I89I. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



159 



til more favorable atmospheric couditions pre- 

 vail and tbe vines resume healthy growth. 



The Striped Bug must be carefully watched 

 for and promptly met. Finely-ground plaster, 

 impregnated with kerosene or turpentine, 

 dashed violently into the hills from both sides, 

 has never failed to drive them from ours, though 

 sometimes a second application is necessary if 

 dry and windy weather prevails The most 

 effective remedy we have ever used was tbe 

 dried and pulverized bone refuse from which 

 the phosphorus had been extracted. 



Gathering. We gather the fruit every day ex- 

 cept on the Sabbath, as soon as it will slip from 

 the stem, even if some pressure is needed. I do 

 not think that specimens removed by fracture 

 of vine ever develop highest condition, and 

 would prefer to have, if possible, all carried to 

 shade between eight o'clock and ten o'clock. If 

 examined before eight o'clock, some that seem 

 then firmly attached to the stem, will afterward 

 under the influence of the sun, lose their close 

 adhesion and by the next morning be so tinted 

 with yellow that they will not bring highest 

 prices or be suitable for shipment. Among those 

 exposed to the sun's rays after ten o'clock, many 

 will be found in above undesirable condition. 



Packing. Pack for market as if jou yourself 

 were to be the purchaser. Always keep in mind 

 the purpose to have the topmost layer in the 

 basket with enough of its bulk below the rim to 

 keep it securely in place during transit; enough 

 above to {-ivc appearance of generous measure- 

 ment. 



Varieties. The varieties most cultivated are 

 the Hackensack, the Golden Gem, and the Jenny 

 Lind. The Hackensack has been popular in the 

 New York market, but is losing its reputation 

 there and has never sold well in the Philadelphia 

 market. 



The Golden (iem is a very superior fruit, and 

 has been a competitor with the Jenny Lind in 

 the contest for supremacy in the Philadelphia 

 market, which is the most exacting in the United 

 States. Some seasons it has been very product- 

 ive and of best quality, but in others and in 

 some localities the vines have been weak, with 

 consequent inferior flavor of fruit and much 

 left at close of season unfit tor sale. 



With us, the Jenny Lind has proved most re- 

 liable tor vigor of vine; flavor and te.xture of 

 flesh; faculty of adaptation to differing localities; 

 productiveness; attractive roughness of exterior; 

 shipping qualities and consequent readiness of 

 sale. The present season it ranked highest in 

 demand and price so distinctly that very many 

 farmers decided to abandon other varieties and 

 purchased for future use, seed of the Jenny Lind. 



Beqnirements for SucceBS. None is so import- 

 ant as the selection of seed. It is the most 

 ductile of all the crops we grow, being the most 

 easily led in the direction we desire in regard to 

 size, form, texture of flesh and flavor, but this 

 very facilily of movement renders it most sus- 

 ceptible to the influence of the principle of re- 

 version to type, so constantly operative and so 

 forceful among all of man's improvement on 

 nature's products. This property makes it im- 

 possible to merely "keep up the quality," or 

 maintain a career of balance, but renders it 

 necessary to try to improve if we would not 



A Bne-handle AttmliniLiit. 



have Its quality sink. Having ascertained what 

 the highest priced buyers desire, we should have 

 constantly in mind the selections of specimens 

 that conform most nearly to their ideal. When 

 we open them, our standard should demand 

 choicest flavor which is likely to accompany 

 pleasant fragrance. 



Those that are dry inside, with their seeds sus- 

 jjended by ligaments, are to be preferred to 

 those containing liciuid; not only because dry- 

 ness is indicative of higher iiuality, but also be- 

 cause the constant movement of the liquid 

 while on its way to market and along the streets 

 to place of consumption will have a disintegrat- 

 ing effect on the flesh, so that the difference in 

 quality on arrival at their destination will be 

 more distinctly marked than when they left the 

 field together. The dry specimen will be the best 

 keeper and therefore the best shipping one. 

 When the market is glutted, fruit suitable for 

 shipping is sold to inland buyers; that which is 

 unsuitable, wastes. 



CONDENSED GLEANINGS. 



Aquatics in the Flower Garden. The Egyptian 

 Lotus, Nclumhiuin sijeciomim, takes the front 

 rank. This is the largest of the Water Lilies, 

 with the exception of VictoJia leoia, but it has 

 the advantage over the latter in being hardy, 

 andean be grown in almost any garden- It is a 

 strong grower and a rambler, and requires to be 

 kept under control in the flower-garden or in 

 the Lily-ponil with other aciuatics, as the roots 

 spread so fast that it would soon crowd out all 

 others. Almost any kind of tank will answer to 

 grow it in, provided there is a depth of about 

 three feet of water and brick walls or division to 

 keep the plants within limit. About a toot of 

 soil, composed of old sods and rotten cow ma- 

 nure, will be needed, and the planting should be 

 done about the 1st of May or as soon as growth 

 commences. The tank should be fllled gradually 

 with water as the plants grow, and on the ap- 

 proach of winter, if the water is deep enough to 

 save the roots from freezing, it may be left in 

 the tank ; it not, the water should be drawn off, 

 and the plants covered with leaves, salt hay, or 

 litter to protect them. The native and hardy 

 kinds of Nymphsea are all worthy of a place in 

 the aquatic garden. The pink Cape Cod Lily is 

 especially fine, and the white European Water 

 Lily (iV. alba candidimima) is the largest hardy 

 white variety, a most profuse bloomer and a 

 chaste and exquisite flower. Too much cannot 

 be said tor the new yellow variety, JV. Martiacca, 

 which is perfectly hardy and of easy culture. 

 The Egyptian Lotus is another very interesting 

 plant to grow in water or to plairt in a border 

 grouped in a mass. Associated with aquatics 

 and in the rear of the tank, specimen Palms, 

 Rubber-plants, Cannas, Kicinus, Caladiums, 

 Phormiums, with Arundos, Bamboos, Eulalias 

 and other hardy ornamental grasses, in single 

 plants or clumps, are most picturesque. Spineas, 

 Iris, Acorus, Sagittarias, Cyperus and others 

 may be i)lanted lieside Aquatics that require 

 shallow water, such as Limnocharis, Pontedcria, 

 Pestia, etc. In half-shady places some of the 

 fine foliaged Begonias and Caladiums planted 

 along with hardy Ferns are very beautiful. If 

 water can be combined with rock work it will 

 give a much more pleasing effect in sub-tropical 

 gardening.— Garden and Forest. 



A Boast of Babhith. The half burning— mere 

 smoking and charring— of the vegetable waste 

 of all sorts with sods,earth, etc., in early spring, is 

 of comparably more advantage to the garden 

 than is the burning of the waste to ashes and 

 using them. A large mass of friable stuff is ob- 

 tained which is invaluable as a covering tor 

 early-planted seeds or for top-dressing any- 

 where. It keeps off insects by its being charged 

 with the essence of smoke, and it makes a car- 

 bonaceous surface like what nature provides 

 for her unfailing growths in the forest. The 

 bones, etc., greatly contribute to direct fertiliz- 

 ing effect. In making such heaps of charred 

 soil, etc., no flame should be allowed except in 

 the mere starting of the fire. To secure its per- 

 meating the whole pile, openings are made m 

 tbe earth covering where the heat is deficient 

 and they are closed where it seems too strong 

 Tbe fire should burn slowly for several days. 

 Tbe fumes, which are considered especially 

 healthful to human lungs, are probably so be- 

 cause of their being destructive to the lower 

 orders of creatures, some of the minutest of 

 which haunt all creation even to the different 

 vital portions of the human body. Soil that 

 has all the organic matter burnt out of it as 

 in tbe case of bricks, becomes as sterile as 

 cinders, hence, tbe necessity of preventing tbe 

 heaps of char from attaining flame heat, and 

 the great waste which attends the making of 

 large fires anywhere in tbe fields. The slow 

 combustion of natural decay, wherever it can be 

 waited for, is best for plant life.— Cor. N.Y.Trib. 



Boot Pruning for Frnit. The formation of 

 the fruit depends, not so much upon changes 

 which occur during the present season's growth 

 as upon those which preceded it. Bark and 

 young wood in autumn and winter are laden 

 with stores, manufactured in the leaves the 

 year before, and stored up for use when re- 

 quired. Tbe fruit-buds, too, are formed gener- 

 ally speaking, tbe year before. This being so, 

 the object of the gardener is to promote the de- 

 velopment of those buds at the expense of the 

 leaf-buds. He wants to check tbe one and 

 develop the other- be wants to use the accumu- 

 lated stores of the tree, not tor further leaf and 

 shoot formation but for fruit forming. No 

 doubt, root-pruning does all this, the formation 



of new leaves and new leaf-buds, which would 

 be the first work of the awakening spring, is 

 assuredly checked by root mutilation, and a 

 chance is given for-tbe development of the em- 

 bryo fruit-buds— a chance of which they speedily 

 avail themselves.— Gardeners' Chronicle. 



A Pruning Saw. Many of the pruning saws 

 bought in the stores have the fault that the.v 

 pinch and work hard when used in green, sappy 

 wood. It is easy enough to make a saw that will- 

 work to perfection. A suitable narrow saw 

 blade, about 18 inches long, can be bought at 

 any hardware for about 2.5 cents. Drill a hole at 

 each end, and select a strong young Oak or 

 Hickory shoot, about as thick as a thumb. This 

 is split at its upper end, the end of saw blade in- 



A Useful and Inexiicnsivc Prunhig Saw. 



serted (saw teeth pointing toward you), and thus 

 fastened with a nail driven through the centre 

 of stick and tbe bole in tbe blade. Now the stick 

 of wood is bent, and tbe other end of blade in- 

 serted somewhat in same way as the first. Now 

 you will have a saw, with a good handle, and 

 you will be able to saw off limbs as thick as a 

 man's arm without the least difficulty. Such 

 a handy implement is shown in the accompa,ny- 

 ing illustration —Der Landwirtb. 



A Hoe Handle Attachment. Haven't you 

 wished a great man.v times your hoe handle were 

 not so dry and slippery? Make a simple device 

 such as shown in illustration and nail one on tbe 

 hoe handle near the end, tbe other about JH 

 inches from that with % wire nails Get them 

 even, and both on the under side. They are flrst 

 rate on a steel rake, and on all kinds of pronged 

 hoe-s, and you can use such tools with mittens or 

 glo\'es on when too cold; and the hoes etc., won't 

 be wrong side up. One will not get nearly as 

 weary as when be must grasp with all bis might. 

 There is no patent on this, and I haven't got 

 rich out of it, in dollars; but ray feelings have 

 been elevated by it very much. I simply cut out 

 a square corner, and think they are;the|rigbt size. 

 In digging Potatoes with a pronged hoe, I tell 

 you they are grand.— Gleanings in Bee Culture. 



Keeping CutFowers Fresh If tbe ends of the 

 stems are cut under water at intervals of a few 

 days, tbe flowers will remain fresh for a much 

 greater length of time. Changing the water will 

 also be beneficial. The cleaner and softer the 

 water is so much the better, and possibly the 

 best that could be used is rain water or distilled 

 water. The former would be more easily ob- 

 tained. If collected in town, the first wasbinjis 

 of tbe slates or tiles should be avoided, partic- 

 ularly after fog. because a great amount of 

 soot and other filth will be deposited, which 

 must be first washed off with rain of some dura- 

 tion. A supply of clean soft-water might then 

 be collected and stored away in some vessel in a 

 dark place, and covered over to keep it clean for 

 use when wanted. Hj' the use of this, flowers 

 in vases may be kept fresh in some cases for 

 three or four weeks.— Gardening World. 



Shade Trees for Door Yard. A great many 

 farmers' houses are destitute of shade entirely. 

 Around perliaps half of the rest the only trees 

 are fruit trees, which, while better than none, 

 are ob.1ectionable for tbe chief reason that most 

 fruit trees are short-lived, and just as they get 

 sufficient size to furnish shade they break down 

 from an over load of fruit, or succumb to insect 

 enemies, and we are obliged to make a new start. 

 Cedars, Pines, and other evergreens are valu- 

 able and attractive if planted for wind breaks at 

 a suitable distance from tbe house, but the 

 poorest of all shade trees, as grass does not grow 

 well under thera. and many varieties drop cones 

 nearly every day m the year, which are unsight- 

 ly and interfere with the use of the lawn mower. 

 <!)ccasionally I see a farm bouse surrounded with 

 grand forest trees and there is nothing else that 

 gives so pleasing an effect.— Waldo F. Brown in 

 Phila. Press. 



Planting Nuts. I advocated planting Nut- 

 bearing trees iudigenous to my section in the 

 spot where the trees are to stand. Eight 



