1890. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



41 



3,078. Cranberry Culture. The home of the 

 Cranberry is in low lands and bogs. For this 

 reason many soils, otherwise not of mueh use, or 

 productive of paying crops, could be made to 

 yield comparatively large returns if planted to 

 Cranberries. The first essential is that the water 

 supply can be gotten under perfect control, as 

 the beds must be kept under water during the 

 cold season as a protection from damage by 

 freezing. The first thing to do is to cut the nec- 

 essary open ditches to drain off the water. Next 

 clear the land from brush, stump, weeds and 

 coarse grasses. It may even be necessary to re- 

 move the turf. The field should then be laid off 

 in level beds, with a ditch surrounding each bed, 

 and a narrow bank next to the ditch, always 

 bearing in mind to arrange it so that the water 

 can be admitted and kept, or again drained off 

 at will. When all this is done, a layer of sand, 

 several inches in depth, should be spread evenly 

 all over the beds Now flood the beds, draw off 

 the water, and scatter the pieces of plants about 

 three inches long; then run on water enough to 

 moisten the sand thorougly, and keep it moist 

 until the plants have taken root. Or stick larger 

 plants into the sand, say six inches apart each 

 way. Keep the plants free from weeds for a 

 time, and they will soon take possession of the 

 soil, excluding all other plant growth. The beds 

 are flooded when frost is threatened in the fall, 

 and during winter as a protection from freezing. 

 The water is drained off about first of May. 

 Should the bed become very dry, or insects 

 trouble the crop, water may be turned on again 

 for a short time, otherwise this is not done until 

 after the crop is harvested. The varieties usually 

 cultivated are the Bell and the I'herry Cranber- 

 ries. The plant is a perennial, bearing regular 

 and annual crops; hardy and easily propagated 

 by layers or cuttings lightly covered with soil 

 and kept moist. 



2.089. Strawberry Leaf Boiler, This is one of 

 the most destructive of Strawberry pests The 

 old and reliable remedy for it is mowing and 

 burning off the ^ines in summer, shortly after 

 the fruiting season. The insects are in the pupa 

 stage, and the burning process will destroy a 

 great many of them. But since we have the 

 spraying pumps, and Paris green, and areexperts 

 in applying such poisons for all other insect foes, 

 we might as well make use of such device for 

 the leaf roller also, and thus make a sure thing 

 of it. When the leaves are well out in spring, 

 but before the berries have set, apply the Paris 

 green solution (one pound to300gallons of water) 

 in spray form. This will kill off the spring brood 

 of the leaf roller as well as other inseets that 

 might be troublesome. Then after the fruit is 

 picked, spray again, and afterwards mow and 

 burn the leaves. This treatment will be pretty 

 sure to rid the patch thoroughly of the unde- 

 sirable visitor. All this, of course, is theoretical, 

 but the theory is borne out by fact. Plants that 

 have been allowed to bear a few berries, within 

 a few weeks after being set out, seldom do as 

 well the next season, or any time afterwards, as 

 when the blossoms had all been removed. 



2,01c. Mushroom Growing. If intelligently 

 carried on it is profitable, and Mushrooms can 

 be grown well in Celery cellars. Please remem- 

 ber that a properous bed should have a staying 

 of about ()0° inside itself to keep the mycelium 

 in active growth, and a temperature of .50° to .55° ; 

 5° more in both cases would be better still. An 

 ordinary unheated cellar would not probably af- 

 ford so high a surface temperature, but this is 

 easily overcome by boxing up the beds or other- 

 wise covering them sufficiently to raise the tem- 

 perature to the required degree. A low temper- 

 ature will not necessarilly kiU the mycelium, it 

 merely renders it inactive, hence non-produc- 

 tion till the return of conglina! conditions. 

 There is both a steady and growing demand for 

 Mushrooms. Inexperience is the main draw- 

 back to success in Mushroom growing. But per- 

 serving and intelligent practice will soon elim- 

 inate this drawback— Wm. Falconer. 



2,011.5. Heating Small Greenhouse for Raising 

 Lettuce, etc. There is no simpler, and we do not 

 think a more economical way, in the end, to heat 

 a small plant house or forcing pit than by means 

 of an ordinary water heater such as are now 

 being made and advertised by manufacturers in 

 every large city, and a system of ordinary iron 

 pipe. If you do not know the addresses of man- 

 ufacturers living nearer you, write to Hitchings 

 & Co., 233 Mercer street. New York City, enclos- 

 ing four cents in stamps, or to Pierce, Butler & 

 Pierce Manufacturing Co., Syracuse, N. T., for 

 catalogues. You will find much good and re- 

 liable information beai'ing on the iiuestion in 

 these catalogues. Some of the self-feeding and 

 regulating water heaters, large enough to heat 

 even a larger house than you mention (20 by 24) 

 can now tie had at a reasonable price, and will do 

 the work for which they were designed, quite 

 well and without requiring much attention. The 

 wrought-iron pipe is now almost exclusively 

 used in heating glass houses, and the small size 

 is perhaps preterable to larger sizes. Of course 

 a larger number will be required. 



2,066. Hardy Fruits for Northern Illinois. 



There is hardly a fruit on our small fruit list 

 which with proper care, and in some cases with 

 a little winter protection, could not be success- 

 fully grown in Northern Illinois. Of Strawber- 

 ries select any variety tried in your immediate 

 vicinity and found reliable. This of course, is 

 general advice that is safe to follow everywhere, 

 and with respect to all other fruits. All Currants 

 and Gooseberries are perfectly hardy. Of Rasp- 

 berries, try the Turner and Cuthbert among the 

 red sorts, and Gregg and Souhegan among the 

 black caps. Ancient Briton, Stone's Hardy and 

 Snyder are good hardy Blackberries. Among 

 Grapes you might select Worden, Concord, 

 Niagara, and almost any other good variety, for 

 by simply hiying down and covering slightly 

 even the tenderer sorts will endureyour winters. 

 The same might be said of the tenderer Raspber- 

 ries and Blackberries. In regard to tree fruits, 

 look around in your own neighborhood and see 

 what sorts are grown by others mostsuccessfully, 

 and plant them. Will not some fruitgrower in 

 one of the northern counties give us a list of such 

 fruits succeeding well in that section?— G. R. 



2,068. Garden Ailing. Perhaps you are killing 

 your soil with kindness. Old gardens that have 

 been superabundantly fed with manure year 

 after year, often behave in the manner just 

 complained of by you. The soil has become as 

 rich as a manure heap itself, and is apparently 

 in best condition tor the production of maximum 

 crops of any kind of vegetables. Yet the old 

 stand byes will not do as well as they used to do 

 and the skillful cultivation cannot prevent 

 their turning to complete failures. We have 

 heard such complaints frequently, especially by 

 people who grow Lettuce and Spinach quite 

 largely for market. The cause of such strange 

 behavior is yet a matter of speculation and 

 theory. Some say the soil has become " manure 

 sick," but it is not quite plain what exact condi- 

 tion should be underetood by that term. We 

 incline to the belief that that the cause of the 

 trouble is to be found in the fact that the 

 soil has become corrupt with fungi, and per- 

 haps insect enemies. The fermentation of 

 organic matter in such soil is unusually favora- 

 ble to the generation and propagation of lower 

 forms of life, the parasitic nature of which will 

 not give much cnance for the development of 

 the higher forms on which they feed. So much 

 for theory. What we would do, m practice, is to 

 give the soil a thorough change in feed and 

 treatment, withhold barn-yard manure or any 

 orher organic fertilizer entirely, and perhaps 

 change the crops for a few years. To dispose of 

 iujurious fungi and insects, we would make 

 liberal applications of air-slacked lime, or the 

 refuse of lime-kilns, and perhaps try a light 

 sprinkling of sulphate of iron (green copperas) 

 well pulverized. If nitrogenous manure were 

 thought necessary for any crop, we would use 

 onl}' nitrate of soda, and in any case would only 

 grow those crops for a year or two, that have 

 seemed to be least affected by the unfavorable 

 soil conditions. If the inquirer follows any of 

 these suggestions, we hope that the results will 

 be reported to this oflice in due time. 



2,0.56. Celery Leaf Blight. This disease has 

 become quite common in almost every section of 

 the United States. Its presence is shown by 

 yellowish-green irregular patches upon the 

 foliage. These spots shortly turn to a brown 

 color, and finally the entire leaf, in the woret 

 cases, droops, dries up and dies. If one of the 

 diseased patches was examined under the mi- 

 croscope says Prof. Byron I). Halsted in Garden 

 and Forest it would be found that small brown 

 tufts of minute filaments protruded from nearly 

 every one of the thousands of breathing pores 

 in each square inch of the epidermis. Upon the 

 tips of the threads constituting the tuft are 

 borne long, slender spores, which fall away when 

 ripe, and are carried about by the winds when 

 dry and by the rains during wet weather. As 

 the feeding threads of the Fungus are through- 

 out the substance of the infested plant before 

 they come to the surface to bear their spores, it 

 is useless to try and effect a cure of foliage 

 already badly infested. The most natural thing 

 to do is to pick off the worse than worthless 

 leaves and burn them. This will do something 

 to hold the trouble in check. In the second 

 place, some substance can be placed upon the 

 diseased parts to kill the spores, and at the same 

 time upon the heal th.v plants or parts ot plants 

 to prevent the germination of the spores that 

 may lodge there. From the nature of the trouble 

 and a knowledge of what certain chemicals 

 have done with other parasitic fungi, it is 

 reasonable to conclude that the compound of 

 cupric carbonate in ammonia would prove a 

 great assistance in ridding truck-farms of this 

 serious pest. The formula for the Grape-rot 

 found most etlective is, three ounces of the 

 copper carbonate in one quart of ammonia and 

 diluted to twenty-two gallons with water. It is 

 a well known fact that some varieties of Olery 

 are less susceptible than others— iheWhite Plume 

 has an excellent record, as being comparatively 

 free from the disease. 



2,021. Dandelions for Greens. I grow the 

 large-leaved variety and raise a fresh stock from 

 seed every year. I sow in rows IH inches apart, 

 and early in April when I have delayed owing 

 till May or later the seeds never have germinated 

 evenly. The young seedlings grows rankly in 

 summer and close up the rows before July is 

 over, but never bloom the first season. In fall I 

 lift a lot of the roots for forcing in winter in the 

 Mushroom cellar. As soon as the weather 

 breaks in March I cover part of the outdoor 

 rows with board sides V wise, each side is two 

 boards or 18 inches wide; This is to partly 

 blanch the Dandelions and render them more 

 tender than they would be if left in the open 

 and green. These board sidings had been used 

 in winter for protecting the Celery ridges. We 

 also use the green Dandelions from the open 

 field. Dandelions are the fl 1st fiesh green veg- 

 etable we have in spring and come in about 

 three, often four weeks ahead of Asparagus, our 

 next. Very soon after they throw up a fine 

 growth of leaves they begin to bloom ; we then 

 stop cutting and root out all the roots and clear 

 the ground and get it ready for another crop. 

 We don't use Dandelions in fall because we have 

 such an abundance of other green vegetables. 

 And as we never keep them long enough to let 

 them ripen any seed, they never become a pest. 

 — Wm. Falconer. 



3.094. Wood Ashes on Clay Soil. Whether 

 leached or unleached ashes are best for a clay 

 soil depends of course on the condition of the 

 latter. If deprived of all its plant-foods, by con- 

 tinous cropping and maltreatment, unleached* 

 ashes are undoubtedly preferable, but they 

 should be supplemented by organic matter, to 

 furnish the needed nitrogen, and also for its 

 mechanical effect. Ashes alone will not make 

 strong clay soils appreciably looser and more 

 porous, unless applied in great quantities. 

 Usually clay soils are well enough provided with 

 potash, and often with organic matter. In that 

 case, especially in grain growing phosphoric 

 acid is needed more than any other substances 

 of plant food, Unleached ashes contain a large 

 proportionate amount ot potash, and little phos- 

 phoric acid. Leaching reverses this, by taking 

 out the potash and leaving the phosphoric acids. 

 As leached ashes are much cheaper than un- 

 leached, we can furnish to the soil much more 

 ot the needed phosphoric acid at the same ex- 

 pense by using the leached article than by the 

 use of the other. For the fruit growers, how- 

 ever, potash is perhaps the most important plant- 

 food, and needed for his crop on any soil in larger 

 quantities than other substances. Hence in 

 such case we would usually perfer the un- 

 leached ashes. 



3.095. Cultivation of Huckleberries. Mr. 

 Joseph Meehar gives his experience with the 

 Huckleberry in Practical Farmer. He thinks 

 they should be planted at least tor home use, as 

 a more wholesome fruit does not exist. Two 

 years ago he went to the woods and dug up some 

 of the common Yttcciniuin Penmiitlvnnium. This 

 grows in Pennsylvania woods as well as in New 

 Jersey. As but few roots are attached to bushes 

 from the woods, to compensate, the bushes were 

 cut down half their height and planted in ordin- 

 ary garden soil, in the full sun. .Almost every 

 plant grew, and to day nearly every plant has 

 some berries on, and in the course of a year or 

 two there will be a good fruit patch. Two to 

 three feet is as tall as the bush usually gets. 

 There are nearly a dozen different kinds, all 

 bearing edible berries. 



Coryinbosum, grows to be a bush 6 to 10 feet 

 high. Besides the " Huckleberries " it bears a 

 beautiful flower in spring. Its small pacemes of 

 white flowers are conspicuously pretty. After 

 this there comes the fruit, and then, to crown 

 all, in the tall the leaves turn to a pretty red 

 color, which is uncommon to find in shrubs. 

 Get the plants in the spring, and do not neglect 

 the precaution of cutting them down when 

 transplanting them, as but few roots can be 

 dug up with them. 



2,073. Bemoving Blossoms from Newly Set 

 Strawberry Plants. Fruit production is a heavy 

 drain on the vitality ot a plant, and unless a 

 plant be strong and well matured, it cannot stand 

 such a drain without suffering a serious check to 

 its vigor, and future bearing capacities. Picking 

 off the blossoms from a newly-set Strawberry 

 plantation is done tor the same reason that we 

 give most of our domestic animals suflJcient time 

 lor development before allowing them to breed. 

 Taking up plants and resetting them is a stab at 

 the plants vitality. We should give them time 

 to lully recover from this and become strong, 

 before subjecting them to the great drain ot 

 bearing fruit. 



2,0S5. Alpine Strawberry Seed. Seeds of the 

 runnerless bush sorts is not catalogued by 

 American seedsmen so for as we can discover. 

 Haage & Schmidt, Erfurt, Germany, offer plants, 

 and possibly seed may be had from them. 



2,015. Seed of Ginkgo- U. H. Berger & Co., 

 315 and 317 Washington street, San Francisco, 

 can furnish it. 



