238 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



August, 



Notes by an Illinois Cultivator. 



N. Y. L., ADAMS CO., ILL. 



The Middlemen. We would like tohave 

 the money the consumer pays for our pro- 

 duce instead of the money we get from the 

 commission merchant. But if the middle- 

 men be evils, they are necessary evils. The 

 world cannot get along without the mer- 

 chants. It is cheaper and better for you 

 and the consumer to meet in the store of 

 the merchant than for you to go to the con- 

 sumer or him come to you. This is finan- 

 cially wise. He who grumbles at com- 

 missions and \vrites fretful, fault-finding 

 letters to the merchants, loses money by so 

 doing. Moreover, many could not spend 

 time and money to so good advantage as by 

 visiting three or four commission mer- 

 chants, noticing how each and in what 

 manner consignments must be handled, 

 how others pack, and above all, taking to 

 heart any advice the merchant may give. 

 In reality, his interests and yours are iden- 

 tical. Products gathered at the right 

 stage, handled properly, and packed care- 

 fully, sell the more readily and at better 

 prices; hence are more profitable to you and 

 to the merchant; and he is a very wise pro- 

 ducer that the merchant cannot give some 

 valuable "pointers." 



August in the Garden. All growing 

 crops during August require all the mois- 

 ture easily obtained during this hot, dry 

 month following a hot, dry month; and 

 crops of a succulent nature, such as Cab- 

 bages, Celery, Cauliflower, etc., need, in 

 nine cases out of twenty, all the moisture 

 the ground can give. Hence, any growth 

 of weeds shortens the crop more than at an 

 earlier period; tor they do the more hurt by 

 absorbing and exhaling moisture. When 

 the daily moisture waste of even half a 

 dozen weeds is measured by pints, how 

 great must be the damage done by even a 

 sparse growth of weeds on the ground. 

 The cultivation this month should be as 

 clean as during the preceding month; and 

 for the further reason that weeds now ma- 

 ture very rapidly, and a cessation or neg- 

 ligence in cultivation is apt to result in the 

 seeding of the ground. Weeds are most 

 easily destroyed before they reach the sur- 

 face. A simple stirring of the surface 

 ground suffices; and it has been demonstra- 

 ted that this stirring also conserves the soil 

 moisture, though some question, as to the 

 exact way in which this is accomplished. 



A Bird Note. The fruit grower and 

 vegetable gardener will do well to read as 

 if true Longfellow's " Birds of Killings- 

 worth." The phainological reports of the 

 British Meteorological Society give at least 

 one instance to confirm Longfellow's tale. 

 The winter of 1878-79 was so severe that 

 there was an unprecedented mortality 

 among the birds, and the following season's 

 reports to the Entomologist of the Royal 

 Agricultural Society showed unusual in- 

 sect depredations upon the crops. Miss 

 Ormerod gives it as her belief that a great 

 and widespread mortality among birds is 

 hurtful agriculturally. Nevertheless, there 

 are undoubtedly some birds that do far 

 more harm than good. The English spar- 

 row is generally condemned. I consider 

 myself justified in killing the Red-headed 

 Woodpecker, notwithstanding that many 

 will condemn me for this. This bird takes 

 ten times as many Cherries from me as all 

 other birds combined. He also likes ber- 

 ries. He pecks my Apples, and makes worse 

 any decaying spot in the tree. He ruins 

 many a White Oak by pecking a hole into 

 it which allows the water to reach the hearts 

 woods; and the result is that when an ap- 

 parently sound log is split open it is found 

 so much decayed in spots that it is worth- 

 less for either rails or posts. 



As TO THE Source of Seeds. The Mis- 

 souri Agricultural College made a test of 

 seeds as to per cent, of germination and cor- 

 rectness of names. It found that the seed 

 from firms that are seed growers gave good 

 results, both as to germination and being 

 true to name. From ten to thirty varieties 

 from each firm were carefully tested, and 

 those got from seed growers were all true 

 to name, and with few exceptions the per 

 cent, of germination was very high. But 

 with the seeds got from those who are only 

 seed dealers the results were different. 

 Several varieties did not germinate at all; 

 others were badly mixed; and yet others 

 were utterly unlike what they were claimed 

 to be. This makes an important distinction 

 between dealers who grow their seed and 

 those who do not; and I believe the dis- 

 tinction to be just, in the main. I have 

 never got seeds, bulbs, or plants of a well- 

 known firm who grew what they sold, that 

 my purchase was not entirely satisfactory. 

 I am of opinion that the experience of my 

 readers is substantially the same. Because 

 we are "taken in," we must not condemn 

 indiscriminately. And if we can divide 

 dealers into classes — one to avoid, one to 

 patronize— we will make ourselves safe at 

 the same time being just to the dealers. 



Gooseberries, Green and Otherwise.— 

 Of all fruits the one worst treated is the 

 Gooseberry. It is yet used while green, as 

 the Tomato was when first cultivated. 

 What other fruit could have as good repu- 

 tation as the Gooseberry, if used green? 

 What fruit can be highly prized when used 

 before it is ripe? This is unnatural; it is 

 taking the fruit before nature has got it 

 ready. The excuse is that if you cook the 

 Gooseberry when ripe it is spoiled; but this 

 applies as well to the Grape, and the Grape 

 is not used green, except by some to make 

 a fancy jelly. A ripe Gooseberry is de- 

 licious. It is sweet and melting and deli- 

 cately, agreeably flavored. Ripe Gooseber- 

 ries with cream are tlie peer of Blackberries 

 or Raspberries. They make a splendid pie; 

 and when you make ripe Gooseberries into 

 a pie you are not compelled to assault your 

 health with soda or bankrupt yourself for 

 sugar, to make it eatable. It you are so 

 fastidious that you can not eat pie wherein 

 the fruit is "cooked up" somewhat, shtit 

 your eyes and eat like a Christian; that is, 

 eat fruit only when the Lord has got it 

 ready, and by the signs of its ripeness invited 

 you to the wholesome, tempting feast. The 

 bush of the Gooseberry is maltreated almost 

 as criminally as the fi-uit. No one worries 

 to improve it. It is rarely cultivated. The 

 ground wherein other berries grow is en- 

 riched and mellowed, but the Gooseberry 

 stands among weeds and grass in hardened, 

 impoverished ground. Where is our Ameri- 

 can spirit of fair play, that the Gooseberry 

 of our grandmothers is so ill-treated? 



Planting Alpine Strawberries. 



To do these well, says a writer to the 

 English Garden, they require liberal treat- 

 ment and quite as frequent removal as is 

 customary with the large-fruited kinds, and 

 then they are profitable to grow. This is a 

 time of large things, and those who go in 

 for show would despise the Alpines. Never- 

 theless, the latter are very useful, especially 

 where fruit is eaten for breakfast. They 

 are also valuable after the other Strawber- 

 ries have disappeared for flavoring and other 

 purposes in the kitchen. 



Spring is a good season to make new beds. 

 It is thought by some that being an Alpine 

 plant it should necessarily be planted in 

 some high and dry situation. This is a mis- 

 take, for though the plants will not perish, 

 perhaps, in a dry situation, they do suffer as 

 much as other varieties from drought in a 



dry time, and the fruit then becomes very 

 small, dry, and flavorless. 



The finest and best flavored fruits of this 

 Strawberry I have ever gathered were grown 

 on a piece of cool-bottomed, dampish land, 

 partially shaded by the branches of an 

 adjoining fast-growing Oak tree. Here, 

 on this bit of damp, cool land, week after 

 week, baskets of juicy.richly-flavored berries 

 were gathered daOy for a long time, the 

 bed remaining in good bearing condition for 

 four years. Last season the hot summer 

 told upon it, and this spring we have de- 

 stroyed the old bed and started a new one. 



If healthy plants, which is generally the 

 case, are to be had from the old beds, I use 

 them, though they can be easily raised from 

 seed, but where seedlings are employed the 

 yovmg plants should now be up if they are to 

 fruit this season. Plant a foot apart each 

 way, and press the plants firmly in the 

 groimd, giving them a good soaking in 

 water. It is always best to plant when the 

 surface of the bed is dry. It is not necessary 

 to mark the land oft' in beds, continue plant- 

 ing row after row till all the land is occupied. 



Old beds, or beds of more than one year 

 old, should be kept weeded in the spring, 

 and heavily mulched with rich manure. 

 In fact, this heax-y mulching is the secret of 

 success, and this treatment of surface- 

 feeding should begin as soon as the young 

 plants are fairly fixed in the ground, and 

 continued till they are destroyed. 



Varieties Running Out. 



A writer, in the Country Gentleman, refer- 

 ring to the grounds taken by a correspondent 

 in these columns that improved varieties of 

 fruit rapidly deteriorate, says that to reach a 

 correct conclusion on this matter, all the in- 

 fluences must be taken into the account. 

 The Sharpless and Wilson Strawberries are 

 very diflerent fruits from the original wild 

 varieties. They have been improved up to 

 a very high position, and under the influences 

 of ordinary cultivation will naturally tend 

 to recede toward the original state. But 

 this should not be regarded as the legitimate 

 result. It is not the defect of the variety, 

 but the deflciency is in the food they receive. 

 A high condition must have the treatment 

 naturally belonging to it. A very successful 

 cultivator, who obtains prices for his Straw- 

 berries nearly double the common market 

 rates, assures us that he places the Sharpless 

 at the head of his list, and that the old Wil- 

 son gives surprising results with high culti- 

 vation: and that if it were sent out again as 

 a new variety under a new name, with the 

 care and culture that new varieties are re- 

 ceiving at the present day, it would take 

 the Strawberry world by storm. 



Some of the finest of the large fruits still 

 hold their original excellence. The Bartlett 

 Pear, which originated more than a hundred 

 years ago, stands this day at the head of the 

 list as a popular market variety, and some 

 nurserymen sell more trees of the Bartlett 

 than of all other Pears. The Baldwin Apple, 

 more than half a century old, is planted 

 more for market in several of the States 

 than all other sorts put together. 



We believe it to be sound teaching to show 

 that good cultivation is always required to 

 produce fine fruit, and that varieties rim 

 out with old age through a deficiency in 

 their needed food supplies. The hypothesis 

 of the "survival of the fittest" entirely fails 

 when applied to varieties of fruit, for instead 

 of the best crowding out poor .sorts, it is 

 necessary to give them constant care to re- 

 tain their excellence; and those of the finest 

 quality are not obtained by any natural 

 selection, or by vohmtarily crowding out 

 the poorer ones, but artificial selection alone 

 will secure them, by choosing the best out 

 of myriads of seedlings. 



