POPULAR GARDENING. 



April, 



series they represent. If some are carried from 

 reputable nurseries, and are of recent date, 

 then you are measurably safe to order from 

 them, otherwise not. Be especially wary of 

 the men who offer wonderful new fruits and 

 flowers, a thing the regular agents seldom do. 



A Fine Flowering Tree. 



We think that not enough attention is paid 

 by flower lovers, who have lawns, to those 

 hardy trees and shrubs which possess value for 

 their flowers. Take, for example, the large 

 Double-flowering Cherry, of which an engi-av- 

 ing is herewith shown. It is a tree which on 

 general accounts is deserving of a place on every 

 fair-sized lawn. But when, 

 in the month of May, it is 

 loaded with its large pure 

 white blossoms as double as 

 Roses, and so numerous that 

 they completely hide the 

 branches, it presents a fine 

 sight, unequalled by but few 

 objects in the whole realm 

 of flower-bearing plants. 



"Why should not, therefore, 

 such a tree be common on 

 the grounds of flower-grow- 

 ers, instead of being but 

 rarely seen, as at the present 

 time ? The tree is not costly, 

 for we notice in the cata- 

 logue of Ellwanger & Barry, 

 Rochester, N. Y., it is ofifered 

 at fifty cents per tree, and 

 we presume in others also. 

 We do not know how else 

 one could invest such a sum, 

 and the cost of transporta- 

 tion added, to secure a 

 greater amount of satisfac- 

 tion in the long run. 



Just here is a point about 

 this and all other flowering 

 trees and shrubs which per- 

 haps is too much overlooked. 

 It is that an investment once 

 made for stock, secm-es de- 

 sirable results, not for one 

 or a few years only, as in 

 the case of many plants, but 

 for a life time. Suppose the tree costs you one 

 dollar, and then say for thirty yeai-s it contin- 

 ues to give you that great measure of satisfac- 

 tion which fine flowering trees alone can give, 

 what is the cost per year? This is the common 

 sense way of viewing things of this kind. 



Our engi'aving on this page was taken from 

 Ellwanger & Barry's catalogue of ornamental 

 trees, &c., referred to above. We cannot close 

 this article on flowering trees and shrubs, with- 

 out speaking a word for this valuable work 

 issued by the lai-gest growers of hardy orna- 

 mental trees, shrubs and plants in our country. 

 It contains 140 pages, and many original en- 

 gravings, descriptions, cultural directions, se- 

 lect lists, etc., and is devoted entin-h/ to hardy 

 ornamental stock. Its price is but twenty 

 cents; it possesses an amount of information 

 not to be found in any one dollar book on simi- 

 lar subjects, with which we are acquainted. It 

 should be owned by every lover of fine gardens. 



formed on the subject — answers, that to divide 

 this figure by Irn would be nearer the truth. 



The paper again speaks of there being in 

 Boston " Twenty-seven florists doing an annual 

 business of something Like flve million dollars." 

 This is probably just about four times too high. 

 In speaking of flower growing, the same paper 

 remarks, that " a man with a small plant of a 

 covple of hundred feel can secure profitable 

 returns." A " couple of hundred feet " is equal 

 to a house 10 x 20 feet in size, a mere hencoop 

 of a greenhouse. 



In opposition to all this the same writer 

 continues further on in this sensible style, 

 " Extravagant statements about the profits to 

 be made from growing floweijs are especially 



ter piece a large Gen. Grant Geranium, with 

 others around it of diflJerent colors. In addition 

 I used two plants of Vinca Harrisi and two of 

 Parlor Ivy to droop and twine around, edging 

 ofif with Al) ssum and Lobelia. In the grass at 

 the base of this vase I laid out a bed of Maltese 

 cross shape, and set it with Achauia, Abutilon, 

 Geraniums, Coleus, Heliotropes, Pinks and 

 Pansies. It became the wonder of our neigh- 

 borhood for the season." 



THE DOUBLE-FLOWERING CHERRY— FLOWERS WHITE. 



vicious. The sooner the public knows that the 

 business of raising or selling flowers is one of 

 incessant toil, full of disappointments, and re- 

 quiring great skill and constant attention in 

 order even to make both ends meet, the better 

 it will be for the public and for the florist. Let 

 it be thoroughly understood that fortune does 

 not come any faster in this business than 

 in any other. Florists complain about the 

 competition coming from men of wealth who 

 have made their money in other lines of trade, 

 and who have now built vast establishments 

 for the production and sale of cut flowers. But, 

 pray, who is responsible for this, if not too 

 often the florists themselves t Would these 

 men have invested their money in greenhouses 

 if it were not for the extravagant and absurd 

 stories about the business and its profits which 

 these same florists have invented and circulated, 

 and which the daily newspapers in their turn 

 have spread before the public ? " 



Big Stories About the Florist 

 Business. 



Some newspaper men, aided on, as it would 

 seem, by certain florists themselves, never 

 know where to stop in getting up exaggerated 

 accounts of the profits of the florist business. 



Concerning this matter, "W. J. S.," a leading 

 florist of Boston, calls attention in the Ameri- 

 can Florist to how a daily paper of his city 

 sometime since committed some striking pranks 

 of this kind. Here is one of the things that 

 was said, " It is estimated that more than ."iOO,- 

 00(1 violets were sold at Christmas in Boston 

 alone." This cori-espondent — and he is well in- 



An Almost Costless Rustic Vase- 

 How It Was Used. 



Our subscriber, " T. R. T.," of Lee's Summit, 

 Mo., when he wanted a rustic lawn vase, instead 

 of going to a dealer in vases, for an imitation 

 affair at a fancy price, as many people would 

 have done, introduced the real article from the 

 woods. Here is what he has to say to our 

 household of gardeners about it, and how it was 

 used with good efl'ect: 



" I got a three-foot section of a hollow tree, 

 2 1-3 feet in diameter, and set it on my front 

 lawn. After flUiug it with good soil, and some 

 large stones to retain moisture, I set for a cen- 



Somethingf About Plums. 



BY JOSIAH HOOPES. 



There is little doubt that Plums may be 

 grown successfully in every section of the 

 North. Perhaps no other 

 fruit will return more profit 

 to the skilled person, but 

 the trouble is, few seem will- 

 ing to give the care needed. 

 The Plum is mostly re- 

 stricted to heavy soils well 

 underdrained, growing with 

 more vigor here than on 

 lighter land. In the case of 

 light soil, however, the trees 

 may be budded on Peach 

 roots and with rarely an 

 exception will thrive quite 

 as well as the Plum roots on 

 clayey land. In either case 

 this fruit needs constant 

 cultivation and a rich soil; 

 experience shows that it is 

 useless to undertake to raise 

 it unless properly cared for. 

 That arch enemy, the 

 Curculio, is not so numerous 

 in some districts as former- 

 ly, but in others it ruins 

 the crop. The remedy, and 

 it is almost a complete one, 

 is systematic jarring of the 

 tree over a sheet spread on 

 the ground beneath. 



For the di-eaded "rot " no 

 cure is yet known, nor are 

 we assured of its cause. The 

 most reasonable theory at- 

 tributes it to a low order of 

 Fungi. I have employed 

 wood ashes as a destructive agent with marked 

 effect. At any rate, the potash thus intro- 

 duced to the tree through the soil caused a 

 more vigorous growth. Planting in the chicken 

 yard is in vogue with many who feel sure the 

 fallen Curculio are devoured by the poultry. 

 Others have stated that fowls never eat the 

 insects. 



Some varieties appear less liable to rot than 

 others, but when largely prevalent none, not 

 even the Chickasaw sports, are exempt. All 

 varieties do not succeed well on the Peach root, 

 so that owners of light soils must govern their 

 choice of kinds accordingly. The following are 

 among the best: Coe's Golden Drop, Yellow 

 Gage, Duane's Purple, Schuyler's Gage, Gene- 

 ral Hand, Damson and its seedling Richland, 

 Lawrence's Favorite, Imperial Gage, German 

 Prune, Prince Engelbert and Huling's Superb. 

 Where the plum-on-plum is grown exclusively, 

 the following may be substituted for some of 

 the above: Washington, Bradshaw, Green 

 Gage (true) , Reine Claude de Bavay , Columbia, 

 Jefferson, Smith's Orleans, Lombard, Bleecker's 

 Gage, McLaughlin and Red Diaper. The Dam- 

 son family yield immense crops, and when free 

 from disease will perhaps pay as well as any 

 other, but some seasons the crop is entirely 

 ruined by rot. — In Xew York Weekly Tribune. 



A Miniature Hot-Bed— Capital Idea. 



" Sister Gracious," of the Michigan branch of 

 our famil3% lives where, as she cleverly puts it, 

 "the springs ai-e generally, winter continued." 

 So she has to wait until near May for garden- 

 making time. This has led her to devise a 



