1890. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



57 



Estimated roughly, the cost up to the time of 

 picking may be set at nearly 8350 per acre— i. c, 

 $125 a year first and second years per acre, the 

 expenses for the rest of the series of years the 

 crop is on hand being very much less. If Hve 

 years, an average of S"5 to SlOO per acre. 



About five years is considered the utmost dur- 

 ing which a profitable crop can be e.xpected, as 

 when the fruit becomes small the market value 

 will not be remunerative. 



Two tons an acre is considered a fair yield; 

 much more is occasionally taken and rarely less. 



Prices. This varies year by year, according to 

 the weather; a dry warm time stimulating the 

 consumption from $80 to $140 per ton will be a 

 fair average. Some large growers dress the 

 Strawberry land three times a year, using soot 

 or artificial manure, and an autimin and spring 

 farmyard manure. After the third year a mulch- 

 ing of manure, about 15 to 30 tons per acre, must 

 be placed round the plants to assist them. As a 

 dessert fruit .strawberries take the first place, 

 and as a preserve are very rich. The custom is 

 to send all earher pickings for table use in pun- 

 nets, and to " plum " the rest for the .iara makers 

 when they are striped of the stalks. In 1.H8S the 

 crop was very 'large, and one retailer in Maid- 

 stone sold 1200 pounds over the counter on a 

 Saturday, when formerly you could scarcely buy 

 a basket at all. The growers are reticent at giv- 

 ing particulars about profits, but I gather from 

 various sources that from $100 to $200 per acre 

 may be expected where the Strawberries are well 

 done and cared for, and put on the market in 

 good condition. 



Varieties. For an early crop, Alice Maud 

 or Vicomtesse Hericart de Thury are used in 

 some grounds, and Sir Charles Napier for a main 

 crop, while Elton Pine and Eleanor are favored 

 for a late crop. Laxtou's Noble will be very 

 much grown in a few years; its large size, free- 

 dom of crop and vigorous growth are what the 

 growers desire. We plicked fruit nearly an ounce 

 in weight on June 1.1th, and no other kind can 

 compare with it for earliness and bountiful crop, 

 The practice in other counties is slightly iliffer- 

 ent; for e.xample, in Scotland, where they are 

 extensively grown about Aberdeen, the small 

 early kinds. Black Prince and King of the Earlies. 

 furnish the first gatherings, and Eliza, President, 

 and British Queen are grown, and as the rainfall 

 there is considerable, the beds will last in good 

 order as long as eight years. Eor preserving, the 

 old Carolina Pine is preferred. 



If the land is thoroughly cleaned and pulver- 

 ised, by the time the flower trusses show and 

 before they open, it would be preferable to 

 finish hoeing at this stage. The object of the 

 final hoeing is to destroy seed weeds and to pre- 

 vent evaporation. Great care is exercised in 

 laying on the straw for the annual mulching. In 

 May the manure is sometimes carried on by 

 hand-barrows to prevent the closing of the soil, 

 as happens when wheel-barrows are used. 



CONDENSED GLEANINGS. 



Boilers and Fire-pits. These are a continuous 

 worry it they arc not properly made in the first 

 instance. Damp or wet fire-pits are directly 

 opposed to econmical heating and to getting up 

 a sharp, brisk heat, as no fire can burn freely that 

 first has todisposeof superfluous moisture. The 

 making of a good pit is rather expensive in a 

 gravelly subsoil because the land-water comes 

 near the surface in winter time. If you sink 

 fire pits in gravelly districts, trust to nothing 



A Handy Cultivator Attachment. 

 but a thoroughly water tightfoundation. Stoke- 

 holes which are sunk in certain localities have 

 to be made in strong cement concrete— i.e., 

 if they are to remain perfectly dry. It is no 

 unusual thing for three tons of best cement to 

 be used in one of them. Construct them thus: 

 Excavate the soil about one foot deeper than the 

 boiler. The bottom being dry, a concrete of four 

 parts clean rough stones to one of cement, is 

 placed one foot deep at the bottom of the hole. 

 Allow to settle a couple of days. Then surface 

 with clean sharp sand and cement, the proportion 

 the same as for the concrete; this affords an ex- 



cellent foundation for the boiler itself to rest 

 upon. In constructing the side and end walls, 

 cement and mortar are generally used together, 

 the strength about six to one. With such a 

 foundation below no footingcourse isemployed, 

 but as a precautionary measure against water 

 forcing its way in at a weak point, the first course 

 of bricks is generally bedded on with cement. 

 The bricks are all soaked in water as the work 

 proceeds, to prevent a too rapid absorption ensu- 

 ing. t:arry up with rough .joints, inserting on 

 the reverse side a n-inch pier here and there for 

 strength. After the walls are completed they 

 must be faced with sharp sand and cement to a 

 thickness of three-quarters of an inch, composed 

 of about four and one, and finally skim over 

 neat with cement. In such fire-pits boilers are 

 enabled to give satisfaction. Many hundreds of 

 people have no alternative but to allow the water 

 to remain in the boiler, because to empty the 

 boiler would mean also to empty the pipes. This 

 may be avoided by inserting an extra pair of 

 screw-down values in the main near the boilers, 

 then the boilers can be emptied without inter- 

 fering with the general run of piping.— Journal 

 of Horticulture. 



A New Hollyhock Disease. A very destructive 

 disease among seedling Hollyhocks, has extended 

 to various places in New York and New Jersey, 

 and in Washington. On the leaf the fungus 

 occurs in the form of a brown spot, which may 

 increase in size until the whole leaf is either 

 diseased or withered ; when on the petiole, the 

 leaf and part of the petiole beyond the point of 

 attack shrivel up at once ; when at the base of 

 the petiole, on the young unfolding leaves, or 

 on the main stalk of the plant itself, the fungus 

 quickly runs down to the root and kills the 

 plant. The color of these spots varies from a 

 light-yellowish brown to black. Frequently the 

 centers of the spots are rust-color, becoming 

 entirely black later. An experiment in spraying 

 diseased young plants with Bordeaux mixture, 

 four pounds of lime to six of copper, could be 

 seen for some distance, the lot thus treated 

 being much more vigorous than those not 

 treated. There is suflScient encouragement for 

 florists to try the mixture thoroughly another 

 year, taking especial care to spray both sides of 

 the leaves. It is of prime importance to com- 

 pletely clear the greenhouses of all diseased 

 plants and raise an entirely fresh stock. The 

 spraying should begin as soon as the first leaves 

 come out, and be repeated every day. Any 

 force pump will answer, providing it is supplied 

 with a suitable nozzle, such as the Vermorel or 

 Japy. The upper figure opposite shows a section 

 through fruiting pustule of this disease magni- 

 fied 700 times ; the lower one, a section through 

 young fruiting pustule made before the epider- 

 mis had been returned magnified very greatly. 

 — U. S. Journal nf Myrolooy. 



Corn with Strawberries. One of the draw- 

 backs with Strawberries is that it takes two years 

 to mature the crop. The plants grow one season 

 and bear the next, so that in estimating the cost 

 of la crop it is necessary to charge it with land 

 for two years, unless some other crop can be 

 grown on the same ground. Noticing that we 

 usually have a soaking rain at the close of Straw- 

 berry picking, this year I plowed up my Straw- 

 berry ground after the crop was picked, and 

 then planted Sweet Corn. Every day that is 

 possible must be saved in such late planting, so I 

 soaked the seed Corn in warm water for a day or 

 two, and it was ready to sprout when planted. I 

 planted it in rows three feet apart, and one foot 

 in the row, intending it for winter fodder. The 

 ground was rich anrl mellow, and the Corn grew 

 over six feet high. 1 did not add a particle of 

 manure or phosphate when it was planted. It 

 gives more fodder than the same ground would 

 have given in hay as a first crop. This is only 

 one trial, but it was such a pronounced success 

 that I think it can be done in most years to ad- 

 vantage. An alternation of crops is necessary to 

 secure the best results, and Strawberries will not 

 do well on the same ground year after year.— 

 Country Gentleman. 



Sulplmring Frtiit. Sulphured fruit dried on 

 wooden trays contains no sulphuric or sulphur- 

 ous acid, provided the fruit is thoroughly dried; 

 and those acids taken in small doses are not 

 poisonous, but bencflcial. I analyzed some 

 bleached fruit not long since and got no sul- 

 phurous or sulphuric acid. Had they been evap- 

 orated, I should have gotten sulphate of barium 

 showing the presence of sulphuric acid. When 

 we bleach fruit it contains large quantities of 

 water. This water absorbs the sulphur dioxide 



in large iiuautities, and as the water is given off 

 in the air, the sulphur dioxide is liberated and 

 leaves the fruit, hence the necessity of drying 

 thoroughly in open air. The fiavor is generally 

 destroyed by stacking the fruit in large piles as 

 it is taken in before cutting. Fruit containing 

 sulphuric acid in small quantities is beneficial, 

 especially in a malarial country, say John Scud- 

 der and Dunglinson. Be sure and have fresh, 

 ripe fruit, place it on wooden trays and bleach 

 and dry thoroughly. Fruit prepared thus is 

 wholesome. People want such fruit and are 

 willing to pay forit.— Pacific Kural Press. 



Oonbling of the Petunia. This is usually ac- 

 companied by a remarkable modiflcation of the 



":'•*««' 



Remarhab. instance of Natural Orafting or 

 Inarching. 

 pistil— in short, a secondary flower is formed 

 within the ovary. In this there may be a pro- 

 longation of the axis beyond the blossom, and 

 the development upon it of ordinary foliage. In 

 rare cases leafy branches have grown out from 

 the free or blossom end of Pears, and buds and 

 long branches have arisen from the centre of a 

 Kose. In the Petunia this prolification, if we 

 may ca 11 it such, assumes the form of a small and 

 much contorted flower. Examinations fail to 

 show any unusual structure. It is therefore, 

 associated with the doubling process of the 

 Petunia. Instead of the end of the fioral axis, 

 which terminates at the base of the single cen- 

 trally situated pistil, remaining as such, it de- 

 velops into another flower, and this within the 

 ovary of the primary blossom. The ordinary 

 forces which would construct a normal flower 

 have been thrown into confusion, and retrograde 

 metamorphoses and fioral prolification have re- 

 sulted.— Popular Science Monthly. 



Natural Inarching. The growing together of 

 two trees into one, probably, has its bestillustra- 

 tration in Laurence Co., 111. We have an excel- 

 lent engraving of a rough sketch of this singular 

 curiosity, sent by a Mr. Dallahan ot Laurence 

 Co. He says of this freak that it has long been 

 known in that vicinity as the " Twin Elms." It 

 is formed bj' two trees, standing about twenty 

 feet apart at the ground and coming together 

 about twenty feet high, forming one perfect, 

 smooth, round body about two feet in diameter. 

 Teams of horses could be driven between the 

 forks. It is a perfect, sound Elm tree, smooth, 

 round-bodied, and altogether stands eighty or 

 one hundred feet high.— Prairie Farmer. 



A handy cultiTator attachment is made by 

 taking two pieces of hard wood two inches wide, 

 three-eighths of an inch thick and about three 

 and a half ieet long; bolt one end of each to the 

 front end of the cultivator beams, and to the 

 other end of the springs bolt a piece of two by 

 five inch joist about 12 inches long; bore four 

 holes and put in small iron rods for teeth, slant- 

 ing backward. Remove the middle cultivator 

 iron from the cross-piece and put in place under 

 the beams; this cross piece will lift the weeder 

 when the beams are lifted. By fastening the 

 ends of the lines to the joist, it can be raised to 

 clear obstructions.— The Rural New Yorker. 



Fall manuring. Autumn is the best time for 

 manuring because the rains carry the soluble 

 parts of the manure down into the soil, so that it 

 is more finely and Intimately diffused than could 



