the other 

 side a month later. 



The Japanese Hop. I saw last summer a rustic 

 arbor covered with this elegant plant, lUutmilua) 

 and the growth was so dense that nothing could 

 be seen through it, proof indeed against a sharp 

 shower of rain. Amateurs who have only a small 

 plot to indulge their taste for gardening should 

 make a note of it, as it is only necessarj' to sow 

 the seed and wait for the results.— E. C. 



Moss as a Substitute for Pots. " If you have 

 no jjots for yoiu' bedding plants," writes " Young 

 Beginner," " make a pad of moss about the size 

 of a plate, cover it with a layer of good soil, bring 

 the sides up around the ball of earth, after hav- 

 ing placed this in the center, and tie tightly 

 together vrith rafla or old mat. In this shape the 

 plants will continue to thrive for weeks, having 

 all the benefits of a shift." 



Insects on Plants. I have never tried anything 

 that would so successfully destroy insect pests as 

 wetting the plants by sprinkling with, or dipping 

 in water, in which Tobacco leaves have been 

 steeped. One can grow their own Tobacco, 

 which, when dried and stored away, is always 

 handy, and of not over-much trouble. Have 

 tried it for Aphis, Red Spider, and Scale. Of 

 course, one must watch and repeat it if after a 

 time they reappear.—/. C. E. 



Commercial Fertilizers for Potatoes. My plan 

 of appl.ving is to mark out the rows, running the 

 furrows reasonably deei>, apply the fertilizers in 

 the bottom of the furrow, working well into the 

 soil and then planting the Potatoes on this and 

 then cover. I tried several plans and have con- 

 cluded that this is the best plan, as it places the 

 fertilizer where it can be made available. I never 

 like to place fertilizers or manures of any kind in 

 direct contact with the seed.— JV. J. Shepherd. 



Old tin cans are in some respects better than 

 pots for plants. They are not so heav.v, do not 

 take so much room as a pot that would hold the 

 same amount of soil; will not break if they fall. 

 Bulbs seem to do really better in them than in 

 pots. I have a dwarf Ageratum in a can that 

 holds one quart, and it has bloomed all winter 

 and has afl'orded us many cut flowers. The cans 

 can be painted easily, and if they are rusty the 

 paint will stick to them all the better.— if. M. K. 



Nutrition of Mushrooms. As to the compara- 

 tive value of Mushrooms and meat Mr. E. F. 

 Ladd, of the New York Agricultural Experi- 

 ment Station, as a result of careful investiga- 

 tion finds that Mushrooms [Agaricus camiiestris) 

 gathered from a pasture at Geneva, N. Y., con- 

 tained 84H per cent of digestible albuminoids. 



and Puff Balls {LycopercJon yiyantctis) from 70 to 

 80 per cent, according to maturity. He concludes 

 that they compare favorably in nutritive value 

 with meat. 



Marking the Spot. Formerly when I sowed 

 flower seeds in the border it bothered me to know 

 the exact location of each kind pre\ious to the 

 time of coming up. Hence in the busy gar- 

 den-making time, they were often disturbed. 

 Now I adopt a plan which prevents such a mis- 

 fortune. It is simply to encircle the spot tem- 

 porarily with a ring of stones. I not only do 

 this to the spring sowings but find such a plan of 

 marking quite as desirable when seeds of peren- 

 nials later on are sown. — Subscriber. 



Poisoning Mice in the Garden. I see one cor- 

 respondent advises soaking Peas in water, and 

 after swelling soaking in arsenic and burying be- 

 neath the surface. For mice I think my way is 

 better. I mix finely ground Indian meal with a 

 good portion of strychnine, and put little mounds 

 of this where they run. It catches them Invaria- 

 bly. It is successful in hot-beds too, and why 

 should not it be successful on a Mushroom bed? 

 The mice do not get far away before they fall 

 dead, and then cremation. 



They are Fully Appreciated We refer to the 

 many kind words testifying to the value of this 

 journal received at this office from readers. 

 Such are indeed most gratifying. More than 

 that, they serve to spur us on in our endeav- 

 ors to make this the most useful and handsome 

 paper in the world devoted to horticulture. But 

 for the crowd of useful matter constantly on 

 hand to be printed it would afford us much 

 pleasure to publish some of these. Then again 

 they are .so numerous that the question would at 

 once arise of where to begin publishing and 

 where t(j leave off. 



Vegetable Plants for Ornament. In my con- 

 servatory it is now summer. A nice red ChiU 

 Pepper plant is gTOwlng in a quart can, and from 

 it hangs a beautiful ripe pepper looking like a 

 piece of coral; there are a number of green pep- 

 pers and blossoms, so that it makes quite an 

 attractive plant. It was a small plant last fall, 

 and has had a place on the upper shelf all winter. 

 I have kept several Parsley plants in quart oyster 

 cans; they have supplied us with all we have 

 wanted for garnishing and for soups all winter. 

 I have also kept Thyme, Lettuce and Nasturtium 

 in the same way.— Wificorisiii Amatexir. 



Liquid Manure for Boses. Would you have 

 fine hardy Roses 'i Then we counsel the free ap- 

 plication of liquid manure to the plants for one 

 month previous to the opening of the buds, be- 

 giimlng in the North about the middle of May. 

 Start in by using a liquid consisting of a barrel 

 of water into which three heaping shovelfuls of 

 cow droppings have been stirred, leaving it to 

 stand 24 hours before applying. After a week or 

 more the strength may be increased somewhat. 

 Apply by soaking the ground about the bushes 

 twice a week. This wash, it is believed, also kills 

 the larva of the Rose bug while it is in the ground. 

 A Fine White Flowering Spiraea. Van Houtte's 

 .Spirea (illustrated opposite) is the most showy 

 of all the Spineas, and one of the very best flow- 

 ering shrubs in cultivation. The plant is a rather 

 tall, upright grower, with long, slender branches 

 that droop gracefully 

 with their weight of 



O foliage and flowers. 

 Foliage curiotisly 

 sroi u'her.- ^^ lobed and rounded, of 

 SEeos I j a lively green color. 

 „e,e.oion. [^ Flowers pure white, 



O^— X great clusters and 

 / ) whorls, forming cyl- 

 ( — y indrical plumes two 



Marking ,eith Stones. »« three feet long The 



cut 18 from a photo- 

 graph last spring of a specimen growing on my 

 grounds when in full bloom. The plant was then 

 a "perfect snowbank of white flowers." Few 

 plants present a more charming appearance 

 when in blossom, or ate more tasteful at other 

 times. This is one of the hardiest of all the 

 Splnvas.— »r. S. Little. 



Henderson's "New Gardening for Pleasure." 

 What Mr. Peter Hendei-son's standai-d works, 

 " Gardening for Profit" and " Practical Floricul- 

 ture." have done and are doing for the market 

 gardener and florist, this enlarged edition of a 

 former excellent work, by the same author, is 

 designed to do for amateur cultivators. It cov- 

 ers the three departments of flower, fruit and 

 vegetable growing, with the part devoted to the 

 fli-st named rather more extended than the 

 others together. Like all of Mr. Hendrson's 



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