I89I. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



129 



I claim as fine crops of big Onions as Mr. 

 Greiner's, and two crops a year at that. My 

 seedling plants are raised with far less 

 trouble, and are stronger and sturdier, and 

 take all care of themselves until ready to be 

 transplanted. 



Five years ago I bought one pound of 

 "Extra Early Pearl" Onion seed. By the 

 15th of September, the seed was sown pretty 

 thick in rows nine inches apart. The plants 

 soon showed up, and the bright little green 

 seedlings grew about three inches high, and 

 so remained all winter in the open ground, 

 without the least covering or protection of 

 any kind. As soon as the weather permit- 

 ted in early spring, I began to transplant to 

 a piece of ground prepared and manured 

 the autumn before. I transplanted about 

 four inphes apart, the rows one foot apart, 

 and the only manure used during the spring 

 months was wood ashes sown broadcast 

 over the rows; the Onions ripened finely, 

 and, when they were pulled, were a sight 

 to behold. There were bushels of them — 

 large, waxy, white Onions — five, and six 

 inches across. But that was not all, for I 

 had a second crop that same year. That 

 same spring, when I was through trans- 

 planting the seedling Onions, I sent for an- 

 other pound of extra early Pearl Onion 

 seed, and drilled in thick to raise setts. In 

 due time they ripened and were harvested, 

 and by the first of October were set out, 

 three inches apart, in rows one foot apart, 

 and March first, I began to pull the crop for 

 early market. 



Two such wonderful crops, one in early 

 spring, the other in autumn, have been un- 

 failing with me each year during the last 

 five years, this being the sixth. From 

 where I sit as I write, this tenth day of 

 February, I can see the rows of little seed- 

 ling Onions standing, thousands strong, 

 like so many sentinels pointing the way to 

 this, "another new Onion culture," for my 

 experiments are experiments no longer. 



Devices for Protecting Plants, 

 Gardeners in Europe, especially in Eng- 

 land and France, use many devices for pro- 

 tecting and forwarding early plants, which 

 are seldom seen in our country. Among 

 such devices are the ones shown in accom- 

 panying illustration. The use of these 

 miniature cold frames, which are like toy 

 houses with glass roof and open bottom, 

 makes it practicable to start a few Lettuce 

 plants, flowers, or Melon hills, etc., in open 

 ground, a week or two before their regular 

 season. Our last year's experience with 

 similar, home-made, devices for starting 

 Melon hills, was highly satisfactory. The 

 seeds were planted in hills, in open ground, 

 and over each hill was placed a little frame, 

 top slanting towards the south, like an or- 

 dinary cold frame. Some small barn win- 

 dows that we happened to have on hand, 

 were made use of in place of sash. The 

 frames were removed after the plants, 

 which grew thrifty and free from insect at- 

 tacks, begun to send out runners. 



COMMENTS BY READERS. 



A department to which all are invited to send notes 

 of ej^peitence and observation concerning topics that 

 recently have been treated on in this journal. Many 

 such contributions monthly are welcome. 



Filberts from Seed. These would not come 

 perfectly true from seed, but it is a method 

 generally used to obtain stocks or new varieties. 

 Plants raised from seed have the advantage that 

 they do not sucker. They could be expected to 

 produce fruit in three or four years. The best 

 method of propagation is by cuttings. These 

 may be two feet long and should have the eyes 

 removed from that portion that is inserted in 

 the ground.— H. W. Smith. 



Ctn/ruRE OF BRnssELS Sprouts. In answer 

 to G. R., page 121, I would say that I make it a 

 point to have these between October and March; 



got to have them, no excuse. Get the seed. Sow 

 about the first of April and again in May; this is 

 because the ground is not all ready at one time 

 for the April-sown plants. Brussels Sprouts take 

 a long time to grow and make good knobs, and 

 there is not a bit of danger of them running to 

 seed or bursting, as is the case with early-sown 

 Cabbage. They like good strong land— not fresh- 

 ly manured, though— and farm land is better 

 than garden ground for them. They are less li- 

 able to club root than either Cabbage or Cauli- 

 flower, and more subject to aphides in the fall. 

 Plant in rows 2^ to 3 feet apart, and 20 to 24 

 inches asunder in the row. Cultivate well all 

 summer In fall, many plants will be found to 

 have loose, flabby sprouts; these we feed to the 

 hogs or cattle; and the plants that have the fewest 

 solid sprouts, we pick from first. At the time 

 we bury our winter Cabbage, we pull up all our 

 Brussels Sprouts, cart them home and heel them 

 in close together, but in a bolt upright position, 

 in an airy shed where we can keep out hard frost 

 and pick Sprouts as we wish to in winter. At 

 this storing time, I pick off all of the rougher 

 body leaves, as they would rot off, anyway, and 

 smell badly, and this lets the fresh air circulate 

 between the plants and dry up rot and mould. 



..,. .-,C~?-r^. 



Hand-frames for Protecting Plants. 



Brussels Sprouts are pretty hardy, but a sudden, 

 severe cold snap will injure them considerably. 

 In October, I put up a temporary greenhouse, 

 made of the spring hot-bed sashes, for Chrysan- 

 themums, and when the flowers are past, I clear 

 out the plants and fill up the house with Brussels 

 Sprouts, and here they keep splendidly. The 

 house being set against the warm potting shed, 

 from which two doors open Into it, hard frost is 

 easily excluded from it. 



The Americau Elm is the ideal street tree 

 (page 132). So it is, Mr. Stanton: that is, if it had 

 no drawbacks. But, over there in Westchester 

 county, haven't you got Elm-leaf beetles? If 

 you have, how about your Elms? We have them 

 here, just across the Sound from you, and we 

 are cutting down all the Elm trees we can very 

 well spare, and all because of this loathsome 

 pest. True, they prefer exotic Elms, but I cau 

 assure you, our American Elm does not escape 

 their voracious nature. And there is no cure. 



Satisfied with a Competence (page 107). 

 Splendid and practical advice, Mr. Powell, but 

 bless you, though we may die in the almshouse, 

 to the last our hearts will yearn after riches. 

 It's human nature. 



The English Garden Devices (page 109) are 

 poor things for this country. It is is much easier 

 and cheaper for us to build a regular little green- 

 house, than one of those expensive and laborious 

 pits. And, in the case of hot-beds, we sink them 

 in the ground to economize labor and manure. 



Hardy Plants in the Window (page 109). 

 Jill well and good, Mr. Smith, but you have not 

 named the plants you refer to. 



"For Shady Places (page 112) count on set- 

 ting out wild, hardy Ferns," you tell us. Yes, 

 and let me add Crocuses, Snowdrops, Siberian 

 Squills, Blue Bells, Erythroniums, Guinea-hen 

 Flowers, Dutchman's Breeches, Bloodroot, Tril- 

 liums, Violets, Wild Orchids, Hepaticas, Ane- 

 mones, Star Flowers, and hosts of other plants, 

 all of which thrive well in shady places; for 

 places that are very shady in summer often are 

 open enough in spring, before the trees burst 

 into leaf. 



"Swamp Lily" Lilium superbum (page 116). 

 The name is somewhat misleading. It grows 

 wild in our woods, in dense undrained wood 

 swamps and wet meadows, and in Massachusetts 

 and Connecticut I see it every summer, on high 

 gravelly railway banks, &c,, and in our grounds 

 we have lots of it in summer, with stems 9 feet 

 high, and bearing 30 to 40 flowers on a stem, and 

 this too, on high, dry ground; only the soil is well 

 mulched with halt-rotted tree leaves and shaded 

 by Azalea shrubs. A beautiful LUy, and easily 

 grown.— IFm. Falconer, L. I. 



The Mole as Friend (page 75). There are 

 two sides to the question. While it is true that 

 moles do not eat vegetables, yet they do make 



runs tor field mice, and the latter eat the roots, 

 I had a lot of nice Tulip and Gladioli bulbs de- 

 stroyed this way, the past season. 1 think I pre- 

 fer the worms to the moles. A gentleman living 

 now in Philadelphia, said that he thought the 

 moles would do good, and let them work in his 

 lawn till it was nearly ruined. He concluded 

 the damage was far more than the good. In the 

 lawn much grass, and in the garden many plants 

 are destroyed by them, indirectly, by the earth's 

 drying because of the burrows, underneath 

 and so killing them. 



Plant-Protecting Cloths. Muslin covers 

 could be made more useful in the protecting of 

 plants than they generally are. Not only are 

 they handy as a means against damage by frost, 

 but also of protecting blooms and tender plants 

 from the damaging power of heavy rains. They 

 are also used extensively in this latitude to shield 

 plants from the scorching sun-rays during the 

 summer time. By their proper management, 

 any kind of plant can here be successfully 

 grown. In many places in this latitude, and a 

 little further north, the culture of the Orange 

 couldbesuccessfullyextended. The treesshould 

 tie planted as close together as practicable and 

 grown in bush form, having frames built along- 

 side, and covered with canvas When the frost 

 would be likely to be so severe as to afEect the 

 trees, even when covered with the canvas, fires 

 could be made of some substances that would 

 make an abundance of smoke. In this latitude, 

 the temperature is generally sufficiently high for 

 most crops, seldom falling below 50 degrees dur- 

 ing the day-time, but during the last half of De- 

 cember and the first of January, the tempera- 

 ture often falls below the freezing point during 

 the night, so it can be easily understood how 

 useful these frames would be in this section. It 

 is in southern horticulture that these frames are 

 the most desirable. The best method is to make 

 the frame six feet long, and in width a little less 

 than the cloth. This plan admits of the easy 

 shifting or entire removal of one or more, or all 

 frames. Another advantage ol this plan is the 

 ease with which the manure used in warming 

 the pit can be removed or renewed. In northern 

 latitudes, sinking the pit two or three feet in the 

 ground cannot be other than beneficial; but in 

 southern latitudes this would not always t>e de- 

 sirable, as during heavy rains the pit would be 

 almost sure to fill with water, unless proper 

 drainage were constructed from the bottom of 

 the pit. The better plan is to build the frame 

 three feet high at the sides, and to select a site 

 on the highest part of the field. 1 1 it was con- 

 sidered necessary, the sides of the frame could 

 be banked and then planted with Bermuda grass 

 to prevent their washing. Planks one inch in 

 thickness would be sufficient of themselves to 

 keep out four or five degrees of frost. Should 

 banking be decided on, the outside of the frame 

 should have a good dressing of gas-tar. The 

 canvas or muslin may be made water-proof by 

 giving it a couple of coats of raw linseed oil, or 

 better still by using one pound of parafin to one 

 gallon of oil, and then warming the oil and ap- 

 plying while hot. Should the muslin be thin, 

 more parafin can be added with good effect. I 

 have thought many times, that a cloth or ma- 

 terial could be woven from Asbestos that would 

 answer for this purpose better than anything 

 else, for time and mold would have little effect 

 upon it. Calico or muslin is generally used up 

 in a couple of years, and sometimes it becomes 

 very dirty, and there is no method by which it 

 can be cleaned —H. W. Smith, Baton Rouge 

 County, La. 



Illinois Horticulturists (page 114). The 

 officers named are those of the Alton Horticul- 

 tural Society. The officers of the Horticultural 

 Society of Southern Illinois are as follows: E. 

 A. Riehl, Alton, president; R. T. Fry, Olney, vice- 

 president; E. G. Mendenhall, Kinmundy, secre- 

 tary; T. E. Goodrich, Cobden, treasurer. The 

 first annual meeting of the Society was held In 

 Centralia, February 17th to 18th. Membership 

 about 180. Fruit prospects in this section are re- 

 ported as flattering. Large plantings will be 

 made in spring. Apples are to be planted mora 

 largely than all other fruits together, and Ben 

 Davis leading. Michel's Early is the latest rage 

 in Strawberries. The Society, with Mr. B. C. 

 Warfield's approval, changed the name of War- 

 field No. 1 (perfect-flowering) to Sandoval, and 

 of Warfield No. 2 (pistillate) to Warfleld. Mr. 

 Warfleld says he plants Warfield as main crop, 

 fertilized with Sandoval. The Orange Quince 

 does not succeed here, but the Pear Quince bears 

 abundantly.— c/j/de Cinlee, Perry Co., 111. 



