1890. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



37 



the plants during the summer and see that they 

 are not allowed to dry. They can be brought in 

 the latter part of Oetober. Tliey will require 

 very little forcing for Easter. Until the first of 

 February 40 to 4.'> degrees at night with plenty of 

 air during the day will be sufficient. Then the 

 temperature can be increased to 50 degrees at 

 night and less air du ring the day. From the first 

 of Fcbruarj- they will need plenty of water and 

 one or two doses of weak manure water. 



The above four varieties find the readiest sale 

 at Easter in New York. Other plants largely 

 grown, are the Spiraea, Deutzia, ('alias, Roses, 

 Rhododendrons and Geraniums. A large num- 

 ber of Dutch Hyacinths and Tulips, mostly 

 double. Narcissus and Valley are grown for 

 Easter. I shall only speak of the cultivation of 

 the Valley in pots Plant 15 pips in a five inch 

 pot !jl days before Easter, and place in the dark 

 in a warm greenho\ise lor two weeks. At that 

 time give bench and light and air, which will 

 give the foliage its natural color and harden the 

 flowers. It is in great demand and can be 

 sold at a handsome profit. 



Palms and other foliage plants that are not 

 grown especially for Easter are much used then. 



Grow only the ipiantity of plants that you can 

 dispose of at Easter at a profit. If Easter comes 

 early, afterwards it will be almost impossible to 

 sell Azaleas, Hydrangeas and the like. 



After New Years the grower with Easter plants 

 to force, will often have plants with enough 

 flowers to make him hesitate to throw them out; 

 he may reason that there is time to finish cutting 

 the crop, and by extra firing he will have his 

 plants for Easter, but does he count the cost of 

 extra fuel? Or the danger of getting late with 

 his plants, or the injury his plants receive by 

 high temperature to get them in time? Hely on 

 your own judgment in forcing plants. At New 

 Yeai-s is the time we generally start to force for 

 Easter, If the house has a southern exposure, 

 less time will be reciuired than if the house is 

 situated so that it catches the sun for only a 

 short time during the day. 



CONDENSED GLEANINGS. 



Arrangement of Oreenhonse. In the nursery 

 of M. A. D'Haene, of Ghent, may be seen a new 

 arrangement of the staging, which is worth 

 notice. On each side of the path, which divides 

 the house longitudinally into two equal parts, 

 there is placed a propagating-case, devoted to 

 the propagation and germination of plants, and 

 covered by lights which can be pushed away 

 when necessary. Above these cases is an 

 arrangement of stages, on which plants may be 

 placed ; these stages are also on rollers, and may 



A NEW ARRANGEMENT OF GREENHOUSE. 



be moved aside when it is necessary to work at 

 the case beneath, or when the plants upon them 

 have to be changed. Behind these stages, the 

 glass side of the house, three feet deep, permits 

 the entrance of sulBcient sunlight to the frame, 

 so that cuttings can be taken ; and seeds, 

 especially those of Palms, may germinate. The 

 results which the inventor of this system has 

 obtained so far are most satisfactory. At the 

 top of the house, the small beams are strength- 

 ened by horizontal iron bars,from which Orchids, 

 Nepenthes, etc., may be hung; in a word, there 

 are, as it were, three tiers, one devoted to the 

 germination and propagation of seeds and plants, 

 another for growing plants, and lastly one for 



specimens which require to be suspended in 

 baskets or little wooden rafts. The illustration 

 shows this convenient arrangement — G'rsChron. 



A Sponge Garden. People may have a min- 

 iature garden b.v sowing seeds on a sponge. Fill 

 the sponge full of seed of Canary, Hemp, Grass, 

 or other seed. Even the common Mustard seed 

 will grow quickly and last for a time. Then set 

 in a shallow plate or fancy dish comporting 

 with the character of the room. Pour water 

 into the dish until absorbed by the sponge, a por- 

 tion always remaining at the bottom of the dish 

 to prevent drying out of the sponge. The seeds 

 will begin to sprout in a short time. Mustard 

 will grow quickest of all. In the early stages of 

 growth a pretty good share of light may be 

 given, but afterward, when in full growth it 

 may be set on the table or suspended by strings. 

 At no time must the sponge be 

 allowed to get dry. Carrots and 

 other roots can also be made to do 

 duty as hanging plants by suspend- 

 ing them by means of strings. The 

 crown part only of a good strong 

 plant is needed. If suspended, 

 crown down, the new growth will 

 take an upward course, and pretty 

 soon cover all the old part of the 

 root. This is not a very extensive 

 system of gardening, but there 

 are places were about all that can 

 be enjoyed is something of 

 this sort, and children are interested in this kind 

 of experiment. — Prairie Farmer, 



Are Pitcher Plants Carnivoroas? Of late 

 years it has been assumed by botamsts that the 

 pitchers of Nepenthes acted in the same way 

 that the stomach of an animal does when it 

 comes in contact with food ; that is to say,. that 

 a ferment was produced which effected the 

 solution of the entrapped insects, and rendered 

 its absorption possible. By availing himself of 

 the researches of M. Pasteur and others, M. 

 Raphael Dubois arrives at the conclusion that : 

 1. The liquid contained in the pitchers of Nepen- 

 thes contains no digestive juice comparable to 

 pepsine, and that the Nepenthes are not car- 

 nivorous 2. That the phenomena of disaggre- 

 gation or mock-digestion observed b.v Sir Joseph 

 Hooker were due to the action of bacteria, in- 

 troduced from without, and not to a secretion 

 from the plant. Of what use, therefore, are the 

 pitchers? and what is the meaning of the fluid 

 they contain ?— Gardeners' Chronicle. 



Ferns for the House, I hope plant lovers will 

 turn their attention to Ferns for the house. 

 Our small conservatory looked so bare when the 

 Geraniums, Fuchsias and Callas were carried 

 out, that we dug lots of Ferns in the woods, 

 potted them and they grew beautifully. Ferns 

 can grow when the house is dark and the hot 

 sun is shut out. We had nice ones in the front 

 hall and in north windows. It is said they make 

 rooms cooler in hot days, especially if they are 

 well showered. My glass case is made of three 

 old window frames, each with a single pane of 

 glass, with end pieces fitted in, and it is put over 

 a zinc tray that has pieces of broken crocks in 

 the bottom and sifted sand on top. I have three 

 Florida Ferns that have done well, Lycopodium 

 and several Begonias. The best of it is, you have 

 a lovely thing for the sunless window, and hardlj' 

 have to raise the lid all winter.— Sister Gracious 

 in Vick's Magazine. 



Curl of the Leaf in Peaches. Some of the 

 journals speak of this disease as a malady for 

 which there is no remedy. The prevention and 

 cure, which we have obser\'ed for many years as 

 elBcacious, is the thrifty growth of the tree. 

 Young trees, and those which stand in rich or 

 well cultivated soil, are less severely attacked 

 with the disease, and they more speedily recover 

 their healthy foliage. On the other hand, old 

 trees which stand in grass and have a feeble 

 growth, not unfrequently lose all their foliage 

 and do not recover. Judicious pruning will often 

 favor increased growth, if done before the buds 

 open. The efficacy of vigor is shown by the fact 

 that during warm days early in the season the 

 disease does not prevail to such extent as in cold 

 chilly weather, when its worst development is 

 seen.— Country Gentleman. 



Repairing Qreenhouse Benches. Many florists 

 frequently have benches which they dislike to 

 pull down, and which they are still doubtful 

 about leaving, on account of danger of the 

 boards breaking through. If the posts and 

 supports are sound, such benches can often be 

 made to last another season by removing the 

 sand or earth from them and covering with 



heavy tarred paper, after which the sand or 

 earth can be replacetl. Should a particularly 

 weak spot be noticed, a i>iece of thin board or 

 slate can be placed over the tarred pav>er to 

 strengthen that particular spot. Do not, how- 

 ever,^se tar or tarred i)aper in any situation 

 where the heating piiies could melt the tar as 

 the gas would be injurious to plants.— H. W. 

 Hales in Florists' Exchange. 



Borticnlture vs. Intemperance. One of the 

 most thrifty flower gardens in the suburbs is 

 that attached to the Massachusetts Home for In- 

 temperate Women. Mrs. Charpiot has a garden 

 full of old-fashioned flowers in luxuriant bloom. 

 Cacti from New Mexico, and a pretty grove of 

 Mulberry trees, planted last spring. In the 

 vegetable garden there are Potatoes, Tomatoes, 

 Corn, Beans, Squash. A half-dozen handsome 



THE ROSS CHAMPION PRUNER. 



Pekin ducks are very much admired. Mrs. 

 Charpiot is never absent from her post of duty, 

 and while others are rusticating, she rescues 

 poor broken lives and goes forward to the top of 

 her ambition, which is to make this home self- 

 supporting.— Boston Ti-anscript. 



A Chance for the " Novelty " Makers. Prof. 

 Bailey recently showed the writer a curious 

 instance of the peculiarities of grafting. A 

 Tomato vine had been grafted on a Potato stalk. 

 The Tomato vine was bearing fruit, and prob- 

 ably the Potato plant will develop tubers. What 

 a great chance here for some of our benevolent 

 plant sellers ! Let them advertise a " wonderful 

 discovery," and tell people how to grow Toma- 

 toes and Potatoes on the same plant without 

 fear of bugs or blight. Thousands of people 

 would pay well for the ** great secret." Do you 

 not believe it?— Rural New Yorker. 



Tuberoses Growing Single- About a dozen 

 years ago, I planted out upwards of a thousand 

 Tuberoses in our greenhouse benches; as they 

 started to grow, we found they were too thick, 

 and we took out half of them and transplanted 

 on the same bench. F.very bulb of those that 

 were left undisturbed came double, while every 

 plant which we had transplanted, and which had 

 suffered some wilting in the operation, came 

 single. This was proof beyond any question 

 that the check in growth induced the flowers to 

 become single.— Peter Henderson in Am.Garden. 



Driving Nails into Trees, I protest against 

 the thoughtless practice of spoiling good timt)er 

 by nailing fence rails to trees. I have often seen 

 much waste of wood and damage to saws, and 

 loss of time in extracting the nails before sawing 

 could again be proceeded with. The reply of 

 men when remonstrated with, often is that it will 

 not fall to their lot to use the timber. This is 

 very likely true; but if the workmen are uncon- 

 cerned, it is necessary that someone should see 

 to it. It only takes a few moments longer to 

 drive in a stake.— English Exchange. 



A Budding Machine- W. H. Rowell, of Fort 

 Meade, has invented a budding machine. Being 

 " loaded " with a bud, plow under the bark and 

 a pull on the trigger drives the bud in, and leaves 

 it in proper position for binding, Mr. Rowell 

 claims that 13,000 buds can be inserted in a day 

 with his budder, and that a child can learn the 

 use of it in fifteen minutes. This implement is 

 in some respects like a seed dropper. The part 

 that holds and inserts the bud is made of differ- 

 ent sizes or numbers, adapted to the different 

 sizes of buds and stocks.— Florida Agriculturist. 



Planting Trees in Autumn. In fall planting 

 there is one element of injury which spring 

 planting escapes, and that is the chance of draw- 

 ing out by frost. If the soil be anyway wet 

 where trees are to be set out, it will be far the 

 best to defer the work till spring. So if the trees 

 are small, unless very well protected by having 

 earth drawn up about them and excessive moist- 

 ure diverted from them, they are very likely to 

 be lifted and injured considerably. The larger 

 and hardier trees may be safely planted.— Ger- 

 mantown Telegraph. 



