1 84 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



June. 



2.366. Amaryllii Treatment. It is better to 

 separate the younpr offset bulbs and grow them 

 separately; you can manage them better, than if 

 left around the old bulb. They re<iuire larger pots 

 than would be necessary otherwise, and these 

 take up more room. Generally speaking, Amary- 

 llis are grown singly in pots when they are of 

 Howering size, and they do better than when 

 several are grown together in large pots — E.O.O. 



2.312. Seed of Masa Ensete. They are difficult 

 to get to grow as we buy the seeds. I purchased 

 some this spring, and with the best ot appliances. 



Garden Klnry xvitliout iDords.—Mnral: Lonsen the Lahet Wires. 



such as bottom heat, moisture, warm house, etc., 

 not one germinated. This probably is due to the 

 oily nature ot the albumen. Seeds of this de- 

 scription do not keep long or travel well. Seeds 

 of this Banana are probably imported, so you 

 will have to try again, and sow in a tem|>erature 

 of 6.5 to 70 and wait in the hope that a good seed 

 may chance to be received. An e.xamination ot 

 mine proved them to be spoiled.— E. O. ( >. 



2,3ts. Evaporating Baspberries, The use ot 

 sulphur in evaporating fruit for the purpose of 

 bleachinor, is now pretty generally condemned, 

 and will have to be abandoned entirely. There 

 is absolutely no reason for it in evaporating 

 Kaspberries.— H. W. G. 



2,421. Paper Flower ?ots. The Neponset paper 

 llower pot is certainly a very useful thing tor 

 shipping plants, or tor starting young stock for 

 market. 



3,3611. Cannas as Annnals. That Cannas can 

 be raised and flowered the same year is true, but 

 unless you selected and saved your own seed it 

 is not the best plan, especially as Canna roots are 

 so easily wintered. From my own experience 

 with purchased seed, it would be necessary to 

 buy 201) packets to get 100 plants from seed.— O. 



2,389. Copper Mixtures on drapes. The danger 

 lies less in the direction of atfecting taste than of 

 affecting the appearance. If the Bordeaux mix- 

 ture is used all through the season, and up to the 

 very end of the period of danger, the berries 

 would most likely be badly discolored by the lime 

 contained in the Itordeau.x mixture.anU it would 

 be necessary to dip the bunches first in diluted 

 acid, or perhaps vinegar, and then in cle-ar water 

 to free them from acid. Toavoid thisunpleasant- 

 ness, all applications made after the berries have 

 reached somesize, are made with the ammoniacal 

 copper carbonate solution, which affects neither 

 taste nor appearance.— G. R. 



2.2!!."). Propagating Currants. 1 have been 

 setting some Currant cuttings this spring which 

 were cut last October, and buried in sand five or 

 six inches deep out of doors. They were nicely 

 calloused, and some had small roots. I lose ten 

 per cent of the cuttings. I set them in loamy 

 soil and they will be large enough to set out by 

 next tall. I have also set them in autumn and 

 had good success. The top bud should be cov- 

 ered with loose soil so it will not dry out. I have 

 had good success with Grape cuttings served in 

 the same manner.— H. A. Cornell, Westchester 

 Co.. N. y. 



3,334. Freeeias after blooming should be grad- 

 ually dried off to mature the bulbs. Then set 

 them away till October, when they should be re- 

 potted and started into growth. The bulbs in- 

 creiuse rapidly, and will bloom year after year 

 with proper management. — H. C. T. 



How About Bagging Crapes? 



I?ay;t;ing Grapes, only a few years ago, was 

 a favorite .subject of discu.ssion at horticul- 

 tural meetings and in the horticultural press. 

 Much less is now being said about it, simply 

 because spraying with the copper mixtures 

 is proving a much simpler and cheaper way 

 of preventing serious injury by Grape dis- 

 eases, and a much more effective one besides, 

 as it protects the foliage as well as the fruit. 



If it is true, as it now seems, that the Hose 

 chafer can be disposed of by spraying with 

 sludgite solution, or perhaps with the kero- 

 sene extract of pyrethrum, or even Paris 

 green water if made as strong by the addition 

 of lime (or the Bordeaux mixture) as .safe to 

 apply to the foliage without danger ot in- 



juring it, the Grape grower who is up to the 

 times, and uses these modern means of war- 

 fare—the sprayer and spraying liquids — 

 diligently, will have little use for bagging 

 hereafter. 



Still the question of fighting the Rose 

 chafer is yet in an experimental stage, and 

 while we would not recommend bagging as 

 protection from rot, we think that in many 

 cases, especially where only a few vines are 

 grown, it would be a reliable 

 means of preventing injury by the 

 Rose chafer. Another advantage 

 of bagging may be found in the 

 cleanliness and brightness of 

 the clusters, which come out free 

 from insects and filth. Mr. John 

 Maytrott, of New Jersey, who 

 informed us that he used 2.'),000 

 bags in one season recently, 

 speaks in favor of cheap muslin 

 or calico bags in place of the paper 

 bags that were ordinarily used. 

 Mr. E. Williams found paper bags quite 

 satisfactory. In regard to adjusting them 

 he gave in Garden and Forest these direc- 

 tions: " The clusters are enclosea in paper 

 bags, the mouth reaching over the cane, 

 folded and secured with a pin. Some writers 

 give instructions to gather the top of the 

 bag around the stem of the cluster and pin 

 it, but this is bad advice: first, because 

 if it is done as early as is advisable to 

 protect the fruit, the young clusters are too 

 tender to withstand the strain of wind and 

 water, and many of them break off before 

 they acquire sufficient strength to resist the 

 pressure; and, secondly, many, I may say 

 most varieties ot Grapes have such short 

 stems that there is no room between the 

 cluster and the cane to fasten the bag. The 

 Brighton, Empire State, Noah and a few 

 others, are not subject to this difficulty, but 

 for the first reason assigned the advice is 

 dangerous. 



A two-pound, plain manilla paper bag of 

 fair quality, such as grocers use, is the size 

 generally recommended, but I use the one 

 and a half pound size in preference. This 



let out any water that may enter, and the 

 tops to facilitate its reaching around the 

 cane. In fact, if the bags were open at the 

 bottom they would probably be quite as 

 efficient. The tighter and more perfect the 

 roof or top of the bag to exclude the entrance 

 of the fungus and water from above, the 

 better. I sometimes use three pound bags 

 enclosing two clusters in each, which an- 

 swers very well where the clusters are close 

 and compact, but with looser clusters they 

 are apt to grow into each other." 



To sum up, we think that for a while yet, 

 and under .so/uc circumstances, it may be 

 wise to bag Grapes, although the fact that 

 the clusters were enclosed in bags, would 

 not render the necessity of spraying Grape 

 diseases much less urgent. On the other 

 hand, we are quite certain that it is only a 

 question of time when we will have no more 

 use for bagging, since means have been or 

 will be found, to give us full protection 

 against all the enemies of the Grape crop 

 without the bags. 



An Improved Steam Digger. 



The accompanying illustration represents 

 a new steam digging device, invented by a 

 Mr. F. Proctor and manufactured by Bur- 

 rell & Sons, Thetford. The device consists 

 of three steel forks and fork handles, three- 

 rocking levers, one wayshaft, and a three- 

 throw crankshaft with its necessary bear- 

 ings. Each fork is made up ot steel tines, 

 which are held firmly in a grooved clamp 

 about three feet in length and which is 

 attached to the fork handle by a spring 

 hinge somewhat similar to that which is 

 used on the fork of a hay tedder. The 

 crankshaft is fixed where the water tank of 

 an ordinary traction engine is usually fitted. 



Three methods are adopted for " taking a 

 field'': 



1. Tlie machine travels round the outsides 

 and then works inward similar to the path 

 usually taken with the sheaf-binding har- 

 vesters. 



2. Another plan is to start in the center of 

 the field and describe with the machine a 



A Steam Land-Digging Machine. 



bag measures six and three-eighths by nine 

 and a half inches. The two pound bag is of 

 the same length, but a little wider, which is 

 of no advantage and costs more. An inch 

 or two added to the length would be desira- 

 ble for many varieties. The patent, square- 

 bottomed bag possesses no advantage over 

 those of the old pattern, and in fact I should 

 prefer the latter at the same cost. The cor- 

 ners of the bag are cut off— at the bottom to 



number of circularly ended rectangles till 

 the whole field has been gone over. 



3. In this case a straight up and down 

 course is taken, and the machine is brought 

 into the straight again by reversing the 

 engine, much as is done with steam engines 

 in reversing them Ijy triangles. The time 

 occupied in thus turning takes scarcely 

 longer than that of an ordinary horse plow 

 at the headlands. 



