POPULAR GARDENING. 



cents per pound for the culls. The crop will 

 probably amount to between 350 and 400 

 barrels, and bring Mr. Hopkins the neat 

 little sum of about .*3,000, without involving 

 him in any expense besides picliiug, sorting, 

 and drawing to the railroad station. The 

 buyers are furnishing the needed packages. 



The aggregate returns from these two 

 acres in Bartletts for the past four years, 

 this year included, amount to about 4i7,000. 

 ■We hardly think any of our readers will 

 question the statement that Bartlett Pears 

 are a profitable crop in this vicinity. 



Mr. Hopkins tells us that aside from this 

 exceptional season, $4.00 per barrel is prob- 

 ably an average of prices obtained for the 

 fruit. At the same time a little experience 

 in selling the prodiict to advantage is easily 

 worth 50 cents or $1.00 per barrel to the 

 grower, and perhaps more. 



As an instance of this, he sold, as already 

 stated, at 5 cents per pound for the better 

 grades and 2J^ cents per pound for the culls. 

 Other growers sold their crop at four cents 

 per pound right through, imagining that 

 they got as much in this way as Mr. Hop- 

 kins. Now the usual proportion of culls is 

 less than one-fifth of the crop. Thus Mr. 

 Hopkins gets 32J.2 cents for each five pounds, 

 while other growers receive only 30 cents 

 for the same quantity. In other words, Mr. 

 Hopkins' price is ten per cent higher than 

 that paid to his neighbors. 



We still have to say that Mr. Hopkins has 

 started a young orchard of Bartletts, larger 

 than the other; thus providing a substitute 

 should the older orchard give out. Blight 

 has already done some damage to the older 

 trees, and under this system of high feeding 

 with barnyard manure and clean cultivation, 

 may soon become very serious. It is the 

 only drawback to this business. 



Birds Injuring Grapes. 



BAMTJEL MILLER, MONTGOMERY CO., MO. 



Tlie remarks on this subject on page 331, 

 in August number, amuse me somewhat, 

 and as some claim that the birds are entitled 

 to a share of the fruit in payment for the 

 good they do in the vineyard, I would like 

 to know what that good is? I doubt whether 

 any of them feed on the insects most de- 

 structive to our vines and the fruit. And as 

 to the damage a lot of birds will do in a 

 vineyard, it sometimes amounts to ruin. I 

 have seen vineyards of nearly an acre bear- 

 ing a full crop, out of which it would have 

 been difliicult to collect enough perfect 

 bunches for a decent exhibition. Not only 

 this, but they injured the crop for wine, as 

 many berries are picked on top, the insects 

 suck out the juice, rain gets in and ferments 

 the juice left, and then sours, which is by 

 no means desirable in the wine vat. 



I would even allow them a share of the 

 fruit (even if they are no benefit) if they 

 would eat the berries; but they only peck a 

 berry and suck a little of the sweets, then 

 peck another and another, which spoils the 

 bunch. This is not all, for in one raid an 

 orchard oriole will spoil a half dozen 

 bunches. This is no question with me, but 

 a well-known fact. 



Next comes, what birds do injure Grapes? 

 The English sparrow has made three at- 

 tempts to start a colony here, but we have 

 spoiled them, so I cannot say whether they 

 eat Grapes or not. But I do know that the 

 red bird, cardinal, grossbeak does some of 

 it, but for his beauty, his cheerful song and 

 his intimacy with us in the winter when 

 nearly all the other feathered tribe has gone 

 south, we tolerate it. 



The red-headed woodpecker is not slow 

 on Grapes, nor the thrush, the cat bird, gold- 

 en oriole, and lastly and by far the worst 

 the orchard oriole, which here destroys more 

 Grapes than all the rest combined. I have 

 made it a rule to not allow them to hatch 



here for several years, destroying the old 

 ones and the nest, but this season one party 

 has been raised, which my intention is to 

 destroy so that there will be none of them 

 to locate here next season. The few Grapes 

 that the rot left us are being picked as soon 

 as colored; and when once ripe, the punctur- 

 ing of a Grape by a bird, and the end of that 

 berry is not an hour, as the bees are on the 

 alert and soon suck out the juice. 



There are vineyardists in these parts that 

 keep a man with a gun all day guarding 

 their vineyards, who shoot all they can, often 

 shooting our friends as well as enemies. 

 The innocent bluebird and pewitt fall 

 victims, because they often light on the 

 Grape trellis. This ought to be taught to 

 the gunners. 



The orchard oriole is the most destructive, 

 provoking and cunning of them all. There 

 may be a dozen of them at the Grapes and 

 you not know it until walking along the 

 rows, when they will flit from one vine to 

 another, always keeping hidden, until all at 

 once they start out and fly to the nearest 

 tree, to which one seldom gets near enough 

 to get a fair shot at them. About the best 

 plan is to tie a bunch of dead brush to the 

 end of a long pole and set it up in tlie vine- 

 yard, then when you know tlie birds to be 

 among the Grapes, slip in slyly and tap the 

 vines gently; this will start them, and they 

 are likely to fly to your dead tree top. Then 

 is the time to shoot. 



When they won't take to your trap, Je* 

 drive at them on sight, and be quick about 

 it, for they are by no means an easy shot. 

 This oriole and cat bird are the two worst 

 we have on Grapes, and are nearly as bad 

 on Raspberries and Blackberries, Ijoth of 

 which they demoralize greatly when they 

 are plenty. 



I have sometimes thought of making a 

 miniature black snake and twining it around 

 a pole under such a bush as described, which 

 would attract them and give a chance to 

 shoot them. A few years ago I had a few 

 Lettuce stalks left for seed, and before it 

 was fully ripe, our gold finches got at it and 

 threatened to use it up. Got my daughter 

 and grand-daughter to stitch some spotted 

 calico in the form of a snake, which I stuffed 

 with Beans and laid it on one of the plants. 

 It had the desired effect, as the little yellow 

 beauties would give it a wide berth. 



But the best joke in the matter was that a 

 few days after, as the two girls were walking 

 along in the garden, the grand-daughter 

 who helped make it, suddenly gave asliriek, 

 jumped aside and said, a snake! a snake! 

 Some say to set up a stuffed cat in a vine- 

 yard in a conspicuous place, will keep the 

 birds so exercised that they will not molest 

 Grapes, but I have not much faith in this. 



Greater Efforts for Home Improve- 

 ments Needed. 



The process of education and refinement, 

 which (immaterial for what reasons) is 

 forced and pushed by the " tree agents," 

 should not stop with fruits. Thousands of 

 rural homes are yet unadorned with lawns, 

 shrubs, and trees, and will remain so unless 

 the peddler of ornamental trees, flowering 

 shrubs, bulbs, and perhaps of lawngrass 

 seed, is sent out on his errand of transform- 

 ing wildernesses into blooming gardens at 

 a profit to himself, and to the reliable firm 

 of propagators he represents. 



Our friend Wm. Falconer talks on this 

 subject in American Florist. While the 

 men folks want the trees, and vines, and 

 berry bushes, he says, the women want 

 some Roses and pretty shrubbery. And 

 what can associate more aptly with these 

 plants than hardy perennials such as Pseo- 

 nias. Larkspurs and Day Lilies? If they can 

 not be had from the nurserymen and at the 

 same time as the nursery stock, the chances 



are hosts of people who might gladly buy 

 these hardy perennials will go entirely 

 without them. 



Many nursery firms have never gone 

 into the hardy perennial Irasiness either as 

 a specialty or as an auxilliary to their tree 

 trade, hence can hardly be expected to com- 

 prehend its capabilities. I have no fear 

 that it would be overdone even if every 

 nurseryman goes into the hardy perennial 

 bu,siness. I believe the more who handle 

 these plants the greater and more increas- 

 ing demand there will be for them. 



Mr. Falconer adds the advice to the gen- 

 eral nurseryman to restrict himself to the 

 cream of hardy plants such as Irises, Pfeo- 

 nias. Larkspur, White Day Lily, .Japan 

 Anemone, herbaceous Clematis, Coreopsis, 

 Pyrethrum and the like, and the best and 

 most serviceable sorts of these. Any per- 

 son accustomed to getting up ordinary 

 nursery stock can get up these perennials 

 as well as can any specialist in the trade. 



Carbonaceous Matter In Soil and 

 Manure. 



Carbon is the most abundant of Nature's 

 organic substances, and next to water com- 

 poses the great bulk of all vegetable and 

 animal matter. It is probably for this reason 

 that so little account is taken of it as a con- 

 stituent of soils and manures. 



Other elements of plant food are handled 

 and spoken of as a commercial commodity. 

 Nitrogen, phosphorus (as phosphoric acid) 

 and potash (as potassium oxide) have a cer- 

 tain commercial rating, higher or lower ac" 

 cording to the combination in which they 

 appear; but carbon has not been given a 

 quotable value. 



We incline to the belief that carbon, 

 abundant as we know it to be, is of far 

 greater importance in the economy of plant 

 life than the general disregard in which it is 

 held by experiment stations, agricultural 

 writers and chemists, makes it appear. 



It may not be worth a quotable figure per 

 pound, but it is just as indispensable in fer- 

 tile soil as nitrogen, potash or phosphoric 

 acid. While it is floating in the air in a form 

 readily absorbed by plants, and the latter 

 indeed derive probably the larger share of 

 their carbon from that source, yet we can- 

 not imagine a really fertile soil without a 

 certain percentage of carbon from the reso- 

 lution of vegetable matter. 



Soils devoid of carbonaceous matter (hu- 

 mus) are in a condition of stagnancy, with- 

 out action and life. We may apply great 

 quantities of phosphoric acid, and potash, 

 and nitrogen, all in the most available forms, 

 yet without carbon the growth of crops will 

 remain slow and unsatisfactory. Nor can 

 such soils be restored to fertility by the mere 

 use of the commercial fertilizers named, 

 unless we also supply the missing carbon, 

 either by the application of carbonaceous 

 substances to the soil directly, or by employ- 

 ing living plants, such as Clovers, Peas, 

 weeds, etc., as "carbon collectors" (from 

 the atmosphere) and plowing them under. 

 Very good results may be secured by the 

 exclusive use of commercial (concentrated) 

 fertilizers alone, if supplemented by frequent 

 plowing under of green crops. This, of 

 course, may be fully as expensive as draw- 

 ing carbonaceous matter to the fields in a 

 wagon. Certainly it shows us that carbon 

 cannot be had entirely gratis, and without 

 effort and expense, and that the substance 

 may even have a money value. 



" The greatest success I have had," says a 

 writer in a New England exchange, "has 

 been with strictly vegetable matter, consist- 

 ing of weeds, forest leaves, etc., collected 

 into the compost pile. Such manure on land 

 that had resisted the influence of the best 

 phosphates, not forgetting BOO pounds of 

 nitrate of soda, has given excellent results. 



