72 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



January, 



Beneath the Pines. 

 O sunless deeps of northern Pines! 



broad, snowladen arms of Fir! 



home of wind-songs wild and grand, 

 As suits thy mii^hty strains! O harp 



On which the North Wind lays his hand! 



1 walk thy pungent glooms once more 

 And shout amid thy stormful roar. 



As In deep seas a haven le found. 



No wintry tempest stirs, thouk'h high 

 As hills the marching waves upbound 



And break In hissing foam, so 1 

 Walk here secure; though, far above. 



The Storm-king with his train of snows 

 Sweeps downward from the bitter North. 



And shouts hoarse fury as he goes. 



1 laugh In tones of chiming glee 

 To see the shaking of his hair 



And hear from out his cloud of beard 

 His voice imperial sweep the air. 

 The dark Pines lower their lofty crests. 

 As warriors bow when chieftain grim 

 Rides by and shouts his stern behest. 

 And with swift answers echo him. 



— H. Garland, in American Magazine. 



The Fallen Leaves. 



My gorgeous leaves are gone: I saw them fall. 



And murmured sadly, " Wherfore take at all 



Such visions bright I " But now the trees stand bare. 



The sunlight fills my room, and I can share 



A wider life In hills and valleys far 



Which leafy branches with their beauty bar. 



— Youth^s Companion. 



The eatalogaes are in bud. 



We will send the Handy Binder at cost. 



Locate some masses of Evergreens now. 



A Tact of 12 inch hiifh Callas is out in England. 



The Arbor Day movement has reached Aus- 

 tralia. 



Wake up window plants, days are growing 

 longer. 



A Weeping Apple is reported from Canada; of 

 doubtful value. 



It takes a deep snow to cover all the signs of a 

 slovenly-kept garden. 



"The Journal is so much liner for using a 

 Handy Binder," rhymingly says subscriberJ.i.G. 



To prevent birds from eating your fruit sur- 

 round your lot with Mulberry trees.— .4. Wihox. 



So Pure and Sweet, its worth while to have 

 winter come, just to get a. good sniff of the pot 

 Hyacinths. 



lou are no good gardener if you don't study 

 out some improvements for your garden in these 

 winter days. 



Large mirrors are used with wonderful effect 

 In Berlin for enhancing the attractiveness of 

 flower shows. 



This Beminder to Some. In straightening out 

 matters at this sea.son, don't overlook renewing 

 for this journal. 



We All Want to Enow. You have made a fine 

 success of some part of your garden work. Write 

 us how you did it. 



A Good New Year's Eesolve. To send at least 

 one new subscriber and one contribution— more 

 would be better- to this paper. 



A Tropical Nursery. The most southern nur- 

 sery in the United States is that of Keasonor 

 Bros.. Manatee Co , Florida. The firm deals 

 largely in tropical and semi-tropical plants. 



A Suggestion. Scores of subscriptions to Pop- 

 ILAR Gardening are annually given by its 

 readers, to others as New Year's presents Such 

 presents are received In delightful monthly in- 

 stallments. 



Why not urge your friend to plant a seed 

 dollar in PopnLAR Gardening soil, and obtain 

 the bountiful crop of ideas, information and en- 

 gravings that will return in the annual volume. 

 But ha\e you rencwedv 



HODSirona Grape Vine. At a recent horticul- 

 tural meeting in Ohio, mention was made of an 

 Isabella Grape vine which covers one end of a 

 house and overruns a couple of trees, and pro 



duces annually one ton of Grapes. It receives 

 no pruning, except the cutting of a few shoots 

 thai are in the way. 



Daath of an Editor. A cable dispatch on 

 November 18, conveyed the sad news of the 

 death of Mr. Shirley Hibberd, of London, Eng., 

 on the day before. 'The deceased was the accom- 

 plished editor of the Loudon Gardener's Maga- 

 zine, and a gardener, author and botanist of 

 wide fame. 



Rabbits from Troes. Mr. A. R. Whitney, a 

 well known, extensive and successful orchardist 

 of Illinois, tells the Tribune that he annually 

 brushes the stems of his fruit trees, late in au- 

 tumn, with a mixture of one pound of copperas 

 and a bushel of fresh lime well mixed with water. 

 Mr Whitney says that this application excludes 

 many insects as well as rabbits and mice. 



A Fine Hortioultuural Scene. We have over- 

 looked acknowledging before, a beautiful photo- 

 graph from Wm. McCormick, Blair Co., Neb , 

 which shows his four hundred Blackberry pickers 

 enjoying his hospitality in the shape of a cake 

 and ice cream picnic, after a successful pick of 

 34,433 quarts of fruit. The picture abounds in 

 pretty faces and pleasing attire: children and 

 young people predominating. 



Wanted. Five hundred thousand American 

 artisans, mechanics, business men and their 

 wives and children to understand that the pleas- 

 ures of gardening, unlike many other pleasures, 

 are of a lasting nature as well as full of intellect- 

 ual enjoyment. Plant a tree and you plant for 

 the ages. The economic and health-giving side 

 of raising and using fruit and vegetable products 

 freely as food, also must not be overlooked. 



Grapes Under Veranda. One of the prettiest 

 sights I met in m.y recent trip to Europe, was a 

 veranda in England devoted to the cultivation 

 of Black Hamburgh Grapes. The veranda was 

 enclosed in glass, and the dense foliage and fruit 

 within looked very pleasing. The idea seems a 

 good one for that country, but with our intense 

 summer sunshine a glass-enclosed veranda might 

 not bo so agreeable.— Geo. Hitt, Bunear Co., III. 



Something Extra Fine, it would be impossi- 

 ble to acknowledge the receipt of all fruits, 

 flowers, etc., sent by our good subscribers to this 

 office. A large box of Anjou Pears from Mr. 

 George Ellwanger, Rochester, N. Y., which ac- 

 companied his article on another page, afforded 

 so fine an object lesson on winter Pear culture, 

 and were such an exceptional treat that we deem 

 this special acknowledgement of the same, with 

 our sincere thanks, due to that gentleman. 



The Strawberry Bed. Just as soon as the ther- 

 mometer touches 2.5-' above, we shall spread the 

 blanket of marsh hay just so we can't see the 

 foliage or paths, leaving this on until after fruit- 

 ing. I advise your readers who have not covered 

 to avoid using straw or manure thathasTimothy 

 or Clover seed in it for the Strawberry bed; Be- 

 gdsse and cut Corn stalks are good. Grapes 

 should be pruned before February, and when 

 the thermometer goes 15 below zero, should be 

 laid down and covered.— Geo. J. Kellogg. 



Big Geraniums. Flower growers will be inter- 

 ested to note that California grows some big 

 things besides trees. In a California exchange 

 mention is made of a Geranium plant on the 

 grounds of S. N. Androus, of Pomoroy, which 

 has reached the height of thirty feet and a width 

 in proportion. It is spoken of as a good com- 

 panion for the Geranium in Carpenteria which is 

 150 feet in circumference But it must be re- 

 membered that in the mild climate of the Golden 

 State, Geraniums are not subject to atmual re- 

 ductions in size by frost. 



A garden walk, both cheap and good, can be 

 made of soft-coal ashes. Level and firm the 

 ground where it is intended to ha ve a passage . 

 It is better if the surface of the walk is lowered 

 a few inches below the surface of the surround- 

 ing ground, and in turn refilled with ashes, which 

 if placed there in winter will settle, and in spring 

 only need to be evenly distributed. At last the 

 whole may have a dressing of gravel. The walk 

 should be arched, the center being a little higher 

 than the sides, so as to allow water to flow off 

 freely.— /mmaiiKd W. Sliaub, Hill Co., IIU. 



Primroses In the Window. It's a pity that a 

 plant so easily grown in the house, even in a 

 north window, should so often fail because a 

 few simple points are disregarded Much moist- 

 ure at the plant's center is death to it, hence it 

 must be watered with great care. It is a good 

 plan to have the surface in the pot slope away 

 slightly from the plant to the pot's edge. Avoid 



sprinkling the leaves, and remove any that may 

 be dying. It is alwavs better to aiovf new plants 

 yearly, as the flowers on such are much finer 

 than those on kept-over plants. A friend tells 

 me that half ateaspoonfulof ammonia in a quart 

 of water given to the plants once a week, will 

 add to the beauty of the bloom. 1 have not yet 

 tried this.— .Sue Willis, Brown Co., Kag. 



Some Novelties. Among new German novel- 

 ties announced is the Jewel or Hall Aster figured 

 herewith. They were obtained by Haage & 

 Schmidt, of Erfurt, from the Pseony tribe, but 

 are somewhat dwarfer in habit, and are distin- 

 guished by having almost perfectly round 

 flowers, which may be compared to incurved 

 Chrysanthemums. But two colors, Apple blos- 

 som and deep Rose have yet been obtained. The 

 flowers are borne on long stems. The Mexican 

 Thistle EryVu-olaena conspicua, illustrated on 

 page t)3, is also put forth by the above firm as a 

 novelty, although introduced into Europe from 

 Mexico as long ago as 1825. The leaves are dark 

 green with brownish-red ribes. The flowers do 

 not spread like other Thistles. A height of four 

 to six feet is said to bereached by the plants, 

 which are biennial in character. 



The Tree Agent. If the services of the good 

 agent come somewhat high, still we need him. 

 All missionary work costs. We are lead to this 

 remark because a friend from a western state dis- 

 courses to us on how much the planter saves by 

 dealing directly with the producer. Our corres- 

 pondent says: " This is the time the agent may 

 be seen riding in style throughout the country. 

 He sells his wares high enough to pay for all 

 and makes 100 to 500 per cent on the cost at the 

 nurseries. My advice to your many intelligent 

 readers is; Write to the nurseries advertised in 

 your valuable paper rather than patronize these 

 travellers. They will sell you Jessie and other 

 new Strawberries at Sl.OO to $2.00 per dozen, 

 while the nurseries will sell you the genuipe at 

 one cent each. If you want a Honey Locust hedge 

 buy your plants at % cent each and plant them 

 yourselves, and do not give this class of salesmen 

 75 per cent profit on every rod planted. 



Taste and Tact in Gardening. The interest In 

 our new serial, on improving home and other 

 grounds, is very wide spread. We are glad for 

 this. It is a pleasant thought to know that a 

 vast family like oursisgivingincreased attention 

 to such a delightful subject. The result will be 

 thousands of more beautiful grounds scattered 

 throughout our land, and these serving as exam- 

 ples, will lead to other thousands. The time will 

 come when it shall not be said of England alone 

 that she is the garden of the world. America, 

 comparatively, is a new country, but her people, 

 together, have the taste, tact and means for 

 introducing the improved garden idea very 

 generally. American parks and garden ceme- 

 teries to-day are second to none others. American 



Plant of the New Jewellor Ball Aster. 



home grounds should occupy a similar advanced 

 position. Popular Gardening designs to give 

 all possible aid in this work, and every reader 

 can help it along to some extent. 



A Great Plant Show. For enterprise in ac- 

 quainting the public with fine and rare plants, 

 the United States Nurseries, Pitcher & Manda, 

 proprietors, must be accorded the "Palm." Palm 

 growers though they be. Their extensive nurse- 

 ries and hot-houses are at Short Hills, N. J. 

 What they did in November was nothing less 

 than to move 25,000 plants from their glasshouses 

 to Madison Square Garden, New York, trans- 



