28 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



December, 



When the Woods Turn Brown. 



How will it be ivhen the roses fade. 

 Out of the garden and out of the glade y 

 When the fresh pink bloom of the sweet-brier wild. 

 That leans from the dell like the cheek of a child, 

 Is changed for dry hips on a thornj' bush? 

 Then, scarlet and carmine, the groves will flush. 

 How will it be when the woods turn brown. 

 Their gold and their crimson all dropped down. 

 And crumbled to dust ? 



O, then as we lay 

 Our ear to Earth's lips, we shall hear her say, 

 •' In the dark I am seeking new gems for my crown." 

 We will dream of green leaves when the woods turn 

 brown. —Lncij Uiroim. 



Announced by all the tnmipets of the sky. 



Arrives the snow, and driving o'er the fields. 

 Seems nowhere to alight. * * The housemates 

 sit 

 Aroimd the radiant fire-place enclosed 

 In a tiniudtons privacy of storm.— 



— Emerson. 



Hyacinths detest heat. 



Dirty pots are abomiuable. 



Primroses should be iu bud. 



Flowers are emblems of purity. 



Fragrance varies with the hour. 



The glory of Chrysanthemums wanes. 



July sown Sweet Alyssum is in bloom. 



Children easily become lovers of flowers. 



Philadelphia is i-alled the hull of Roses. 



"A Christmas Gift" is oflFered elsewhere. 



In choosing bulbs look to weight rather than 

 size. 



Of sun, most l>looming plants cannot get too 

 nincli. 



Write to Popular Gardening about y<nu- 

 plants. 



Large saucers for plants tend to keep ofT 

 insects. 



Include this paper in your list of familj- read- 

 ing for issi;. 



Wanted! Enough subscribers to swell our 

 list to ol 1,(11 III. 



To find pleasure in flowers, is one sign of a 

 sweet ilisposition. 



Dogs, by their fllthiness, are death to small 

 Evergreens, in towns. 



Sudden and great changes in the temperature, 

 are ruinous tc:> plants. 



The Feverfews or Pyi-ethrums are natives 

 of the Caucasus mountains. 



Autumn feeds spring, through the richness 

 that comes from the leaf crop. 



About a hundred species of AiliKiitiiin in- 

 Maiden hair ferns are known. 



In potting, the hnnps should go to the bottom, 

 of the pots, the ttne earth above it. 



We would like the showy fruiting Jerusalem 

 Cherry l>etter. but for its unplea.sant odor. 



Boom Gardening. When Bachelor's Buttons 

 are being sewed (on) by the wearers themselves. 



Who ever bestows a second look on the pots 

 of artificial flowers, handsome as they may be; 



Room Plants have one enemy not knowii to 

 the greenhouse, namely, dust. Easily van- 

 qitished. 



You need the Floral Note Book offered on the 

 next to la-st page, a-s a gift to new subscribers 

 until Christmas day. 



The language of flowers was never better ap- 

 plied than to the Mignonette, "Moral worth 

 superior to beauty. " 



Soft-wooded plants shoidd stand nearest to 

 the light, the hard-wooded ones, liack, if all 

 cannot have equal light. 



Why paint the flower pots '! They are both 

 better and more becoming to the eye, in the 

 natin-al color of burnt clay. 



The Tomato is still known as the Love Apple 

 in England and Germany, a name once com- 

 mon for the fruit in this country. 



Chrysanthemum Shows were held with great 

 success in several cities, during the past month. 

 It's ea.sy to get up enthusiasm for this flower. 



Have you a friend, near or far away, who 

 might like this paper? Kindly send us the ad- 

 dress and we will mail a cojiy for examination. 



Imagine the sight of this earth stripi)ed of 

 ever}' vestige of plant life, you who say " who 

 cares for looks," when tn'ged to set out some 

 flowers or trees. 



A young poetess told her " secret to the sweet 

 Wild Rose." This was imprudent. Soon the 

 sweet wild rose will "blow" and then she'll 

 wish she had kept her secret. 



To be or not to be healthy, has much to do 

 with plants being free or otherwise from insects. 

 Certainly insects may appear on the healthiest 

 of plants, but notice that they are the thickest 

 on the weak subjects always. 



Clubs are easily made up for this paper. Its 

 lieauty, worth and price do the business, wliere 

 there is only someone to help the matter along 

 a little. Reader, will you not see what you can 

 do for it among your friends ? 



The pleasure to be derived from gardens is 

 by no means measured by their size. A well- 

 flUed bay-window may cc mtain more real inter- 

 est than a lar-ge gi-eenhouse. A quarter-acre 

 garden than a ten acre park. 



Some plants in the garden should have 

 a change of position every year. This is 

 especially true of Verbena-s anil Daisies; 

 when there is failure with these plants, it 

 is almost always because the soil is 

 Verbena-sick or Daisy-sick. 



Shrubs, If we had room for Imt one 

 free-growing flowering shrub, it shoidd 

 be a Weigela; if for two, a Golden Bell 

 or Forsythia should be added, and if 

 three, we would take in the Large-pan iclci I 

 Hydrangea besides. 



If those having a lawn to sow, think 

 that no grass but j> mixture will answer, 

 they are mistaken. One kind alone, say 

 the Kentucky Blue Grass, usually gives the best 

 of results. Do not understand by this that 

 Popular Gardening opposes good mixtures. 



One high American authority declares, that 

 it does not matter whether the water used on 

 plants in winter is cold or not. We differ. 

 Experience ha.s shown us that plants do better 

 with the water at the same temperature as the 

 room, in which they grow, than if colder. 



Starch has not always been the common and 

 inexpensive article it is to-day. We are told that 

 in the time of Queen Elizabeth, the bulbs of 

 the Blue-bell were used for starching the ruffs, 

 then worn. The starch in these also served in- 

 stead of paste and glue. The fresh bulbs of this 

 plant are said to be poisonous. 



Mexicans are said to be very fond of flowers. 

 Their gardens being brilliant with bloom, and 

 their city markets thronged with flower sellers 

 the year round. Many of their native plants 

 being grown iu our greenhouse collections, it 

 is not strange that the same as well a.s others, 

 should be much made of at home. 



A sign. Many of the dry goods and furnish- 

 ing stores of the larger cities now make an 

 elaborate display of plants and flowers, at their 

 annual openings. This is done because the 

 public appreciate such efforts. Another sign of 

 the spreading taste for gardening and its pro- 

 ducts. Years ago such things were not done. 



The largest club of subscribers received from 

 any person for Popular Gardening to date, 

 numbered forty. Many of fifteen, ten and five 

 subscribers each have reached us. We see by 

 such efforts of our friends, that they are deter- 

 mined to do their share, towards our getting 

 .5(1,(1(111 subscribers in a j'ear. AVill not many 

 more join in the good work ? 



Scale and Mealy Bug. These common of- 

 fenders are best dealt with by being on picket 

 duty against their approaches, and when any 

 show up, kill. If they have made some headway 

 to begin with, go at them with warm, almost 

 hot soap suds and brush, cleaning them away 

 entirely. If the water shows 12.5' of heat, it will 

 destroy in a way that cold water cannot do. 



We told you so ! Concerning the new ship- 

 ping lal)el for cut flowers to which reference was 

 made iu the last ntnnber, Harry Chaapel, a 

 wide-awake florist of Pennsylvania, wTites, "you 

 hit the " Artistic Flower Tag " hard in the last 

 number. I am with you, though I do think 

 the design is handsome. One of our express- 

 men read it " Free Flowers" at arms length." 



The Illustrated Garten Zietung, of Stuttgart, 

 Germany, gave a chronn:> plate of a new Bego- 

 nia, witli mottled leaves which remind one of 

 Farfugium gran<le, in its September issue. 

 But its botanical name is horribly long, Bcffo- 

 via nuniirafa aifira-uHtfii/afa. Its introdu- 

 cers should have started it oft' with a more 

 simjile name, or else with an easy common 

 name, in addition. 



The Inquiry Column. This is designed to be 

 a most useful department of Popular (iARDEN- 

 ING. It is intended to afford the i>ai"ticalar 

 information needed to suit pai'ticular cases. 

 So whoever of our readers does not meet with 

 just what he or she wants to know about gar- 

 dening, in any of the other deiiartments, has 

 only to ask tiu-ough this one, and an answer 

 will be forthcoming. 



ITALIAN GRASS VASES. [See opposite page]. 



Heliotrope. Our friend " L. L." of Erie Co., 

 New York, has related to us about her success 

 with this plant a,s a winter bloomer. She starts 

 with a rooted slip iu the summer. This is 

 planted out in good soil: is pinched back occa- 

 sionally and about the time of early frosts, is 

 potted up for the winter. Result: Ample 

 growth, plenty of flowers all throtigh the win- 

 ter, and rarely an insect to be seen. 



The canes of verandah climbers, are not pleas- 

 ing if left whipping and dangling about the 

 posts and rails all through the storms of winter. 

 Let them be taken down, be brought together, 

 bound and then laid on the ground next to the 

 foundation, until spring. Or if they ai'e too 

 large for this, tie the loose ones up close to their 

 supports where they are. Left loose, they 

 slash about like the whip of an ox-driver, mak- 

 ing impleasant sounds. 



Shall Popular Gardening have .50.(ill(i sub- 

 scril lers by the end of one year .' That depends 

 upon what you and you and you all around, 

 who see it for the first time, shall say and do. 

 We know there are .50,1(00 persons in this country 

 who will take it when they but know of it. 

 Are not you reader of these ; If so, let us enter 

 your name at once. At the same time kindly 

 send us the name of any friend who might be 

 interested in the paper, that we may send to 

 such person a specimen copy. 



