POPULAR GARDENING 



AND FRUIT GROWING, 



"ACCUSE NOT NATURE, SHE BATH DONE HER PART; DO THOU BUT THINE." -Miuios. 



Vol. VI. 



SE:pa?Ei*(rsE:Ea, issi. 



No. 1 2. 



September. 



A change creeps over nature. A deep flusb 



Mounts to the Maple-leaf; the air Is clear; 

 The Grapes are purpling, and a crimson blush 



Spreads o'er such flowers as decic the waning year; 

 Ripe Apples bend the trees, while Golden Rod, 



By roadside, lane and meadow, gaily nod. 

 Now whistlings of the quail are often heard 



From Buckwheat fields, while, on the calra air, floats 

 The drumming of the partridge. Not a bird 



Builds now a nest; but night Is thrlil'd by notes 

 From crickets near, and locusts' drowsy hum 



That seems to say: " September time has come! " 



—Ladies' Some Journal. 



Protection for one night to tender plants, 

 may ensure some weeks of bloom later. 



Cannas. The beauty of several beds of Cannae 

 on the editor's grounds, the roots of which were 

 planted out directly into the soil last May with- 

 out forcing, leads him to be warmer than ever 

 in praise of these plants tor amateur use. 



Pots Getting Green. This is a common 

 trouble in the plant apartment, and necessitates 

 washing the pots, both for the sake of appear- 

 ances and the health of the roots. If a little 

 chloride of lime be put into the wash-water, the 

 intervals between washing will be longer. 



WlNCHELL AND GBEEN MOUNTAIN GRAPES. 



Notwithstanding the paragraph credited to Prof. 

 Massey, and now going the rounds of the horti- 

 cultural press, that these two sorts entirely differ 

 in foliage, etc., we are lead, from comparisons 

 made on our own grounds, to believe in their 

 identity, but without feeling in any way justified 

 to attach even the least blame to the Introducers 

 of the WiDchell and Green Mountain, or attempt- 

 ing at this time to decide, which of the two 

 names is the one that this fine variety is en- 

 titled to bear. 



Early Grapes. The committee of the Massa- 

 chusetts Horticultural Society to visit garden, 

 reported the following varieties of the Grape in 

 the order of their ripening, as grown on the 

 grounds of Benjamin G. Smith, who cultivates 

 55 varieties for the purpose of testing them: 

 Champion, Moore's Early, Cottage, Early Victor, 

 Geneva, Brighton, Lindley. The Champion, here 

 mentioned as the earliest, has some good or at- 

 tractive qualities, among which are strong 

 growth, a good size and form of both bunch and 

 berry, and its value for market where fine varie- 

 ties are unknown, the only drawback being its 

 worthless quality. Among other Grapes which 

 ought not to be forgotten, are Worden and 

 Brighton. 



The Alth^a or Rose of Sharon is a shrub of 

 far too rare occurrence in our gardens, more 

 particularly when we consider its beauty as an 

 autumn flowering plant, and that it was intro- 

 duced early in the sixteenth century. Its native 

 country is Syria: its botonical name is Bibiscxii( 

 Syriacus. The shrub is of medium height, sel- 

 dom exceeding eight to ten feet, hardy and by 

 no means particular as to choice of soil, provided 

 it is not over-wet. Tt is well adapted for plant- 

 ing as isolated specimens on the lawn, or inter- 

 mixing with evergreens along the outskirts of 

 plantations. The flowers are usually of a red- 

 dish-purple, but the plant is so variable in this 

 respect that there are many really distinct forms 

 or varieties in cultivation, including white, yel- 

 low, rose, purple, violet and striped. Then there 

 are the double white and double purple kinds, as 

 well as one with variegated foliage, which latter 

 is a very distinct and ornamental shrub. 



Artificial Rain. The experiments now being 

 made by the General Government in the direc- 

 tion of forcing the clouds to part with their 

 moisture that is needed by the parched land be- 

 low, have been successful in so far as copious 

 rains have followed the firing of heavy 

 charges of explosives in, the clouds, in the few 

 instances thus far tried. Whether these rains 



were due to the explosions, or would have come 

 without them, is another question. At least, gen- 

 eral rains were reported after that time from 

 pretty much all over the country. Altogether 

 we are not any too hopeful that practical results 

 will come from these experiments, but there is 

 enough at stake to make their continuation de- 

 sirable. Of course the $7,000 appropriation may 

 do well enough for a beginning, but it Congress 

 does not provide for a larger expenditure for so 

 worthy a purpose, the experiments will have to 

 be dropped, long before they 

 have settled the point at issue 

 in any way. Once begun, the 

 investigation should be pushed 

 until definite conclusions can 

 be reached; otherwise aU the 

 efforts and expenses of the be- 

 ginning will be worse than 

 wasted. Our advice to the in- 

 dividual grower in the mean 

 time, is to utilize the natural 

 advantages in the shape of 

 brooks, creeks, ponds, etc., 

 which the locality may afford, 

 in the same thorough manner 

 as done by Mr. J. F. White, 

 and told elsewhere in this issue, rather than make 

 much dependence on the speedy solution of the 

 problem by explosions in the clouds. 



early in April. In the former row the plants 

 were but two feet apart. As this was too 

 close, there was a surplus of crowns when 

 the new bed was planted. The unneeded 

 crowns were thrown to one side, and no 

 thought given them until about July first, 

 when we went to clear them away. Notic- 

 ing their plump appearance and resemb- 

 lance to the roots we have usually forced in 

 February in a pit, the thought occurred, 



Strawberry Hoe. 



A. A. COON, CBAWFOHD CO., n.LS. 



I send you sketch of a Strawberry hoe, 

 which works to my entire satisfaction. It 

 is made from an old leaf of buggy spring, 

 and is about ten inches long, with square 

 hole punched in center, and shank made 

 with a shoulder and riveted on the outside. 



The upper part of the blade is bent at an 

 opposite angle from the lower or hoe part of 

 the blade. In other words, the lower part 

 stands towards you and the upper part 

 from yon. It is somewhat difficult to cut 

 off runners with a common hoe, as it gener- 

 ally stands in too much. When this is the 

 case, by turning the hoe over it strikes the 

 runner square and is easily clipped off. 



I have used this altogether for hoeing and 

 cutting ranners on one-quarter acre. I find 

 by stirring the soil around the young plants 

 as often as is necessary, there is not much 

 runner-cutting to do at one time. I keep 

 them hacked off with this until August, and 

 then let them run; then take out my plants 

 in October and set my new beds, and treat 

 them as spring-set plants. I have to plant 

 in fall, as our springs are very late some- 

 times, and the fall plants start off early. So 

 on the whole it is the best for me. 



Rhubarb In Mid-Summer — A Sub- 

 scriber Makes a Discovery. 



IIKNRY L. WALTZ, ROSS CO., OHIO. 



In many families Rhubarb, in its season, 

 is esteemed for table sauce and pies second 

 to no fruit that grows. But it is essentially 

 a spring garden product, the stalks pro- 

 duced late in the season being stringy and 

 fiavorless, on plants that have been growing 

 steadily. 



Now I accidentally made a discovery some 

 time ago, that, as one whose famUy is very 

 fond of Rhubarb, I consider valuable. I 

 learned that it is easy to have this succulent 

 in good condition in August and later, after 

 the summer small fruit season is past. This 

 is the nature of my discovery: A row of old 

 Rhubarb plants in my garden was moved 



JR IMPROVED STRAWBERRY HOE. 



why not plant them for a late crop of 

 Rhubarb? 



On the third day of July a bed was pre- 

 pared, in fertile soil, and a dozen of the 

 roots were planted in it. They were set a 

 little deep— that is, the tops of the crowns 

 were about two inches below the ordinary 

 surface, which gave a chance to leave the 

 soilat the root basin-like, for readily receiv- 

 ing water. Water was applied freely to 

 each crown. In a few weeks the young 

 shoots had advanced enough to give us a 

 first cutting of summer pieplant. It was as 

 crisp and pleasant as any May cutting. We 

 have been using from the same bed at in- 

 tervals since, and are much pleased vrith 

 the experiment. 



As everyone knows, the root of Rhubarb 

 has exceptional vital power. It contains 

 an accumulation of nourishing matter that 

 enables it to withstand drying almost equal 

 to Potato tubers. On this account it adapts 

 itself to out-of season forcing or growth in 

 degree almost unequalled. By taking ad- 

 vantage of this peculiarity the delicious 

 young growth can, in successional crops, 

 easily be had from March until September. 



How Some Seed and Plant Cata- 

 logues Exaggerate. 



M. S. 



I enclose you four pictures taken from a 

 plant dealer's catalogue, and wish to ask if 

 you or any one else ever saw a plant that 

 would come any where near matching them ? 



Take the Manettia vine for instance. It 

 is a neat little dwarf climber, but when 

 comparing the plant with the picture, it is 

 plainly a deception on the purchaser. For 

 instance, the flowers are represented as 

 longer and nearly as numerous as the leaves, 

 whereas the leaves are three times as long 

 as the blossoms, and during the entire 

 season there will be just about as many 

 flowers produced as are shown by the cut 

 as being on the plant at one time. 



Next take the cut of Solan um grandiflora. 

 I defy any person to produce a photo of a 

 plant with the leaves, flowers and clusters 

 in the proportions shown in the cut. 

 Against the Datura or Sweet Nightingale I 

 have a particular grudge. I have had it 



