I 12 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



March, 



The First Note. 



We heard, this morn, the blue-bird's voice, 



And gone at once were care and gloom : 

 We knew the world's great jubilee 



Ha4 just begun, of song and bloom! 

 The Willows, too, the tidings hear ; 



With gilded signals lifted high, 

 They tell their comrades dull and deaf, 



A pageant gay will soon pass by. 

 The shy Hepatieas will peep 



From 'neath their silken, downy hoods 

 To ask their mottled, guardian leaves 



What disturbs the quiet woods. 

 The Maple buds will fling aside 



The braided folds of crimson vest, 

 And all their golden stamens drop 



To coax the Orchis from her rest. 

 The wind will bid the Daflodils 



To lift their drowsy lids, and shake 

 Their yellow curls In sly rebuke 



Of feeble gleams the sunshine make. 

 Yet, 'mid the rapturous delight, 



O bluebird, we shall not forget 

 That first, sweet, tender note to which 



The stirring harmony was set ! 



— Carol Cathcart Day. 



The West Wind. 



A gentle wind of western birth, 

 From some far summer sea, 



Wakes Daisies in the wintry earth. 

 Wakes thoughts of hope in me. 



Hot lied making time. 



Test your garden seeds. 



More snn— mure flowers. 



Free-growing plants need plenty of water. 



All is well thus tar with the fruit prospects. 



For shady places count on setting out wild 

 hardy Ferns. 



An expert looks at the shape quite as much as 

 the color of a Bower. 



For red spider— the best antidote is water— 

 this and nothing more. 



If this mild winter was an indication of an 

 early spring, we might think better of it. 



An advantage of fruit failure— no Apples de- 

 caying in the cellar and poisoning the air in the 

 rooms above. 



Catalogues bloom more gaudily than ever, 

 No failure in the crop of fine products set forth 

 between their covers. 



Lily Soil. Mr, Rexford makes the statement 

 that he has never bad as good success with these 

 plants in a very rich soil as in one moderately so. 



The bridal bouquet at a recent wedding was 

 eighteen inches in diameter, and made of Lily 

 of the Valley, and Adiantum. The weight is 

 not given. 



Valuable Plants. The Orchids of the famous 

 Pitcher k Alanda collection, at Shorthills, N. J., 

 are valued at $140,000. It is by several fold the 

 largest collection of its kind in the world. 



A fine, clean garden, abounding in sweet, hand- 

 some flowers, luscious vegetables and delightful 

 shade and shelter, comes as near being an earthly 

 paradise as we may here expect to attain. 



We will esteem it a favor if our readers will 

 send us sketches or photographs of any interest- 

 ing devices pertaining to, or plants in, their 

 gardens, for illustration in these columns. 



A New Orafting Wax. The German house of 

 Carl Huck Sohn, Lahr, Baden, are sending out 

 samples of a new grafting wax that impresses 

 us favorably. It is a soft wax, being suitable 

 for use even in cold weather. 



All-while Fuchsia. 1 am pleased with the 

 Countess of Aberdeen Fuchsia, mentioned in 

 your columns about one year ago, and ot which 

 I imported a plant. Tube, sepals and petals are 

 all white.- O. G., Walla Walla, Wash. 



Sot Long to Walt. A year ago last spring I 

 planted a one year old Concoid Grape vine. Last 

 'all, less than a year and a balf Irom planting, I 

 picked five and a half pounds ol fruit. Can any 

 one beat tliatV- D. H. B., Juhmnn to., Kae. 



Fruit prospects good now for next year, but it 

 is too early for making estimates on next year's 

 crop. Blackberries and Raspberries that were 

 cut back after the crop was taken off last sum- 

 mer, have not made the growth we would like. 

 Strawberries generally have made plants enough 

 for fruit, but not any surplus plants.— P. E. V., 

 JerseyvUlc, Ills. 



The richer the soil is made the harder we must 

 fight weeds, especially when the manure applied 

 itself is full of weed seeds, which is usually the 

 case with barn-yard manures. Concentrated 

 mineral fertilizers, such as potash salts and phos- 

 phates, ashes, etc., in conjunction with Clover, 

 Peas and other green crops plowed under, make 

 a perfect substitute for yard manure, and have 

 the additional advantage of being free from 

 weed seeds. 



Maiketinga Trade by Itself. Growing fruit 

 and vegetable crops and selling them to good 

 advantage are two different trades altogether. 

 Either ot them alone is work and both of them 

 will be much work, and not mnch rest, for mind 

 or body. Fruits and vegetables well grown and 

 prepared for market, are half sold ; but remem- 

 ber, marketing, to make the whole business pay, 

 is one-half of the whole work ; unless you have 

 a ready home market for all you raise.- I\r. 



The Egyptian Lotas should be given a trial by 

 all who take an interest in Water Lilies. I placed 

 a tub in the lawn last season, filling it two-thirds 

 full of rich compost, and placed in it a root of 

 the Sacred Lotus. In a very short time the tub 

 was covered with its large, round, glossy leaves 

 some of which measured twenty inches across. 

 I did not succeed in getting any bloom, however; 

 but am fully satisfied that next summer it will 

 bloom profusely. It is highly ornamental even 

 without bloom.— TF. J. MUler, 111 



Amateur Strawberry Bed. I do not have 

 much time to work in my garden ; but last sum- 

 mer 1 raised ^76 quarts of Strawberries on 5J4 

 square rods of ground. Some ot my Sharpless 

 were so large that 15 berries filled a quart basket. 

 Could have picked out a quart containing uot 

 more than 18 berries any day for about two 

 weeks. The plants grew in hills about 18 inches 

 apart. Wood ashes and Mapes' Potato manure 

 were used for fertilizers. For next year I have 

 the following new varieties to come into bear- 

 ing, viz.: Monmouth, Belmont, Jessie, Gandy, 

 Viola, Eureka, Crawford and Michael's Early. 



Stumps Hade Beautiful. One of the prettiest 

 lawn objects we recall was a Maple stump, 

 14 feet high, covered with a heavy mass of 

 Virginian Creeper; a beautiful column indeed. 

 Whether tree stumps are large or small, high or 

 otherwise, they may be rendered very decora- 

 tive. They look best standing on closely-cut 

 lawns. The centre of low ones may be scooped 

 out a little and filled with bright flowers, and the 

 sides almost hidden by trailing Canary Creeper, 

 Nasturtium, Passion Flowers, or any hardy vines. 

 Still we think if they are allowed to be over- 

 grown and completely hidden by Virginian 

 Creeper, instead of being filled with flowers, the 

 effect will be equally handsome.— TF. Layhill, 

 Frederick Co., Md. 



Second Crop of Cauliflowers. With plenty of 

 rain, plenty of manure, and an occasional dose 

 of nitrate of soda, my Cauliflowers came to per- 

 fection this season. Every plant of Henderson's 

 Snowball formed fine marketable heads and 

 were cut in due time before the 15th of June, 

 then the drought set in which continued for ten 

 weeks. The old stumps remained in the ground, 

 and were considered of no more value, but to 

 my great astonishment, after the first rain, 

 began to grow again, s.uckering from the root, 

 and some making as many as five new shoots 

 and in November 1 could show a fine and com- 

 pact head to each and every shoot, fully as large 

 as the first or original one was last spring, giving 

 me from two to five extra heads to the plant I 

 had not bargained for! Who ever had similar 

 experience 'f—Max Munte. 



California Fruits and How to Grow Them— is 

 the title of an elegant work of .Witi pages (0x9 

 inches) by Edward Wickson, A. M., published by 

 Dewey and Co., San Francisco, Cal. Too much 

 praise cannot be bestowed on this work for its 

 beautilul clear readable type, its many fine and 

 life-like illustrations, many ot them reproduced 

 Irom photographs, and for Its handsome and 

 substantial binding. While the cultivation of 

 many ot the Calilornian fruits is more or less of 

 a (f rra Uiciignda to us, the perusal of the new 

 book has been ot greatest interest to us, and we 

 think It cannot prove otherwise to any enthusi- 

 astic horticulturist, whether he grows Oranges 



and Figs, etc., or not. Surely every fruit grower 

 in California, in Florida, and other semi-tropical 

 countries will want it, or should read it. 



Women Florists. Someone has counted the 

 firms with the prefix " Mrs. or Miss " contained 

 among the 8,000 names in the 1880 directory of 

 " Florists, Seedsmen and Nurserymen," and 

 found 316 of them, scattered over 36 of the 

 States. No notice was taken of such firms as 

 "Floral Company "and the like, in which no 

 names are given. This would doubtless bring 

 the number of firms under the management of 

 women easily up to 400. While this may appear 

 like a good showing, we can only wonder why 

 there are not more women in the business. 

 When almost every woman in the land is a true 

 flower lover, when nursing and petting plants 

 seem to be theirspecial delight, and their special 

 knack, commercial flower growing should be 

 the very first occupation for woman to turn to 

 as a means of earning a competence. 



A Tree as Land-Owner. The following story 

 about a tree near Athens. Ga , is told by the 

 Prairie Farmer. In the early part of the cen- 

 tury the land on which it stands was owned by 

 Colonel W. H Jackson, who took great delight 

 in watching its growth and in enjoying its shade. 

 In his old age the tree had reached magnificent 

 proportions and the thought of its being destroy- 

 ed by those who would come after him was so 

 repugnant that he recorded a deed of which the 

 following is part: "1, W. H. Jackson, of the 

 county of Clarke, of the one part, and the Oak 

 tree ( giving location ) to the county Clarke, of 

 the other part: Witnesseth, That the said W, H. 

 Jackson, for and in consideration of the great 

 affection which he bears said tree, and his desire 

 to see it protected, has conveyed and by these 

 presents does convey unto the said Oak tree 

 entire possession ot itself and all land within 

 eight feet of it on all sides." 



Shade Trees Have Value. The railroads are 

 beginning to realize this. Recently when the 

 Buffalo, Thousand Islands & Portland road was 

 buying right of way for extending their line 

 through La Salle, they came to a small Maple 

 grove on the line ot the proposed route. The 

 farm where the grove was had a width of 12 

 rods, being the same as that of some neighboring 

 orchards and gardens. For the right of way 

 across such other places the company contracted 

 to pay $1,300, although in most instances a much 

 higher price was demanded. When the owner of 

 the grove boldly ventured to ask $2,000 for 

 granting the needed land, the company quickly 

 took him up, closed the bargain and paid him the 

 money, while otber land owners were put off for 

 months. The railroad people evidently knew 

 the value of these trees better than did the far- 

 mer. They did not care to chance having a val- 

 uation placed on the property by a commission. 



The Bwarf Calla. Mention was recently made 

 in these columns of an extremely dwarf form of 

 the Calla. By the aid of the Gardeners' Chroni- 



Tlie '^tdttle Oem" and a Cnmmon Gaila. 



cle of London, we are enabled to give the en- 

 graving herewith, which shows the remarkable 

 contrast between this new Calla and the ordinary 

 one. To the same journal we are indebted for 

 some additional information concerning this 

 plant. It is a seedling variety, which grows 

 from nine inches to one foot in height, with a 

 perfect spathe. The plant was raised and ex- 

 hibited by Mr. H. Elliott, St. Hellers, Jersey. 

 One reccmmtLdation ot this Little Gtm, lor 

 such is its name, is the small space it fcquiies to 



