12 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



October, 



Picking Apples. 



Apples to pick ! Apples to pick I 



Come with a basket and come with a stick. 



Rustle the trees and shake them down. 



And let every boy take care of his crown. 



Thujnp ! plump ! down they come raining ! 



Shake away : shake till not one Is remaining. 



Hopping off here, and popping of there. 



Apples and Apples are everywhere. 



Golden Russets, with sunburnt cheek, 



Fat, ruddy Baldwins, jolly and sleek ; 



Pippins, not much when they meet your eyes. 



But wait till you see them In tarts and pies ! 



Beautiful Bellefleurs, yellow as gold, 



Think not we're leaving you out in the cold : 



And dear fat Greenings, so prime to bake, 



I'll eat one of you now, for true love's sake. 



It's plenty of work and plenty of play. 



And plenty of Apples the livelong day. 



Oh, the time and the place for boys, I maintain. 



Is the month of October, the good State of Maine. 



Touth's Companion. 



Chrysanthemums. 



O flowers of Indian Summer ! 

 Like Field Dalies glorifled, 

 With brilliance of the sunlight. 

 Or the vestures of a bride : 

 With deep hues of the vintage. 

 Or the flushing of the Rose, 

 As the Summer smiling back. 

 Ere the year she graced shall close. 



Air the plants often. 

 A fruit diet is a health diet. 

 Welcome now. Chrysanthemums ! 

 Clean up the yard, the flower beds. 

 Dry the rubbish and touch a mat<^h to it. 

 Ehubarb does rather the best for fall planting. 

 Celery makes its best growth after September. 

 We want our Pumpkin pie made of Squashes, 

 Again we repeat handle Celery onlj- when it is 

 dry. 



No one can make good cider from rotten Ap- 

 ples, 



Bipe Grapes can stand a light frost, green ones 

 can not. 



What has became of the fractional currency 

 agitation V 



A device for stripping Currants from their stem 



is reported. 



For the roadside, and for shade in pastures 

 plant Cherries. 



Gardeners find the land a wilderness; they 

 make it an Eden, 



Hardy Eoses may be planted this month in 



"Well-drained soil. 



The Wilder Early Pear is highly spoken of 

 e\ erywheie this season. 



Work for Fall. Pruning young trees. Grape 

 Tines, etc., after leaf fall. 



Old clumps of Hollyhock flower earlier than 

 plants from fall-sown seed. 



A little top dressing of compost for the lawn 

 where the grass is thin may help it. 



Don't fear the Cabbages and Turnips freezing 

 a little. It really improves their flavor. 



Among the chief virtues of the Miami Straw- 

 berry is named its late blooming character. 



Weeds like dogs are in the garden good in their 

 place. Their place is to be plowed under for 

 manure. 



The first King Apples, exported this season, 

 sold m Glasgow at S3 to 34 shillings (about §5,75 

 to IH.IJU) i)cr barrel. 



Chinch bugs, cutworms, hx^usts, etc., are fav- 

 orite food of the quail. The pot hunter should 

 not be g-iven too much latitude. 



Have yon tried a weak solution of saltpeter or 

 nitrate of soda on outdoor or imt plants'/' It is 

 an excellent fertilizer, our word for it. 



Lower express rates will come in the end, if 

 horticultural societies, like that of the American 

 Nurserymen, keep pegging away at it. 



Actinidia polygama is highly praised by our 

 friend Mr. Carman as a quick growing vine that 

 is absolutely hardy, will grow luxuriantly in a 

 northern, shady position, and will travel from 

 tree to tree, forming pretty arbors and wild en- 

 tanglements. 



Eeform better than Death The Wild Cherry 

 trees along the road sides may breed caterpillars, 

 but they can be easily changed into useful Plum 

 trees by top grafting. I find that all Plums work 

 well on the Wild Cherry, and the latter also take 

 Peach and .Apricot buds.— C. K. J/cyers, Ill». 



Green Mountain Grape, Sample.s were re- 

 ceived from Stephen Hoyt's Sons early in Sep- 

 tember. In size and shape of bunch, and size of 

 berry it resembles Delaware, but the bunch maj' 

 be somewhat looser. Berry dull green, sweet, 

 tender, pleasant, not without acidity, and defi- 

 cient in richness. 



The Aster for cut flowers seem to be gaining 

 in popularity. The Victoria is probabl.v the best 

 for florists' use. Burpee's Dwarf Queen is highly 

 spoken of. The more we see of the Chrysanthe- 

 mum-like Comet Aster the better we like it. 

 Seed may be sown any time from December until 

 June, and flowei^ had all through the year. 



A rather mixed style of gardening is some- 

 times seen in English market gardens, invoU ing 

 a curious rotation of vegetables and flowers. 

 Hut it serves its end, namely, to increase the 

 revenues from the business. It is quite a novel 

 thing to see a four acre Potato patch with Wall- 

 flowers planted all between the Potato vines. 



'* Name Lost " shovild be written on the new 

 label, if the old one is not to be found, and the 

 name not remembered with certainty. Never 

 rename a plant without certainty that you are 

 right. Later its name may be recovered. Try to 

 familiarize yourself with your plants and their 

 habits, and it will not be difficult to remember 

 their names.— JoTij) Lauc, i'tiicoifO. 



The Leader Grape, samples of which were re- 

 ceived from Painesville, O,, on September 17th, 

 seems to ha\"e some of the characteristics of the 

 Niagara, being perhaps looser in bunch, a little 

 smaller in berry, of same color and amount of 

 " native aroma," but seemingly still richer in fla- 

 vor. If vigorous, healthy and productive, the 

 variety is undoubtedly a promising one. 



Coleraiu Grape. Some clusters of it were placed 

 on our table September 4th. Bunch small mod- 

 erately compact. Berry of medium size, green 

 with delicate whitish bloom, tender and having 

 a trace of native aroma, but remarkable for 

 honeyed sweetness and richness, and in favorable 

 contrast with the other first, early sorts. Al- 

 together of unusual promise for a novelt}'. 



The Lady-bug Our Ally. How quickly Pota- 

 to bugs vacate the Held when the Lady-bug 

 makes its appearance on the vines. I have hand- 

 picked my little patch of Potatoes twice a day. 

 All at once the Lady-bugs arrived by dozens, and 

 since then I have found but one full-grown bee- 

 tle, and only two lana". Have not had to put 

 anything on the vines, and they look finely.— 

 Subscriber. 



The Late Mr. Shaw's Grounds, The announce- 

 ment of the death of Mr. Henry Shaw, of St. 

 Louis, brought vividly to mind the many pleas- 

 ant hours I had spent in the famous Shaw's gar- 

 den. Tens of thousands of others ha\e found 

 and will find pleasure and instruction in this gar- 

 den. What an excellent use Mr. Shaw has made 

 of his means and opportunities ! May others be 

 persuaded to follow in his footsteps, as his gar- 

 den has awakened in many a love for plants that 

 will bring them the purest enjoyment for years. 

 —J. M. Stahl. 



Little and Often, Instead of giving plants an 

 excess of food at any one time, I believe it a 

 much better way to feed them by degrees, but 

 enough at all times. This applies especially to 

 the Vine family. Have tried this plan this season 

 on a few hiUs of Squashes with best results. 

 Liquid manures, including much of the house 

 slops, may be put to best use in this way, and be 

 the means of greatly economizing the solid man- 

 ures, I believe it is a method worthy to be rec- 

 ommended for garden and greenhouse, on large 

 as well as small scale.— .4. P. Hf^eiU Me. 



Heating a Small Greenhonse. My house is a 

 span roof 15 feet siiuare and 10 feet to pitch. It 

 is heated by two oil stoves with two three-inch 

 burners each and it is very seldom necessary to 

 light more than two burners. Over each stove 

 is a galvanized iron boiler holding about three 

 gallons, and without cover. I use the best re- 



fined oil and have never noticed any smell in the 

 house. The stoves burn from 10 to 12 hours 

 without any attention, .\ small boiler heated by 

 oil stoves I think would pay manufacturers, as in 

 the south we do not need any costly heating 

 apparatus used at the north. Hot water is the 

 best for heating,— E. B. Hoiiings. S. C. 



Floral Decoration of Vehicles. The curious 

 style made use of by European fiorists in the de- 

 coration of vehicles of all sorts for processions 

 and is well represented by the specimens shown 



A QUAINT FLORAL DEVICE. 



in our illustrations (reduced from Gardener's 

 Magazine). The Sedan chair is quite an elaborate 

 att'air, being entirely covered with Roses. In 

 the deconition of carriages, carts, etc., every 

 conceivable form of flower and foliage is utilized 

 The coachman's boxes frequently have a fixed 

 canopy of flowers, and the bodies of the carriages 

 are thickly covered with flowers all along their 

 upper surfaces, while the sides are prettily fes- 

 tooned. The wheels also are decorated in a 

 similar manner. 



The Beefwood Tree. Of few trees may it be 

 said that they are funny, but there is a funny 

 tree in the Shaw Garden of St. Louis, Mo, When 

 you first notice it, if there is much humor in 

 your composition you will smile ; as you further 

 observe the tree your smile will broaden, and 

 the chances are good that you will laugh heartily 

 as you turn away. The tree is the Beefwood 

 ( Ca.furiana (jiiadriralvis ) from Australia. The 

 trunk is so very crooked and much contorted 

 that you are almost forced to the conclusion 

 that this tree has grown in the dark. Even the 

 bark is twisted and curled and distorted, as if the 

 tree had eaten a txiy's mess of green Apples. One 

 might conclude that the leaves are but atten- 

 uated extensions of the branches, being a foot 

 or more long, cylindrical, and almost as fine as 

 hair. As it grows out of doors in this garden, 

 this tree is probably not a hard pet to keep 

 and as a curiosity it would well be worth the 

 having.— JoAh M. Stahl, Adams Co.. III. 



Nicotiana affinis. Perhaps this is more uni- 

 versally grown in other places, but here every- 

 one who sees it, speaks of its beauty, and asks 

 what it is, and 1 have plenty of opportunities to 

 give a plant here and there, which is a part of 

 the pleasure of Floriculture, It has a fragi'ant 

 white flower, is very easily grown from seed, is 

 as easily cared for as a Geranium in the house 

 during winter, and makes a large shrub when 

 grown out of doors. I have yet one of the first 

 plants J grew. It is now two years old, has 

 blossomed in my conservatory nearly all the 

 winter, and planted out during summer is full of 

 bloom. 1 suppose it is a tender perennial, but it 

 is so easily grown from seed one who does not 

 care to keep them through the wintei can have 

 a grand display in the summer garden, by sow- 

 ing the seeds, which are very fine, in a box in- 

 doors, about the first of April, then plant out as 

 soon as danger from frost is over. They begin 

 to blossom by the last of June and keep right on 

 until frost They sland drouth and all hard 

 usage as well as a Geranium or Petunia,— J/iriam 

 Parhtr. ^tint^esl'ta. 



Using Waste Places. There are many out-of- 

 the-way places, little nooks, and unsightly fences 

 that we take no especial delight to look at near 

 our homes, and that might be made places of 

 beauty and enjoyment. Among the common 

 things that please the eye are Nasturtiums and 

 Hollyhocks to cover fences and sides of barns, 

 sheds, and houses. Hollyhocks of the better class 

 are some of the finest bloomers to be obtained, 

 and when once planted they take possession of 

 the ground with their multitude of seeds. Mine 

 in the deep rich loam under my windows some- 

 times grow ten feet high and do not cease to 

 bUiom until autumn. Seeds sown now will bloom 

 next year. Nasturtiums ha\e given great delight 

 to my citj* visitors and boarders, climbing over 

 an old branch near an open door. Among the 



