I89I. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



201 



to air because they use oxygen and the soil 

 should be well drained, as air and water cannot 

 occupy the same space; second, warmth, therefore 

 plow under the crop when there will be three or 

 four weeks of warm weather tor the bacteria to 

 W(trk in; third, jjlow shallow, so as not to exclude 

 air, and last, keep the surface harrowed so as to 

 retain the moisture. Green manuring should 

 also be accompanied by the use of mineral fer- 

 tililizers unless the soil is especially rich in the 

 latter. 



CONDENSED GLEANINGS. 



The Best Market. When at a distance from 

 market, it is always safer to raise only such pro- 

 ducts as will stand transportation well. The 

 perishable fruits should be grown nearer the 

 cities, where every facility can be obtained for 

 selling them quickly. Improved methods of 

 transportation, refrigerators, etc., make it possi- 

 ble tp gri)w perishable fruit hundreds of miles 

 from the markets, but the risk is always great it 

 there is much competition in the work. Growers 

 living near the city can watch the markets 

 better, and take advantage of rise in prices, 

 which those situated farther away cannot do. 

 Too many fruit growers have the idea that the 

 full value of their products cannot be obtained 

 in any place but the tew very large cities, and 

 hence they want to ship everything to .\ew York. 

 Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia or similar places, 

 often to the entire neglect of places nearer home. 

 (If ten the best markets for the growers are near- 

 by watering places or factory towns, where large 

 quantities of fruit are consumed. 1 have found 

 for years a good market in smaller places near 

 home for perishable fruit, and even farmers are 

 good customers. Many of those engaged in 

 growing Wheat and Corn cannot find the time to 

 cultivate a garden, and they are liberal custom- 

 ers when good fruit is offered them.— Am. Cult. 



A Wheel Dibber. This can be made easily and 

 cheaply. Get a piece of Maple, Oak or other 

 hard wood log, say 15 inches in diameter by a 

 foot long. Have it turned nicely and a hole 

 bored through for a bolt to serve as an axle. 

 Handles are to be attached in the way shown in 

 the illustration. It is then a roller, and may be 

 used for that purpose in the garden, following 

 after the seed sower, or in any place where the 

 use of a small roller is desirable. Inch holes are 

 bored in a circle around the roller, middle way 

 between the two ends, four inches apart, and 

 short wooden pegs or pins are inserted to act as 

 dibbers. The weight of the roller presses each 

 peg clear down into the soil, and thus holes just 

 right for the young Onion plants are made as 

 fast as a person can walk. For Lettuce, Celery, 

 Cabbage or other plants, some of these pegs or 

 pins may be left out or removed, and holes may 

 thus be opened eight or twelve inches apart. Of 

 course, the size of the roller should be such that 

 the circumference is exactly three or four feet, 

 otherwise the pegs must be inserted nearer 

 together or further apart, so that their number 

 will be divisable by twelve. A marker may be 

 attached in the way shown.— Farm and Fireside. 



Iron Qrape Posts. The rough surface of 

 wooden posts serves as a most excellent place 

 for the lodgement of spores of the numerous 

 fungi that attack the Qrape. Many of these 

 spores doubtless pass the winter safely in the 



A Roller Maikei 



cracks of the post and here they are perfectly 

 sheltered from the various dressings that are 

 used to destroy them. The timber, when it be- 

 gins to decay, also offers a safe harbor for many 

 injurious insects. I believe it would be far bet^ 

 ter to substitute iron piping for the wooden 

 posts that are so generally used. These iron 

 posts would cost more in the beginning, but 

 after a few years they would more than pay for 

 themselves. Anyway they would be far cleaner 

 and would allow a freer circulation of air 

 through the vineyard. These iron pipes need 

 not exceed one and a half inches in diameter, 

 and should be about seven or eight feet in length, 



The top of the ptist should be lifted with an iron 

 cap, and small pipes of the proper size should be 

 screwed through the posts to serve for the pas- 

 sage of the wire. The jiosts should be pointed 

 at the lower end and thus no insects or moisture 

 could possibly get insidr; and if the outside were 

 tarred or galvanized, suith jjosts would outlast a 

 lifetime.— American Garden. 



Perennial Phlox, This plant is to the herba- 

 ceous garden'what the Geranium is to the window 

 garden— hardy, free-Howering and of the easiest 

 cultivation. It comes into bloom in July and 

 August, and continues until the latter part of 

 September. It grows to the height of three feet, 

 and a foot of the upper portion of tho stalk will 

 be completely covered with Howers of about the 

 size of a silver half-dollar. The colors range 

 through all shades of red, crimson, pink, mauve 

 and purple to the purest milk-whlt«. Some va- 

 rieties are striped with contrasting colors, while 

 other varieties are marked in the centre, or on 

 the base of each petal. No flower gives a more 

 brilliant effect. Those who have never grown it 

 will be surprised at the results to be obtained 

 from planting it In masses or in rows, with the 

 colors arranged In such a manner as to bring out 

 the beauty of each by striking contrast. A 

 most beautiful bed is made by planting Rose- 

 colored varieties in the centre with white ones 

 outside. The plants form strong roots, which 

 can be di\aded, from time to time, until one has 

 as many plants as she cares for.— Ladies' Home 

 Companion 



Layering Carnations. Almost every shoot 

 that is properly layered will make a plant. The 

 letter A in figure on opi)Osite page shows 

 where the parent plant is standing, and the first 

 step is to select a shoot of sufficient length, and 

 bare a portion of the stem by removing a few of 

 the lower leaves. The second step is to cut a 

 tongue on the under side. This is done by cut- 

 ting the stem half through in a slanting direction 

 and then passing the knife up the middle of the 

 stem for about three quarters of an inch. The 

 layer is then fixed firmly by means of two pegs 

 shown in the figure. When this has been done 

 the tongued portion of the stem is covered with 

 soil. The (lotted line represents the ground 

 level the soil being carefully removed with a 

 trowel and put on one side for covering the lay- 

 ers. You can make the pegs from pea sticks or 

 an old birch broom, or if you prefer you can use 

 galvanized pegs which are obtainable at a cheap 

 rate. — Gardener's Magazine. 



A Convenient Frnit Packing Press. The press 

 shown herewith and patented by Kobert Randall 

 of N. Y. is designed to be operated by hand for 

 pressing dried fruits, etc., in a case when pack- 

 ing them for market, and may also be adapted 

 to the pressing of juices from fresh fruits. The 

 pressing roller or wheel is mounted in a bracket 

 depending from the inner end of a hand lever, 

 where the lever is also fulerumed in a bracket 

 upon an upright. The box or package to be 

 filled is surmounted by a removable frame, with 

 depending flanges holding it fairly on the box 

 and constituting a hopper. Any ordinary platen 

 follower is placed on the fruit or substance in 

 the hopper, and receives the pressure of the 

 lever roller as the fruit is forced down. The de- 

 vice is constructed to weigh only about seventy 

 pounds, so that it can be readily moved about a 

 warehouse or other place where it is used.— 

 Scientific American. 



What Bright-eyed Women See. That a bed of 

 Drummond Phlo.x makes a bright spot in a gar- 

 den. That Shirley Poppies serve as good back- 

 ground for low-growing |)lants. That white 

 Roses are needed for contrast with crimson and 

 red. That a few stalks of (iodetia in a tall vase 

 make a bouquet by themselves. That Sweet 

 Peas and Baby's Breath, or Mist, look well 

 together. That Urowallia and Sweet Alyssum 

 make good tiny breast-knots, or boutonnieres. 

 That the Mrs. John Laing is one of the loveliest 

 and most fragrant of Hoses. That Sweet Alys- 

 sum and Candytuft should he sown in i)rofusion 

 to furnish plenty of white for bouquets. That a 

 leaf of sweet-scented Geranium harmonizes 

 with almost any flower. That Gladioli grow and 

 look well in the garden with Hardy Hybrid Roses. 

 That a bright blossom is often as becoming in 

 the hair as at the throat or corsage.— Success 

 with Flowers. 



Orape Vines Around Honses. To sit under 

 one's own vine during the summer and fall may 

 be the laudable ambition of every householder. 

 Even in cities where there would seem to be no 

 room, the vine, if it linds a place to stand, will 



push its roots under sidewalks and pavements, 

 and yield a large supj)ly of fruit with no care save 

 pruning and traing. A southern, eastern;or west- 

 ern aspect are equally good, and one or more of 

 these can Ije found around every house. In the 

 coim try there is room to trim the vines several 

 feet from the house, forniing an arbor and afford- 

 ing needed shade to the kitchen window, the 

 warmth from which will cause late varieties of 

 Grapes to ripen when they would not in open 

 grounds exposed to only ordinary air currents. 

 —American Cultivator. 



Station Bulletins-A Just Criticism. " Scarce 

 as hens' teeth " are interesting bulletins from 

 state experiment stations. The work may be 

 excellent and the results valuable, but such a 

 dull way of laying the facts before the public! 



T^ 



Frit it PacMna Press. 



The tired farmer whose brain almost whirls from 

 effect of labor, sun and wind, should not be ex- 

 pected to study for facts which he pays to have 

 presented to him. Afterwading blindly through 

 pages of matter one sometimes comes to a terse 

 statement of results. Would it not make the 

 bulletin more interesting if this summary were 

 printed in the first few lines, letting a bright ex- 

 planation of the experiment followV- N. Y. Trib. 



A Criticised Appointment. It Is thought that 

 the appointment of Mr. Walter Maxwell for chief 

 of the Bureau of Horticulture of the World's 

 Columbian Exhibition, will be confirmed al- 

 though there has been considei'able opposition. 

 Mr. Maxwell, as we hear, is hardly a horticultur- 

 ist, even in the California sense, and much less 

 one who is familiar with the florist, nursery and 

 seed trade east of the Rocky Mountains. It is 

 such an appointment as the friends of horticul- 

 ture have feared from the flrst. We can only 

 hope that Mr. Maxwell will not in this high 

 position lack the patriotism and generosity to 

 make a wise choice of his assistants and advisers. 

 —American Florist. 



Snake Bites in Florida. We wish our northern 

 friends distinctly to understand that the Florida 

 farmer does not put Onions or a hypodermic 

 syringe and a bottle of permanganate of potash 

 into his pocket when he goes out to work in the 

 morning. In cultivated land Ht for human hab- 

 itation at all, a man stands about as much chance 

 of being bitten by a deadly snake as he does of 

 being killed by lightning. But hunters and 

 anglers and others who have nothing particular 

 to do, might carry such articles around with 

 them.— Florida Dispatch. 



Orowing Pop Corn. To make a success procure 

 good seed, plant early and away from all other 

 Corn. Leave on stalk as long as possible, do not 

 shock or allow to sweat in husk or anywhere. 

 Do not kiln-dry, or force dry by any heat, for 

 that injures the popping (juality. The only 

 proper way to cure is by freezing cold weather 

 in cribs, or spread out in open building; then it 

 will always be ready to .pop satisfactorily by 

 January or February. I prefer the eight-rowed 

 Shaker, and Rice Corn as the next best variety. 

 —Exchange. 



Dandelion for Home Use. The thick-leaved 

 garden Dandelion should be more widely dissem- 

 inated among farmers. It is as much of an 

 improvement over the wild Dandelion as the 

 cultivated Strawberry over its cousin of the 

 pastures. It is as easily grown as a weed when 

 once fairly established in a garden, and su<-h a 

 relish as it gives to a " boiled dinner " in the 

 early days of spring only those can know who 

 have tried it.— New England Farmer. 



