I89I. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



lOI 



2,18(3. Tobacco Stems as Fertilizers. Tobacco 

 stems are a most excellent fertilizer, and analyse 

 about one and three-quarters per cent of nitro- 

 gen, half per cent phosphoric acid and five and 

 half per cent of potash, consequently are worth 

 as compared with commercial concentrated fer- 

 tilizers, something like $13 per ton. People who 

 can get them for the haulingr, or at a merely 

 nominal price, would fail to proUt by their 

 opportunities, if they would buy potash fertil- 

 izers in other forms. Tobacco refuse of any 

 kind, being as rich in potash as average un- 

 leached wood ashes, and having some nitrogen 

 besides, makes a good manure for Potatoes, 

 Tobacco, Onions, general garden and fruit crops. 

 Supplemented with bone dust or other phosphat- 

 ic manures, it will make a complete fertilizer 

 for general purposes. A compost of IIMO lbs. 

 dry muck or stable manure, 2000 lbs. of Tobacco 

 refuse, and 1000 lbs. of bone meal, will give two 

 tons of a fertilizer, analyzing four per cent 

 nitrogen, 11 per cent phosphoric acid, and five 

 and half per cent potash, the ton of which at 

 current rates of plant food, is worth at least $30. 



3,180. Sweet Corn for Home Use. The Cory 

 has become <iuite a favorite for first early, and 

 we could name none better. Black Mexican 

 comes along in mid-season, and none is sweeter 

 or richer. Its dark pui-ple color may be an ob- 

 jection to some, but we always use it when 

 young and tender, and before it shows any or 

 much color. For late use we always use 

 Stowell's Evergreen. These three are reliable 

 and can be planted with entire confidence Of 

 the newer ones we would try the Gold Coin and 

 the Shoepeg 



2,302. Sage Caltnre. Plants are easily grown 

 from seed. Sow in a well-prepared border, or in 

 the herb bed, and in fall or spring following set 

 the young plants in permanent bed. The rows i'- 

 may be three feet apart, and the plants 12 or 15 

 inches apart in the rows. Sage is also easily 

 propagated by layers. Spread the older plant 

 apart, then throw a shovelful or two of fine soil 

 right upon the center, covering this entirely and 

 leaving only the ends of the b^anches free on 

 outside. The branches soon root and may then 

 be cut off, and transplanted. Broad-leaved Sage 

 is the variety now usually preferred on account 

 of the larger leaves. 



2,306. Catching Slugs. A very simple and 

 and effective wa.v of capturing these pests is to 

 take a little bran put on boiling water, and add 

 about a teacupful of vinegar to two quarts of 

 bran, and lay it about the garden on slates. 

 Another reliable remedy, especially for beds, is 

 to dress the surface in spring with lime and sand. 

 In summer when the leafage of beds is too thick 

 to apply these dressings, which are also un- 

 sightly, clear lime water is the best of all, but the 

 lime must be fresh and allowed to settle before 

 use. It may be used with a watering-pot, and 

 will neither disfigure nor injure anytning; if 

 done twice a week in the evening, it will be 

 almost a cure for these miserable pests. 



2.20". Primulas Failing. Primulas that are 

 potted too hard and in rather stiff soil often act 

 as those described. When potting you should 

 use plenty of leaf mould— at least one-third, 

 and two-thirds good turfy loam, with sand added 

 to keep it porous, but not coarse sand. You 

 should pinch ocr the flowers until you have them 

 in their flowering pots 



2,211. Killing Green Fly. There are so many 

 other excellent remedies now at hand that we 

 do not advise the employment of Tobacco fumes 

 except in large greenhouses or where the opera- 

 tion can be done by a skilled gardener. Tobacco 

 smoke is a good friend, but at the same time a 

 bad enemy, and many small growers have had 

 occasion to rue its use. One way and probably 

 the safest is with Tobacco water, pouring boiling 

 water on four ounces of common Tobacco, 

 covering up for a few hours, and then adding 

 enough cold water to make a gallon of liquid, 

 having previously strained the Tobacco liquor 

 through a fine cloth. The plants are to be dipped 

 in this and nearly all the insects will be killed. 

 But dipping is a ver.v disagreable operation and 

 the plants are liable to be disfigured so we would 

 advise Tobacco powder as the neatest, cleanest, 

 and most effective weapon for the amateur. 

 With a muslin bag, through which the powder 

 can be dusted on the leaves, sprinkle the under 

 sides of them, and the tips ot the branches. The 

 advantage of this method is that the antidote is 

 always ready, and as soon as a fly is uoticed the 

 plant can be dressed and the increase of the 

 pest at once checked. It is also, so safe that any 

 one may use it, and this mucb cannot be said of 

 any other insecticide. Keep the powder in a 

 covered can as when it is exposed the insect 

 killing properties evaporate. 



2,123. Fuchsia Flowers Dropping. Excessive 

 watering, bad drainage, or that pest the saw fly 

 may be the cause. I have known the saw fly to 

 clear the whole bloom on a plant. A sudden 

 change of temperature as removing from a 

 warm hothouse to a cool dwelling room would 

 also cause the flowers to drop.— S, Parsons, 

 York CO. Pa. 



2,208. Beviving Fowers ■ Hot water it is said, 

 will often revive flowers when withered. Place 

 the stems in a cup of boiling-hot water; leave 

 them in it until each petal has been smoothed 

 out, then cut off the coddled ends and put them 

 into milk-warm water. Colored flowers revive 

 sooner than those that are of a snowy whiteness, 

 as the latter turn yellow. A cool room is best 

 adapted to keeping flowersfresh. They will wilt 

 quickly in badly ventilated rooms, especially if 

 filled with Tobacco smoke. Each flower as it 

 fades should be taken away, or it will cause the 

 others to decay. 



2,1.53. Building an Amateur Hot-house. Pre- 

 sumably the house is intended for general pur- 

 poses, although the inquirer fails to state so. 

 The accompanying illustration represents cross 

 section of hot-house of the desired dimensions 

 (12x20 feet) such as would do very well on that 

 slope. As to the construction of such a building 

 the general rules given in earlier issues of Pop- 



Amateur Bot-Bouse located on a Slope. 



ULAR Gardening will apply. Permanent sash 

 bars for the roof are now generally preferred 

 to seperate sash, and ventilation should be pro- 

 vided for, which may be done, as indicated in 

 illustration, by an arrangement at the top. My 

 plan avoids the necessity of much digging into 

 the ground, and of heating a great body of air 

 between glass and benches. A small water 

 heater may be put into a covered pit on one side. 

 The arrangement, of pipes is shown in illustra- 

 tion. Part of them are in the ground (encased 

 in large tile) under the lower bench, which is to 

 be used for propagation, etc., while others are 

 fastened to the back wall above the higher 

 bench. The latter may be used for forcing 

 vegetables, growing Tomato or Cabbage plants, 

 or for flowers, and similar purposes. The pre- 

 pared soil on the forcing benches should be four 

 to five inches deep. 



2,168. Hedge in Damp Soil. American Arbor 

 Vita?, also Hemlock do well in damp soil and 

 make the finest of hedges.— F. L. Wright. 



2,19t. Soil for Orchards. We would lay more 

 stress upon good depth of soil, thorough drain- 

 age, and good location, than upon general 

 quality and extreme richness of the soil. 

 Natural drainage is vastly superior to artificial. 

 Any kind of loam, from sandy to clayey, or 

 gravel resting on porous subsoil will grow trees 

 and tree fruits, and it fertility ie insuflicient, 

 applications of compost, ashes, mineral fertili- 

 zers, etc., will remedy the fault. Soils of a 

 somewhat clayey character may be preferable 

 for Plums and Pears (Dwarfs especially), while 

 Peaches usually do better in soils with move 

 sand in their composition. The question of site 

 is not always easily decided. Peaches on up- 

 land, or slopes, escape injury from frost when 

 trees in the valleys and river bottoms suffer, yet 

 trees on flat lands near large bodies of water, 

 that do not freeze over, are usually quite safe. 

 In short, the selection of site must be made with 

 reference to the particular local conditions.-G.R. 



2,175. Tea Koses in Pots in Winter. They do 

 not require much pruning ; all that is necessarj' 

 is to take off the shoots. If the pots are full of 

 roots they may be shifted into larger pots, but 

 this would have better been done last November. 

 If done now, it probably will make them a little 

 later in coming into flower, but if they are much 

 pot-bound, you had better risk that, as, by giv- 

 ing the roots more room, you will increase the 

 number and size of the flowers. They do not 

 requiie much water through the winter, but the 

 soil must not be allowed to get dry. During the 

 summer, give them enough to keep the earth 

 fairly moist —A. L. P. 



2,200. Callas as House Plants. Provided that 

 this plant is grown in the open air in the summer 

 it will bloom well during the winter in a room. 

 By the end of June it should be placed in the 

 open, and about the middle of July all the old 

 soil should be shaken away, and the roots re 

 potted in fresh compost. Grow in a shady place 

 through the summer, giving plenty of water, 

 and place in a cool room about the middle of 

 September, removing to a warmer one at the 

 end of November. 



8.173. Uealy-bug. These pests are extremely 

 difficult to get rid of, if a house once becomes 

 badly infested not only the plants, but the walls, 

 woodwork, benches, etc., must be thoroughly 

 cleansed. The insects are covered with a waxy 

 secretion which renders syringing useless We 

 think the best course to take would be to care- 

 fully examine every plant, and remove all trace 

 of the insect with a small stiff brush, dipped in 

 soft-soap and water, and then, in about ten days 

 or a fortnight, look over the plants again. All 

 the iron and woodwork should be well scrubbed 

 with soft-soap and water, in which a little paraf- 

 fin-say a wineglasstui to a gallon-has been put; 

 the rough walls should be .well lirae-washed, or, 

 even better, washed with Portland cement 

 mixed with water so as to be of about the con- 

 sistency of thick paint. This, if well worked 

 into any cracks, etc., of the walls, will fill them 

 up, and effectually destroy any mealy-bugs or 

 their eggs which may be in them. 



3.174. Forcing Lily of the Valley. They 

 should be grown three years in full sun and in 

 rich soil before they are forced. Planting roots 

 about the size of a man's hand with about a 

 dozen crowns will give the best results. Plant 

 in rows nine inches apart each way and cover 

 the crowns with one-half inch of soil. They 

 should have a dressing of half soil and half 

 rotten manure every winter, but do not put it 

 on thicker than to just cover the crowns. For 

 forcing the most convenient way is to lift the 

 plants in clumps of one foot square and then 

 place in pans or boxes of the same size. A tem- 

 perature of from 85° to 9.5° and a bottom heat of 

 80° will bring them into bloom in January. A 

 layer of moss should be placed over the crowns 

 before the plants are brought into the heat. 

 Where one has command of not over 60° of heat 

 do not begin to force before the first of Feb. 

 Unless the supply ot roots is plentiful it is a 

 mistake to begin forcing early, because later 

 more and larger spikes will be obtained. 



2,18t. Budding or Grafting. Apples are quite 

 generally propagated by root-grafting, and if 

 this is properly done, good trees will be the re- 

 sult. The superiority ot the budded over the 

 grafted tree is simply a bait used bv the tree 

 agent to catch victims. Show him the door; 

 you can get along without his high-priced 

 budded stock. The ordinary root-grafted Apple 

 tree is good enough for us all.— G. E. 



2,189. Paris Green for Curl Leaf. Where the 

 curculio is so bad that the crop is usually de- 

 stroyed by it, spraying with weak Paris green 

 solutions (say 300 gallons of water to the pound 

 of green) may be tried in a cautious and experi- 

 mental way, but such spray would not be ex- 

 pected to have any influence on the curled leaf 

 or any other fungous disease. The only thing 

 that might be worth a trial as a preventive for 

 the curl-leaf, is spraying with the Bordeaux 

 mixture, or with the ammoniacal copper carbo- 

 nate solution This should be done just as soon 

 as the first leaves unfold, and be repeated every 

 ten days But as the disease seldom does much 

 damage, and the trees usually replace the 

 diseased foliage by a new, healthy one the same 

 season, we might simply rely on good culture, 

 which will enable the trees to put forth new 

 leaves, and go through the ordeal unharmed. 



2,200. Value and Use of Hen Manure. Gar- 



denei-s in New Jersey usually pay about .50 cents 

 a barrel. Of course it all hinges on the question 

 of quality. Hen manure, well-kept and slightly 

 mixed with absorbing materials, such as dry 

 muck or sifted coal ashes, is worth twice as 

 much as stable compost, bulk for bulk, and 

 sometimes more If leached, and largely mixed 

 with soil and other ab.sorbents, it may not be 

 worth as much. 1 invariably apply it broadcast 

 after plowing, and mixed with the surface by 

 means of a good harrow. Thus used, it has 

 always given me excellent results for almost all 

 garden crops, especially Onions, Celery plants, 

 root crops of all kinds, Peppei-s, etc.— G. R. 



2,199. Russian Apricots. As our inquirer has 

 some trees now growing, and about large enough 

 to bear, we would not advise him to plant more. 

 They are an uncertain thing at best, variable 

 and of doubtful value. Let him have a little 

 patience, and his own experience with them will 

 soon tell him what is best to do. We have not 

 yet seen a single specimen of the fruit of any of 

 these Russian varieties, and those who have, do 

 not seem to be very enthusiastic over them. 



3,179. Planting Baspberries and Blackberries- 

 Itaspberry plants may be taken up in fall or 

 spring; but in any case 1 would prefer to set 

 them out where wanted immediately after the.v 

 are taken up. If they cannot be planted until 

 spring, they had better be left undug until 

 wanted. This is usually better than taking up 

 in tall and heeling in during winter. The best 

 Blackberry plants are those grown from root- 

 cuttings. The roots are taken up in autumn, 

 cut into three inch lengths, put in boxes between 

 layers of sand, and buried out of the reach of 

 frost, in a well-drained spot. In spring they are 

 planted rather thickly in furrows plowed out 

 four feet apart. The joung plants will be ready 

 for setting in tall or spring following.— G. R. 



