I89I. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



223 



trees, from four to flftoon feet high, we use 

 plenty of water in setting, from two to twenty 

 pailfuls to each tree, use fine well-pulverized 

 earth in tilling up, and the water will pack the 

 earth about the roots better than it can be done 

 in any other way. After setting we never water 

 the tree again. The sand mulch keeps the earth 

 from baking. 



Soil that is well adapteil to the growth of 

 Maize, is all right with us for all hardy kinds of 

 evergreens. 



CONDENSED GLEANINGS. 



How Children Love Floweri. An eager crav- 

 ing for flowers, no matter how simple, is univer- 

 sal among poor city children. It is gratifying 

 to learn that many ladies who live in the suburbs 

 of Boston, and men too, regularly bring in 

 flowers to distribute among the street children. 

 Many poor boys and girls make long journeys to 

 the outskirts to get Dasies and Buttercups, says 

 a reporter. Only yesterday I saw a group of 

 poor children ranging one of the old vacant lots 

 on Black Bay, gathering merely the little 

 branches of the scattering plants and shrubs that 

 spring up there, and apparently taking as much 

 delight in them as if they were brilliant bouquets. 

 If, in a city house, one throws a withered nose- 

 gay out of a window, it is almost surely to be 

 picked up by some child and its faded blossoms 

 cherished tenderly. Three little Irish girls from 

 a tenement house, whom 1 once led to a garden 

 where they might pluck as many flowers as they 

 chose, prattled on for at least an hour, when 

 they had got over being speechless with delight, 

 about nothing at all but the flowers they had 

 rescued from the withered bouquets that a cer- 

 tain lady threw out of her window. "Just think 

 of it mister!" one of the little girls said; "she 

 chucks 'em right out into the ash heap when 

 they're a little wilted! I don't see how she can 

 do it, but I'm glad she does, and I watch horns 

 every daj' to see if she's goin' to chuck any out." 

 We talk of the sun and air as free gifts of God to 

 all mankind. Are they so, when into the lap of 

 one person fall the flowers, those creatures of 

 sun and air, still wet with dew; while another, 

 gifted no less freely with the love of beauty, 

 waits with eager eyes for the chance to take the 

 flowers after they are tadedi— Listener. 



Horticaltnre Booming Everywhere. A com- 

 parison of the list ot floral and horticultural ex- 

 hibitions to be held from June to November 

 this year, with a list covering the same period 

 last year, shows a remarkable increase for one 

 year. Hoses and Strawberries are the leading 

 features of the June shows, while the Chrysan- 

 themum is the most important factor in the 

 November shows. This condition is very signifi- 

 cant, as showing the growth of a national taste 

 in this direction, and of the ever-turning 

 thoughts of humanity to improve the products 

 of the soil. One of the largest and most success- 

 ful of the amateur exhibitions is held under the 

 auspices of the Amateur Horticultural Society 

 of Springfield, Mass., a society having a member- 

 ship of 751. In a recent letter. President Charles 

 L. Burr noted that such was the enthusiasm 



HOME-MADE WEEDING-HOE. 

 aroused by the June show this year that over 

 7,000 tickets were distributed before the show 

 was opened. No form of instruction, entertain- 

 ment or intercourse can be purer than these ex- 

 hibitions, and we hope to see them multiply 

 until the people of the smallest hamlet will de- 

 vote a day to showing in friendly rivalry the 

 prize products of the garden.— From Success 

 with Flowers. 



Inexpensive Ventilating Apparatus. The 

 sketch shows the method of application in a 

 range ot newly erected houses at Lincoln Park. 



The winch comprises a six inch bull wheel, a 

 pinion of 1^ inches, a drum of four inches, a 

 ratchet and dog and a lli-inch crank handle, set 

 in a wrought Ircm frame bolted to the inside end 

 ot the house. This is found to be of sufficient 

 power to operate nine sashes on each side of a 

 house lOOxai feet, amply sufficient for ventila- 

 tion, and either side can be worked separately at 

 will by the same winch. Heretofore a great ob- 

 jection to the use of this system has been the 

 want of a lock to hold the sash 

 whether open or closed. This 

 has been obviated at Lincoln 

 Park by the use of Mr. O. 

 Parker's device, and is accom- 

 plished by running an auxilli- 

 ary cord back from sash to 

 cable in the opposite direction 

 to that of the lifting cord. 

 The cost at Lincoln Park has 

 been complete for the ap- 

 paratus at the rate of tl.40 per 

 ventilating sash, or $26 per 

 house of 100 feet long. All 

 the parts with the exception of 

 the wrought iron frame can 

 be purchased of hardware 

 dealers, being "stock" goods, 

 and the frames can be made 

 by any blacksmith.— Am. Flor- 

 ist. 



The Kalamazoo Celery Crop. Fully one 

 thousand persons are engaged in Celery growing 

 in Kalamazoo and vincinty, and they manage to 

 make enough from it to live very comfortably. 

 The yield will not be far from 4,500,000 dozen. 

 The shippers who number about forty, will on 

 an average receive 18 cents per dozen, as a uni- 

 form price, while the growers will realize from 

 10 to 15 cents per dozen. A close estimate of the 

 income of the Celery trade to Kalamazoo last 



CHEAP VENTILAT 



The Bnsh Limas. Hender- 

 son's Bush Lima Bean while 

 quite small, is enormously pro- 

 ductive and of fine quality. 

 Dreer's Bush Lima Bean has 

 seeds that look like the ordi- 

 nary form of Dreer's Lima 

 Bean, and, if as good as this, 

 will be valuable. Lima Beans 

 have been very uncertain and 

 unproductive in the south, 

 while Dreer's always did 

 well. We have another form 

 of Lima of Bush habit. These are larger then 

 Henderson's and larger than the old Sieva or 

 Butter Bean of this section. The seeds are 

 handsomely mottled like the Golden Wax Bean, 

 some of them almost as dark as Scarlet Runners. 

 This is possibly a cross with the latter kind, as 

 the blooms are said to be pink. There are two 

 forms of this Bean, one a climber sent by a 

 North Carolina grower, and the other said to be 

 dwarf, and sent by a Georgian seedsman. Hen- 

 derson's Bush Lima was also of southern origin, 

 having been raised in Campbell Co., Virginia. 

 The prospect is that soon all tastes can be suited 

 with bush varieties, and poles will no longer be 

 needed.— W. F. Massey in Garden and Forest. 



Qrape Fruit as a Tonic. The piles of huge 

 Grape fruit which are to be found on the fruit 

 stalls call to mind the tonic value of this fruit 

 eaten as a salad, or an introduction to breakfast. 

 For the latter remove the thick rind and tear off 

 the epidermis around each lobe ; arrange 

 the pulp in a salad bowl and serve it ice cold and 

 au natmel. It is delicious served as a salad, 

 with French dressing. This is the "F'orbidden 

 Fruit" of Paris shops. If you notice the de- 

 pression near the stem end, you will see that 

 they resemble the print of teeth. This according 

 to popular tradition, is the mark of Eve's teeth 

 when she bit the fruit, which was a sweet Orange 

 before, but afterwards became bitter. The 

 negroes of the south tell the same story about 

 the Persimmon, though they do not show the 

 print of teeth. They believe it was once well 

 flavored, but was one forbidden tree in Eden, 

 and when Eve tasted it, it became acrid and has 

 remained so ever since. — New York Tribune. 



Home-Made Weeding-Hoe. The weeding-hoe, 

 here illustrated, is made out of a piece of broken 

 wagon-seat spring. The shank is a broken pitch- 

 fork tine. The hoe part is seven inches one 

 way bj' one and three fourths inches the other, 

 flat on the bottom, the bevel being on the top 

 side, with the straight side forward, and sharp 

 all around. It is essential that the points should 

 be carried out, as thej' are important in slipping 

 betwixt a weed and a plant- The shank is bent 

 about an inch and a half above the plate to an 

 angle that it will lie flat upon the ground when a 

 man stands straight. The handle is about the 

 length of a common hoe handle, say four feet 

 two or four inches. Lying flat as it does, it can 

 be slid along under the soil about an inch deep, 

 cutting everything in its path, besides loosening 

 the top of the ground, so necessary to prevent 

 undue evaporation. Any blacksmith can make 

 one.— Thomas Buckmau in Farm and Fireside. 



year, outside of the express companies, 

 was 8630,000. This year will doubtless bring 

 forth an income of nearly $1,000,000. There 

 is not the money there was once in the 

 business when shippers received from 30 

 to 40 cents per dozen. The price was low- 

 ered by growers stepping in and shipping 

 as well. This is now done away with, as 

 nearly every grower has his entire yield, 

 if up to the standard, contracted for by 

 some shipper. — Allegan Gazette. 



Monnt Morris Park, in Harlem. This, 

 although almost unknown to inhabitants 

 of the lower parts of New York City, says 

 Garden and Forest, is certainly the 

 prettiest of all the small parks in New 

 OR. York, and very probably the most indi- 

 vidual park of its sizeiin the world. About 

 two-thirds ot its area (which includes two city 

 blocks) is level ground, charmingly laid out 

 with wide lawns, unbroken by cross paths, and 

 with encircling walks, flanked by good trees and 

 beautiful groups of shrubs. But in the south- 

 east corner ot the park the ground rises sudden- 

 ly to form a rooky hill higher than the tops of 

 the surrounding houses, which is covered with 

 great old trees, chiefly Oaks. Such an isolated 

 hill rising amid streets which are perfectly level, 

 is a most unexpected feature to find in the heart 

 of a great city, and its harmonious contrast with 

 the flat lawns around it is extremely picturesque. 



8nn Scald of Apples. Mr. A. L. Hatch, writing 

 from Hill Crest Experiment Station, Wisconsin, 

 to the Rural New Yorker, in regard to the sun- 

 scald of Apple and other fruit trees, says that 

 the best remedy in that region has been found 

 to be "medicated straw." Straight Rye straw, 

 which has been dipped in whitewash containing 

 some carbolic acid and Paris green, is set about 

 thejtree closely and extended up among the 

 branches as far as practicable, being tied in 

 several places. Thus prepared and put on, the 

 protection lasts several years, or until the 

 growth of the tree will make its renewal desir- 

 able. The medication serves as a preventive of 

 injury from insects, mice, rabbits and borers. 



How to Tell a Bipe Water Melon. It is quite 

 an art to select a choice Melon without cutting a 

 small hole through its fat green sides, but it can 

 be done, by the feeling and general appearance. 

 The dark green of the Melon should be the color 

 of English Ivy leaves; the yellowish spot under- 

 neath caused by its contact with mother earth 

 should be tested with the pressure of the flnger. 

 The spot should have a springy resistance, and 

 the indentation thus made should not be notice- 

 able when the flnger is removed. If it remains 

 the Melon is too ripe and likely to be watery. If 

 no depression can be made, the Melon is not ripe 

 enough— N. Y. Herald. 



The Medlar. The Medlar, a native ot Europe, 

 has been grown for years in the southern Atlan- 

 tic States, and to some extent in California, It 

 is, however, classed as a second grade fruit and 

 has never attracted any special attention. The 

 fruit, which is of a dark brown color when npe, 

 varies from an inch to an inch and a half in 

 diameter, and somewhat resembles the Persim- 

 mon in shape. Like the Sapodilla it is not good 

 to eat until the first stages of decay have soften- 

 ed the pulp. It has then a rich sub-acid flavor. 

 The tree is small but handsome, and is frequent- 

 ly used for making hedges.— Cal. Fruit Grower. 



