iSgi. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



249 



3,546. Early ChryBantliemums are certainly 

 worthy of careful cultivation, especially if your 

 season is short and you have no facilities for 

 maturing them under glass. The later flowers 

 are considered more valuable, but are not any 

 handsomer.— H. C. T. 



2,540. Utilizing Bones. We make the follow- 

 ing extract of the directions found in T. Greincr's 

 new book, " Practical Farm Chemistry." To get 

 bones into an available form for manurinir gar- 

 den and field crops, there are a variety of ways 

 open to us The simplest of these is burning. 

 Of course this process deprives the bones of their 

 organic matter, so that in the ash of bones we 

 have nothing left but theirmineral constituents, 

 chiefly phosphate of lime with perhaps a trace of 

 potash; but this plant food Is condition which 

 fits it for use, more or less Immediate by plants. 

 Bones burned in a furnace or stove where wood 

 is used for fuel, add largely to the value ol the 

 wood ashes as a fertilizer, by adding their own 

 phosphoric acid to that already there, and to the 

 rich store of potash. Another way by which we 

 can make bones available for plant food is by 

 mixing them, after having been broken into 

 small pieces by grinding or pounding, with fresh 

 horse manure, and piling this up to come to a 

 lively fermentation. This treatment softens 

 them. It saves all their elements of plant food, 

 and is a good way for the average farmer. A 

 third way of making bones available for manure 

 is by exposure to the chemical action of un- 

 leaohed wood ashes. They should be broken up 

 as finely as possible and put in alternate layei-s 

 with the ashes in a barrel or hogshead, packed 

 down quite solid, in a similar way as you would 

 get a leach. Then pour on water, or still better, 

 the rich liquid dipped up from the barnyard, 

 until the whole mass is moistened clear down to 

 the bottom. Leave in this condition, occasionally 

 putting on a little more water to keep the mass 

 moist all the time, until the bones, in the course 

 of three or six months or a year, have become 

 soft and can easily be broken into fragments. 

 The fourth way is that by acid treatment, but I 

 do not recommend it to the average taimer when 

 any other way Is open. If you are Iiound to try 

 it, put on old clothes, and keep within easy reach 

 a little baking soda (bi-carbonate of soda), un- 

 leached wood ashes, or some other alkali, and 

 rub some of this on at once should a drop of acid 

 spatter on clothes, boots or flesh. For a vessel 

 In which to dissolve the bones, make a large 

 tank, box or vat of sound plank. If lined with 

 lead all the better. Break up the bcjnes as finely 

 as possible, heap them up in the bottom of the 

 tank, and thoroughly wet them with water. Then 

 gradually, carefully add the sulphuric acid 

 Some commotion and considerable heal will be 

 the result of the contact with the acid and the 

 bones. The mass is to be shovelled over repeat- 

 edly and more acid added, until Bfty pounds of 

 the latter have been used to every 100 pounds of 

 bones. The heap is again shoveled over a few 

 times, and after a while will be reduced to a 

 pasty mass. This must be dried by the addition 

 of bone flour, or with dry muck, dry wood ashes, 

 potato salts, etc. It is then a complete fertilizer, 

 although not excessively rich in nitrogen, but 

 most excellent for orchard as well as other gen- 

 eral purposes. 



3,.5.51. Hanurs for Maahroom Growing. All 

 the dry strawy part, and white "burnt" parts 

 should be taken out, but it is not necessary to 

 use the clear horse-dropping. The finer part of 

 the litter, well moistened with the urine, is just 

 as good. Mix all well together, and when it has 

 come to a heat, fork over thoroughly, repeating 

 this process several times. In regard to the ad- 

 dition of loam, Mr. Falconer, in his work just 

 published, says: Mushroom beds are often formed 

 of loam and manure mixed together, say one- 

 third or one-fourth part of the whole being loam 

 and the other two-thirds or three-fourths ma- 

 nure; it a larger proportion of loam is used it 

 will render the beds rather cold, unless they are 

 made unusually deep. I am not prepared to 

 alBrm or deny that this mixed material has any 

 advantages over plain manure. I use it con- 

 siderably every year, and with good results; at 

 the same time, I get as good crops from the plain 

 manure beds. In preparing the mixed material, 

 I use fresh sod loam well chopped up. and add 

 to it the manure in this way: First select the 

 manure and throw it into a heap to lerment; 

 then, after the first turning, cover the heap with 

 a laver of this loam, about three or four mches 

 thick, enough to arrest the steam. At the next 

 turning mix this casing of loam with the ma- 

 nure, and when the heap is squared off, add 

 another coating of loam of same thickness in the 

 same way as before, and so on at each turning, 

 until the" full complement of loam, say one- 

 fourth of the whole bulk, has been addcil. Some 

 growers also add the full amount of loam to the 

 manure at once, and mix them together.— G. R. 



2..i38. Soft Soap in Kerosene Emulsion. We do 

 not see how the emulsion, it properly made ac- 

 cording to Prof. Cook's or Prof. Bailey's direc- 

 tions, could do harm to any plant. Perhaps the 

 mixture was not properly emulsified, and the 

 kerosene got in its work. Certainly, soft soap 

 diluted with nearly eight times its bulk of water 

 would not kill Grape vines. What has Prof. 

 Cook to say on this question? — G. K. 



-'..>11. Best Varieties of Sweet Corn, Peas and 

 Potatoes. For earliest Corn, we have nothing 

 better as yet than Cory. There are a number of 

 intermediate sorts that are reliable, but for fam- 

 ily use we like none as well as the Black Mexi- 

 can. Stowell's Evergreen gives us entire satis- 

 faction for late use Among Peas, we like 

 Alaska for first early, closely followed by Mc- 

 Lean's Little Gem; for medium. Bliss Everbear- 

 ing or Burpee's Profusion, or Stratagem; for 

 late. Champion of England. Of Potatoes, our 

 first early is Early Ohio, an excellent garden 

 Potato, but not productive enough for field cul- 

 ture. The Freeman follows it closely, and, we 

 think will come to the front. Early Sunrise is a 

 good second early sort, so is the Polaris, and a 

 number of others. Among late ones we yet 

 grow White Star, but there are so many new and 

 really good late sorts now, it is difficult to name 

 the best.— G. R. 



~,54fi. Dill for Pickling Cncambers. Dill is 

 only used for flavoring pickles, and for this pur- 

 pose a few stalks are put between the layers of 

 pickles.— G. R. 



2,553. Manettia Bicolor. This should be grown 

 freely through the summer, and afterwards be 

 placed in a dry, warm position, to induce it to 

 flower freely, and to preserve its foliage from 

 mildew, to which it is very subject. The adver- 

 tisements of such plants, both in the columns of 

 papers and in catalogues, are intended to make 

 sales, and must be taken cum arano mlis. When 

 merchants praise their wares— may they be gro- 

 ceries, dry goods, canary birds, plants, or any 

 other- we' will always expect at least some slight 

 exaggeration, or at least a strong setting forth 

 of the merits of the article, and dense silence 

 concerning its weak points.— G. R. 



2,537. Pinching Ends of Melon Tines. Some 

 growers pinch the ends of the main vines, for 

 the purpose of forcing out laterals which bear 

 the fruit, thus hastening fruit-bearing. The 

 gain from this cause, however, is not consider- 

 able, and we have long since abandoned the 

 practice as not worth the trouble. On the other 

 hand, it is always well to remove the fruit set so 

 late that it cannot possibly come to maturity, 

 thus forcing all the energies of the plant upon 

 the perfecti<m of the earlier-set specimens.— G .R. 



2,210. Ginseng Boot. Wm. Dicer, Albion, Mich., 

 is making the production of Ginseng a specialty 

 in western forest lands. Probably he can fur- 

 nish stock for propagation and give information 

 on any point concerning this industry.— E. J 

 Smith, Mich . 



2 529. Ever-bearing Blackberry. Some of our 

 cultivated kinds, like Lawton and Kittatinny, 

 have a habit of producing a second crop on the 

 young wood; and we have often had good pick- 

 ings in September, and even October, until 

 frost.— G. K. 



2,535. Chemical Uanore for Pot-plants, Al 



most all seedsmen offer prepared "Flower F'ood" 

 in small packages. Usually this is nearly or 

 wholly odorless, which is about its only advan- 

 tage over ordinary Peruvian guano, or any other 

 high-grade concentrated manure. Bone dust, 

 and a little saltpeter dissolved in the water with 

 which the pot-plants are to be watered, also fur- 

 nish the needed plant food in a concentrated 

 form. 



2 .5:12. Tannery Ashes. The Rural, in reply to 

 a simdar inquiry, says: "There is quite a com- 

 mon belief among farmers that ashes from spent 

 tan bark are of little value, because it is sup- 

 posed that the fertilizing matters are leached 

 out of the bark in the process of tanning. An- 

 alysis shows that while more than half the pot- 

 ash is lost from tan bark, but a small quantity 

 of the phosphoric acid is lost. Taimery ashes 

 are worth onsi ^erably more than leached wood 

 ashes, and are always worth hauling away." 

 That such ashes contain a good deal of potash, 

 appeared verv plain from the caustic effect of 

 the stuff as obtained at a Buffalo establishment 

 and u.sed on the Popul.\k G.vrdenino grounds. 

 These ashes were piled in a heap, on what is now 

 part of our Onion patch, and remained there 

 several weeks before being applied to trees and 

 shrubs on the grounds. That spot now repre- 

 sents a great vacancy; almost all the plants set 

 in the soil overcharged with alkali have died, or 

 at least remained small. 



2,.527. Apple Butter. Here is a good recipe; 

 Use sweet Apple cider and sour .\pples, and only 

 when the former is not obtainable, use sour 

 Apple cider and stir in sweet Apples. The cider 

 is boiled down first, till it is a rich, winy-looking 

 fluid. The .\pples, of uniform quality and nicely 

 pared and quartered, are i>ut in; sugar, depend- 

 ing upon the acidity of -^.pples and cider, per- 

 haps spices— Cinnamon and a suspicion of Cloves. 

 Then it i* boiled, all day long and into the night, 

 over a *low fi-^e with many stirrings, esiiecially 

 as it approaches the last. .\t the finale of the 

 boiling down process, it is a homogenous mass, 

 smooth, thick enough so that after it is dipped 

 into a dish it takes perhaps a minute or more for 

 It to smooth imt its wrinkles and present a placid 

 surface to the public. 



2,494. Plums for Evaporation. The German 

 and French Prunes are best for evaporating 

 purposes, no doubt. Whether they succeed 

 around Norfolk, Va., or not, we are unable to 

 say. Some of our readers in Tidewater, Virginia, 

 can probably enlighten us — G. R. 



2,533. Tall PlantinfT of Strawberries. Usually 

 at the North, spring is the time for setting plants. 

 This gives a long season for the development of 

 the plants, and of fruit, buds, etc., so that you 

 can expect to get a full crop the next year, and 

 are then ready to plow upthe plantation, having 

 another coming on in the meantime, or to fix it 

 up for a second crop. With young plants close 

 at hand, growing in adhesive (clayey) soil, so 

 that plants, or clumps of plants, can be taken up 

 by means of a transplanter, with all the roots in- 

 tact, and transferred to a new bed, we would 

 not hesitate to start a new plantation in Sep- 

 tember or even October, Always select a time 

 when the soil is quite moist for this transplant- 

 ing process.- G. R. 



2,.553. Preserving Wooden Labels. Prof. Bailey 

 advises to thoroughly soak the pieces of wood in 

 a strong solution of copperas (sulphate of iron); 

 then lay them, after they dry in lime water. 

 This causes the formation of sulphate of lime, a 

 very insoluble salt, in the wood. 



2,554. Propagation of Highbush Blueberry. 

 The shrubby species of Vaceinium are propa- 

 gated by seeds and layers. The seeds are very 

 small, and should be sown in shallow boxes filled 

 with vegetable mould and sand, and but shghtly 

 covered, best with fine shreds of moss from the 

 swamps, and this kept constantly saturated with 

 water, until the plants appear. After this only 

 water enough to keep the soil moderately wet 

 should be applied. 



2,547. Over-Fed Soil. We know no remedy 

 except time, with continued cropping and 

 thorough cultivation. The trouble will after a 

 while remedy itself. G. R. 



2,493. Growing Stone Fruits. Will all stone 

 fruits succeed where Cherries do well? No, cer- 

 tainly not. The places where Cherries can be suc- 

 cessfully grown is almost unlimited, this fruit 

 being exceptionally hardy, while many other 

 stone fruits, notably Peaches, Apricots, etc., are 

 suitable for a much more limited area.— G. R. 



2,493. Peaches on Uarianna Stock. Peach 

 seedlings are probably yet the safest stock for 

 improved Peach varieties. Concerning the Mar- 

 ianna Plum for this purpose, the experts do not 

 seem to fully agree. 



2,525. Bordeaux Mixture. This is not a remedy 

 for Grape diseases, nor will it prevent their re- 

 turn next season if applied this year. Yet it ig a 

 preventive, when persistently applied, so far as 

 the same season's crop Is concerned. For the 

 earlier applications the Bordeaux mixture is all 

 right; but when the fruit is approaching matur- 

 ity, the ammoniacal solution of copper carbonate 

 should be substituted for the Bordeaux mixture, 

 since the latter discolors the fruit, and adheres 

 to it even in heavy rains, while the other solution 

 neither shows so prominently nor sticks so tight. 



2,524. Cherries, etc., from Boot Cuttings. Cher- 

 ries, Plums, etc., are grown from root cuttings 

 in a similar way as Blackberries. The roots, of 

 course, should be taken up in the autumn, and 

 handled as advised by Prof. Budd. 



2.5'2(). Storing Sweet Potatoes D. Z. Evans. Jr., 

 of Pennsylvania, gives his method to -\merican 

 Agriculturist as follows: As soon as a heavy 

 frost strikes the vines cut off the vines close to 

 the ground; then, with a heavy two-horse plow, 

 throw two Potato rows together. Remove the 

 tubers carefully from the stems and lay them on 

 the soft soil between the rows to dry off, which 

 they will do in an hour or so. They must be 

 handled as carefully as eggs, especially at this 

 time, as the skin is very tender and can be 

 rubbed off by the hand; nor should they ever be 

 thrown, but carefully laid down. This may seem 

 to some unnecessary trouble, yet it Sweet Pota- 

 toes are expected to keep in good condition they 

 cannot be handled too carefully. As soon as they 

 are dried, carefully rub off any adhering loam or 

 soil by turning each tuber around in your hands 

 a couple of tiines, and then place them in the 

 baskets, barrels or chests in which they are to be 

 stored, so that they cannot he readily shaken 

 about when the packages are handled. The 

 packages should be stored in a well-ventilated 

 place, free from dampness, where they can re- 

 main until cold weather comes on, when they 

 should be removetl to a warmed room. The 

 packages containing the Potatoes should not be 

 moved more than is absolut'^ly necessary, as 

 changing them from place to place is apt to pro- 

 duce sweat and decay. One of the very best 

 places to keep S%veet Potatoes during winter, is 

 a tight loft or room over the kitchen, so con- 

 structed that the heat from lielow can readily 

 be utilized in warming the loft or ujiper room. 

 It should be borne in mind that rats and mice 

 are very fond of "sweets," and will soon do con- 

 siderable damage among them if not guarded 

 against. Sweet Potatoes can stand much more 

 heat in winter than the common Potato, in fact 

 will keep well under a degree of heat that would 

 soon shrivel or rot the latter. 



