POPULAR GARDENING 



FOR TOWN AND COUNTRY. 



"ACCUSE NOT NATURE, SHE HATH DONE HER PART; DO THOU BUT TniNEr—nu.ToK. 



Vol. 1. 



SIEJIPTIEnsaiBEia, 188S. 



No. 12. 



September. 



September waves his GoltJen-roil 



Along the lanes and hollows. 

 And sanntel-s round the sunny fields, 



A-playing with the swallows. 

 The Corn has listened for his step; 



The Maples blush to meet him. 

 And gay, coquetting Sumach dons 



Her velvet cloak to meet him. 

 Come to the hearth, O merry pi-ince! 



With (laming knot and ember; 

 For all your tricks of frosty ej'es. 



We love your w,ays, September. 



—Ellen M. Hutchinson. 



Making Garden in the Fall. 



It seems to be a hard matter for the aver- 

 age amateur to .set himself ahout gartlen 

 maliiug at any other time than in tlie spring. 

 As a result many flowers, antl some vegeta- 

 l>les and fruits, that succeed best for autumn 

 phinting are either not raised at all or else 

 it is done to poor advantage. 



The hardy Dutch bulbs. Hyacinths, Tulips, 

 etc,, are one class that are much slighted in 

 this respect. To us it is clear that fine collec- 

 tions of these flowers would be much more 

 common could they be planted in the spring 

 along with most everything else instead of 

 in the fall. From September until cold 

 weather is the time to plant these. 



Certiiin kinds of annuals are better for 

 fall than for spring sowing. In nature we 

 ni;iy observe that suiuiner and autumn sow- 

 ing is the invariable rule; .seeds drop to 

 earth as they ripen, and spring forth in the 

 same fall or early the ne.xt spring. All 

 florists, we believe, now sow Candytuft and 

 some other kinds in the fall for their first 

 crop of outdoor spring bloom from these. 



For a list of annuals suitable for fall .sow- 

 ing we would name the following: 



Alyssum m.aritimum, Bartonia aurca, Cal- 

 andrinas. Candytufts, Clarkias, Collinsias, 

 ErLsymum, Forget-me-nots, Gilias, Godetias, 

 Ncmophilas, Saponarias, Silenes, Virginia 

 Slocks, Pansies and Sweet Peas. 



Of these all but the Sweet Peas should be 

 sown between the middle of August and the 

 middle of September. The Peas ought not 

 to go in before November, the idea being to 

 not have them germinate until early the ne.xt 

 spring. Still we cannot recommend the sow- 

 ing of annuals in every kind of soil in the 

 fall; the soil for them must be light and 

 well drained. The chief advantage of fall 

 sowing is that the plants grow stronger, 

 root deeper and flower earlier and longer 

 than those from spring-sown seed. 



In the line of vegetables. Spinach and 

 Borecole or Kale for an early spring crop 

 are the better for being .sown early in this 

 month. To sow these now in good soil is 

 to secure fine early spring greens that should 

 prove most acceptable on any table. Cab- 

 bage, Cauliflower and Lettuce may also be 

 sown for plants to be kept through the winter 

 in cold frames for au early crop next year. 



Take one season with another and there 

 is no better time for starting a Strawlierry 



bed than now. By setting out good young 

 plants this month, strong, bearing stools 

 will already be present for next season's 

 fruitage, a thing impossil>le to be secured if 

 the planting be deferred until spring. 



Dr. Nichols's Fruit Cellar. 



Dr. Nichols of the Jnurnul of ('/ii'inisfn/ 

 has been conducting some careful experi- 

 ments in preserving fresh fruits over winter 

 in cellars of different construction. 

 It is so clear to anyone that fruit 

 stored through the winter, to come 

 out fresh and sound in the spring, 

 will command a price several fold 

 greater than the ,same would bring 

 in the fall that the matter becomes 

 a very important one to the fruit 

 grower. Following is a condensed 

 statement for making the cellar 

 which has given the doctor the most 

 perfect results. An engraving of 

 the same is also shown It should 

 be added that the objects had in view 

 were to keep the fruit dry and cool, yet free 

 from frost. 



Two rooms, each large enough to contain 

 all the fruits of the farm, are needed — an 

 outer and an inner. A cellar should be dug 

 in the south side of a hill large enough for 

 the inner room. The outer room should be 

 exposed to the air wholly in front, and on 

 the sides far .enough to accommodate two 

 windows, as shown in the engraving. 



Build of brick or stone, carrying the walls 

 to the height of eight feet. If stone is used, — 

 it may be rough and be put up by any farmer, 

 — it must be pointed with mortar. A thick 

 wall, with a door, should .separate the two 

 rooms. In the en^-aving the walls are 

 shown by dotted lines. 



The roof should come near the ground in 

 the rear; be carefully constructed and sup- 

 ported by timbers; be lined with tarred 

 paper, strongly secured and painted with tar 

 or pitch. There should be a ceiling — rough 

 boards will do — and a space one and a half 

 or two feet deep between it and the roof, 

 to be filled with dry straw, hay or sawd\ist. 



The fruit .should be kept in the outer room 

 until freezing weather, and then Ik; removed 

 to the well protected inner one. The barrels 

 should be piled up horizontally. 



The outer room should be ventilated 

 through its windows; the inner, by opening 

 both doors — but >m/i/ in dry, nild muther, as 

 warm air introduced would condense and give 

 out moisture. There must be special care 

 about admitting warm air in the spring. 



The refreshment enjoyed from the shade of 

 trees in summer is greater than that from 

 the shade of buildings on this account, for 

 in addition to the siui's rays being intercepted 

 there is also a modifying of the heal by the 

 exhalation of cool, refreshing moisture. 



But such effects extend nuicli further than 

 merely close to the trees. The increased 

 balniiness of the breezes that pass over partly 

 wooch'd sections of country, as compared 



Healthfulness of Trees. 



Aside from fruitfulncss .and lieauty every 

 vigorous tree may be looked upon as a foun- 

 tain of health and comfort. And this not 

 in a fig\irative sense either, for it is a fact 

 that growing trees act as pumps, in raising 

 water from the earth and dispensing it from 

 the leaves, chiefly in the form of vapor. 



DR. NICHOLS'S HILL-SIDE FRUIT CELLAR. 



with the winds of a treeless region, are 

 familiar to every one. In cities, too, the 

 salubrious eff'ects of many trees in the streets, 

 public parks and on lawns is now bping 

 widely recognized. 



It has been noticed that in treeless streets 

 and avenues in midsummer the temperature 

 often runs from 110° to 120° Fahrenheit, 

 when \mder the branches of a tree-shaded 

 avenue it would not exceed 70° or 80°. It 

 is a fact that there is less suffering from 

 intense heat and death from sunstroke in 

 the tree-planted Southern cities than in those 

 of the North that are treeless. Dr. Kichard 

 Smith, of New York, is of the opinion th.at 

 to plant the verdure-bare streets of the me- 

 tropolis with trees the appalling number of 

 3,000 to ."),000 victims to sunstroke annually 

 would l)e largel}' reduced. 



But there is still another important con- 

 sideration in this matter. All plants, but 

 trees more than the smaller growths, imbibe 

 from the air carbonic acid and other poison- 

 ous gaseous and volatile products exhaled 

 by animal beings or developed by the nat- 

 ural phenomenon of decomposition. These 

 are absorbed by the leaves and in their stead 

 pure oxygen, essential to the life of animals, 

 in almost equal quantity, is poured into the 

 atmosphere. Thus by planting trees, not 

 only is the air rendered cooler and in cities 

 the pavements and surrounding walls pre- 

 vented from absorbing the heat of the sun, 

 to yield it up again at night, l)ut deleterious 

 gases are taken up and this pure element 

 restored to the air again. 



Nor must we forget the healthful protec- 

 tion afforded by trees in the cohler |)ortions 

 of the year. Whatever tends to luomole 

 the comfort and warmth of man an<l beast 

 in cold and chilly weather, by reilucing the 

 sweeping blasts without cutting otT I he sup- 

 ply of pure air, has a most salutary effect on 

 health. Trees — and especiallj' Evergreens 

 — better than anything else effect such ends. 



