48 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



December, 



STERLING. 



ces, I believe, is the most satisfactory 

 method. Gardens long enriched with stable 

 or farmyard manure in time become sick 

 or worn out. Lime dressings have been ad- 

 vised, and are indeed very beneficial, often 

 more so than a dressing of stable manure. 



While lime does good, it is known that 

 "when salt is mixed together with moist 

 earth and lime a considerable quantity of 

 carbonate of 

 soda and chlor 

 ide of calcium is 

 produced, owing 

 to the salt being 

 partially decom- 

 posed, the chlor- 

 ine of a part of 

 the salt uniting 

 with the lime, 

 whilst carbonic 

 acid supplies its 

 place, forming 

 carbonate of 

 soda. This hav- 

 ing the properly 

 of combining 

 with silica and 

 rendering iD solu- 

 able may prove 

 beneficial to 

 plants by supply- 

 ing them with 

 that essential 

 article of their 

 food." A bushel 

 of lime, soot, and 

 salt mixed and 

 sowTi broadcast 

 over the ground 

 Intended for 

 Onions and Car- 

 rots prior to put- 

 ting in the seeds 

 is good against 

 the maggot or 

 grub which in- 

 fests these vege- 

 tables, and is suf- 

 ficiently stimu- 

 lating. It is also 

 an excellent 

 dressing for 

 ground in March 

 intended to be 

 planted with 

 every kind of 

 vegetable crop. 

 It is valuable 

 both as a manure 

 and as a prevent- 

 ive and destroyer 

 of insect pests. 

 All know the 

 value of guano 

 as a manure. I 

 am persxiaded, 

 however, that it 

 is not so benefi- 

 cial by itself as 

 when mixed 



with salt. The quantity usually contained 

 in guano may be sufficient for cereals, but 

 there is evidently not enough of it for 

 kitchen garden crops, for I find crops dressed 

 with guano alone do not produce so well as 

 those dressed with one part salt to two parts 

 guano, but it should not be given in dry 

 weather, for it scalds all the leaves upon 

 which it falls. 



I am convinced that guano and salt in the 

 proportions named will prove good for 

 vines, especially those that have a tendency 

 to mildew ; also for the Peaches, which 

 never do so well as near the sea, or within 

 the sea or within reach of its influence. It 

 will also be good for all plants subject to 

 mildew. Salt and lime are the most de- 

 structive of all to fungoid life. 



Ferns are speedily destroyed by guano 

 and salt, but if freestone be sprinkled with 



it, the stone in a few days becomes quite 

 green from the growth of Moss ; hence it 

 may be of value in newly formed rockwork. 



T. B.Terry on growing Strawberries. 

 Mr. T. B. Terry a widely-known writer 

 and gardener of Northern Ohio, has recent- 

 ly told in a work of 144 pages how to grow 

 Strawberries.* The work contains much 



HAVERLAND. 



GANDYS. 



excellent information as may be gathered 

 from the specimen of matter and engrav- 

 ings herewith presented. Says Mr Terry ; 

 We may safely say that the total value of 

 the crop from several rods less than half an 

 acre at wholesale prices was ^287. No at- 

 tempt was made to get the last dollar out of 

 them, or the receipts might have been 

 pushed up to $300. The exact yield in bush- 

 els was over 100, or considerably over 300 

 bushels per acre. We sold to dealers only, 

 or to families who wanted a half-bushel 

 drawer. 1 fixed the price of oiu* best selected 

 berries at $3.30 a bushel, and of the small 

 ones for canning at -W, and held it there 

 without any regard to how low others were 

 selling. Our town people after the first day 

 took all we had, so that we did not have a 



* *' How to Oiow strawberries." A. I. Root, Medina* 

 Ohio, publlsbei*. 



single quart of berries spoil after they were 

 picked. 



Nothing in the world but extra quality 

 gave us this good market in this season when 

 berries were so plentiful. The markets were 

 all glutted with common berries ; but such 

 as ours were not crowded in the least, and 

 never will be. I went through the market in 

 Cleveland during the best of the season, and 

 through most 

 the lancy gro" 

 ceries on Euclid 

 Avenue : and in 

 all that great city 

 there was not 

 half a bushel of 

 berries that 

 would match 

 what I was fur- 

 nishing to our 

 grocers. 



Now, talk is 

 cheap; but photo- 

 graphs tell the 

 truth. So I drove 

 to the gallery and 

 bad some pic- 

 tures taken. The 

 berries are exact- 

 ly the same size 

 all through the 

 drawers (not 

 "topped '' at all) 

 and these draw- 

 ers were no bet- 

 ter than many 

 others which our 

 dealers had. 

 These drawers 

 that you see an 

 engraving of 

 brought me $4 

 and retailed just 

 about as fast as 

 they could be 

 handled out, at 

 1.5 cts. a quart, 

 when people 

 were peddling 

 common berries 

 at 8 or 10 cts. I 

 give a picture of 

 a drawer of these 

 common berries. 

 The doUar-a- 

 bushel man has 

 to take just what 

 he can get, and 

 has the world to 

 compete with ; 

 the jH-a-bushel 

 man can set his 

 price, and his 

 market will 

 never be glutted. 

 I drove to 

 Akron (13 miles) 

 with 3 bushels, 

 to see what I 

 could do, not 

 dreaming that Hudson would take all we 

 had after that. Before I got there I met men 

 returning who said I might as well turn 

 around, as Akron never knew such a glut 

 of berries before, and no more could be sold 

 at any price. But I went on. I thought to 

 myself, " Here is just the chance I want to 

 prove— whether or not excellence pays." 

 I drove up before a grocery, the owner of 

 which I knew appreciated a good article. 

 I found him at his desk, and it was with 

 much difficulty that I at last induced him 

 to come out ; he was utterly sick and dis- 

 gusted with berries. But he finally came. 

 I uncovered them. He bought them. I 

 went home. Before night of that same day 

 he wrote me to bring him four bushels more 

 of these berries, ottering an advance of 2li 

 cents a bushel, and $1 if his market should 

 recover any so that he possibly could. But 



The BeiTies that Glutted the market.— Common Stuch. 



