1890. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



Second Fruiting of Strawbekries. Our 

 Golden Deflance Strawberry has behaved in a 

 somewhat unexpected and strange manner this 

 season. The great and only drought of this year 

 occurred during July and August, and all plants 

 were suffering badly. The runners grew slowly 

 and weakly, and seemed to have little show for 

 getting a foothold in the soil. The great majority 

 of the runners of the Golden Deflance appeared 

 as here illustrated. Every second plant on each 

 runner produced bloom and fruit freely in 



appearance. The Blackberry crop was not the 

 success we had hoped owing to the severity of 

 the drouth. Sweet and other Corn which started 

 off so badly, has picked up amazingly of late, 

 and the same may be said of all vegetation of 

 late growth. 



The Effect of Trenching. That great ad- 

 vantages attend the deep digging over of garden 

 soil can require no clearer proof than is offered 

 by the lines that have been dug up across these 

 grounds for receiving underdrains. The drains 



the extent in this line. How these beds of 

 bright appearance have been used to " cap off " 

 the arrangments of hardy flowers and shrubs 

 which average less showy, we will explain in a 

 future issue. For the present attention is in- 

 vited to the most showy bed on the grounds, and 

 how inexpensive it was to obtain. It is the 

 largest bed of tender plants on the place being 

 round and fourteen feet in diameter. It was 

 planted with thirty Canna roots, that had been 

 started in heat in the spring, and with about 



Tioig of The Dwarf Juneberry of Moscow, as sketched life-size on the Popular Gardening Orcmnds. 



August, and the fruit, although of medium size, 

 had the true delicious Strawberry flavor. One 

 or two solitary instances of the same kind were 

 noticed among other varieties. 



The Onions, We were again well pleased 

 with the White Barletta as a pickling Onion. 

 We know none better for this purpose. With 

 us they ripened early, being well capped by the 

 middle of July. They must be planted thickly 

 in spreading rows. The very largest specimens 

 were only about one and a half inches in diam- 

 eter; while the average was perhaps less than an 

 inch. They are pure white, and decidedly hand- 

 some, just the thing for pickling. We note that 

 Prof. W. J. Green, of the Ohio Experiment 

 Station also speaks very favorably of them; and 

 they deserve it. 

 The Prizetakcr(an Americanized Spanish Onion) 

 has been grown on our grounds to quite an ex- 

 tent this season. Our appeal to seedsmen for 

 seed of a variety that would outyield the Frize- 

 taker has resulted in our planting quite a num- 

 ber of the " crack " sorts of recent introduction, 

 the Silver and Spanish Kings, Ivory Balls, Vic- 

 torias, etc., but there is none that can compare 

 with the Prizetaker in yield. We believe that to 

 grow 2,000 bushels per acre is quite within the 

 reach of possibility for a good cultivator, and 

 that only the seven-weeks drought during the 

 period of growth when moisture was needed 

 more than at any other time, has prevented our 

 crop from coming very close to that flgure. We 

 shall try again for a2,000 bushel crop. At another 

 occasion we shall tell the particulars of our mode 

 of culture that is expected to give such an 

 extraordinary result. We would, however, not 

 dare to hope for obtaining such crop except with 

 the Prizetaker. 



The Drocth Past. The drouth which has 

 been reported so severe during July and later, 

 wholly ended August 20th, when enough rain 

 fell to flU many an empty cistern. Since that 

 storm rains have been frequent, until now, all 

 vegetation shows an improved appearance over 

 a month ago. and our grounds throughout never 

 looked handsomer. The lawn responded quickly 

 to the increased moisture; where it was brown 

 and unpleasant-looking, now it is as handsome as 

 could be wished. Some of the newly planted trees 

 that had such a hard struggle have taken on new 

 life. Many of the hardy shrubs, however, in the 

 border next to the fringe of natural wood, had 

 Buffered so much in the leaf from dryness that 

 they are incapable this season of improving in 



were laid from two to three feet deep. Their 

 course in several instances has been across the 

 lawn. But in every place where the ground was 

 thus disturbed the effects were clearly visible 

 not only during the drouth but are equally so 

 afterwards. It must be remembered that all 

 the land here was deeply subsoiled. Could it all 

 have been trenched to a depth of two and a half 

 feet, the ill-effects of the drouth would have 

 been much lighter. Visitors comment upon the 

 strips of fine growth across the place wherever 

 a drain lies. To most eyes it might appear from 

 the better showing of the vegetation that this 

 narrow line represented an experiment in heavy 

 manuring. It thus suggests that deep culture 

 may in a measure be substituted for heavy 

 manuring. 



Weeds on the Lawn. The best definition 

 that has yet been given of a weed is, a plant out 

 of place. In this sense the sprouts of some old 

 and diseased Plum trees that were removed when 

 the lawn was extended to that part, came under 

 the head of weeds, and from the persistence 

 with which they started upduringtheflrstseason 

 after the trees were grubbed up, it was feared 

 they might cause considerable trouble. This 

 was the case for only one season for with having 

 cut them down to below the earth line a number 

 of times last year they having disappeared en- 

 tirely. The same thing has been noticed in the 

 case of Wild Blackberry and Raspberry plants 

 that were grubbed up and the surface graded 

 and put to grass. For a season sprouts started up 

 in great numbers, but with a few times' cutting 

 back, and then with the use of the lawn mower 

 about all have disappeared. All this is in line 

 with our experience in getting rid of a Thistle 

 patch on our lawn as reported some months ago. 

 The Plantain and its near relative the Rib G rass 

 are our worst weeds and these we cut out with a 

 small spud or knife. 



Jacqueminot Roses. On a row of some fifty 

 plants of these set out but last spring, and late 

 at that, some flowers here opened regularly 

 throughout the summer, while now the number 

 is on the increase. This variety is more prolific 

 of late bloom than any other in our collection of 

 hybrid perpetuals, which it should be said is not 

 yet of great extent Among other Hoses that are 

 now showing bud is the charming Rosa rugosa. 



Bedding at " Woodbanks." This is followed 

 out on a most limited scale so far as tender plants 

 are concerned. A small number of Geraniums, 

 Coleus and Cannas in three or four beds being 



the same number of Geraniums. The Cannas 

 were divided into six equal lots, one of which 

 was placed in the centre of the bed the others in 

 five equal masses to the outside and extending 

 to the grass. Alternating with these outer 

 blocks the Geraniums, divided into five equal 

 lots, were set. Between the vigorous growth of 

 the Cannas, the variety in the color of their 

 foliage, ranging from deep chocolate to sea- 

 green, the profusion of the yellow and scarlet 

 flowers of these, and then the bright appearance 

 of the thirty Geraniums covered with bloom, 

 the bed presents a most attractive appearance 

 The part we take the most satisfaction in re- 

 lating is the inexpensiveness of the bed, for the 

 Cannas are a class of flowers that any amateur 

 can keep over as successfully as a florist, and 

 Geraniums cost but $1 per dozen at greenhouses. 

 On the whole the bed is a greater success than 

 many a one of the same extent that would have 

 cost ten times as much to stock. The improved 

 Cannas are a class of flowers deserving of wider 

 appreciation from amateurs. Placed in boxes 

 of dry sand and kept from frost, the roots may 

 be wintered and be as easily managed as those of 

 the Dahlia. 



The Worden and Concord Grapes. Were 

 we called to decide on the comparative merits 

 of these two Grapes for home use, as based on 

 the small show of fruit here this year on young 

 vines, we should say that the new-comer Worden 

 should by all means have the flrst place. The 

 fruit of the latter is decidedly earlier to ripen, 

 being at this date, Sept. 18, sweet and delicious, 

 while that of the Concord is comparatively acid. 

 The Worden is larger than the other, more de- 

 licious and juicy, with less pulp we think. In 

 habit of growth and in healthiness we can see no 

 difference in our young vines. 



Brusseler Braune Cherry. 



J. L. BDDD, IOWA AGRICCLTURAI. COLLEGE. 



A reader of Popular Gardening writes 

 from Vermont : " Four years ago I received 

 from the Iowa Agricultural College four 

 one-year-old, root-grafted Cherry trees, 

 marked "' B. Braune." I do not see this 

 name in Downing or any other work I have 

 except the Fruit Manual of Robert Hogg of 

 England, and he gives It as a synonym of 

 Ratafia. It is a fine grower with good 

 foliage. Is it likely to prove hardier and 



