32 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



November, 



November Rain. 

 The Sunflower crowus by the garden wall 



From blackened stalks hang down, 

 And the way-side Mulleins, stiff and tali, 



Are withered and bare and brown. 

 At chimney crevice and window sash 



Sounds the east wind's railing strain. 

 And now with a sudden ijatterlng dash 



Fail slanting sprays of rain. 

 The Locust branches are all asway. 



And Lilac shrubs bow low; 

 The Almond bushes bend away. 



And the straggling Rose-vines blow. 

 And plashing now on the fallen leaves 



And now on the window pane. 

 And dripping now from the mossy eaves 



Are the crystal tears of rain. 



— Oood Housekeeping . 



The Pumpkin. 



O,— fruit loved of boyhood!— the old days recalling. 

 When Wood-Grapes were purpling and brown Nuts 



were falling! 

 When wild, ugly faces we carved in Its skin. 

 Glaring out through the dark with a candle within! 

 When we laughed round the Corn-heap, with hearts 



all in tune. 

 Our chair a broad Pumpkin— our lantern the moon, 

 Telling tales of the fairy who traveled like steam 

 In a Pumpkin-shell coach, with two rats for her team! 

 —J. O. Whittier. 



It was autumn, and Incessant 



Piped the quail from the shocks and sheaves, 

 And like living coals, the Apples 



Burned among the withering leaves. 



—Longfellow. 



Plant the Bulbs quickly now. 



Shallow bins for fruit and Onions. 



Clear up the garden and beds tidily. 



At least the Peanut crop is plentiful. 



The Chrysanthemum is now at the head. 



No use trying Violets in a warm, close atmos- 

 phere. 



Winter gardening for most people is window 

 gardening. 



TTnfermented Grape juice seems to be a coming 

 temperance drink. 



Yon cannot miss it to prune hardy fruit and 

 other trees la November. 



Leaves are too valuable for mulching and 

 bedding to be left ungathered. 



Thinning my fruits has paid me five dollars 

 for every dollar spent in the work.— Pntit 

 Orower. 



We 'are glad to report that Cauliflower seed 

 raised in Washington has again proved entirely 

 reliable. 



Someone speaks of the Trumpet Creeper (,Te- 

 coma radicanv) as the Poison Ivy. They are not 

 even relatives. 



Talk Bight Out. The " Comments " depart- 

 ment of this .lournal is for every reader to help 

 fill. Please offer your practical comments on 

 what may appear in these columns from month 

 to month. 



The Novelty Trade. To the American Nur- 

 serymen's Association we would say. .loin the 

 florists and seedsmen in their efforts to reform 

 the abuses in the novelty trade. There is room 

 for such reform. 



On Covering Plants. The object of protecting 

 such hardy plants as Pansies, Strawberries, etc.. 

 is not so much to keep out cold as to jirevent 

 alternate freezing and thawing of the soil, which 

 leads to heaving of the plants. 



A Victoria Begia in bloom has been on ex- 

 hibit at Slebrecht &■ Wadley's, New llochelle, 

 N. Y., in September. There were also many 

 choice aciiuatic plants, including Nymphjeas and 

 Lotuses from Egypt, Ki-azil and Zanzibar. 



The Dictamnus or Kraxinella, a choice occu- 

 pant of our garden borders, grows wild in the 

 Alps of Austria, where in rocky, shady nooks it 

 attains a height of more than three feet By some 

 it has been regarded as the " burning bush " of 

 Mo33S, a conception entirely fanciful no doubt. 



To Keep Orapes, Start Bight. Fruit that is 

 badly ripened, poor and watery, will not keep 

 under any circumstances. For long keeping use 

 well ripened Grapes, placed in an even tempera- 

 ture of not more than 40° F. Thus when care- 

 fully packed in dry sawdust, the fruit may be 

 kept until the vines are in bloom. 



Plant TTmbrellaa. Here is an idea for some 

 manufacturer. Make a small portable awning 

 for Chrysanthemums, Dahlias, etc., to protect 

 them from injury from fall rains. The cover 

 might consist of some cheap cotton material 

 oiled. They should be sold at a c^heap figure, and 

 arranged to fold into a small compass when 

 not in use.— C. L. Slade, Wayne Co., Pa. 



And One to Taste. At the great show of 

 preserved and other fruits held by the 

 Royal Horticultural Society in London last 

 month one good feature prevailed. All articles 

 were required to be sent in b.v threes so that one 

 of the samples could be opened and tasted by the 

 judges. This is right. Judgment of fruit based 

 only on appearances is not good judgment. 



Leaf Propagation of Chrysanthemums. It is 

 not generally known that the Chrysanthemum 

 can be propagated from a single leaf as well as 

 from cuttings and division. Take a leaf with a 

 bud at its base and cover it lightly with sand in 

 some slightly shaded spot where the heat is con- 

 genial, and it will after a little throw out roots 

 and start an upward growth. 



Portrait of a Nurseryman. We are in receipt 

 of a fine portrait of the late B. S. Williams, of 

 Upper Holloway, England, sent out by the Vic- 

 toria and Paradise Nurseries which were founded 

 by him. Mr. Williams will be remembered as a 

 benevolent man, always ready to promote horti- 

 culture, and one who at all times had in view the 

 advancement of gardening and the gardener. 

 He was a great collector of choice plants. 



Peaches at Niagara, Canada. In the township 

 of Niagara alone there are at least 4,000 acres of 

 land devoted to Peach culture, or about one-flf th 

 of the whole amount of arable land in the town- 

 ship. So well adapted indeed is this land to Peach 

 culture and so little have the trees suffered with 

 either blight or yellows that little else in the 

 fruit line is planted, and that almost every farm 

 is being devoted to the Peach as the most profit- 

 able industry. 



Swarf Mock Orange Bush, For a dwarf shrub 

 of rounded form for the lawn or shrub border, 

 we know of nothing that is capable of giving 

 better general satisfaction than the subject of 

 the engraving on the opposite page. It is of 

 robust habit, requiring no petting under ordin- 

 ary culture. Its growth is symmetrical without 

 the use of the pruning shears, while if these are 

 brought to bear on its branches, it may be easily 

 had as round as a ball. The variety rarely pro- 

 duces Howers. 



The Wild Flower Club. The rapid disappear- 

 ance of our beautiful native flora has become a 

 subject of national agitation, and our leading 

 botanists are giving it their earnest attention. 

 We want no national flower until our beautiful 

 native ones are saved to us. A pamphlet descrip- 

 tive of the American Wild Flower Club can be 

 had from us by sending stamp. We have plent.v 

 for all. No salaried commissioners are engaged 

 in this work, but it is a labor of love.— C. .S. Hmn, 

 Wilmington, Del. 



Grape Eot Under Control. Col. Pearson of 

 New Jersey, says that success in treating Grapes 

 with copper sulphate for black rot and mildew 

 has been as complete this year in that region as 

 could be hoped. All those who have sprayed 

 their vines with the Bordeaux mixture early and 

 often, have almost perfect crops of Concord 

 Grapes. Only a few vine-growers have had the 

 energy to spray their vineyards. Unless these 

 precautionary measures are taken it would seem 

 that for the present. Grape-growing is impossi- 

 ble in infected regions. 



You Beader. Did you send some notes of your 

 experience to Popdlar Gardening during the 

 past year'/ Certainly many of you did not; we 

 urge that such do better the coming year. 

 " Everybody knows more than anybody," is one 

 of the mottoes of this journal, and accordingly 

 we desire to have everybody— that means you, 

 dear reader— to address the family through our 

 columns, telling us about your successes and 

 your failures. Don't fear because you may 

 be no trained writer that your Information 

 would not be creditable— the editors in every 

 such case will help you out. We want, the Pop- 

 ular Gardening family wants, your ideas; we 

 shall see that they are well presented. 



A Famous Woman Botani't and Artist. In 

 the pursuit of her art Miss Marianna North, who 

 recently died at her home in Gloucestershire, 

 England, visited more lands than any painter of 

 the time. A few years ago she gave to the En- 

 glish nation an exhaustive botanic picture gallery 

 at Kew Gardens. It is virtually a pictorial record 

 of her expedition round the world. Among the 

 coinitries whose natural products were thus 

 carefully delineated may be mentioned Teneriffe, 

 Brazil, Jamaica, California, India, Ceylon, Borneo, 

 Singapore, Java, Japan, Australia and New 

 Zealand. Miss North's last journey to South 

 America brought on a long and painful illness, 

 to which she has just succumed at her residence 

 in Gloucestershire. She was sixty j'ears of age. 



A Historical Myrtle. Here is an instance of 

 the use of flowers by royalty that might fit into 

 the experience of any people, however humble. 

 When the Emperor William arrived at Osborne, 

 in August of last year, he was shown by his 

 grandmothei', the Queen, a very vigorous Myrtle 

 which has a history. On the marriage day of the 

 father of the present Emperor William with the 

 Princess Royal, of England, and the moment the 

 young married couple were taking leave of the 

 Queen, the Crown Prince when bidding farwell 

 to his mother-in-law, took a spray of the Myrtle 

 from the nuptial bouquet, and presented it to 

 Her Majesty. The Queen took the spray, and 

 sent it on the same day to Osborne, that it might 

 be rooted and planted in the garden That spray 

 has become the little tree which the Queen 

 showed to her grandson. 



Blue Geranium, When one hears of such a 

 flower it is well to collect one's thoughts for a 

 moment, and consider whether the novelty is 

 offered under the class of the tender so-called 

 garden Geraniums {which in a botanical sense 

 are Pelargoniums) or the real Geraniums of the 

 woods and clearings, and which are commonly 

 known as the Crane's Bill. We are led to make 

 this suggestion becaue a "blue Geranium " was 

 placed before the Floral Committee of the Lon- 

 don Horticultural Society by the Rev. W. Wilks, 

 and which received a flret-class certificate. But 

 it is of the true Geraniums, not that which we 

 cultivate under that name. In some respects it 

 comes near to our own G. pratense, but appears 

 to be not only distinct from it, but better, the 

 large white center enhancing the beauty of the 

 blue color. The novelty is called Shirley Blue. 



Light for Primroses, I sometimes meet plants 

 of the Single Primrose in the houses of people 

 that are not in as good condition as they might 

 be, simply from being deprived of more light 

 than suits them. This flower is easily grown to 

 perfection it one observes to give it all the light 

 and sun possible— a shelf near the glass being the 

 best position for the plants. It does not require 

 much heat, 45° to 55° suiting it. Frequent or 

 violent changes of atmosphere are to be guarded 

 against, as this alone might prove fatal to the 

 plants. Another common cause of the plants not 

 doing well is alternate periods of being kept too 

 wet or too dry. An even state of a moderate 

 amount of moisture and regular temperature is 

 by far the best preventive of the decay of the 

 stem so often met with in these plants.— J. D. 

 L., Oenesee Co., N. Y. 



Preserve the Pure Streams. A recent English 

 writer bewails the defilement of the formerly 

 pure streams, and calls tor a crusade against the 

 evil. If there is one beauty in a landscape, it is 

 a pure clear stream or brook rippling over the 

 stones. If there is one blot on a land- 

 scape, it is a muddy, sewage-defiled stream. The 

 wonder is that so many land owners have allowed 

 a clear stream— one of Nature's sweetest gifts— 

 to be defiled. In numbers of cases the day when 

 a stream was clear is easily remembered. My 

 mind recalls streams once about pure, now foul, 

 and a large millpond now filled with fermenting 

 deposit which was once clear. At Lancing Col- 

 lege, the entire sewage is clumsily allowed to 

 ooze over the north slope of their hill, while 

 below is a clear, delicious spring and stream and 

 vale called I.adywell, into whichsomeof itseems 

 to be led, so far as symptoms demonstrate. 



Less Land and Hore Profit. Governor Hill, of 

 New York, in one of his recent speeches, re- 

 peated the story of an English farmer who 

 owned 300 acres of laud. At the marriage of 

 each of his three daughters he gave, .50 acres as 

 dower, and at the last he found he had raised as 

 much on the 150 acres as he had before on the 

 300. This story is in keeping with an experience 

 the writer recalls in his boyhood days. His 



