iS8 



^POPULAR GARDENING! 



July. 



June 1st, and prick them out in nursery 

 row a few inches apart. This will make 

 excellent plants by the time needed for set 

 ting where the crop is to grow. 



But even if we have not provided for 

 plants in any of these ways, we should not 

 give up the idea of planting a home supply. 

 Good plants, ready for the field, can be had 

 of seed and plantsmenat a reasonable price. 

 We find them advertised by professional 

 growers as $1.00 for a basket containing 500 

 nice plants packed in moss, and this quan- 

 tity will be sufficient to give any average 

 family a most generous 

 home supply, and perhaps 

 some to spare. 



Even the ordinary Dwarf 

 or Half Dwarf varieties of 

 the present day, allowing 

 of planting in closer rows, 

 and requiring less earthing 

 up than did the old-fash- 

 ioned, now discarded, tall 

 sorts, have greatly reduced 

 the labor and expen.se of 

 growing the crop; but the 

 advent of the dwarf, self- 

 bleaching varieties, chief 

 among them White Plume, 

 makes it possible for the 

 home grower to produce 

 his supply with little or no 

 more labor than necessary 

 for growing almost any 

 other garden crop. 



The selection of varie- 

 ties, so far as market 

 gardeners and more skilled 

 growers are concerned, 

 may safely be left to their 

 personal e.xperlence in the 

 field and market. The be- 

 ginner, the inexperienced 

 and the busy farmer, we 

 can only advise, and this 

 most emphatically and 

 urgently, to plant chiefly 

 White Plume. Success will 

 be more certain with this 

 than with any other, es- 

 pecially were neglect is a 

 thing most likely to in- 

 terfere with timely and 

 proper earthing up. The 

 White Plume will aflford 

 good and easy schooling, 

 and with some experienced, gained, other 

 varieties, especially the Golden Heart, Giant 

 Pascal, etc., varieties that are perhaps more 

 desirable for later use and winter may be 

 more largely added. 



One thing, however, Is always indispen- 

 sable in growing White Plume, and that is 

 soil either already rich, such as we And in 

 our old, well-managed gardens, or made so 

 by the application, right in the row, of 

 plenty of fine old manure. 



This year we have utilized a couple of 

 dead furrows in our garden to set .500 White 

 Plume Celery. In most gardens at this 

 season we find some vacant strips where 

 Peas, Radishes, Onions, Spinach or other 

 early crops were grown, and which can now 

 be cleared. With single horse plow or 

 otherwise, open up some furrows, three or 

 four feet apart (if the garden is long perhaps 

 a single one would do for a beginning), and 

 fill half or more with barnyard scrapings or 

 other fine compost, and mix this well with 

 the soil. Usually this job can be done easiest 

 with a good, small-toothed cultivator, but 

 as the home grower requires only an aggre- 

 gate furrow length of from 100 to ;iOO feet, 

 hand work will answer first rate. When 

 the garden is already rich, a little old hen 

 manure or other compost, or some good fer- 

 tilizer, or perhaps wood ashes, may be 

 strewn along where the row is to be planted. 

 It will require but little time or effort to 



hoe or spade this manure into the ground 

 to the width of a foot or so the whole length 

 of the row or rows. Then rake with a good 

 garden rake. 



Always set the plants in straight lines. A 

 patch then presents a beautiful sight, of 

 which the owner can be proud. We always 

 plant along a tightly-stretched garden line, 

 to be sure of perfect work. The plants, of 

 course, should have a perfectly developed 

 root system. Shorten the tops and cut away 

 the ends of long roots when setting them. 



The chief point in this work, is that the 



Twiu of Qarlami llvwer, drawn on the Popular Gardening Grounds 

 Blossoms bright pl7ik; natural size. 



soil be moist, neither sticky nor dust-dry, 

 and that fresh earth is brought in close con- 

 tact with the roots by firming. When the 

 ground, in a dry spell, is completely dried 

 out, water may be applied along the row a 

 half day or so before the plants are to be 

 set. This will moisten the ground suffic- 

 iently for setting the plants, and often is 

 much better than watering after planting. 



A hot-weather device recently suggested 

 is to stand a board on edge close to the row 

 of plants on the south side, held there by a 

 few small stakes driven into the ground. 

 This provides protection from the burning 

 sun, and the plants will thrive wonderfully 

 in the half shade thus provided. Cultivate 

 and hoe as you would Beets or similar crops. 



When the plants have made good growth, 

 say some time in September, pack a few 

 handfuls of soil closely around each plant, 

 first gathering all the stalks tightly together. 

 This is the so-called handling, and serves to 

 make the plants grow upright and compact. 

 A little more soil may be drawn up with a 

 hoe or a hand plow, thus partially earthing 

 up, and thereby still improving the quality 

 of the bleached Celery. 



The ordinary varieties, of course need 

 blanching by earthing up to the top of the 

 leaves; or by setting a line of boards on edge 

 against the plants on each side, with top 

 edges as close together as the plants will 

 let them. 



Notes from the Popular Gardening 



Grounds at La Salle-on-the- 



Nlagara. 



The GARLANn Flower. This Is a particular 

 favorite on our grounds. You can judge of how 

 I handsome the neat, tragrant,rose-eolored flowers 

 I are by the life-like engraving on this page. It 

 is known botanically as Daxjhne Cneorum. It is 

 a dwarf evergreen shrub or trailing plant, which 

 blooms with great profusion In May and again 

 after mid-summer. In habit the plant is robust. 

 Although a native of the mountains of Switzer- 

 land, which would indicate that it prefers a 

 moist soil, yet it thrives as easily as a Pieony in 

 our borders. We have never 

 given it protection beyond a 

 forkful of manure thrown on 

 its top, which lays quite close 

 to the ground. 



To show what a free bloom- 

 er this shrub is, we have but 

 to say, that on the day of 

 selecting the twig which is 

 illustrated, May a3, fully 150 

 flower heads in various stages 

 of development were in sight 

 on a plant set but two seasons 

 previously. The plant is 

 scarcely more than six inches 

 in height, but measures above 

 two feet across. As seen by 

 our engraving, the floral 

 trusses resemble those of 

 Bouvardia, but are smaller. 

 The foliage is evergreen, of 

 pretty form, glossy and deep 

 green, and Is handsome even 

 when no flowers are in sight. 

 The plant is well suited for 

 rockery cultivation It may 

 be propagated by layering. 

 Trimming out should oc- 

 casionally be practiced to re- 

 new a healthy, bushy growth. 

 Our plant was obtained from 

 the Parsons Company, Flush- 

 ing, N. Y„ at a cost of 50 

 cents, but other nurserymen 

 also sell it. 



Another and better known 

 species of hardy Daphne on 

 our grounds is the Mezereon 

 ( Daphne Mezereum )in two var- 

 ieties, one with pink flowers 

 the other with white. These 

 are low deciduous shrubs, 

 valued for their handsome 

 flowers, which In earliness of 

 bloom head the list of hardy 

 flowering shrubs. They ap- 

 pear in April, as far north as 

 Niagara Falls. On account of 

 their extreme earliness they 

 should be in every considerable collection of 

 hardy growths. The flowers are followed by 

 berries, which turn red by September. These 

 are said to be poisonous. In rich deep loam this 

 species will reach a height of four or six feet. 

 Stock is procurable in about every nursery which 

 makes a specialty of hardy flowering shrubs. 



Some Good Thorn Boshes. Our collection of 

 Thorns embraces a number of native species 

 growing wild along our timber fringe, together 

 with some choice ones from the nurseries. 

 Among the latter are included the English Haw- 

 thorn {Cratttgus Oxycantha) and some of its 

 varieties. The flowers of these are borne in 

 greater profusion than on our native Thorns, 

 hence rank somewhat higher for ornamental 

 planting. Still we could not think of dispensing 

 with the natives; they are, with their profusion 

 of bloom, among the most attractive of Ameri- 

 can flowering trees. 



An engraving of a mass of Hawthorn bloom Is 

 adjoined. The flowers are usually white, but in 

 the nursery varieties they run through pink 

 and crimson. The growth of the tree is more 

 rambling and picturesque than that of our com- 

 mon species. The fruit varies in form and color, 

 but generally is smooth and polished. Although 

 used very e-xtensively for hedging in England it 

 is not reliable for the purpose in this country. 

 It succeeds best on rich, cultivated soil and when 

 somewhat drained. 



Double Scarlet Thorn. Of this variety there 

 is growing at Woodbanks a Hne, large specimen 

 obtained by grafting on the common Thorn. It 

 is every year covered with a profusion of bright, 

 crimson-scarlet flowers as perfect as little Roses, 

 interspersed by leaves, and is unequalled In at- 



