66 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



January, 



Crowing Strawberries for 

 Fourtin Paper. 



L. J. FARMER, OSWEGO CO., N. Y. 



Winter Drainage. As winter approaches 

 precaution should be taken to prevent the 

 plants being heaved by frost. The bed 

 should be so arranged that the surface 

 water runs off. It waterstands about plants 

 they are sure to be thrown out and killed. 

 We put the cultivator between each row 

 and loosen up the soil, then open a furrow 

 with a corn plow. The water will settle 

 into the furrow and pass oft' readily. It is 

 quite necessary to do this on heavy soils, 

 especially in such seasons as we have re- 

 cently had. 



MuLOH. Now is the time to haul out the 

 straw and spread in a vacant lot where it 

 may be turned over several times, allowing 

 the weed seeds to fall out. Encourage the 

 poultry to pick it over. Whatever seeds 

 may be left in, will grow and be a bother 

 next year. This is a serious objection in 

 using horse manure for mulching Straw- 

 berries. We employ threshing machines 

 that separate the chaff from the straw, and 

 then have no trouble with weed seeds. 



Materials. The best muching material 

 to be had is marsh hay on account of its 

 freedom from noxious seeds. If removed 

 early in spring and stacked, it may be kept 

 two or three years. Rye straw answers the 

 purpose as well hut is expensive. Last fall 

 we mulched with Buckwheat straw, after 

 having all the chaff removed. We think 

 the chaff rots and injures the crowns. But 

 plants never wintered better than those we 

 covered with Buckwheat straw. On wet 

 soils that heave badly, there is no better 

 covering than light strawy manure. It is 

 the only reliable covering for fall setplants. 

 If plants are plowed under after bearing 

 once, horse manure is a good material for 

 mulching. It not only protects the plants 

 in the winter, but enriches the soil, giving 

 them a fine send oft early next spring. Na- 

 ture's covering, snow, should not be over- 

 looked. Indeed, in some places, it is all that 

 is necessary, coming on early before the 

 plants have been Injured, and remaining 

 till after freezing and thawing is over in the 

 spring. Usually it will pay to scatter some- 

 thing over the surface, such as evergreen 

 boughs, or to build fences of rails or boards 

 in order to catch and retain the snow. Small 

 patches in the garden may be covered with 

 Tomato, Potato, Pea vines, etc., or with 

 leaves held in place by Cornstalks. 



How AND When to Apply Mulch. The 

 best time to cover Strawberries is about 

 Dec. 1st. The mulch should be drawn and 

 scattered over the patch and afterwards 

 spread evenly over the surface about two 

 inches thick, just so as to hide the 

 plants. It is not necessary to wait till 

 the ground freezes up to apply the mulch. 

 It won't hurttheplantsif puton long before 

 the ground freezes, provided there is no 

 warm water to smother them. We experi- 

 mented last year in view of finding the best 

 time to apply mulch. The plants that were 

 covered early, before the ground froze, win- 

 tered best. But perhaps this was because 

 the straw had more time to settle, and was 

 little disturbed by the driving winds of Jan- 

 uary. Straw that was put on after the 

 ground froze was blown off several times, 

 and theplants were of course injured. Straw 

 might be held in place by throwing a little 

 earth on it. 



Protection vs. Free Kxposure. Straw- 

 berries are not usually covered on sandy 

 soils, because such do no harm. We do not 

 think that mulch should be put on merely 

 to prevent heaving. Plants exposed to the 

 driving winds of wiater, and to the alternate 

 freezing and thawing th it unorotected soil 

 uadergoes, must bs impiireil in vitality. 

 They iniy not be killed ontrlglit, yet be so 



Market, enfeebled thatthey will not bear a profitable 

 and satisfactory crop. 



Field Notes of a Horticulturist. 



L. B. PIERCE, .SUMMIT CO , O, 



Renewal of Strawberry Bed. Septem- 

 ber found us with a Strawberry patch that 

 seemed too good to plow under, yet in its 

 matted condition was in very bad shape for 

 next year. I had intended to plow it into 

 rows in July, but the dry condition of the 

 ground and the almost constant use of one 

 of the horses in marketing Raspberries pre- 

 vented doing it, so I formulated a scheme 

 to eat part of the cake and yet to keep it. I 

 plowed the patch of the old rows crossways 

 with a two-horse plow, striking ridges of 

 two furrows as near together as the width of 

 the team permitted without going in the 

 furrows. 



This I found brought the centers of the 

 ridges about six feet apart leaving a strip of 

 Strawberry unplowed of about three feet in 

 width. The furrows were plowed straight, 

 and the ridges were lapped, and about three 

 weeks from plowing I shall harrow them 

 down and then thoroughly work them Viack 

 to a level with a cultivator. In the spring 

 I shall keep these strips clean and mellow 

 and plant them with Raspberries to be kept 

 clean with a hoe, or plant them with Toma- 

 toes or late Cabbage, in either case plowing 

 under the Strawberries after picking, and 

 keeping the spaces tilled by horse power. 

 In this way I shall get a partial crop of 

 Strawberries and at the same time have 

 another crop in progress. 



The Strawberries being in well defined 

 beds will probably yield more, and there 

 will be less waste in picking than when it 

 is necessary to trample paths through them 

 or outline with wool twine. 

 . Jessie Strawberry. I have watched 

 with much interest the reports on the Jessie 

 Strawberry, and with the exception of the 

 original location in Wisconsin, all are un- 

 favorable. 



I have never grown it but this year. I 

 put out about a thousand plants and with 

 the exception of Bubach and Waldron it is 

 the finest looking variety of 18 kinds. Its 

 action as reported from many places in Ohio 

 this year was exactly that of other varieties 

 when partially killed by spring frosts, and 

 I am in hopes that In a year of no frost it 

 may redeem the promise of its introducers. 

 Making Raspberry Tips. At this 

 writing, September lOth, we are busy put- 

 ting in Raspberry tips by inserting a dibble 

 about four inches deep at an angle of 4.5° 

 and sticking in the tip pressing back the 

 dirt with the foot. In doing this work I 

 always find it necessary to caution my men 

 to get them not less than this angle as other- 

 wise they will often grow out instead of 

 rooting, especially if the weather is wet and 

 the vine a little immature. When just right 

 the tip has a swollen reddish appearance, 

 not easy to mistake but it is impossible to 

 select a time when all are just right. 



I generally grow early Potatoes among 

 the newly-set Raspberries putting one row 

 between, and ahillinthe Raspberry row be- 

 tween each two plants. The Potatoes are 

 dug the last of August and the ground 

 thoroughly worked with a Planet Jr., after 

 which the tips are dibbled in. 



This year, ray friend, John Gould, a well 

 known dairy writer, was looking over my 

 place, and he stated it as his own experience 

 that Raspberries did not make as good a 

 growth when planted among Potatoes. As 

 my own were all this way I could not 

 decide, but my Hilborn and Shaffer Rasp- 

 berries grown with Potatoes look as well 

 as a neighbor's Greggs grown alone and 

 equally well cared for. I shall try some 

 without Potatoes beside some with ne.xt 

 year, and try to settle the matter definitely. 



This year the Potatoes in the Raspberry 

 rows yielded as much per row as the adjoin- 

 ing rows which were all Potatoes, although 

 the former had only half as many hills. The 

 seeding in each case was a single piece of 

 Potato to a hill. 



The Shaffer Raspberry is gaining friends, 

 and this year growers were able to get 14c. 

 for the former in markets where the Gregg 

 was bringing 10c. per quart. I find the fruit 

 of the Palmer, and its manner of bearing, 

 to be nearly identical with the old Doo- 

 little; about the only merit it has over that 

 variety being robust growth. 



Horticulture in Missouri. 



N. J. SBEPHERD, MILLER CO., MO. 



This year, at least, the majority of fruit 

 growers have been able to realize a good 

 profit. In some cases more fruit has been 

 sold than the land would have brought 



Much of our soil seems well adapted to 

 the growing of good fruit, and only needs 

 proper care to produce good results. The 

 local press is urging farmers to plant 

 orchards more extensively. While this is 

 good as far as it goes, yet many do not real- 

 ize that setting out the trees is only the 

 beginning. Many lack a knowledge of what 

 is necessary to make fruitgrowing profitable. 



A good deal of our land is wet, and in 

 some localities more or less of it is broken 

 and rocky, so that it cannot be cultivated to 

 a good advantage; and yet properly man- 

 aged it could be made to grow good fruit, and 

 be made more profitable than in any other 

 way. Now a great portion of such land is 

 seeded to grass and used for pasturing, with 

 many farms not having a fair supply for 

 family use and none at all to market. A 

 part o£ such acreage no doubt could be de- 

 voted to fruit to a good advantage. Com- 

 bine stock feeding with fruit growing and 

 thus increase the profits. 



Joys and Disappointments of the 

 Hybridizer. 



The production of new varieties of plants, 

 vegetables, fruits, etc., by crossing and 

 hybridizing is a favorite line of work with 

 many progressive horticulturists, and al- 

 together an interesting subject of study. 

 But the path of the hybridizer is not always 

 strewn with Roses, especially with such as 

 are free from thorns, and the reward in 

 brilliant results, or the pay financially, for 

 the labor, is frequently not forthcoming. 



Mr. E. S. Carman told a very instructive 

 story concerning his joys and disappoint- 

 ments as a hybridizer at the last meeting of 

 the Society of American Florists. 



The subject will be made much more 

 simple, Mr. Carman said, if we think of the 

 stamens as " fathers " and the pistils as 

 "mothers," and the petals and corollas as 

 houses. These members do not always live 

 together in the same house or flower, so the 

 male in many cases must do his courting by 

 proxy, as by insects, wind and water. 

 Again, the male and female may not be in 

 love at the same time, as the anthers may 

 or may not be in condition to shed their 

 pollen at the time when the pistils are ready 

 to receive it. These things are accounted and 

 arranged for by nature, and in attempting 

 to do nature's work in crossing one must 

 also understand these peculiar conditions. 



As to the tools required for the work, all 

 that is wanted is a small pen-knife, a sharp 

 pair of scissors, a tooth pick and several 

 sheets of tissue paper for carrying the pol- 

 len, flowers, etc. In undertaking the task 

 resolve that no guess work will be allowed ; 

 do this matter up thoroughly, so that when 

 a cross is made and progeny is secured we 

 may be absolutely certain as to the parentage. 



Do not make the mistake of supposing 

 that all you attempt will be successful as 

 you will have to bear many disappointments. 



