POPULAR GARDENING 



AND FRUIT GROWING. 



"ACCUSK NOT NJTrUK. SlIK HATH DONE HER PART: DO THOU BUT 7'f/iJVfc'." -Milton. 



Vol. V. 



isro'VE^yLBEia xsss. 



No. 2. 



Purple dawns will flood no more 

 Starry Asters bendiuy: low; 

 nei^n of Golden-rod Is o'er. 

 Ut with sunshine's overflow; 

 Fields where armed Corn ho-s stood. 

 Gold flres flashed from spear to spear, 

 Now are left in solitude- 

 It's November, dear. 



The Cellar is all right to keep a few vege- 

 tables for early use; but it is no place for winter 

 storage. 



Japanese Pei!,simmons require protection dur- 

 ing the wint<?r even as far south as Philadelphia, 

 and then they do not seem inclined to bear in the 

 open ground. 



Exotic Grapes. Mr.D. M. Dunning, as an am- 

 ateur growerof Grapes under glass, is doing quito 

 well. One of his clusters this season he reports to 

 be 'JO inches long, and weighing about 10 pounds. 



Seeds of Pigweed, Mustard, Purslane, and many 

 other common weeds sprouted vigorously after 

 having been buried about twenty inches deep for 

 nearly ten years. This was the result of a test 

 recently made. 



The TRAILING Spiderwort, also known as Wan- 

 dering Jew, an Irish plant, common though it 

 be, is one of the best of house plants. There are 

 several varieties. Grow them to trail from a 

 hanging basket or other suspended receptacle. 



Plants ln reasonable number add an element 

 of brightness to the sitting room; but when .vou 

 make a florist's establishment of it, crowding 

 tables, mantel shelves and e%'ery available spot 

 with flower pots, the home-like appearance is 

 gone, and home comfort takes its departure. 



Packing Cions and Buds A little damp moss 

 from which all the water has been squeezed ; 

 oiled paper wotmd around, and this wound with 

 thread. Heavy manilla pai)er on outside with 

 address. That's all. Plants should only have the 

 roots thus packed, while leaves and tops should 

 be more or less open to the air. 



The Australian lady bird is now raised and 

 distributed in California to such an extent that 

 it is expected that they will soon be able to hold 

 the cottony cushion scale, upon which they feed, 

 and which is a very serious enemy to Orange 

 and Lemon trees, in check, or clear it out entire- 

 ly. Oan't entomologists tell us how to assist our 

 native ladybirds to increase more rapidly, and 

 thus secure more efficient help in our warfare 

 against Potato beetles, plant lice and many other 

 insect foes ? 



Prof. Riley Much Honored. Republics are 

 not always ungrateful. The French Government, 

 in recognition of the important ser\'ices which 

 Prof.Chas.V.Riley.through his researches regard- 

 ing the Phylloxera and Grape diseases, rendered 

 not only to the Grape growers of the United 

 States, but to those of France and othercountries 

 also, has created him a " Chevalier of the Legion 

 of Honor." Our deserving fellow citizen has also 

 just been elected an honorary fellow of the En- 

 tomological Society of London. This is a rare 

 distinction, as there are only ten living honorary 

 fellows at present. 



Flowers and Railroads. The Pennsylvania 

 Railroad Co. is deserving of much credit in its 

 pioneer work of adorning the grounds about its 

 stations with flowers, shrubs and trees. What 

 has especially pleased us in these adornments is 

 the fact that more dependance is placed on the 

 use of hardy plants than upon tender bedding 

 kinds. Not that fine showy beds of Coleus, Ger- 

 aniums etc. are lacking about the stations but 

 they are second in importance to the hardy kinds 



used. Tsunlly the borders of plants and shrubs 

 are jilanted as back ground to the bit of lawn 

 adjunct to the stations, and in the beauty and 

 variety of the growths employed the}' make a 

 pleasing picture to the eyes of travellers. fJther 

 things equal who would not for their journejings 

 choose a road that leads along the garden sta- 

 tions to any other? 



What William Falconer has to say 



about the Popular Gardening 



Grounds. 



When I was at Buflfalo, at the florists' 

 convention, I went out to La Salle to 

 see the Popular Gardening Experiment 

 Grounds. La Salle is a country station on 

 the Niagara river, about 17 miles from Buff- 

 alo and .5 miles from Niagara Falls, and the 

 railroad .iourney between Buffalo and La 

 Salle is about half an hour's ride. The Ex- 

 periment Grounds are a third of a mile 

 from the station and border on Cayuga creek 

 a considerable stream that passes into the 

 Niagara at La Salle. 



At the railroad station the editor's son, a 

 sturdy youth with glowing cheeks and a flan- 

 nel shirt was there to meet us and row us 

 home. Another gentleman of our party took 

 an oar, then under the brawn of youth and 

 ease of practice we sped along delightfully. 



On both sides of the creek the banks 

 are high and dry, often steep, and well 

 wooded with a variety of indigenous decid- 

 uous trees and shrubs; and these banks were 

 then gayly checkered with the coral fruit of 

 the CratiEgus, the bright red cymes of the 

 Cranberry tree and the blue berries of the 

 wild Dogwoods. And the water margins 

 were fringed withArrow leaf,Pickerel Weed, 

 Pond Lilies and other wild plants peculiar to 

 such a situation. Other atjuatic and bog 

 plants are being naturalized in the creek 

 and along its sides by the editor. 



We land, and climb the foot-path up the 

 bank, and here is spread before us a broad 

 and highly cultivated level country, with 

 good soil and good crops and displaying care- 

 ful antl clean cultivation on every hand. 

 Before my visit to it I had an impression that 

 the Experiment Grounds were in a wild and 

 woody and swampy country, and I can as- 

 sure you I was surprised to flud my impres- 

 sion erroneous. There is no swamp about 

 it, for the creek is narrowed into a deep chan- 

 nel by high wooded banks. The grounds 

 are all open and had long been cultivated as 

 farm lands. The editor's house is a comfort- 

 able, roomy structure upon the grounds and 

 close by the boat landing. But don't think 

 that by row-boat is the only way of getting 

 here, for there is an excellent carriage road 

 between the grounds and the station and 

 elsewhere into the country. The whole 

 place impressed me as being a cosy, pleas- 

 ant, healthful, happy, rural home. 



Changing the contour of the place from 

 agricultural fields to a progressive Horticul- 

 tural Experiment Garden has necessitated 

 a great deal of painstaking work, and, in- 

 deed, the editor has already made more pro- 

 gress in this direction than I had any idea of. 

 He has graded a good deal of the ground, 

 especially near the creek to suit his land- 

 scape tastes, led winding pathways along 

 the wooded banks ot the Cayuga, planted a 

 host of hardy ferns and the prettiest of oiu' 

 wild flowers where they are most likely to 



A Flat Dibber. 

 See Next Page. 



naturalize themselves under the shade of the 

 trees and shrubs, and constructed little rus- 

 tic rests or summer houses for the enjoy- 

 ment of his family, visitors, and friends. 

 Kockworks have also been formed, partly 

 under the trees and partly in open sunny 

 places so that the pretty, little hardy flowers 

 that might get grown over or lost in the 

 mixed borders or beds, may And therein a 

 select site and en.ioy conditions most fitted 

 to their wants. A large assortment of orna- 

 mental trees and shrubs, including some of 

 the newest introductions have been brought 

 together and seem to enjoy their quarters. 

 Lawns have been laid out and flower beds 

 made and filled, and a 

 multitude of hardy her- 

 baceous Perennials have 

 been planted in prepared 

 borders. A large number of 

 fiuit trees. Grape vines, berry 

 bushes and Strawberry plants 

 have been set out systematic- 

 ally, and many kinds and 

 varieties of vegetables were 

 in luxuriant vigor. 



" But of what good is an 

 E.xperiment Garden to me, 

 anyway?" some may ask. 

 Just this much: POPULAR 

 Gardening is a horticultur- 

 al paper, and it presumes to 

 teach you all about fruits, 

 flowers and vegetables; It Is 

 for the information ou these 

 topics that you buy it. And you want posi- 

 tive and authentic information. You don't 

 want information that is fudged from other 

 books or old catalogues, a rehash of old writ- 

 ings. You buy and pay for the raw, origi- 

 nal truth, for facts, not guesswork.'and you 

 have a right to get them. Neither the editor 

 of Popular Gardening nor any other hor- 

 ticultural editor can get up a brilliant gar- 

 dening paper in a dry office alone, no matter 

 how much he used to know or what practice 

 he used to have. Horticulture is so progres- 

 sive that only a man in practical harness can 

 keep pace with it. And this is why you have 

 got a Popular Gardening Experiment 

 Garden. 



To begin with, it is the editor's home; he 

 lives there summer and winter, and he will 

 exerci.se his utmost endeavors to make it a 

 comfortable and enjoyable home for his fam- 

 ily; in fact that it is already. He has plant- 

 ed orchards of different kinds of fruit trees, 

 and is right here on the ground among 

 them, watching them, and tending them in 

 every way and noting their behavior, and 

 he can tell you from positive experience 

 everything about them. He does not plant 

 a large number of anything, only enough 

 for a fair sample or test; it is living informa- 

 tion that he is after, and plants the good, 

 the bad and the indifferent, so that he can 

 note them all for your benefit. And he does 

 the same thing with all manner of Grape 

 vines, vegetables, flowers and trees. He 

 raises nothing for market, all are grown for 

 experiment. He is obliged to keep up with 

 the times and get and grow every new kind 

 of fruit tree, vine, Rose, or other plant. 

 Whether the " new " kinds are distinct from 

 old sorts or not he knows it, for, growing 

 both, he has the opportunity for comparison. 



