I89I. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



n 



the benefit of that class, if they continue to in- 

 troduce a more systematic and more permanent 

 regard to those branches in their pursuit that 

 they follow with so much advantage to us all. 

 You know, gentlemen, that in other countries, 

 in Belgium especially, perhaps in France more 

 than in any other country of Europe, and in 

 certain parts of Italy, this most beneficial prac- 

 tice of allowing what is called the small culture 

 in all its branches is rery extensively pursued, 

 and forms a very considerable element in the 

 general industry and general prosperity to the 

 country. Indeed, if we go to Somersetshire, 

 England why there it forms an important and 

 lucrative portion of the pursuits of the farmer. 

 But within the last twenty years, persons have 

 taken to fruit-farming who formerly had nothing 

 to do with it; and I am bound to say that all the 

 intelligence I receive, convinces me that upon 

 the whole the results have been lucrative to 

 those who have undertaken it. I do not say 

 they have been uniform. There never can be 

 uniformity in such things, because of the dif- 

 ferences of climate and position, differences of 

 skilled industry and capital. I hold in my hand, 

 gentlemen, what I think is a rather important 

 sign of the progress that the subject is making. 

 This is a lecture delivered in a university on the 

 subject of fruit-farming. This is a lecture de- 

 livered by Mr. Hooper, who is a Kentish man 

 occupying an important position in Kent, in the 

 Horticultural College, to the agricultural class 

 in the Univei-sity of Edinburgh. He is under 

 the belief that great things are to be done in 

 this direction by patience and judgment with 

 industry; and he also shows that a literature is 

 rising on the subject, and quotes a number of 

 works which he thinks may with advantage be 

 consulted. And one reason why I refer par- 

 ticularly to him is this, that, as I have told you, 

 the university which is chosen is not one of our 

 southern universities; it is the University of 

 Ediaburgh. In Scotland men have their minds 

 more open to the use of new resources in order 

 to meet their difficulties, perhaps, than in 

 England. When people are asked why we have 

 not more fruit-farming in this country and when 

 an example like that of France is laid before 

 them they are very apt to answer, '" Oh, we have 

 not got so good a climate." Gentlemen, it is not 

 climate that stands in the way. The Scotch 

 have not got as good a climate as you have for 

 raising fruit. Depend upon it, gentlemen, there 

 is no retison why on account merely of climate 

 you should despond. There is another question 

 which would have surprised probably our fore- 

 fathers a good deal. You have not got to the 

 end of the expedients that may be and will be 

 adopted for the purpose of restoring life, pros- 

 perity, and profit to agricultural pursuits. For 

 mj- part, gentlemen, if I were a great deal 

 younger than I am, and had to look forward 

 over a great number of years to come, I should 

 say, the last thing that can happen in this 

 country is that the land should lose its value. 



I advise the cottager to do his best against the 

 farmer, and the farmer do his best against the 

 cottager, and the result of that will be that they 

 will both do better than they would have done if 



the country, and to the success and profit of 

 those who produce them. Depend upon it, both 

 for sobriety and for health, the more milk the 

 population are able to use, the more they can use 

 it for themselves, and, above all, the more they 

 can get it at moderate prices for their children, 

 the better for them all it will be. I think I have 

 said enough tor the purposes that we have in 

 view. I have asked you to bear in mind these 

 twosubjects. Ourquestion divides 

 itself into two branches— the branch 

 of cottage gardening and the branch 

 of fruit farming, together with 

 those other purposes which concern 

 the farmer rather than the cotta- 

 ger. Look at them which way you 

 will, they do good. If you look at 

 the cottage gardening it tends to 

 promote good, wholesome tastes, 

 and directly to increase the com- 

 forts and means of subsistence of 

 the laborers and their families, even 

 if they send nothing to market. 

 And so again it is that the farmer 

 —if the farmer is able to succeed in 

 these pursuits— gets more strings to 

 his bow. He gets a greater choice 

 whereby to meet and confront the 

 vicissitudes of the time, and by 

 doing good to himself he does good 

 to other people. He raises a de- 

 mand for more laborers to be em- 

 ployed upon the soil, he helps to 



Dust it over the ground making both Celery 

 and ground quite white a day or two before 

 banking, and this we do about three times 

 during the season, or a day or two in advance of 

 the first, second, and final earthing up. Since 

 we have adopted this plan we have had no 

 anxiety about the plants, as they have always 

 come out clean and free from disfigurement. 

 Not only does the lime kill the vermin, but it 



. .. o S''""!JI- T ^Orange 



Ptirple 



Purote-VMet 



Violet, 

 '^Violet-Blue, 



BLUE 



TurquotSB' 



Orange-YeHoui 



Greenish'Yellout 

 'Green-Yellow 



Yellowish-Green 



Crcenish-Blue 



Qreert-Blue 



GBEEM 

 Emerald-Green 

 ^dluish-Green 



Chart shiiwiiii) the Relation of Colors, from the Garden- 

 er's Chronicle. 



keep up the rural population, which, though improves the soil in favor of future croppings. 

 they are much better than {hey were, yet, in The Pine. Franing and Transplanting. Dur- 

 many cases are not altogether what we should ing the hottest weat'her in July 15th to 28th, I 



wish them to be. 



CONDENSED GLEANINGS. 

 Winter-Flowering House Plants. To be suc- 

 cessful, see that the pots are well drained, and 

 be sure that water permeates the whole ball of 

 earth, and then give them no more until you see 

 that they need it ; keep the leaves clean, as they 

 are the lungs of the plant, and frequently turn 

 them to the glass so that they may not grow too 

 one-sided. For the present I will enumerate a 

 few plants that anyone can grow. Nothing is 

 better than the Chrysanthemums. They will 

 last in a cool room for five or six weeks, and are 

 very fashionable Then the Calla will follow; 

 the Eupatorium arborea are fine blooming 

 plants of a pure white color and delicious fra- 

 grance. There are the Begonias that are easilj- 

 kept, and constantly in bloom. That you may 

 have something coming on about February, pot 

 about a dozen good hard Hyacinth bulbs; put 

 them away in a dark cellar, after watering them 

 well; cover from the light until the.v fill the pots 

 with roots, then bring to the light, water. Have 

 a few Zonale Geraniums. It of the best blooming 

 sorts, they give handsome flowers. What is com- 

 monly termed Parlor Ivy {Senccio) makes a very 

 pretty effect when trained like an arch over the 

 other plants. The English Ivy is, also, useful 

 for the purpose, but is of much slower growth. 

 Another plant that always looks pretty is the 

 Solanum or Jerusalem Cherry, and the Ardesia 

 crenulata. If you want a plant for a niche or 



T. V. ifunson's Double-Wire System of Grape Training.— Vicli''s Magazine. 



there had not been a competition between them. 

 We had a good deal said last year about fowls 

 and the laying of eggs, and some correspondence 

 arose, and some people denied that so many 

 eggs could be laid, and others asserted it. I 

 read that correspondence, and the result of it in 

 my mind was to believe that what had been said 

 was by no means too sanguine. There must be 

 a close, careful adjustment of means to ends, 

 and no doubt people will differ very much in 

 the success with which they go through the pro- 

 cess. But, upon the whole, the result of it is 

 that there is every reason for perseverance, every 

 reason to believe that the result will in general 

 be satisfactory. I have just mentioned to you 

 three things. With regard to milk and butter, I 

 will say these are both of them articles which are 

 of the most enormous consequence in the future, 

 both to the food of the country, to the health of 



pruned a second growth Pinery, covering several 

 acres. I pruned at this season because I found 

 that the wound quickly and completely var- 

 nished itself with the resin formed from the 

 evaporated turpentine. The limbs were sawn 

 off close to the tree, which makes the least scar 

 to cover over, and leaves the tree clean without 

 streams of half-dried turpentine, flowing from a 

 bleeding wound, as when pruned out of season. 

 At the same time I transplanted several young 

 Pines taking them up out of dry, warm sand, 

 and planting them in like soil, giving them no 

 more attention alter the first watering. I now 

 find all are growing finely, while those trans- 

 planted in May have all failed. The Pine will 

 grow in any poor soil, and soon becomes a most 

 beautiful shade tree. The tree delights in a dry, 

 warm situation as well as in a moist situation in 

 a swamp.— CaHadia/i Horticulturist. 



Oood Seed, Good Crop. Last summer Beans for 

 planting were very scarce in this section and I 

 bought a peck of imperfect New England Beans, 

 which had been har\ ested before ripe. For fear 

 these would not come up, I got another peck of 

 the same variety, but perfect and a fine quality. 

 I planted all on the same day, side by side. All 

 came up and grew nicely. I could see no differ- 

 ence whatever until the time came around for 

 them to begin to ripen, I then noticed that the 

 first named were perfectly Igreen and still in 

 blossom. When the first white frost;came those 

 from the second lot .were perfectly matured, 

 while those of the first named were yet green 

 and were knocked flat to the ground. I conclude 

 from this that Beans not thoroughly-ripened will 

 not produce a ripe crop.— Farm and Home, 



Phosphate no Hnmbag. The use of superphos- 

 phate and guano is no humbug, as advocated by 

 those who never use them. If they would use 

 superphosphate they would soon change their 

 opinion, when they saw what effect it had on all 

 kinds of root crops. Potatoes and all garden 

 truck. One spoonful of superphosphate to a 

 hill of Potatoes has pro\'ed more beneficial to me 

 this year than a shovelful of manure. Where 

 the man\ire was used the rot took them, but 

 wheie the phosphate was used they were free 

 from rot. Horse manure is the next best to be 



corner of your room nothing is better than the 

 India Rubber plant iFicus elastita) or the Fan 

 Palm {Lataiiia hiirhonica).—Tlic Am. Farmer. 



Lime for Celery. Those who have a heavy soil used on Potatoes. The use of superphosphate, 

 to deal with in growing this crop will have no 1 even on very poor land, will be the means of 

 diflSculty in obtaining robust iilants. The crop ! causing a good return of Potatoes or Corn. I 

 looks well untn it is dug and washed, when it is 

 often damaged by small black slugs. Many 

 are the plans recommended for the prevention 

 of this evil, coal ashes, etc.; as well as using 

 quantities of soot in earthing-up and also en- 

 veloping each stick in drain pipes. The wrap- 

 ping the stems with paper plan is successful, but 

 too tedious. The failing with many heavy soils 

 as well as many old gardens which are dressed 

 with leaves and litter, is exhaustion of calcare- 

 ous matter. The remedy for this is the free use 

 of lime. We have tried all antidotes, but now 

 resort to lime for the whole of the Celery crop. 



have tried the different kinds of manure,' I 

 prefer superphosphate.— 3/irror and Farmer. 



Ornamental Orasses. The ornamental grasses, 

 so called, consist of several tall-growing species 

 with striking peculiarities of leaf or bloom or 

 seed, and which are usually grown in masses 

 here and there, in the garden or shrubbery or 

 lawn. The finest is the Pampas Grass, from 

 South America; well known by its long white 

 silky plumes, but .unfortunately it will not 

 survive our vigorous winters unless protected. 

 A large tuft of it, with leaves four to six feet 

 long, and stalks sometimes ten feet high, termin- 



