i888. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



189 



o\ 



We are also experiinentinK with a batch of 

 French seeillings in tlic hopes of gettiuf:; 

 something wortliy. 



Trap for the White Grub Beetle, etc 



A niimlier of our niKlit-flying l)eetlc's and 

 moths may be trappeil by tin- lionie-niade 

 device here fiKureil. Among these arc the 

 May Beede the perfect insect of the dreaded 

 White Grub, which is such a serious foe to 

 ttie Strawberry 

 grower, the Cut- 

 worm Moth and the 

 Army-worm Moth. 

 The construction 

 of this trap is so 

 simple that anyone, 

 with a little help 

 from a tinsmith, 

 can make one. In 

 the two figures 

 given, the letters of 

 both refer to the 

 same parts of the 

 device as seen from 

 a different point of 

 view, a is a com- 

 mon barrel that 

 will hold water in 

 its lower third. It 

 should be tilletl with 

 water to this extent, 

 and if a very little 

 kerosene is poured 

 on the surface the 

 destruction of the 

 entrapped insects 

 will be more rapid: 

 /) is the barrel cover, 

 made of inch board, 

 and which serves as 

 the lantern base; c 

 is the lamp, a com- 

 mon kerosene one; 

 lantern, said lan- 

 tern being square and constructed on the 

 plan of the old-fashioned slide lantern. Any 

 tinsmith can make it; c, reflectors, consist- 

 ing merely of four pieces of bright tin, bent 

 to a V shape, with the point of the bend 

 brought to the corner of the lantern; /, open- 

 ings in cover b, through which the insects 

 fall into the barrel after striking the glass (?; 

 y, tin guard nailed against outer edge of 

 opening /. 



The Moths named fly from May until Au- 

 gust of each year. By close attention to 

 keeping the trap in order and removing the 

 collected insects daily, a decided decrease in 

 the kinds named can be effected. 



A Home-made Weeding Rake. 



BY GEO. TOLLABD, H1LLSD.U.E CO., MICH. 



For cleaning up all small garden crops, 

 the flower beds, etc., I have for several years 

 used the handy little device of my own make, 

 of which I send the enclosed rough sketch. 

 It hardly needs to be described beyond say- 

 ing that the head and handle is of White 

 Oak, and the teeth were forged by a black- 

 smith. They were in.serted by first boring 

 a hole through the head wilh a gimlet and 

 then driving them in. With a file the points 

 are easily kept sharp. The first rake of the 

 kind I made had twelve-penny nails filed to 

 a point for teeth, and it did good service. 



Trap for Moths and Beetles 



d, glass sides of the 



COMMENTS BY READERS. 



A department to which all are inriled tit send notes of 

 experience and absentation coticernitui topics that re- 

 cently Itave been treated on in this Jottrnal. Many 

 such contributions monthly winttd be trelcome. 



Improving the Schools. I think that liefore 

 Mr. Garfield tries reformiiiK school teachers and 

 the instruction imparted to them (paife 13ni, he 

 should educate the people to the point of payinj; 

 teachers Ijetter wages. The very low prices that 

 prevail force the l)e8t teachers Into other occu- 



pations, wliei'C ability and conscientious wiirk 

 are Cairl.y paid. This is wh.v younjr (^irls are.so 

 often tcaclicrs, and is in part rosjM)n8ihl(^ for the 

 "the .short time that our country tcach(^rs rc- 

 niiiin in <inc field cd' lahiir." Oft'ei- better <toni- 

 pcns!itii>n and licttcr tcachci-s will he Kiit; tile 

 instnictiiin will lii' sci noicli lictlcr than the in- 

 stroition now (ri\cn that it will be cheaper, 

 tin iu(fli it 1'ost.R more per month; and the serious 

 olistjiclc in the way of makintf <iijr st;ho(tl house 

 trniunds tlilMjrs of beauty and means of edncji- 

 tion will be removed. 



On METTiN<i Tkees. Mr. Fairliank.s (pajfc 14:i) 

 makers a (food point, but unfortiuiately what, he 

 says is \'er.'i' apt to miss just tlie one that needs it. 

 The matter ma.v be reversed. Thus, I heard a 

 neighbor say the other day that ho considered it 

 worth at least twenty cents to plant an oi\-liard 

 tree, and he wantt^d the tree to be worth at least 

 what it cost U) put it in the ground; hence he did 

 not l>uy inferior Apple trees offered at fire ccjjtw 

 each. If plantei-s put in tlie trees i»r(tperl.v, the.v 

 would demand better trees and fif course wouM 

 pay better pricesforthem. This woulil be to the 

 benefit of responsible nursery men. I think that 

 for another reason nurserymen should urge buy- 

 ers U) plant i>roperly and when possible give an 

 illustration of the work; for when the tree does 

 not (frow the nurseryman gets the blame, though 

 the fault was in the planting. 



Ashes and Fruit Trees. This reminds me. 

 ■Some years ago I gave my e.vperience with wood 

 ashes in fruit growing, and among other things 

 narrated how I once put a pailful of tushes in the 

 hole, it being nearly full of water, and plante<l 

 the trees <)n the iishes. The tree has made a \'cry 

 vigorous growth— the thing I didn't expect it to 

 do — and I did expect my statement to be criti- 

 ctsed. It was— by the editor of a local luiper for 

 one. He .«aid my story was an e.vaggeration on 

 the face of it, for if I put in so nuich ashes I 

 wf>uld have to put the tree on toi> of the ground! 

 It did not occur to him that a hole for a fruit 

 tree could be made larger than the crown of a 

 derby hat. 



Benefits of Bagging Grapes. To Mr. Cris- 

 sey's ad\'ice to bag your Grapes if .vou want to 

 save them from the English sparrow, I would 

 add to do so if you want to better their (piality, 

 particularl.y the llavor of some varieties. The 

 Concord is yet the Grape of the people, yet its 

 quality is not the best. But bagging makes a 

 decided improvement. If you would know just 

 how great this improvement is, bag part only of 

 the bunches on a vine. Then you may eat the 

 bagged an unbagged Grapes at the same time. 



White fiRAPES in Market. Apropos the 

 Pocklington, a St. Louis commtssion house states 

 that among the New York and Ohio Grapes re- 

 ceived last season were some of the Niagara and 

 Pocklington. " The bunches were large and com- 

 pact— berries as large as the Concord— good flavor 

 and shippers, and altogether highly attractive in 

 appearance. They sold readily at ten and twelve 

 cents per pound, when the market was crowded 

 with Grapes." These shipments must have ar- 

 rived not far from August 15 (the period of low- 

 est ipiotations, I beUeve), when the ciuotations 

 were: Hartford, 3 cts.; Ives, 3 cts.; Concord, :) 

 to 5 cents.; Delaware, 10 to 13 cts.; Martha, 5 to 

 B cents.; Goethe, B to 8 cts.; Elvira, 7 to 9 cts. 



Russian Apples. Mr. Tuttle denies that he 

 was correctly reported in the quotation on page 

 14.5. He sa>'s that while he admits that a few of 

 the one hundred Russians he has fruited do blight 

 —some of them badly, iKaic worse than the old 

 Russian Apple, Alexander. The past season was 

 one of the worst for blight he has ever seen— even 

 the Duchess blighted; yet a large proporti(m of 

 his Russian <a'cliard showed no blight, and most 

 of what dill showed very little. His Russians 

 showed less blight than his American varieties. 

 His Russians were not nearly so badly winter 

 killeil as his Duchess orchard. Also a large pro- 

 portiiai of the new Russians are early and aliunil- 

 ant bearers, many of them better than the Duch- 

 ess as anniml tieaiers. A number of them have 

 borne heavy cri>ps six years in succession. 



W()<)upe<kers ano Fruit. I can't agii'C with 

 Mr. Deming, of Kansas (jiage 1.50), if he rctei-s to 

 the red-heaile<l woodpecker. This bini is the 

 worst thief I know of. He gorges himself with 

 my best i'herrics, thus disposing of a surprising 

 number; and then, out id' "pure cussc<lne.s.s," 

 pecks oil nice bunches ami drops them on the 

 ground. Ho feasts cm Grapes and pecks the 

 Apples. I would rather get rid of borers by other 

 agencies than by his bill. I think iinlitf is misap- 

 jilieil to this bird; ami while I am very slow to 

 kill any bird, remembering "The Birds of Kil- 



lingswortli," I would not be at all sorry if a bliz- 

 zard caught the woodpecker.— (7. i'. L., Adams 

 Co.. lU. 



Dmini.K Petunias. Mr. Goodell .shoulil have 

 seen my bed of Double Petunias grown from seed 

 hist season. Several plaiUs measured four feet 

 in diameter each. Tlie.\' were stai*b-d in a hot- 

 heil of course, and transplanted into the border 

 the last of Ma.v, much later than usual, on account 

 of the dnaight. 'I'lie soil was composed of a 

 large proportiim of chip manure, enriched with 

 bai'n-.vai'il b^rtili/.ers, I ne\er ha<l such suc<re8s 

 before. There were hundr<>ds of thiwers at a 

 time all through the latter ])art of the season. 



The .same soil lioes not grow Tea roses satis- 

 factorily with me.— Mr«. T. H. LiivejDU, Mitchell 

 Co., iDira. 



Ben Davis Apple. A Michigan man on page 

 IWl, speaks of the variable quality of the Ben 

 Davis apple. At the last meeting of the Missouri 

 State Horticultural Society it was stated that the 

 riuality of this fruit is better the farther south it 

 is giown. Secretary fioodman said that some 

 specimens he carried to Michigan were pronoun- 

 ced by fruit growciv there much superior to 

 those grown in that state. The season of 1SR7 

 was hot and dr.v with us here in Missouri and 

 most varieties of Api)les other than the Ben Davis 

 made a total or a partial failure. It had a fair 

 crop; and those grown on t hrifty trees well cared 

 for were of unusually good quality. Persons 

 who in former years wcaild scarcely eat the Ben 

 Da\is at all admitted that it was very good the 

 past winter. What it gained in ipialit.v it lost In 

 keeping, and we were without Apples about a 

 month sooner than usual. The Arkansas Ben 

 Da\ns is .said to be even better than that of Mis- 

 souri. (Jood, bad or indifferent as it may be as 

 to rjuality, with us it is by all odds the most 

 profitable variety, grown in this state. Even 

 those people who think it unfit to eat will not 

 pa.\' enough more for Apples of finer quality to 

 make their culture jirofltable in comparison with 

 the much abused Ben Davis. 



Spraying Trees with Poison. The first week 

 in May I got a spraying i)ump and gave my 

 apple trees a dose of poison. In accordance with 

 a recommendation given at the Missouri State 

 Horticultural S(jciety la.st winter, I used the 

 common white arsenic dissolved in water which 

 held in solution an equal weight of caustic potash. 

 At first I used one pound of arsenic and one 

 pound of potash to two hundred gal Ions of water; 

 but when I looked up my notes made at the 

 meeting I found that one pound of arsenic was 

 said to be sufficient for four hundred gallons of 

 water. 



A week has passed, and I find that the foUage 

 of those trees on which I used double strength 

 solution is considerabl.v burnt. Some of the fruit 

 seems injured, perhaj>s killed. It is too soon to 

 say how great the injury will prove to be. The 

 trees I sprayed after weakening the solution to 

 one-half its foitner strength show no injury to 

 the leaves or fruit. 



The areeuic cost me twenty five cents per 

 pound at the local drug store. They had neither 

 Paris Green nor London jmrplc. If the white 

 Arsenic is efficient it certainly has the merit of 

 cheapnes.s, about three cents per barrel of fift.v 

 gallons of water, even when twenty five cents 

 per pound is paid, which is more than double 



//ome-mode WdxHiiy Rake. 



what it should cost if bought in i|uautitics of 

 .several pounds at one time. If any of your 

 rea<lers ha\"e u.sed the white A i"senic successfully 

 f<>r the Co<lling Moth I woulil like to have their 

 experience.— W. K. liiiilrji, fallawau Co., Mo. 



Mao. SoLLERoi Gkraniu.m. I agrtH.' with 

 Klder's wife in thinking Mad. Solleroi the l>est 

 silver-edged Geranium, but to be seen at its best 

 it should lie bedded out iluring the summer, eare- 

 I'ull.v lifti'd iM'fore danger of frost. It can also be 

 wintered in the cellar, and the tiniest cuttings 

 are sure to root. Mrs. K. L. P. LincsoUle, I'a. 



Pear Blight. Referring to the article in the 

 Ma.v issue, I would say that .some half a dozen 

 j'cars ago thirty of niy Pear trees (dwarfs) blight- 

 ed. Next spring and every spring since I have 

 applied half a bushel of hard coal ashes round 

 each trw and I have never been troubled since. 

 - \y. If. B. 



