12 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



October, 



■^GHT'V„tSOCIETIES 



j&EiNQ MatterTHat Deserves 



TO BE vn ORVf KH 0\itL 



Best Peaches. As the 

 six best Mr. Braman, be- 

 fore the Grand River 

 Valley Horticultural Soci- 

 ety, suggested the follow- 

 ing : Alexander, Rivers, 

 Hale's Early, Honest John, 

 Early Crawford and Hill's 

 Chili. 



Provide Drainage for Orchards. Wet feet will 

 produce heart disease In the Apple tree as cer- 

 tainly as the miasma of the swamp produces 

 ague in man ; only it may take a little longer 

 time.— VTf.-it Mich. Fruit Growen' Society. 



Evergreens for the Plains. Pinus ponderosa 

 can not be beaten by any other evergreen ; and 

 following it 1 place Picea pungens, Scotch Pine 

 and Douglas Spruce. For beauty the Abies con- 

 color, is unsurpassed.— C. S. Harrimn, Nebraska 

 Hort. Society. 



The Florists' Association, of New York, has 

 concluded to open a regular flower market near 

 Union Square, early in September. It will be 

 conducted in very near the same way as the 

 flower markets of European cities, which have 

 become so famous. 



The Early Garden StnfF Pays. The gardener 

 who would succeed must pull every string to get 

 in ahead. The difference of a few days in the 

 maturing of a crop is often the difference be- 

 tween success and failure.— TAos. Crafts, Adrian 

 Farmers^ Institute. 



Preparing Soil for Peaches. I am strongly of 

 the idea that it is a good plan to prepare your 

 ground and fertilize it some little time before 

 you put your trees in. I think that prevents 

 diseases in plant life as long as it lasts.— Mr. 

 Wright, Florida Bort. Society. 



Work of the Flower Missions. In Philadel- 

 phia and other cities, where flowers were intro- 

 duced into the houses of the poor, the vicious 

 and depraved, it is said that in every instance 

 where the mission could keep the flowers bloom- 

 ing, in that home came improvement, refinement 

 and religion. 



Canning Sweet Corn. Put it up in quart cans 

 and boil in aO-quart lots in a boiler; the cans 

 should be wrapped in cloth to prevent cracking 

 when coming in contact with each other when 

 boiling. Boil three or four hours. Use the 

 "Mason" cans.— Mrs. J. B. Kdisnn, Ghand River 

 Hort. (Society. 



Bees and Fruit, Professor Cushman, apiarist 

 at the State Agricultural Experiment Station, 

 declared before the Rhode Island Horticultural 

 Society, that bees never attack sound fruit, but 

 only such as is decayed or has been already in- 

 jured by other insects; and his words were en- 

 endorsed by all his auditors. 



The Springfield ( Mass.) Amateur Horticnltn- 

 ral Society is only two years old but has already 

 a membership of over 400 and holds two exhibit- 

 tions a year. It is doing much to create a love 

 for the cultivation of flowers among the people 

 here. Every one is invited to show what they 

 can, but no premiums are offered, so there can 

 be no jealousy felt. 



The Blessings of Horticulture. Horticulture 

 Is, per se. one of the most pleasant pursuits 

 which men have ever followed. It brings into 

 healthful exercise both mind and body. It 

 neither racks the one nor wrecks the other. To 

 the gardener — even the aged gardener— the 

 aching bones, the stiffened Joints, and distorted 

 form and the hungry soul are still indefinitely 

 postponed.— Dr. Hidpath. 



Seedsmen in Line for Befoim, At the Eighth 

 Annual Convention of American Seedsmen, a 

 resolution was adopted and committee appointed 

 to act with the Society of American Florists in 

 considering the use of exaggerated cuts, and the 

 question of submission of all new cuts to special 

 committees from trade associations for their 

 endorsement; the previous action of the S. A. F. 

 on this sub.lect was endoi-sed. 



BuBsian Fruits. None of the Russian Pears 

 equal our average American Pears in quality 

 for dessert use, although valuable for cooking, 

 they naturally being the most appreciated in 

 sections where none but the very hardiest like 

 these will succeed. From the size, beauty and 



quality of some of the Apples, together with 

 perfection of foliage, their culture will be ex- 

 tended into sections where hardiness is less 

 essential.— Pro/. J. L. Budd, Association of Am. 

 Ntirsei-ymen. 



Fears in West Michigan. Mr. Lannin asked 

 to state what varieties he would choose, and how 

 many of each, for an orchard of 1200 trees, said 

 this would differ according to locations. For his 

 own farm of gravelly loam with a clay subsoil, 

 the clay approaching the surface in places, he 

 would choose: 2.5 Madeline, 100 Clapp's Favorite, 

 200 or 250 Bartlett, 200or2.50 Anjou, 100 Onondaga, 

 200 Rose, 100 Sheldon, 100 Buerre Did, and 50 

 each of Goodale, Winter Nells, Mt. Vernon, 

 Frederick Clapp, Lawrence and Seckel.— IXsciw- 

 sions Went Michigan Hott. Society. 



The Florists' Club of Philadelphia has ap- 

 pointed a committee to purchase projierty upon 

 which to build a suitable club house. It is pro- 

 posed to have a library, meeting and reading 

 room, and a banquet hall, also rooms for billiard 

 tables and bowling alley. It is also intended to 

 make the club house a central exchange for all 

 kinds of florists' supplies, and bulletin boards are 

 to be placed in every room, on which members 

 can give notice of stock wanted or for sale. It 

 is also proposed to establish there a wholesale 

 cut flower market and endeavor to induce cer- 

 tain classes of the trade, such as basket makers 

 and wire workers to locate there. 



Plums for Market. Bradshaw is a large early 

 purple variety, of fair quality, that always sells 

 well being large and handsome and also because 

 it may be put into our market before the same 

 is supplied from New York and elsewhere. The 

 tree is a thrifty upright grower and comparatively 

 free from the black knot. Smith's Orleans is of 

 good size and showy, covered with a deep pur- 

 ple bloom, and sells well, though only of fair 

 quality. The Lombard is a well known fill-bas- 

 ket variety of medium size and fair quality. It 

 is reddish purple in color and the tree is an 

 enormous bearer. The variety needs to be 

 thinned to secure fruit of good size. If a yellow 

 Plum were to be added it would be Prince's Im- 

 perial Gage. 



Pollen for Crossing Apples. When the first 

 blossoms of the variety we wish to use for fer- 

 tilizing have expanded, we pluck out, with fore- 

 finger and thumb, the stamens and pistils and 

 drop them into a cup. In an hour a smart boy 

 can gather in this way enough of the anthers— 

 in the " hard pellet " state — to fertilize a thousand 

 or more blossoms. After gathering we dry it in 

 the cup. in a warm, close room. In the process 

 of drying the anthers ripen and burst, and when 

 needed for use a camel's hair pencil, moistened, 

 will come out of the dish laden with the golden 

 dust. To show the durability of the pollen 

 gathered in this rough way, I will state that 

 three years ago we laid aside a cup of pollen not 

 used for four weeks. At the end of that time 

 Dr. Halsted germinated it on moistened slides 

 quite as perfectly as that freshly gathered.— 

 Prof. J. L. BiifM. 



Eot of the Sweet Potato. Dr. B. D. Halstead 

 read at Indianapolis a paper on this subject 

 urging that it demanded instant attention. He 

 sent questions to over three hundred growers in 

 New Jersey. Replies showed that a large propor- 

 tion suffer from this cause, it has been known 

 many years, is worse some seasons than others; 

 that variety, soil, climate, etc., are all modifying 

 agents, and that the disease is not understood. 

 The " soft-rot " is due to the growth of a mold 

 {Rhizopus nigricans), which spreads through the 

 Potato, and then to others. The "dry-rot "is 

 probably due to the growth of a blue mold 

 {Penlcillium). Experiments with drying with 

 heat show, that when affected Potatoes are well 

 dried, the "soft-rot" is checked. The "black- 

 rot " is exceedingly contagious. 



Tomatoes for Profit in California. The first 

 Tomatoes of the season were readily retailed at 

 ■40 cents a pound in San Francisco. In Chicago 

 or New York they would probably have brought 

 $1 a pound. Tomato vines live, it not too much 

 exposed, two and three and even more years. 

 The writer has a vine in his garden, close up to 

 his neighbor's barn, from which he picked three 

 nice messes of Tomatoes during the months of 

 January and February last. At 40 cents a pound 

 he got at least $rs worth. The vine was a volun- 

 teer and principally took care of itself. With a 

 little care and a little shelter at the right time 

 we see no reason why fair crops of Tomatoes 

 could not be gathered in the winter and early 

 spring months. If so, the I'aisers could make a 



fortune. For best results the vines should be 

 from four to eight months old.— San Diego 

 County Bort. Convention. 



Manufacturing Prices for Fruit. It will be 

 well for the shipper to occasionally follow his 

 fruit, note its condition on arrival, see what and 

 how others are sending. Such an object lesson 

 will prove well worthy the time and expense. He 

 can also see the market and style of customers 

 at the different places. Some will take one grade 

 or class of fruit; another a different, perhaps 

 better grade. Such personal knowledge is essen- 

 tial to success in this business. By knowing the 

 character of your market, you can discriminate 

 as to quality, not daring to send to one that 

 would readily move in the other. We always 

 have two grades to ship, and one we reject, 

 which may in part at least find use in the family. 

 —Capt. E. Bollister, before the Altmi Borticul- 

 tural Society. 



Piece or Whole Boot Grafting. Disadvan- 

 tages of piece roots- 1. Roots more prongy and 

 more horizontal, t. e., surface rooting, therefore 

 not so hardy ; 2. Small growth the first year ; 3. 

 Union imperfect on pieces of roots; 4. Trees 

 more crotched ; 5. Trees apt to tip over in 

 orchard ; 6. Not so long lived. Advantages of 

 piece roots—]. Allows making more trees; 2. 

 Hastens cheap multiplication; .3. Allows of deep 

 and consequent rooting of scions of value in the 

 Northwest were it is good, even for stone fruits, 

 the Chickasaw Plum being used for grafting 

 Peaches; 4. Enables us to increase rapidly our 

 stock of rare plants, of which we cannot get 

 seeds or cuttings. Advantages of whole roots— 

 1. Better, deeper and finer roots; 2. Have more 

 force, therefore get larger trees ; 3. Budding on 

 whole roots is the Ijest in nearly all cases where 

 hardiness is not of special importance.- Pro/. 

 Bailey before the Association of Nurserymen. 



Poison in Food Plants, Dr. Harris, in a paper 

 read before the Pennsylvania Horticultural 

 Society recently, called attention to the fact that 

 some of the most valuable productions, like the 

 White Potato, the Tomato and the Egg-plant, 

 are the results of development in a family which 

 produces the Tobacco, the Jamestown Weed and 

 the deadly Nightshade; and still more singular 

 is it that edible innocence in a product may be 

 intimately associated with a poisonous element 

 in the plant. Starch-yielding tubers may even 

 be in themselves an association of simplicity and 

 venom, and we find in the Cassava, from which 

 tapioca is obtained, the soluble elements of the 

 tuber being poisonous, and the insoluble starch 

 edible. In the White Potato we have a Solanum 

 which has poisonous sprouts and fruit, with a 

 valuable and innocent tuber or subterranean 

 root-stock. The poison, solania, is found in the 

 white sprouts of the tuber and in the green seed 

 ball or fruit, but not in the tuber as prepared 

 by boiling or roasting. Solania is not a powerful 

 poison, and is one of very uncertain strength; 

 stUl, death has been produced in childhood by 

 eating the balls. Very young tubers and old 

 sprouted ones are unwholesome food, tor these 

 contain a fraction of the poison. The Tomato 

 plant contains solania, while the fruit, which has 

 the same unpleasant odor, is tree from it. Three 

 deadly poisons, among the most potent of all 

 active vegetable principles, are obtained from 

 some of the Sotonaceu— namely, nicotia, from 

 Tobacco; dataria. from Stramonium, and atropia 

 from Belladonna. One drop of pure nicotia will 

 kill a large dog in a few minutes, and the other 

 two are fatal in minute quantities. 



Unfermented Grape Juice that will 

 Keep. 



{From address of E. Hulse, before the Victorian Vege- 

 table Commission of Australia.) 



The Grapes are picked when they are well 

 ripened, and the juice expressed and bot- 

 tled as soon as possible afterward. 



The bottles are filled Ijrimful, and placed up to 

 their necks in the vats of hot water within ten 

 degrees of the boiling point. When the must is 

 as hot as the water, the cork is forced into the 

 bottle, expelling a portion of the liquid. If the 

 least measure of air is left between the cork and 

 the liquid, the oxygen contained in the air will 

 set the saccharine matter in the wine in motion, 

 and fermentation will ensue. 



When the cork is forced into the bottle the 

 liquid is in a state of expansion from the heat. 

 As it cools, it contracts, leaving a vacancy be- 

 tween the cork and the liquid. But the vacancy 

 must not be an atmospheric chamber. The cork 

 must, of course, be thoroughtly air-tight. If 



