I89I. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



^n 



In open prairie lands wind-brealta are an ad- 

 vantage, when confined to the south side only. 

 These should be constructed with two rows 

 eight feet apart, and the trees set at the same 

 distance, alternating in the row. 



Preparation of the Land. Deep plowing and 

 pulverizing of the surface and stirring of 

 the subsoil are as much needed with the Cherry 

 as any of the orchard fruits. The depth can be 

 obtained by a repeated following in the same 

 furrow, until the desired condition is reached. 

 Sterile lands must be well enriched with barn- 

 yard manure or wood ashes, or any well-rotted 

 vegetable matter, before planted. 



Selection of Trees. These should never be 

 over two years old; strong, vigorous growers, 

 and well rooted. As to the stock on which the 

 kind has been worked the tendency of the 

 discussions at the meetings of the society has 

 been towards the Morello as a preferable stock, 

 claiming early and profuse fruiting and hardi- 

 ness over the other classes. 



Planting. The Cherry tree is a close grower, 

 forming either an upright or low round head, 

 according to varieties. In either case it requires 

 little room. But for convenience in cultivation 

 and other work in the orchard, the rows should 

 be twenty feet apart, and trees fifteen feet 

 apart in the row. 



The safest time to plant is in the spring, and it 

 should be done as soon as the winter's frost has 

 left the ground. 



Pruning. The main points to be gained are: 

 First, a low and uniformly-shaped head; second, 

 to facilitate the penetration of light and air to 

 the inner portion of the head; third, to encour- 

 age and direct the annual growth so as to form 

 a shade sutlicient to break the force of the sun's 

 Intense heat upon the branches and trunk of the 

 tree; fourth, to remove all chafing, straggling 

 and succulent growth. It should be done main- 

 ly while the tree is young, and in the spring 

 before the buds break into leaves. Succulent 

 growth should be removed as soon as it appears. 



Picking, The best time to gather for shipping 

 is when fruit is wholly covered with a light red 

 color— approaching scarlet; if for a near mar- 

 ket, then dark red color. 



The picking force should be divided into two 

 classes. The first proceeds to gather all the fruit 

 within easy picking distance while standing on 

 the ground, and should keep in advance of the 

 second class, which works from ladders or stag- 

 ing, and cleans up the tree. Cherries must be 

 picked by the stem, and not by taking hold of 

 the fruit, and care must be taken not to even 

 start the stem from the fruit. None but sound 

 and ripe specimens should be placed in the boxes, 

 and the top layer in every box should be an 

 honest index of the whole. 



Storage. The product can be safely held in a 

 cold storage for several days, but must be 

 quickly used when taken out, and especially is 

 this an advantage to the grower in seasons when 

 yield is abundant, and market over-stocked. 



Varieties Kecommended for Kansas. Voted 

 fruit list is as follows, the highest grade first, 

 and so on relatively through the list; Eaj7j/,— 

 Early Richmond, May Duke, Montmorency, 

 Early Purple, Leib, Elton. Jfediitm— Gov. Wood, 

 Olivet, Eugenia, Reine Hortense, Montmorency, 

 Belie de Choisy. l/a(e— English Morello, Com- 

 mon Morello, Uelle Magniflciue, Late Mont- 

 gomery. 



Rhododendron Culture. 



(Extract ofpapi'rretuibyMrs.Uelen A. Crvss, before 

 ttie California State Ftornt Society.) 



These beautiful flowering shrubs, which 

 include Azaleas in the large genus Rhodo- 

 dendron, belong to the nattiral order Erica- 

 ceae and the class Pentandria. 



The Rhododendron is found in the mountains 

 of the northern hemisphere and in Java and the 

 neighboring islands. Several species are found 

 in China and Japan, two in Kamschutka and one 

 in Alaska. The Artie species, Lapponicum of 

 Lapland and Greenland, is also found in the 

 White mountains. The only two other European 

 species are the R. Ferrugineum and R. Hirsutum. 

 the "Alphen Rosen" of the Swiss Alps. The 

 species peculiar to the United States are numer- 

 ous and wide-spread. 



The finest and most hardy Rhododendrons are 

 hybrids, produced by crossing the R. Catawbiense 

 with the Eastern R. Ponticum, and these are 

 more generally planted than any other. The 

 following hybrid varieties can be confidently 

 recommended as hardy and beautiful garden 



plants: R. Everestianum, R. ro.seum, R. album 

 grandiflorum, R. purpureum, H. grandiflorum 

 and R. Coriacem. 



Rhododendrons are propajfated from seed and 

 the plants resulting are then grafted. This 

 should be done upon codlings, two years old. 

 Sow the seed in October r November and trans- 

 plant in February or Xi rch. 



To attain the best success in the cultivation of 

 these shrubs, they should be planted in well 

 drained peat or leaf-mould mixed with sand. 



Rhododendrons will grow well out of doors in 

 deeply shaded places, as on the north side of a 

 house where they may get the morning and eve- 

 ning sun, or under large trees. Some species 

 droop their foliage and appear as though they 

 had at some time been borne down by a weight 

 of snow. 



The Rhododendron, if it has proper care, is 

 healthy and free from insect pests, and if it is 

 seen to be attacked by them, one may know it ha 

 been neglected. The plant requires no pruning 

 unless it be growing out of shape, and then the 

 knife should be used as little as possible, and 

 that after the blooming season is over. 



The Azalea is of the ge'Uis Rhododendron. 

 It varies in height from a tew inches to twenty 

 feet, and its blossoms are of almost every con- 

 ceivable shade. The Azalea Indica, a favorite 

 of florists, is remarkable for its brilliant colors. 

 The A. calendulaceaof the Southern States some- 

 times almost clothes the mountains with a robe 

 of living flame color. 



The soil used is the same as for Rhododendrons. 

 If one is in the possession of both early and late 

 varieties, he can have a succession of bloom from 

 November through May. The Azalea is usually 

 a healthy plant, but it it has the misfortune to be 

 neglected, other misfortunes will follow. These 

 are the red spider, mealy bug and black scale- 

 Too much dampness will result in mildew. The 

 grower may avoid all these troubles by a reason- 

 able amount of attention to the needs of the plant 



Prune after the flowering season is well over' 

 July is a good month 'as this gives the plants 

 time to make new wood and set their buds, etc. 

 The names of some of the species in common 

 cultivation are Francois de Vos, a double white; 

 Baron de Viere and Apollo, both large single 

 white; Kaiser Wilhelm, very double rose red; 

 Emporer of Brazil, double white; Duke of {?on- 

 naught, dark red with two rows of petals and a 

 large red calyx; and last and best of all as a 

 beauty and a bloomer. Prince Albert Edward, 

 rose pink with dark red blotches on three petals. 



The Best Means to Destroy the 

 Rosebug. 



(Extract of paper by Col. Alex. W. Pierson read before 



the New Jersey Horticultural Society.) 



For the past fifteen years I have known of 

 certain limited localities in Southern New 

 Jersey which were infested by rosebugs. 

 They yearly appeared in gradually increas- 

 ing numbers. During the past three years 

 they seem to swarm from these breeding 

 grounds, and now prevail over a wide ex- 

 tent of territory. 



On my farm I saw no rosebugs until three 

 years ago. This last year (isiiu) they destroyed 

 all the crops on over four thousand of my Grape 

 vines. They destroyed half of my Strawberry 

 crop, much of the Blackberry crop, and would 

 have taken all of the Apples, Peaches and 

 Cherries, if these trees had borne fruit. I have 

 had Apples large asWalnuts so covered with clust- 

 ering rosebugs as to completely hide the fruit. 

 On some of my Grape vines— Riparias— all of the 

 lea\'es were eaten up. 



In October last I grubbed out about one 

 thousand of my Grape vines, valued at a dollar 

 each, but valueless on account of the prospect- 

 ive prevalence of this insect pest. I subsequent- 

 ly ploughed the land. The rosebug larvee have 

 already descended about six inches; they are yet 

 going down deeper, out of reach of frost. 



The female rosebug deposits her eggs generally 

 directly beneath where she feeds. Thus I find 

 many more of the larviv right under the Grape 

 row than in the middle space between the rows. 

 On cultivated soil, where the bugs find little to 

 eat, as in corn fields, I find the larvie scarce. In 

 the woods the rosebug feeds on foliage of many 

 trees, and the ground beneath them swarms with 

 the larvie. 



If, before these insects are ready to oviposit, 

 they have consumed all of their food in a given 

 district, they will generally migrate to another 

 place where they can obtain food, and this will 



be their breeding place. For example, on many 

 sorts of Grape vines they prefer the blossoms to 

 the leaves. Of the Riparias they eat the leaves 

 also. If there be a vineyard of Riparias access- 

 ible to the bugs, they will, towards the close of 

 their dispensation, mostly abandon other vines 

 and congregate on the Riparias. I have such a 

 vineyard of Iron-clad Grape. The soil here is in- 

 fested with the larvai much more than in other 

 vineyards. 



Last .lune, in rosebug time, our entomologist. 

 Professor Smith, came to me, bringing a whole 

 arsenal of insecticides. We waged war on the 

 rosebugs for a week, and they remained masters 

 of the field. 



Soon after this I was induced to try a new in- 

 secticide called sludgite, a product of kerosene, 

 which looks like glue and smells offensively. It 

 dissolves in hot water, makingasortof emulsion 

 which is liquid so long as it remains in any de- 

 gree warm. 



I made a solution of the chemical, one pound 

 to six gallons of water, and with it sprayed the 

 infested Rose bushes. In the course of ten 

 minutes the bugs were all fallen to the ground- 

 I scraped up a pint of them. The next day these 

 bugs all were dead. 



I killed some thousands more of them on the 

 Roses.and then continued sprayingvarious plants 

 to learn if this solution would harm the growth. 

 No damages resulted from its use. 



This solution killed the rosebug, the Potato 

 bug, and various other insects by contact. At 

 least such was my experience Whether it will 

 kill the rosebug in the full vigor of his earlier 

 life has got to be learned by trial. He is a tough 

 customer. 



I do not know what strength of the solution is 

 needful. Perhaps a weaker solution than that I 

 used will be strong enough. When prepared for 

 spraying it should be slighly warm. When cold 

 it curdles like soft soap. 



Mr. H. L. Lyman, of Virginia wrote to me that 

 the ammoniacal solution of copper carbonate 

 is the only one of the copper solutions which 

 checks the rosebug. 



This observation caused me to notice that the 

 sections of my vineyard which were unharmed 

 by the rosebug were those sections sprayed with 

 this ammoniacal solution of copper. If this ex- 

 perience be repeated next year, we may gain 

 from it instruction how to successfully contend 

 with the rosebug. 



Management of Hardy Grape Vines. 



{Ketraet of paper by S. S. Cvitisey, read before the New 

 York State Farmers' Institute.) 



The summer management of hardy Grape 

 vines includes planting, pruniiig and trellis- - 

 ing, cultivation, picking, packing and 

 marketing, together with several items of 

 occasional work, a.s fertilizing, destroying 

 injurious insects, warding off fungus dis- 

 eases, etc. 



The introduction of the Concord Grape, the 

 invention of the Climax basket, the ability to 

 ship to distant markets, in full car lots, at low 

 rates and with quick time, have made Grapes 

 our leading, most reliable and by far the most 

 remunerative farm crop. 



Quality First, Will the business be ovetdone? 

 is the universal question. We believe the answer 

 to that question hinges on the one point of 

 quality. We shall not fail forwant of consumers. 

 Sixty-five millions of people make a tolerably 

 large market. The externals of good quality 

 are easily named. When a it-lb. basket of Chau- 

 tauqua Concords reaches St. Louis, Minneapolis 

 or Denver, it should l.>e of full weight, of which 

 IH lbs. are the weight of the basket and "M lbs. 

 the fruit. The baskets should be dry, clean and 

 of neat appearance. The covers, preferably of 

 white Basswood, should be of sound timber, free 

 from holes, knots or decayed spots. The Grapes 

 neither too green, nor too ripe, should be free 

 from crushed, mouldy or imperfect berries, and 

 the clusters have just enough stems to handle 

 with. Plainly stenciled on the cover should be 

 the name of the grower, and the brand or trade 

 mark of the Association. Accompanying each 

 basket should be a guarantee in about these 

 words: "These Grapes are warranted of No. 1 

 quality. If not found as represented, will the 

 consumer please reporttothe dealer from whom 

 bought." 



So much for the externals. The real quality, 

 however, lies beneath the surface. The best 

 grades have the clusters full, compact, hand- 

 some, highly colored, the berries large, plump 



