1890. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



25 



Large India is handsome, tender, slightly 

 curled. Leaves edged with brownish red. Good 

 and reliable, going to seed soon after Drumhead. 



Brown iMteh has large, brownish, somewhat 

 coarse-appearing leaves, yet is tender and good. 



Marblehcad Mammoth closely resembles large 

 India. 



California Butter resembls Brown Dutch in 

 form of leaf and general habit of growth, but 

 leaves are of dark green color. 



Improved Hanson is similar to Hanson; makes 

 a good head. Foliage slightly more curled. Ten- 

 der and good. 



Early Prizehead forms a large head. Foliage 

 curled, reddish-brown. A fine variety. 



Philadelphia Butter is an early header ol 

 smallish size, and goes to seed even earlier 

 than Salamander. 



Stubborn Seeder and Defiance Summer 

 closely resemble each other, and make a 

 rather loose head of medium size. Plants 

 show little or no inclination to go to seed. 



Longstamler Bronze-head is very handsome, 

 with its reddish-brown,somewhat curly leaves 

 and large loose heads. Slow to go to seed. 



California All Heart is a large curled variety 

 with somewhat loose heads and yellowish 

 green, immense leaves. It is very good, one 

 of the very best for later use. 



Early Ohio Cabbage resembles the preced- 

 ing in every way. 



Beckerfs Golden Curled is also of this type, 

 perhaps less curly. 



Buttercup again is the handsomest and 

 most delicate in the lot. Leaves golden yel- 

 low, tender; making a most beautiful, small- 

 ish, fairly solid head. It is not the variety 

 for quantity. 



Midsummer is of bronze color, and some- 

 what like Longstander Bronze-head. Like 

 this, it has little inclination to go to seed. 



Blonde Beauty is a large curly variety of 

 the Improved Hanson tyije, forming very 

 large solid heads. One of the most desirable 

 in the lot. 



Child's Half Century. In all Lettuce kind 

 we have never seen a variety that would give 

 us the solid heads that this does. It is more 

 like a Cabbage in this respect than like a 

 Lettuce. We shall plant it again. 



Gold Nugget is of same type as Defiance 

 Summer. 



From our selection for next season we 

 would certainly not omit the following: For 

 forcing and early use, Boston Market and 

 Grand Rapids; for late. Early Ohio Cabbage 

 (CaUfomia .411 Heart), Blonde Beauty and 

 Child's Half Century, and for beauty, Butter- 

 cup. 



Lettuce to be of best quality, sweet and 

 brittle should be grown quickly. We have 

 never found a better mode of culture for 

 general use than to sow thinly in rows a foot 

 or more apart, in well prepared and well- 

 enriched soil, and gradually thin to eight or 

 ten inches in the row. Good cultivation by 

 wheel hoe, supplemented by hand hoe where 

 necessary, and occasional applications of 

 nitrate of soda will gi veLettuce in abundance, 

 and of best quality. Repeated sowings 

 should be made for succession, and people Q 

 who like a few messess in late fall or early 

 winter, may sow late in summer, and take 



protecting their tender garden subjects through 

 the first fall frosts in order that they may 

 enjoy their beauty through the mild period 

 which usually follows. The wisdom of such a 

 course has been remarkably confirmed on our 

 grounds this year. Beginning with September 

 2.5th we had several frosts, but were prepared 

 for them by having nearly all tender ornamental 

 plants covered. Following the frosty spell there 

 was warmer weather, which caused additional 

 growth in all tender stuff that was not frost- 

 bitten, with the result of making our grounds 

 more attractive throughout the present month 

 (Octoberi th an they had been at any earlier time 



VEGETABLES 



SMALL 

 FRUITS 



trope. Verbenas, Coleus, Dahlias, Gladiolus, 

 Mountain Fleece, Anthemis tinctoria, Daphn^ 

 Pink, Wa.vberries, Berberries, Thorns, Blood- 

 leaved Plum, variegated- lea ved Dogwoods. At 

 that date the foliage of numerous trees and 

 shrubs was beginning to change. Thunberg's 

 Spiraea was taking on a golden and crimson hue, 

 while the Plum-leaved Spinea showed a brilliant 

 deep red in much of its foliage, and the Reeve's 

 Spiraja a peculiar blueish-red hue. The various 

 Dogwoods, the Virginian Creeper and Red Oaks 

 were showing the first touches of Autumn's 

 crimson pencil, while Sassafras, Ash, Calycan- 

 thus and Wild Ferns were assuming golden tints. 

 Contrasting with these early autumn colors 

 were the deep green of the Privets and 

 Willows, not to say the lawn, all of which 

 serve to heighten the other effects. 



Shritb Bedding. We have before alluded 

 to numerous examples of bedding hardy 

 shrubs effectually on our grounds. Figure 5 

 shows one of the smaller beds of this kind, 

 such as would from its extent be suitable for 

 introducing into grounds of almost any size. 

 The occupants in this case are as follows: 

 Five Golden Bell (Forsythia viridinnmai in- 

 dicated respectively by F; nine Variegated- 

 leaved Weigelias, shown by W; seven Pani- 

 cled-flowered Hydrangea, H in engraving; 

 seven Mezeron Pink, shown by D; one Straw- 

 berry bush (Euonymu)s\ shown by E. The 

 selection is capable of affording bloom almost 

 continuously from the time of the Mezeron 

 Pink in April to the end of the Hydrangea 

 season in October, while the fruit of the 

 Strawberry Bush gives attraction to the bed 

 in late autumn. The foliage of the bed is 

 also pleasingly varied from the light-colored 

 leaves of the Variegated Weigelia to the in- 

 tensely dark foliage of the Golden Bell. Be- 

 tween the shrubs at the edge of the bed are 

 scattered Hyacinths, Verbenas and other 

 dowering plants. 



VEGETABLE 

 GARDEN 



SMALL 

 FRUITS 



5 i^ 



Taste and Tact in arranging Grounds. The upper plan 

 ,, , , J , ^ . i ,. , "f <^ garden is unmtisfactory; the lower shows how the 



the well-developed plants up just before same garden might better be arranged. 

 cold weather; crowding them together in 



boxes, roots covered with soil, to be kept in cellar 

 near the window. 



The Giant Daisy; Pyrethrum Uuginositm. 

 This recent plant has been one of the most at- 

 tractive subjects in our hardy border during the 

 latter part of September and early (Jctober. The 

 engraving, page 30, shows the bloom at two-thirds 

 the natural size, and gives a very good idea of 

 its attractive character. The color is pure white 

 with yellow center. The blooms borne on strong 

 stems three to five feet high, present an appear- 

 ance of picturesque ruggedness, which is very 

 attractive. The plant is of strong growth evi- 

 dently, for ours has sprung up from a small root 

 imported from England last March. There has 

 Xteeo no chance to test its hardiness here, but 

 inasmuch as it is classed among hardy subjects 

 in numerous catalogues, we inter, as we other- 

 wise should from the appearance of the plant, 

 that it is perfectly hardy. Still we shall take 

 the precaution to protect our single plant before 

 winter, deferring tests of hardiness until after 

 more plants are secured. 



October Attractiveness. Foryearswehave 

 advised amateurs to be at considerable pains in 



this season. While now we enjoy flowers and 

 handsome foliage in abundance, had it not been 

 for the precaution of careful covering, the scen- 

 ery would be marred by black or vacant spots. 



All in all, the American October is one of the 

 most enjoyable of months in the garden. It is a 

 kind of second spring-time. By this date the 

 grass and many other growths that had received 

 a check by summer drouth, have taken in new 

 beauty, second only to the freshness of May and 

 June. Then come the autumn tints in a de- 

 gree of splendor unequalled by even the flowers 

 of spring-time. But the season is also not devoid 

 of flowers. 



Walking through our grounds October 8th, 

 we noticed the following features of striking 

 attractiveness: The clumps of Japan Anemones, 

 white, rose and purple, presenting a show of 

 beauty unequalled by any other flowers the 

 season thorough. The hardy and annual Sun- 

 flowers in numerous varieties, the hardy and 

 other Asters. Coreopsis lanceolata, Rudbeckia 

 Newmanii, Giant Daisy, the panicled Hydrangea, 

 Hybrid Perpetual and Monthly Roses, Petunias, 

 Mignonette,Zinnias, Marigold, Geraniums, Hello- 



Taste and Tact In Arranging 

 Grounds. 



1st Paper. 

 The present is the first of a series of 

 illustrated articles to appear in Popu- 

 lar Gardening on the subject of the 

 heading. It is designed to render these 

 above articles widely useful through 

 imparting ideas, on arranging home and 

 other grounds with taste and discern- 

 ment, basing the same on actual ex- 

 amples. The directions and illustrations 

 are to be of the most simple and prac- 

 tical character, and such as it is be- 

 lieved there is a large and growing de- 

 mand for in the present day. 



The plan is to invite, and we hereby 

 do cordially invite, sketches of home 

 plats, rural cemeteries, town squaresi 

 etc., from our readers, with a view to 

 our furnishing through these columns, 

 island without charge, designs and sugges- 

 tions for improving such grounds to be 

 more attractive in garden beauty. That 

 there is great room for improvements 

 in such a line is widely conceded. As 

 a people we are only beginning to 

 waken up to the possibilities of the gar- 

 den art in embellishing home and public 

 grounds everywhere. 



To render this project as profitable as 

 possible to all readers, we desire not only 

 to make use of such sketches sent to us, for 

 getting up engravings showing the lo- 

 cation of the objects on the grounds, but 

 along with such respectivly the new plans 

 embodying the improvements it occurs to us 

 to suggest. That this may be all clearly tm- 

 derstood we herewith present the plans 

 which are to serve as the initial ones in this 

 series. 



A subscriber in Allegan Co., Mich, whose 

 name and post office is witheld (as we 

 shall always do in these articles), sends to 

 us a sketch from which the upper engraving 

 anne-xed was made, with the following letter. 



Sept. 9, 1890. 

 Dear Sir;— Being a subscriber to Popular 

 Gardening and taking a very great interest in 

 the beautifying of homes, I herewith send you 



