POPULAR GARDENING 



AND FRUIT GROWING. 



"ACCUSE NOT NATURE, SHE HATH DONE HER PART: DO THOV BUT THINE." -^Uuioti. 



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Vol. VI. 



ITOA7-EI»d:BEI?,, 189 O. 



No. 2. 



To The Autumn Wind. 



Wind of Autumn, breathing spices 



Ravishing from the woods and fields, 

 In thy song a spell entices 



Stronger than a wizard wields. 

 I obey thee. Be thou master ; 



Guide my feet o'er vale and rlU, 

 Lead me onward where the Aster 



Crowns with purple stars the hill. 

 Let the path be long and winding. 



Bloom and berr>' fringe the way ; 

 Every turn fresh beauty finding 

 Fairer than the fiush of May. 



—Peck in Boston Transcript . 



The Export of evaporated Apples, last year, 

 amounted to about -"2,000,000 pounds, at an esti- 

 mated value of over S3,000,000. This source of 

 our national income will dwindle down to a very 

 small figure this year. 



Bedded in the Pots. It was a surprise to the 

 %nsiting florists to Boston recently to learn that 

 the Geraniums used in the Public Gardens were 

 all in pots plunged. That accounts for the short 

 growth and free bloom. 



Ribbon Glass (Ktdalia Japonica varlegata} 

 makes a charming plant for arranging amongst 

 flowers or foliage in the window or conservatory. 

 Use young plants. The Zebra Grass iE.Japo7iica 

 Zebrina) is also a graceful pot plant, but does 

 not usually thrive for any length of time in 

 small pots under glass. 



Some Fine Grapes. A basket of Green Moun- 

 tain Grapes were received in good condition first 

 week in September, from Stephen Hoyt's Sons, 

 New Canaan, Conn. This is a good Grape. 

 Clusters good sized, shouldered, not too close; 

 berry of medium size, light green with bloom; 

 exceedingly sweet and pleasant; pure, free from 

 pulp. The Moyer Grape, a basket of which we re- 

 ceived from A. S. Watson, Westfleld, Chautauqua 

 Co., N. Y., is also a good Grape. Clusters smallish, 

 close; dull red, somewhat like an overripe 

 Delaware. Berry larger than Delaware; sweet, 

 melting, without pulp. 



Green Manuring. Whether the practice of 

 turning under a green crop of Clover or Black 

 Peas for manure results in " temporary killing 

 the land by acetous fermentation, so that 

 nothing will thrive on it,'' as alleged by a 

 southern writer to be the case anywhere south 

 of the 33d parallel north latitude, is a question 

 which we would like to see ventilated. There 

 are many cases reported also by northern culti- 

 vators, where the plowing under of heavy crops 

 of green manure such as Clover, have resulted 

 in " souring " the land, and ruining succeeding 

 crops, but this is not a usual occurence, and it 

 may not be so even at the south. Let our 

 southern readers speak out. We believe it to 

 be a good plan for all sections to let the green 

 crop die down naturally, leading it thus until 

 time for plowing in spring, and then turn it 

 u nder. What say the stations ? 



The Experiment Stations. Unquestionably 

 many of the state experiment stations have not 

 yet given promise of returning to the people an 

 equivalent of their cost. It is true, that we care 

 little about mere literature— bulletins with little 

 practical information— and that it takes time to 

 evolve new facts of value. Still the contrast 

 between the work done by a few of these stations 

 with that of the great majority is remarkable. 

 In consideration of the newsy, valuable bulletins, 

 so full of interesting and instructive matter, we 

 have been continuously receiving from the 

 stations connected with the agricultural colleges 

 of Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New 

 York (Cornell*, Ohio, Minnesota, Wisconsin 

 Iowa, Vermont, Connecticut, etc., and from the 

 Geneva, N. Y., station under Dr. Sturtevant's 

 management we can only be sorry to see that 



the same results have not yet been forthcomin 

 from many of the other stations. 



Horticulture at the Columbia Exposition. 

 Delegates from over thirty Horticultural and 

 Trade Associations met in Chicago on August 

 27th and organized a societ.v to be known as 

 Columbian Horticultural Association, and to 

 remain permanently until the close of the 

 World's Fair. The officers elected, also to re- 

 main permanently until the close of E-xposition, 

 are. President, S. M. Emery, Lake City, Minne- 

 sota; Vice-President, C. L. Watrous. Des Moines, 

 Iowa; Secretary, H. B. Beaty, Oil City, Pennsyl- 

 vania; Assistant Secretary, G. H. Grant, Chicago, 

 Hlinois ; Treasurer, M. A. Thayer. Sparta, Wis- 

 consin. A committee was appointed to cor- 

 respond with the Executive Department of the 

 Columbian Exposition, and it laid before 

 that body a summary of the plans in regard 

 to the horticultural features of the ex- 

 hibition, and recommended to their favor- 

 able consideration the appointment of the 

 following named persons tor the offices des- 

 ignated : For Commissioner of Horticulture, 

 Parker Earle, Ocean Springs, Mississippi ; 

 for Superintendent of Floriculture and 

 Landscape Gardening, James D. Ra.vnolds, 

 Kiyerside, Illinois; for Superintendent of 

 Pomology, G. B. Brackett, Denmark, Iowa ; 

 for Superintendent of Nursery and Fores- 

 try products George B. Thomas, West 

 Chester, Pennsylvania; for Superintendent 

 of Seeds and Vegetable Department, J. C. 

 Vaughan, Chicago, Illinois. 



for they will not answer in the winter 

 months. 



The best plan for using the tent is to have 

 the plants set out where they are to be 

 covered by it at a distance of about 20 inches 

 apart each way, if set out in spring ; if set 

 out in July or August, they should be set 

 closer, say Vi inches apart, but at whatever 

 season they are planted, if before the middle 

 of August, small, healthy plants will grow 

 enough to fill up the space. When this 

 provision has not been made beforehand, 

 plants can be lifted from the garden and 

 planted under the protection of the tent, or 

 plants grown in pots or boxes can be placed 

 under it. The date for covering the plants 



On Protecting Out-door Chrys- 

 anthemums. 



CONTRIBUTED BY TItE LATE PETER HENDERSON, 



A PEW WEEKS BEFORE HIS DEATH AND NOT 



BEFORE PUBLISHED. 



A cheap and simple plan now ex- 

 tensively used to protect Chrysanthe- 

 mums from the slight frosts that we 

 usually have in the north— which in 

 different sections come from the 2Uth 

 of October to the 20th of Novem- 

 ber — is to use the greenhouse protect- 

 ing cloth in the form of a tent, as shown 

 by the cut. This tent may be (if 10 feet in 

 width) four feet high at the front and seven 

 feet high at the apex; or if '20 feet wide, four 

 feet high at the front and lo to U feet high 

 at the apex ; if 10 feet wide, the walk ( two 

 feet in width) should be in the centre, as 

 shown in " End Elevation ; " if 20 feet, there 

 should be two walks (each two feet wide), 

 which would leave the front beds four feet 

 wide and the centre bed eight feet. 



The tent may be of any length desired, 

 and if necessary may be heated by an or- 

 dinary self-feeding coal stove, or an oil stove 

 as desired, but in most sections, the cover- 

 ing of the protecting cloth would be suffi- 

 cient to keep out frost. This cloth can be 

 bought of the best heavy grade at ten cents 

 per yard in lots of .50 yards and upw.ards, so 

 that for a Chrysanthemum tent 20 feet wide 

 by 2.5 feet long, the cost tor the protecting 

 cloth would not exceed -^10.00 and the wood 

 framework to support it, say *l.5.00, so that 

 for *2.5.00 you can have a protection for 

 Chrysanthemums just as effective as a 

 greenhouse costing ten times as much. 



The cloth is simply nailed tight on the 

 framework, 'as there is no need of providing 

 for ventilation as in a greenhouse. The 

 ratio of cost will be about the same whether 

 the tent is 12 or 20 feet wide, small or large. 

 These tents are now largely used by florists 

 but only to protect tender plants in spring, 



EMO ELEVATION 



±. 



Protection for Out-door Chrysanthemums. 



by the tent in this section is usually abotit 

 the first week of October — or before there is 

 any chance of even slight frosts. 



Some Facts About Russian Apples. 



PROF. J. L. BUDD, IOWA AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE. 



In looking over the October number I 

 notice some statements relative to Russian 

 Apples which are suggestive. 



Hardy Fruit Buds and Blossoms. On 

 the first page is the sentence: "Reports 

 from Ontario, Canada, indicate a poor crop, 

 with the exception of Russian varieties like 

 Duchess, Alexander, etc." In this vicinity 

 Apples are so scarce that common fall vari- 

 eties bring one dollar per bushel at the 

 groceries. Yet in the Russian experimental 

 orchard on the college farm dozens of vari- 

 eties have been laden with large, smooth 

 and handsome fruit. This orchard gave us 

 fully 600 bushels last year and about .300 this 

 year, but the shortage this year came from 

 the fact that the extreme drought of the past 

 three years prevented varieties heavily laden 

 last year from fruiting this season. Even 

 the Duchess trees that were full in 1889 did 

 not show a specimen in 1890. This is stated in 

 confirmation of the fact, that the best Rus- 

 sian Apples, Pears, Cherries and Plums, are 

 hardier in fruit buds and blossoms than the 

 west European fruits or their American 

 seedlings. On page 1.3 Prof. Goff makes 

 some statements in regard toRussianApples 

 which may probably be extended. 



