170 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



June, 



themselves. They will subdue the grass 

 and mulch themselves; and bear better than 

 in cultivation. Do not hold up your hands 

 in protest. I have tried both methods, or 

 rather all sorts of methods. Now I get an 

 ironclad man to work through, cutting out 

 dead canes and cutting down new canes to 

 five or six feet, and I get enormous crops. 

 Do not go very heavily into Blackberries, 



A Wasp-cat€hing Glass. 



as it is now quite a rage to plant them. The 

 policy with small fruits is to divide your 

 work between Strawberries, Raspberries, 

 Currants, Blackberries and Grapes. Then 

 you can stand the loss of one or two sorts 

 for a year or more. Something fails to be 

 remunerative each year, but something 

 always pays. 



I find the Blackberry a very popular home 

 fruit. It is relished by the young folks in 

 marmalade, .ielly, and canned above almost 

 all fruits. It is also very wholesome. After 

 sour Cherries and Currants I prefer alt the 

 Blackberries I can eat. If you do not choose 

 to grow them for market, select a clean 

 cool corner for a row of Agawam and Tay- 

 lor for home use. 



The Lucretia Dewberry I like very much 

 as a fruit. It is large, early, and delicious ; 

 but I am obliged at last to give it up, as 

 being not worth the immense trouble it 

 causes. It is not hardy and it is a sprawler 

 of the worst kind. If quite hardy, however, 

 we could afford to spend on it a good deal 

 of time and care. 



Protecting Grapes from Wasps. 

 Among the most commonly employed de- 

 vices for the destruction of wasps that often 

 do great damage by puncturing ripening 

 Grapes, are glasses or bottles with a num- 

 ber of openings for the entrance of the 

 insects. These glasses are partly filled with 

 thin syrup, which attracts the wasps, causes 

 them to come inside the dish, where, unable 

 to find the points of exit, they soon perish 

 by drowning. One of the various forms of 

 these glasses is shown in accompanying 

 illustration. They are hung scatteringly 

 among the ripening clusters. In filling the 

 glasses with the syrup, care should be taken 

 that none gets on the outside, or on the rims 

 of the openings, as this would make it un- 

 necessary for the wasps to go inside. 



Insecticides, Some Results Reached 

 at Experiment Stations. 



Experiments made at the Ohio Station in 

 past years indicate that the Plum Curculio 

 can be kept in check by spraying with Paris 

 green or London purple in water solution. 

 But while this remedy was applicable to 

 Apples and Plums, it could not safely be 

 applied to Peaches, because the foliage of 

 the latter is so easily injured by the poison. 



It is well when thinking of treating these 

 trees, to take advantage of the advice Prof. 

 Bailey of the Cornell University station who 

 has experimented in spraying Peaches, an- 

 nounced last season. 



The following is a summary of his results. 

 1. Peact trees are very susceptible to in- 

 jury from arsenical sprays. 



2. London purple is much more harmful 

 to Peach trees than Paris green, and it 

 should not be used upon them in any way. 



3. Injury is more liable to occur upon 

 full grown foliage and hardened shoots 

 than upon young foliage and soft shoots. 



4. The immunity of the young growth is 

 due to its waxy covering. 



.5. Injury late in the season is more ap- 

 parent than early in the season, because of 

 the cessation of growth. 



6. Injury from the use of London purple 

 may be permanent and irreparable. 



7. The length of time which the poison 

 has been mixed appears to exercise no in- 

 fluence. 



8. London purple contains much soluble 

 arsenic (in our samples nearly 40 per cent) 

 and this arsenic is the cause of Injury to 

 Peach foliage. 



9. A coarse spray appears to be more in- 

 jurious than a fine one. 



10. A rain following the application does 

 not appear to augment the injury. 



11. Meteorological conditions do not ap- 

 pear to influence results. 



13. Spraying the Peach with water in a 

 liright hot day does not scorch the foliage. 



1.3. Paris green, in a fine spray, at the 

 rate of one pound to 300 gallons of water, 

 did not injure the trees. Probably one 

 pound to 350 gallons is always safe. 



What Insects we may Expect in 

 June. 



During the early part of the month 

 some of the following insects may appear, 

 and appropriate measures should be taken 

 to keep them in check. On trees: Aphis, 

 round and flat-headed Apple-borer, oyster- 

 shell bark-louse, and Apple and forest tent 

 caterpillar. Fall web-worm, Cecropia Em- 

 peror-moth; turnus swallow-tail; Apple and 

 blind-eyed sphinx; eye-spotted bud-moth, 

 leaf skeletonizer. May-dotted Apple-worm, 

 the several climbing cut-worms, curculios. 

 Plum tree sphinx, gray dagger moth, horned 

 span-worm, polypheumus moth and May 

 beetle. 



The vine may be troubled by the root- 

 borers, leaf-rollers, yellow woolly-bear, or 

 leaf-hopper. 



The ones most likely to bother the Rasp- 

 berries are the cane-borer saw-fly. On 

 the Strawberry may be found crown and 

 root-borers and cut worms. 



The Currant will most likely suffer 

 from the Cnrrant borers and Currant •■ ,■ 

 worms. 



There are numerous beetles and worms 

 which have a special liking for certain 

 vegetables, but as the season of these 

 is comparatively short it will be best to 

 watch them at all times, which can be 

 done very easily. During dry weather 

 flowers may suffer from the red spider. 

 While the above list is not near a com- 

 plete one nor are these insects all liable 

 to appear; they are mentioned as this 

 is the season in which they would do 

 some damage if they appear in any great 

 numbers. Their times of appearance 

 vary of course in the different latitudes. 



In the ordinary season, May and June 

 are the busiest months for insects, as 

 probably more species do actice work 

 then, resulting in immediately injury, 

 than at any other season. Whenever a 

 tree, shrub or plant shows signs of being 

 unhealthy, examine it at once and give 

 special attention at this time of the year 

 to the above list of insects. 



Should their depredations be checked at 

 the beginning, much injury may thus be 

 prevented. Cold and wet weather is quite 

 an aid in keeping many insects in check. 

 For instance, the chinch bug will not breed 

 very extensively and this is the case with 

 thousands of other species. And it may 



be taken as a rule that in proportion as the 

 weather is dry for a long time, the insects 

 will increase. This was demonstrated in 

 many localities the last few years, when 

 more injury was done by insects than for 

 years before.— On/iit/e Judd Farmer. 



Growing IVIushrooms in the Field 



Good specimens are often, and sometimes 

 adundantly, found in old pastures. Is it 

 not possible or jjractical to aid nature in 

 this spanfaneous production, and grow 

 Mushrooms in the fields without all the 

 trouble of making regular beds in cellars or 

 caves ? A satisfactory answer to this query 

 is given in Mr. Falconer's " How to Grow 

 Mushrooms." LTnder suitable conditions, 

 says Mr. Falconer, we can grow Mushrooms 

 easily and abundantly in the open fields, and 

 the planting of the spawn is all the trouble 

 they will cause us. 



As a rule, wild Mushrooms abound most 

 is rich, old, well-drained, rolling pasture 

 lands, and avoid dry, sandy, or wet places, 

 or the neighborhood of trees and bushes. 

 In attempting to cultivate them in the open 

 fields we should endeavor to provide similar 

 conditions- Then the chief requisite is good 

 spawn, for without this we can not raise 

 Mushrooms. About the middle of June 

 take a sharp spade in the pasture, make V 

 or T-shaped cuts in the grass sod about four 

 inches deep and raise one side enough to al- 

 low the insertion of a bit of spawn two to 

 three inches square under it, so that it shall 

 be about two inches below the surface, then 

 tamp the sod down. By cutting and raising 

 the sod in this way, without breaking it off, 

 it is not as likely to die of drought in sum- 

 mer. In this way plant as much or little as 

 may be desired and at distances of three, 

 four, or more feet apart. During the fol- 

 lowing August or September the Mush- 

 rooms should show themselves, and con- 

 tinue in bearing for several weeks. 



The Edible Ground Cherry. 



Some of our seedsmen catalogue the Alke- 

 kengi. Strawberry Tomato, or Ground 

 Cherry, which is quite an interesting plant 

 to people who have never grown or seen it. 

 It is one of several members of the genus 

 Physalis, at least one of which grows wild 



nie Edible Ground Cherry. 



in the northern states and Canada, and 

 which also furnishes an edible fruit. The 

 plant is easily recognized as a near relative 

 of the Tomato, Potato, Egg Plant, all be- 

 longing to the Solanacefp. 



The species, usually found in gardens is 

 Phijsalia AlkckciKji shown in accompanying 

 illustration. It makes a little bush from 

 one to two feet high. The yellow or orange 

 colored fruit, of Cherry size, grows singly 

 all along the branches, and is enclosed in a 

 peculiarly formed husk, which remains 



