POPULAR GARDENING 



AND FRUIT GROWING 



"ACCUSE NOT NATURE, SHE BATH DONE HER PART: DO THOU HUT THINE." -Miuion. 



Vol. VI. 



avT^iacH:, issi. 



No. 6. 



Blow, wind of March, and sing 



Your 9ong unto the timid buds and grass, 

 Unclasp the fetters of the woodland spring. 



Hushed In Its house of glass. 

 Blow, wind of March, and wake 



The sleeping violets with gentle words; 

 Spread your green canopy of leaves, and make 



A shelter for the birds. 

 Blow, wind of March, ay, blow 



Until the orchards heed your voice, and bloom: 

 Then whisper softly where the wild flowers grow 



About the winter's tomb. 



The Correct Naming of Plant-s. Who has 

 not purchased novelties or standard kinds of 

 plants, seeds, etc., under different names, only 

 to disco%'er later that they were one and the 

 same thing'/ It is a trick of some persons of the 

 trade, knowingly or otherwise practised, which 

 all right-thinking people condemn. One of the 

 good works undertaken by the Society of Ameri- 

 can Florists,is the appointment of a committee of 

 Nomenclature, whose business it shall be to bring 

 order out of the existing chaos of plant and seed 

 names. Our correspondent, Wm. Falconer, is 

 the very etEcient chairman of said committee. 

 There are sub-committees, consisting of three 

 persons each, on Roses, Carnations, Chrysanthe- 

 mums, Palms and Ferns, Bulbous Plants, Bedding 

 Plants, Greenhouse Plants and Hardy Plants. 

 The direct object of this reform is to see to it 

 that all decorative garden plants are being 

 bought and sold under their true names, and 

 that no plant is circulating under two or more 

 different names, or any plant under a false name. 

 It is an earnest effort by reputable florists to 

 secure the truthful naming of plants, and in this 

 way help the garden-loving people of the coun- 

 try. It is also meant as a protection to all honest, 

 square-dealing florists and seedsmen, and a men- 

 ace to the unscrupulous ones, who pervert and 

 falsify the descriptions of plants and flowers, 

 and misname and unwarrantably substitute the 

 plants, In fact do anything to squeeze or coax 

 the money out of your pocket and put it in their 

 own. And in order to help this Nomenclature 

 Committee in their good work, it becomes every 

 reader of Popcxar Gabeendjo who knows of 

 any instance in which a plant is circulating under 

 two names or a wrong name, to notify the chair- 

 man, Wm. Falconer, Glen Cove, N. Y., or any 

 other member of the Committee, by mail. And 

 if any of you have been the victims of sharps, 

 or have been misled by false or over-drawn de- 

 scriptions of plants into buying these, you 

 should also notify this Committee. 



Judge Miller's Fruit and Garden 

 Notes. 



Spring Budding. The bud to be used, or 

 rather the cion, should be cut in time. 

 Keep in a damp, cool place, so that as soon 

 as the bark on the trees will slip, the opera- 

 lion should have been performed. About a 

 week or ten days before, however, the cions 

 should be placed with a few inches of their 

 butts in clean, damp sand.and put in a warm 

 place so as to enliven the body, as they should 

 not be quite dormant when set. As soon as 

 the young trees are in condition to bud upon 

 let it be done in the usual way and in ten 

 days or two weeks, one can see whether the 

 buds have taken. If not the operation can 

 be repeated. 



When certain that a bud has caught, cut 

 the tree back to within a foot of the bud. 

 Somewhat later cut to within two inches of 

 the bud. Soon the bud will start out, and 

 most likely plenty of others from the stock. 

 Let these all grow for a few weeks, then cut 

 all off but the inserted one. 



When this has grown six inches (if a rare 

 and valuable variety) it will do to tie the 



young shoot to the stub, or better still, ad- 

 just a little stake and tie the shoot to it. 

 This is necessary where grounds are not 

 fenced in (dog proof), for they will some- 

 times run rabbits through and knock off a 

 number of buds. About mid-summer the 

 stub can be cut close above the bud shoot 

 and cemented; and by autumn it will be 

 healed over, or so as to be no injury there- 

 after. 



The extravagant express charges, which 

 often amount to more than cost of the trees 

 we buy, has caused me to get small trees by 

 mail, from which I take buds, set them in 

 vigorous established trees, and by fall have 

 usually trees three times the size of the 

 original. This is particularly applicable to 

 the Peach. 



A few years ago I gotten new Peach trees 

 from the far east, that had not more than 

 six inches of a budded top; these were cut 

 back, the buds inserted in strong stock, that 

 grew that summer to quite a top, had blos- 

 som buds, and would have borne fruit the 

 following season had not a frost killed them. 



In advancing new Roses all I want is just 

 enough ripe wood on a plant to get a few 

 sound buds, and it must go very adverse if 

 I don't have full bloom Roses that same 

 season. In my forty years of Rose growing 

 I never had a perfect Marechal Niel Rose on 

 its own roots out doors, no matter how care- 

 fully they were protected in winter; while 

 budded on strong, hardy stocks, so high 

 that they will admit of bending down and 

 cover in winter, have them in the greatest 

 perfection. 



Late Potatoes. Last season was the 

 nearest a failure with this crop that we ex- 

 perienced here in twenty years. The real 

 cause no one seems to know, as the season 

 up to the maturing of the early varieties 

 seemed to be usually fair for the crop. I 

 planted some of them to raise a second crop, 

 which has sometimes succeeded, but the fall 

 was too dry, and they did not even start. In 

 digging over the ground, found some sound 

 only a few weeks ago, as the ground here 

 has not been frozen over two inches at any 

 one time up to now, Jan. 31st. 



At our horticultural meeting early in 

 December there were quite a number of 

 varieties on exhibition and about the finest 

 shown were a second crop. They were 

 grown from small young ones that had 

 grown from those stored in the cellar for 

 winter and left there. The exhibitor told 

 me that he planted them in the early part 

 of June. The crop was quite a good yield, 

 and the tubers were as smooth and solid as 

 one could wish. 



Had I known this we might now have our 

 own instead of paying one dollar per bushel 

 for what we need; as there were bushels of 

 these little ones fed to the hogs last spring. 

 Those above mentioned were from the size 

 of a large marble to that of a hulled Walnut 

 when planted. So much learned for the 

 future! 



Gordon's Syringa or Mock Orange. 



CHARLES E. TARNELL, QUEENS CO., N. Y. 



Mr. Gordon's Syringa, PhilarJeJphufi 

 Oordoniaiius, a hardy and highly orna- 

 mental deciduous shrub, which belongs to 

 the natural order Saxifragacese, often at- 



tains a height of eight or ten feet. From 

 the strong, erect shoots, slender side shoots 

 are produced, and these give it the appear- 

 ance of a drooping habit. The opposite 

 ovate leaves are of a bright green color, and 

 the flowers, which are produced In dense 

 clusters, are large, white, and slightly fra- 

 grants, and as they are produced a month 

 later than the other varieties, of Philadel- 

 phus, this late flowering habit makes it a 

 very valuable and desirable addition to our 

 list of ornamental shi-ubs. 



To grow this Philadelphus to perfection, 

 it should be given a deep, moderately-en- 

 riched soil, and while small, weeds or grass 

 should not be permitted to grow around 

 the bush. Large and well established speci- 

 mens should be given a top dressing of good 

 stable manure every autumn. 



As the tendency of this Philadelphus is to 

 make long and rambling shoots, pruning 

 must be resorted to in order to preserve a 

 natural grace, and as it flowers on the wood 

 of the preceding year's growth, it should 

 not be pruned in winter or spring, but, as 

 soon as it ceases blooming, the old wood 

 should be shortened back in order to pro- 

 mote the growth of the new for another 

 season's bloom. 



It is well to thin out the old wood occa- 

 sionally, and to remove all root sprouts 

 when they appear. Propagation is effected 

 by cuttings and also by a careful division 

 of the alder plants, but as well-rooted and 

 nicely-shaped specimens can be readily and 

 cheaply obtained of all nursery men, those 



Simple Device for Riddling Soil. 



who desire only a few plants, will find it 

 much more satisfactory to purchase them 

 than to attempt their propagation. 



Riddling Soil an Easy Job. 



The method referred to is the one shown 

 in our engraving. It consists in having a 

 handbarrow or other receptacle to receive 

 the prepared soil. On this a sieve that is an 

 inch or so wider than the barrow, should be 

 placed to slide upon it. After the sieve is 

 about two-thirds filled with unsifted soil, it 

 is worked quickly back and forth by a per- 

 son at one end of the barrow, until its con- 

 tents are properly riddled. 



The task is a quick and easy one. If two 

 persons engage in it, one to vibrate the sieve, 

 the other to shovel in the compost from the 

 heap and to assist in emptying the barrow 

 when full on the potting bench or elsewhere, 

 it takes but a short time to riddle a large 

 amount of soil, provided it is in a suitable 

 condition for the operation. To sift well, 

 soil should be moderately dry; the presence 

 of some sand in it will help much. 



