1 888. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



207 



THE COMPLETE GARDEN.* 



SVI. 



BY A WELL-KNOWN HORTICOLTOBIST. 



THE VARIOUS KINDS OF FRUITS. 

 THE APPLE. 



This, the most important fruit of our cli- 

 mate, can hariUy, e.vceptin the ilwarf section, 

 be termed a garden fruit, for standard Apple 

 trees require for their best development not 

 far from four square rods of space each. 

 Still, everybody who has a fair piece of land 

 about the home will want to crowd in one 

 or more standard trees somewhere, and 

 where there is land for an orchard the Apple 

 deserves attention before any other tree fruit. 



Selection. By a good selection of varieties 

 and proper management, the season of the 

 Apple may be extended almost the year 

 through. The following list emliraces re- 

 liable sorts that extend over the full season 

 of the fruit. The letters following each 

 variety indicate the sections of the country, 

 E for East, C for Central, N for North or 

 Northwest, S for South, where the variety 

 they follow shows special adaptability, al- 

 though suitable usually for other sections 

 also. 



Summer Apples. Siberian Crab E. c. 

 BenoDi E. c. Twenty Ounce c. 



Carolina Red June C.R.N. Winthrop Greening e. 

 Early Harvest e. s. c. Winter Apples. 



Early Joe c. N. 

 Early Pennock c. 

 High Top Sweet c. 

 Hocking c. 

 Keswick Codlln c. 

 Primate c. 



Red Astrachan e. c. s. n. 

 Sops of Wine E. N. 

 Summer Pearmain E. s. 

 Summer Rose s. 

 Sweet Bough e. c. s. 

 William's Favorite E. 



Baldwin E. c. 

 Ben Davis o. s. 

 Esoi)US Spitzcnbcrg E. 

 Golden Russet of West- 

 ern N. Y. E. N. 

 Hubbardston Nonesuch 



E. 



Jonathan c. s. 



Minister e. 



Northern Spy E. c. n. 



Rawle's Janet c. s. 



Rhode Island Greening 

 AuTUsrN Apples. e. 



Duchess of Oldenburg Ribston Pippin E. 



E. c. N. Roman Stem c. 



Dyer c. Roxbury Russet e. 



Fall Orange E. N. Seek-no-turther e. c. 



Fallawater c. Smokehouse c. 



Pameuse c. n. Swaar e. c. 



Fall Pippin c. Tallman's Sweet e. c. n. 



Gravenstein e. c. Tetotsky n. 



Late Strawberry E. c. Tompkins Co. King e. 

 Lowell c. Wagener e. n. 



Maiden's Blush c. s. Wealthy N. 



Mother c. Willow Twig c. s. 



Munson Sweet c. Wine Apple c. 



Porter e. c. Wine Bap c. s. 



Kambo c. s. Yellow Bell-flower c. s. 



Dwarf Apple Trees. These are obtained 

 by grafting on the French Paradise and the 

 Doucain Stocks, mainly the former. Para- 

 dise dwarfs are the smallest, forming but 

 mere bushts, and which bear within three 

 years of planting. While these are not to 

 be strongly recommended where there is 

 room for standard trees, unless for their 

 oddity or ornamental qualities, still they 

 may be made to serve a useful purpose in 

 all small gardens. A common way of 

 planting them is between the standard trees 

 in young orchards, leaving them here until 

 the standards require all the room. Doucain 

 dwarfs are intermediate in size between 

 Paradise and standards, and will produce 

 small trees which will last many years. 

 The following varieties succeed best as 

 dwarfs: 



Summer Apples :— Astrachan Red, Early Har- 

 vest, Keswick Codlln, Large Sweet Bough. Au- 

 tumn Applet :— Ale-vandcr, Oldenburg, Graven- 

 stein, St. Lawrence, Sherwood's Favorite. H'iii- 

 («r.4p]j!c»;— Baldwin, Yellow Bell-flower, King, 

 Lady Apple, Mother, Northern Spy, Reinette 

 Canada, Red Canada, Melon, Spitzenburg Esopus, 

 Twenty Ounce, Wagoner. 



Soil and TiUatje. The Apple succeeds 

 best in a strong loam, but will thrive in most 

 any kind of soil, excepting very dry sand 

 or such as is wet. Generous treatment in 



•Copyright, 1887, Popular OardeDlng Publishing Co. 



the way of soil preparation and culture, es- 

 pecially for the young trees, is always profit- 

 able. Before planting, the soil should be 

 well enriched an<l worked up deeply, and 

 afterwards, while the trees are yet young, 

 the plow may be run deep beyond the ex- 

 tremities of the roots, but over these the 

 culture should be shallow. Indeed, with an 

 annual surface-dressing of stable manure 

 each fall over the roots after the trees have 

 reached some size, cultivation may be en- 

 tirely stopped without impairing the vigor 

 or fruitfulness of the trees. While cultiva- 

 tion is kept up no better crops can be grown 

 in the Apple orchard than old garden crops. 



Priinhi(i-ti>ne for the Apple is seasonable 

 at any time after leaf-fall and until the 

 new foliage comes out in the spring, but 

 early in this period is the better time un- 

 doubtedly. In ordinary cases the top should 

 be thinned so as to admit light and air 

 freely. Such a regard should at all times 

 be had for an even ilistribution of the 

 branches throughout the head that this end 

 may be reached without ever sacrificing 

 large branches. All suckers must be re- 

 moved from every portion of the tree, as 

 they are apt to impede growth in the proper 

 directions. A ti'ee that is brushy in its in- 

 terior is always to be avoided. In training 

 trees some favor high heads, others low 

 heads. In the orchard where cultivation is 

 to be done with horses it is better that the 

 trunks be not less than five feet to the first 

 branches, and some growers prefer six feet. 

 On the other hand many orchardists con- 

 sider that a four foot trunk is best suited to 

 most purposes. The trees are less exposed 

 to storms than those of high top, the fruit is 

 more easily gathered and the pruning is 

 done with greater convenience. Thetrunks 

 also are better protected from sun when the 

 heads are low. 



In the case of dwarf trees it is best to in- 

 duce the branches to an outward rather than 

 an upward direction, which may easily be 

 done by pruning back to buds that point 

 outwards instead of upwards. These trees 

 should each have a stout neat stake to which 

 they can be tied. Growth should be en- 

 couraged for having the branches of nearly 

 uniform size and evenly distributed all 

 around. 



Oeneral Care. To go over the Apple trees 

 every spring, rubbing off the rough bark 

 and moss, which .serve as a retreat for in- 

 sects, and giving them immediately after- 

 wards a wash with some diluted alkali, is a 

 very desirable course. By this means growth 

 will be promoted, insects will be destroyed, 

 and the appearance of the trees be wonder- 

 fuUyimproved. When I speak of nibbing off 

 the rough bark I do not refer to the harsh 

 practice sometimes indulged in of scraping 

 the bark down to the quick; only the loose 

 rough scales should be removed. For a 

 wash ordinary lime wash is often used and 

 with benefit, but I prefer a moderately 

 strong Wiish of potash water or of a common 

 soft soap solution, to which a little sulphur 

 has been added. 



{To be continued.) 



Weeping Forms of Trees. 



WARREN H. HAKNINO, MIDDLESEX CO., HASS. 



Our list of Weeping trees is increasing 

 every year, and doubtless will increase until 

 about all our worthy and many unworthy 

 species are represented by weeping forms. 



These varieties run more or less distinctly 

 into natural and unnatural forms. Many 

 of them are little less than hideous deform- 

 ities, with no beauty, short-lived and fit only 

 for a collection to illustrate what Nature 

 can produce in the way of monstrosities. 



Others are graceful, pretty and long-lived; 

 worthy of a place in the finest ornamental 

 grounds, to lend the charm of their graceful 



outlines to the more formal types. Often 

 the weeping forms are more dwarf than the 

 originals, making them suitable for small 

 grounds, where larger growing kinds would 

 be iiuidmissable; tliey must, however, be 

 used with caution. 



We now and then hear a protest against 

 the propagation of abnormal forms, I fail 

 to see how such a protest can be supported; 

 it would be as reiusonable to oppose the 

 propagation of new fruits, for they are vari- 

 ations from the originals. It is true many 

 of the varieties perpetuated are unworthy of 

 cultivation as objects of ornament in culti- 

 vated grounds, and it is also tnie that many 

 of the fruits sold are unworthy of a place in 

 the garden, but it is only by raising the good 

 and the bad that we can make an improve- 

 ment. When there is a greater variety the 

 undesirable kinds will gradually drop out of 

 cultivation. They are all valuable in helping 

 to determine the laws that govern plant 

 variation, about which so little is known, 

 and are bringing us nearer to the day when 

 we can produce these variations at will. 



Horticultural Notes by Sannuel Mil- 

 ler, Montgomery Co., Mo. 



Oiled Muslin fop. Hot-beds. In a recent 

 article in the Fruit Growers' Journal some 

 subscriber gives a New York firm fits for 

 lauding it; and pronounces it a fraud. 



I intended sending for some, but the ex- 

 press charges would have been as much as 

 it would cost me to make it myself. I 

 bought the thinest unbleached muslin; to a 

 quart of linseed oil (boiled), I beat four eggs 

 into a froth and mixed with the oil. With 

 this the muslin was coated twice. This don't 

 leak a drop, is water proof. Had the mer- 

 cury down to 19" one night, but it did not 

 hurt a plant, except a few under the space 

 where a sash had slipped a few inches. 



In the many years that hot-beds have been 

 a part of my work, I never had finer plants 

 than at this time (April 30th), but we don't 

 trust to set out yet, as last night made ice 

 }4 inch thick in low places. 



These frames are so light and easily 

 handled, that no more glass for me on hot- 

 beds. Some object to their lightness and 

 liability to blow off, but this is easily reme- 

 died by a few leather straps and nails to 

 button them on. Even this is not necessary 

 where my bed is, as it is protected from any 

 wind. Even if they do go a kiting there is 

 no breakage. A sudden storm once unroofed 

 a bed of mine and it took me half a day to 

 replace the glass. Shall u.se this for a roof 

 over a di-ying apparatus; the fruit will not 

 scald, as it sometimes does under glass. 



The Round-headed Apple Bop.eh. With 

 all the warnings and all the remedies given 

 in the journals, there are still more Apple 

 trees destroyed by this pest than by all other 

 causes combined. Although .some contend 

 that it is not infallible. I know that in all 

 my experience not one borer has been found 

 in trees where this was properly done at the 

 right time. Entomologists say that in .June 

 the parent deposits her eggs at the root of 

 the trees. 



Before that time clear away the ground 

 an inch or two around the base, then wrap 

 thick paper around for a foot or IS inches, 

 tie to keep on, replace the earth and the tree 

 is safe for that summer. I find this about 

 as simple and as little trouble as any other 

 plan. Fine wire screening will be the thing 

 in course of time, if it can be obtained cheap 

 enough. 



The White Buttehfly and No Cabbage. 

 For some years it has been almost impossi- 

 ble to raise late Cabbage here; even the early 

 is often spoiled by them. If one is on the 

 lookout in the spring when the first of these 

 white butterflies make their appearance, 

 and kills every one, it will make a great 

 difference later in the season. 



