96 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



February, 



with a hand-borrow loaded with plants from out 

 of the cold frame and place them in places pre- 

 pared to receive them. The sod containing a 

 plant can best be removed from barrow with a 

 mason's trowel with point cut oft. Another hand 

 follows with a hoe and draws dirt around plants, 

 firming soil but not enough to break the sod. 



Caltiyation. Cultivation should be shallow 

 with cultivatorand harrow.unless ground should 

 pack, in such cases we bar off closely, then turn 

 dirt back and side harrow, hoe or scrape just 

 enough to keep clean, till the crop is set, then 

 lay by, stake and tie up. After the vine is loaded 

 with fruit, we gather up all the vines in a hill 

 and pull them up pretty tightly and another 

 hand takes a double wrap with a piece of twine 

 about sixteen inches long and ties them as tight 

 as he can pull the twine. Sometimes when the 

 vines are rank we remove the leaves from the 

 lower half of hill, especially on the north side. 

 This gives the grown tomatoes air and light and 

 they ripen soon. We pick when just beginning to 

 turn red, wipe clean with a cloth, remove the 

 stems, pack and ship. 



Arranging for the Coming- Meeting 

 of American Florists. 



The executive committee of the Society 

 of American Florists met in Toronto, Ont., 

 January 1.3-U, to arrange for the annual 

 convention which is to occur in that city 

 during the coming August. The attendance 

 was quite full. The members of the com- 

 mitte, even from distant cities, seemed to 

 find no difficulty in making the mid-winter 

 .iourney to assist in arranging for this year's 

 meeting. 



It is too early to announce the piogramme in a 

 complete form at the present time. It was the 

 sense of the meeting, however, that the following 

 subjects should be valuable to discuss at the 

 coming meeting, and they will accordingly be 

 given out to able men throughout the country 

 to treat upon in papers before the convention: 



Sub-tropical Bedding. 



Florist Business in the South. 



On Handling Store Trade. 



Decorative Flowering Plants for Winter. 



Aquatic Plants, 



The Future of Floriculture in America. 



Credits. 



Begonias. 



Greenhouse Construction and Heating. 



Growing Cut Roses in Summer. 



Review of New Plants. 



SHORT TOPICS AND QnESTIONS. 



On Mastering the Green Fly. 



Carnations to Date. 



Roses to Date. 



Points in Managing Flower Shows. 



Twelve Best Companions to Rubber Plant and 

 Latania Borbonica. 



Native Flowers and Ferns. 



Advertising the Retail Trade. 



Landscape Gardening from the Florists' Stand- 

 point. 



A committee was appointed to interest them- 

 selves in looking after horticultural matters in 

 connection with the Columbian E.xhibition to 

 take place in 18!t3 in Chicago. This important 

 commiteee consists of E. G. Hill, H. A. Dreer, 

 W. A. Manda, .lames Dean, Ernest Asmus, H.H. 

 Berger, J. L. Temple, W. R. Smith and J. 

 Vaughan. 



If there may have been any doubts in the 

 minds of the executive committee that a mistake 

 was being committed in holding this year's meet- 

 ing in Toronto, this was most certainly dispelled 

 by the hearty enthusiasm the Canadain Florists 

 are showing in the matter. There is in Canada a 

 public spirit that reaches out towards gardening 

 matters which is most refreshing to behold. 

 Theearnestnessof theflowcrgrowers and dealers 

 on the other side of the line augurs well indeed 

 for the convention next August. 



Mr. John Chambers, of Toronto, who is vice- 

 president of the American Association, is the 

 highly esteemed Superintendent of Public 

 Grounds in Toronto, and shows himself to be in 

 every way a capable man for promoting the 

 interests of the society at the coming session. 



It was decided to hold the convention and trade 

 exhibition in the Horticultural Ganlen pavilion, 

 a plan which will meet with hearty approval of 

 all visitors, we are sure. 



It was also voted that reports of the American 

 Chrysanthemum Society, the Florists' Protective 

 Association this year should be given in open 

 convention. 



The annual horticultural show of the Toronto 

 Horticultural Society is to be held this year on 

 the same days as that of the American Society. 



The headquarters of the society will be at the 

 Queen's Hotel, Toronto. .\ll necessary particu- 

 lars may be obtained from the Society's Secre- 

 tary, W. J. Stewart, of Boston. Mass. 



South Haven and Casco Michigan 

 Pomologlcal Society. 



At the December meeting the Society 

 discussed the condition of orchards and the 

 general opinion was that the orchards 

 never went into winter quarters in better 

 condition, or when the buds were larger, 

 finer, or gave better promise of an abun- 

 dant crop the coming year, and that as the 

 stock of preserved fruits was low it would 

 take all that could be grown to supply the 

 demand next year, and a good price will be 

 likely to result. 



One member said his three-year-old Peach 

 trees are set full ; Grapes in good condition, 

 while the Pears have fewer fruit buds. The 

 idea was brought out that in a bearing year the 

 trees set full and if properly thinned the fruit 

 is large and fine. In the off year the fruit is 

 thin and the crop small and poor. 



To the question it the Sheldon Pear did not 

 do best on sandy or light soil; Mr. Hulbert said 

 Sheldons and Bartletts seemed to do better on 

 light soil, the Flemish Beauty on heavier soil. 

 His experience was that in poor years the fruit 

 was inferior and the quality not so good. Bart- 

 left tree was struck with blight which covered 

 the central part of the tree so that it was per- 

 fectly black. He sawed it off below the black, 

 leaving nothing but a stump. This sprouted 

 out new branches and now he has a good tree 

 producing fine fruit. Six years ago he lost one- 

 third of his Pear trees by blight. He salted 

 them thoroughly and since has given each two 

 quarts of salt a year and has no more blight. 



H. Chatfleld always understood that the Shel- 

 don Pear was best on light soils. Some of his 

 Pear orchard was burnt over last year, but the 

 trees left give good promise. He took some 

 Sheldons to Kansas last fall and compared with 

 some California Sheldons the California fruit 

 was far inferior in size and flavor. 



J. Mackey had this year sowed Oats among his 

 trees for a mulch, which has grown very rank. 

 His Sheldons are in clay soil and he has had some 

 fine crops from them. 



W. H.Payne said that it has been fully dem- 

 onstrated by scientific men that there is no 

 manurial oi other value to salt than to keep the 

 soil in a moist condition, and the Pear blight, 

 Apple scab, and rust, are now known to be 

 caused by fungi, which spread rapidly, but can 

 be overcome by spraying at the proper time 

 with the Bordeaux and other mixtures. The 

 scientists have traced these pests in their homes, 

 traced through life and death, and propagated 

 and inoculated into sound trees and watched 

 their development and habits of life. 



M. H. Bixby thought we should use judgment 

 in speaking of scientific research. They send 

 for specimens, and make their examinations of 

 them, and give us the result. He believed there 

 were two kinds of blight, one caused by the 

 sun's heat and the other by fungi, both in Pears 

 and Apples, and that we owe a great deal of 

 credit to the scientific men who have done so 

 much to advance our knowledge of insects in- 

 jurious to our orchards, and all the diflicult 

 problems of life. 



Our Friends, the Plants. 



At a recent meeting of the Buffalo Natur- 

 alist's Field Club Mr.F.A.Voght inasimple 

 and interesting way told about our plants. 



He said that botany consists of something 

 more than the learning of a batch of names or 

 tearing fiowers to pieces. It brings to light 

 hundreds of wonderful things. What can be 

 more interesting than to watch a seed germin- 

 ate, to learn why there is nectar in flowers, why 

 flowers are of different colors, why the Straw- 

 berries of India are crimson, or the Ilutter-cups 

 of the Alps white instead of yellow, like ours? 

 Then it is interesting to know why some flowers 

 are sweet, others sour ; why all fruit is sour 

 until it is ripe, etc. Botany is the science of 

 plants, not flowers. Plants are living things. 

 When I found this out it made a tremendous 

 change in my life. I used to cut off the heads 



of Clover and trample on flowers, but 1 learned 

 to respect and to love plants and Bowers for 

 their beauty and value. 



Then Mr. Voght, in a delightfully simple but 

 effective way, told that plants live, breathe, eat, 

 grow tired, and some people say, go to sleep; 

 they have diseases, enemies, they grow old, mul- 

 tiply and die : they have circulation and diges- 

 tion just as human beings do; they have no 

 nerves and never worry about anything. Then 

 were described the shrubs, such as Ferns, Mosses, 

 Lichens, and even the mold which one's mother 

 finds on her preserves. Plants need heat, light, 

 water, and inorganic matter. The leaves are 

 lungs. Afewplantsare insectivorous, that is they 

 live on insects. Plants are divided into two 

 great divisions, those bearing flowers, and those 

 which do not, the latter being the fewer, mosses, 

 seaweeds, toadstools, etc. 



How plants are useful, first, all our food is 

 produced from plants. Some one may say, said 

 he, that salt doesn't come from a plant? True, 

 but stop and think a moment, and you'll remem- 

 ber that salt is not a food, but a seasoning. 

 Beef comes from cattle, the cattle eat Clover, 

 etc., and there you are, your beef comes from 

 plants. Next, plant life is the indispensable link 

 between the animal and vegetable kingdoms. 

 Plants purify the air, taking in the poisonous 

 gases thrown off' by human beings and return- 

 ing pure, healthful air. The fish in an aquarium 

 need plants. The plant furnishes the fish with 

 oxygen or pure air, and the fish in return gives 

 the plant the carbonic-acid gas it requires. If 

 there were no plants the air would become im- 

 pure, and people would die. Plants are useful 

 for shelter and fuel. Coal originally was a plant. 

 Plants prevent too rapid evaporation. Plants 

 are useful as medicines. There's a balm for 

 every wound. When medicine progresses as far 

 as botany has I believe it will have a cure for 

 every ailment. Plants are beautiful, satisfying 

 our aesthetic tastes and desires, therefore they 

 are useful. Landscapes are beautiful— plants 

 and flowers are what make them. The useful 

 product of plants are numerous, such as sugar, 

 linseed, cocoanut, and even the castor oil Then 

 there's honey, which the bee produces from the 

 nectar drawn from flowers. Among drugs we 

 have morphine, quinine, opium, etc., and tea 

 and coffee, which are not properly foods as com- 

 monly believed. 



Rose Growing in Canada. 



{Abstract of paper read by James F. Webster, before 

 Ontario Fruit Growers' Association, at Hamilton, 

 Dec. nth, 1890.) 



Hardy Roses prove most satisfactory 

 planted in a bed by themselves. The best 

 soil is somewhat heavy and well drained, 

 such is cool dtiring the summer. But if the 

 soil is sandy, mulch with several inches of 

 rotted manure and then dig under in the 

 fall, after adding a liberal allowance of well 

 rotted barn-yard manure. The Rose bed 

 should be sheltered from high winds if pos- 

 sible, but at the same time do not shade the 

 bed, for Roses delight in the morning sun. 



April or early May is the best time to plant all 

 hardy Hoses. If the plants are two years old set 

 30 inches apart, but if one year plants set 15 inches 

 apart, and after several seasons thin them out. 

 October is the best time to plant large Roses. If 

 carefully moved they will blossom the following 

 spring. Should the plants be two years bedded, 

 in setting be careful to place the point of union 

 a couple of inches below the surface, and during 

 the growing period cut off any shoots that may 

 grow from the stock. These are easily distin- 

 guished because these leaf stems are usually 

 furnished with seven leaflets, while nearly all 

 H. P. Roses have but flve. The plant will soon 

 throw out roots from above the bad, and then 

 the Manetti root will usually die out and no more 

 trouble from the shoots will be experienced. 



I ha\e found the best protection to simply 

 mound the earth about each plant that requires 

 close pruning. When all danger of frost has 

 passed neatly level the mound. I pruue the 

 strong growers to about seven inches from the 

 ground, and the weaker ones even more. He- 

 moving all weak shoots stimulates the plant to 

 produce strong blooming canes. Gather and 

 burn all the clippings at once, and thus largely 

 overcome the Hose thrip, as these larva? are de- 

 posited on the twigs. A great advantage of 

 planting is found when insecticides are applied. 

 The Rose grower has many insect pests, but the 



