POPULAR GARDENING 



AND FRUIT GROWING. 



"ACCUaS NOT NATURE, SHE HATH DONE HER PART; DO THOU BUT THHOT."— MiMON. 



Vol. III. 



JTJISrE, 1888. 



No. 9. 



June. 



Oh, rare, sweet June! The sun ne'er looks so bright 

 As when he peers forth from thy azure sky! 

 Thy twlnkllDK rills are crystals of pure light 

 To gem our way,— and as we wander by, 

 In dell and vale, we twine Field Roses white, 

 With Provence, Damask, Moss to give delight. 

 Oh, rarest month, departing all too soon! 

 Since Heaven we see not now, we think a boon 

 From thence was sent In thee, June, radiant June! 

 — Sophie L. Schenck. 



Hose Hint. A profuse bloomer must needs be 

 a great feeder. 



Close Planting. One gain from close plant- 

 ing of Strawberries for matted rows is that by 

 the greater compactness of plants they are bet- 

 ter able to withstand severe winters. 



Look, out for the Sprouts. Rub all shoots and 

 water sprouts from fruit trees before the wood 

 hardens and see that all the sprouts about the 

 bottom of any kind of trees are removed. 



A Good Rule. Great is the future work in the 

 garden that can be avoided if not a single weed 

 is here allowed to ripen seed. With the excep- 

 tion of Chickweed and Purslane, this rule will 

 not be very difficult to carry out. 



ToOrioinatorsopNewKinds. Send any new 

 fruits, flowers or vegetables which you may de- 

 sire to have impartially tested in other sections 

 to our ample experimental grounds. Address 

 Popular Gardening Experimental Grounds, 

 La SaUe, N. Y. 



Tying up Early Cabbages. The tying up of 

 the leaves of early Cabbages, says Gardening 

 Illustrated, is much practiced by the London 

 market-growers, and is to be commended. The 

 operation is a simple one, just, in fact, simi- 

 lar to that adopted in the case of Cos Lettuces. 

 The soft outer-leaves are folded carefully around 

 the heart or center of the plant, and the whole is 

 bound firmly with a withe or piece of bast. The 

 center being protected from the weather, the 

 Cabbages heart sooner by two or three weeks 

 than they otherwise would do, and they are more 

 easily handled in gathering and packing for 

 market. Compact little Cabbages are always 

 preferable to loose ones. 



Failure of Russian Apples. 



J. L. BCDD, IOWA AORICULTURAL COLLEGE. 



X have .iiist read in the May number of 

 Popular Gaudening the hasty statement 

 of Mr. Dunlap iiiuler the above heading, 

 which has gone the rounds of the Press. At 

 another time the equally thoughtless para- 

 graph goes the rounds that all of the Rus- 

 sian Apples mature in summer or autumn, 

 and at best they are all thin, watery, and 

 worthless in character. 



The real truth is that Russia covers one- 

 seventh of the earth's surface, and while the 

 varieties grown in the Province of Kazan, 

 Russia, may succeed perfectly in North 

 Dakota and Manitoba, they would not be 

 likely to do well at the home of Mr. Dunlaj) 

 in Champaign Co., III. On the other hand 

 the varieties of the Plains of North i'^ilesia 

 might do well at Champaign, yet they would 

 surely fail in Nortti Dakota. We are trying 

 to find out by actual trial where they will 

 prove most perfectly at home with us, and 

 the recent trying summers and winters are 

 favoring rapid advances in tlie good work. 



Few Eastern fruit growers fully realize 

 our need of hardier varieties than can be 



found in our old lists. Thirty years ago the 

 lamented Dr. John A. Kermicott said at a 

 horticultural meeting at Chicago: " Gentle- 

 men, I have but one hlnrney Apple, and 

 that is the Duchess of Oldenburg." 



After all our ups and downs we can repeat 

 the same remark to-day, with the exception 

 that we have added a small .summer Apple 

 called Whitney's No. 30, and in parts of the 

 West the Wealthy is hardy and productive. 

 On the College Farm at Ames we grubbed 

 up our orchard of over 1200 trees of 118 varie- 

 ties, including everything supposed to be 

 hardy — and only found sound trees of the 

 Duchess, Whitney, and the Crabs. 



Under these circumstances we are thank- 

 ful that we have scores of varieties of the 

 fruits of East Europe with as sound wood 

 as the Duchess, and as free from blight and 

 imperfection of foliage. If they do not give 

 us a list for all seasons as perfect in quality 

 of fruit as we could wish, we have in them 

 the foundation for possible crosses, and we 

 already have seedlings from this source that 

 have much promise. 



In estimating the quality of Russian fruits 

 we must make a sharp distinction between 

 their culinary and dessert varieties. As 

 instances, such varieties as the Silken Leaf 

 and Hibernal Apples and the Gakoosky Pear 

 are classed in the culinary list. For this 

 use they are not often excelled, but for des- 

 sert they would rank very low. On the 

 other hand the sorts listed for dessert use 

 by Shroeder, Fisher, and Kegel, compare 

 favorably with such varieties as Early Har- 

 vest, Fameuse, and Baldwin. 



Where such varieties as the Early Joe, 

 Dyer, Porter, Jonathan, and Grimes' (iolden, 

 can be grown safely and prolitably, it may 

 not be advisable to plant any East Europe 

 fruit, but the favored residents of such lo- 

 calities should avoid throwing cold water 

 on the efforts of those who are trying to 

 perfect a fruit list for more trying sections 

 of our great country. 



Nature's blessings are perhaps wisely dis- 

 tributed. If strong Massachusetts can at 

 present do best in the way of growing the 

 finest orchard fruits, our rich, easily worked 

 soil will develop and perfect under our 

 glorious summer sun such Corn, Melons, 

 and Tomatoes iis they never see, and in the 

 near future we hope to equal them in grow- 

 ing the orchard fruits and to excel them in 

 perfection and flavor of our small fruits. 



How we Blanch Celery at Kalamazoo. 



JNO. R. VAN BOCHOVE,' liALAiaAZOO, MICH. 



The operation of blanching is one of the 

 principal parts of growing good Celery. 

 Even large, well grown Celery, if it be not 

 well blanched looks very inferior, and if it 

 sells at all, it is usually iit a very low price. 



In no other part of this country, except in 

 the far South, is Celery grown as early and 

 of such good quality, (being a,s good usually 

 a,s the late crops), as in Kalamazoo. We 

 think, however, that it is useless for any 

 person to try and grow early market Celery 

 unless they have the right kind of soil. If 

 grown on high ground the early croj) will 

 nearly all run to seed. 



Some gardeners commence hilling Celery 

 nearly as soon as it commences to grow. 



while here we wait until the plant has at- 

 tained nearly its full growth. We look more 

 to the thickness of the Celery than the length 

 which liiter develops as .soon as hilled, but 

 increases in thickness very little. 



We have two methods of blanching Celery. 

 One being by ground and the otlier with 

 boards. We prefer at all times to hill with 

 ground when the weather will permit, but 

 when it is too hot we u.se boards. 



Ground Blanching. When two crops 

 are raised nearly all the work of hilling has 

 to be done by hand. If one crop is grown 

 the soil can be thrown toward the rows with 

 the plow, thus greatly reducing the labor. 

 A large hoe is used, about twelve inches in 

 length. With this the soil is drawn lightly 

 against the Celery. No dirt is allowed to 

 fall in the heart of the plant. 



About five days after, and after it begins 

 to blanch a little, the muck should further 

 be put up against the Celery with a hoe. If 

 it cannot be done with a hoe, a spade or 

 shovel must be used. This second hilling 

 should be about six inches higher, or almost 

 to the leaves of the Celery. The bank at the 

 bottom should be broad, so that when the 

 soil is drawn up it will not easily roll or 

 wash down. After three days loose ground 

 should be taken from the sides of the rows 

 and gently pressed agaiust the Celery to the 

 height of two inches. In doing this great 

 care should be taken, it the weather is warm 

 not to get it too tight or it will rust. This 

 finishes the process of banking with ground. 

 It will blanch in from ten to fifteen days 

 from the first hilling for the good Golden 

 Dwarf variety, but others take longer. 



Board Blanching. This method, it is 

 claimed, originated in Kalamazoo a number 

 of years ago, and has been in u.se continu- 

 ously since. It requires two men to blanch 

 with boards. The boards should be from 

 ten to twelve inches wide, according to the 

 height of the Celery, one inch thick, \'i to l(i 

 feet long, and free from knot-holes, which 

 would admit the air. On the ends of the 

 rows the space between the boards should 

 be tilled out with grass or soil, otherwise 

 the first few stalks woitld not be blanched. 



The boards are first distributed along tlie 

 row and laid flat on the ground, on both 

 sides, the edges against the bottom of the 

 plants. The men straddle a row at each 

 end of a board. The boards are raised by 

 theouteredges and both feet planted against 

 them; the leaves are straightened up, with- 

 out breaking, and the boards pressed against 

 them. They are then fastened at the top 

 with a small piece of wood, which is eight 

 inches long anil two wide. In this two 

 notches are sawed to the depth of IV inches 

 and 'i'i inches apart, which will leave the 

 boards a'. < inches apart, which is the right 

 distance on fair sized Celeiy. About four 

 of these irieces should be used on a Itl-foot 

 board. If the Celery is small, the boards 

 should be somewhat closer. Heavy pieces 

 of wire may be used instead of wooden 

 pieces. When the row is completed, the 

 earth should be drawn against the bottom 

 of the boards, to keep them firm against the 

 Celery. This completes the work, and the 

 crop will now take 10 to 1.5daysin blanching. 



The growers here do not keep any Celery 

 after the 1st of January, as the demand is 



