26 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



November, 



And, if new, he can quickly tell whether 

 they are worth growing or not. 



All fertilizers and insecticides he has got 

 to try, also every method of cultivation and 

 Implement used in garden work. 



And all this experiment- 

 ing is for the benefit of the 

 readers of PoprL.\K G.\R- 

 DEXIXG. You get the infor- 

 mation right from the field, 

 and if it doesn't exactly fit 

 your case, to get what you 

 want need only cost you a 

 cent for a postal card and 

 the trouble of writing your 

 query on the card and 

 mailing it. 



I, myself, have done a 

 great deal of experimenting 

 work, and I can assure you 

 it takes up a deal of time, 

 incurs much labor, re- 

 quires great painstaking 

 and considerable book- 

 keeping, but on the other hand there is 

 much pleasure, and edification in it. 



Improved Dibber. 



Improvement In Planting- Dibbers. 



The dibbers in general use are yet the 

 same clumsy affairs which have done ser- 

 vice in the gardens for generations. We do 

 not concede them to be perfect, and believe 

 that it is high time we should look for some- 

 thing better and more convenient. Mr. C. 

 D. Zimmermann, a subscriber, calls our at- 

 tention to improved styles of dibber appar- 

 ently made by some manufacturer, but 

 neither patented, nor energetically pushed to 

 the front. We illustrate two styles, of 

 which we would give the flat, heart-shaped 

 pattern, with a handle similar to that of a 

 spade, the preference. The blades are of 

 polished steel. 



Our informant has used them. They are 

 not generally known as they ought to be. he 

 writes. In fact they are seldom met with 

 among market gardeners. The latter cling 

 to the wooden, or possibly an iron-pointed 

 wooden tool, that is as inferior to a 

 polished steel dibber as a wooden plow is to 

 a steel plow. Three times the number of 

 plants can be put into the ground with the 

 newer device, and they will be planted 

 out much firmer. Any blacksmith can 

 make the tool, and once tried, it will 

 be highly prized . 



during winter than is absolutely necessary 

 to keep the balls moist, and it is good for 

 the plants that these should become rather 

 dry sometimes, as then more air is let into 

 the soil, and air sweetens and purifies. 



The time of greatest danger with hard- 

 wooded subjects is immeadiately after they 

 have been potted, as then it often happens 

 that the water passes away through the new 

 soil without wetting the old. This occurs 

 through non-amalgamation of the two, the 

 one being comparatively loose and open, and 

 the other hard and impervious. To make 

 matters safe, with such things as Azaleas, it 

 is a good plan, before repotting takes place, 

 and after the plants are knocked out of their 

 pots, to soak the balls by standing them in 

 a tub of water, and after they have been there 

 some few hours, they should be stood aside 

 to drain. So treated, there is no fear of the 

 centres being dry, and instead of watering 

 becoming necessary immediately potting is 

 over, and the plants requiring it frequently 

 after, they will stand without for some 

 time, and gradually get hold of the fre-sh peat 

 which, when used, ought to be in a moist, 

 useable condition, as in that state it can be 

 pressed or rammed firmly; which is essential 

 to good potting of these plants. 



A cultivator who is accustomed to the cul- 

 tivation of plants knows at a glance when to 

 give water, and if he cannot see the .surface 

 of the soil distinctly can quickly tell by the 

 ring of the pot, as this, when rapped by the 

 knuckle, gives out a clear sound if the ball 

 be dry, and a dull Head response if the re- 

 verse. Shis latter is caused by the pressure 

 of the soil on the sided, owing to its expansion 

 and ring by contraction, through the water 

 being out and air in instead. Another guide 

 to plant growers is the condition of the top 

 of the plant, as the quantity or frequency of 

 watering depends much on the amount of 

 the foliage, or whether fresh growth is tak- 

 ing place, for with abundant leafage, and 

 more forming, the power of absorption by the 

 roots is great, as so much is taken up and 

 evaporated on bright sunny days, and the 

 same if there is a head of bloom to support. 



This draws much on their resources, and 

 atmospheric conditions outside affect plants 

 much, as when there is a quick movement 



How Often Shall I Water? 



It seems a simple enough problem to 

 keep our pot-plants supplied with suffic- 

 ient moisture all the time, and yet it has 

 its difficulties for the inexperienced. 

 Many flower lovers think they give their 

 plants the very best of care, and pet them 

 with daily washes and waterings, and yet 

 a large percentage of such pampered 

 plants are suffering from want of water 

 where they need it, at their roots. Some- 

 times again the pots are deficient in 

 drainage, and the plants suffer from ex- 

 cess of water at their roots. Again some 

 plants require a different treatment from 

 others in this respect. 



Great discrimination is needed, says a 

 writer in Gardeners Chronicle, as without 

 it much harm may be done, and especially 

 is this so during the dead time of year, 

 when there is little or no activity in vege- 

 tation, and both plants and roots are almost 

 dormant, and not only so, but at the period 

 referred to, there is nothing to bring about 

 dryness, and soil that is made wet then soon 

 becomes sour and inert. The plants which 

 suffer most when they get into that condi- 

 tion, are those of a hard-wooded nature that 

 re<iuire peat to grow in, and if this is made 

 sodden the fine roots .soon die, or, if they live 

 they become sickly. To prevent this, they 

 should have no more water afforded them 



Self-Supporting Fruit Ladder. 



S. C. CASE, Hr.NTERDOS COXTSTY, S. J. 



I send you herewith sketch of a self-sup- 

 porting fruit ladder, such as used principal- 

 ly by the Peach-growers of this county. It 

 never totters, always sets perfectly solid 

 even on the hill side and is pronounced by ' 

 all to be the best ladder in use. 



The sides and tongue should be inch Pine 

 boards clear of knots or flaws, foiir and a 

 half inches wide. The two bottom rounds 

 are 3 inches, and the iiext2^{ inches, and all 

 the rest 2 inches wide. Let in the sides 

 (dove tailed) to keep them from spreading 

 apart, and fasten with a '2^.< inch screw in 

 each end. There should be two short bits 

 of tapering boards nailed on the sides where 

 the tongue is held by on iron bolt. The 

 rounds are 1.5 inches apart. 



This description and dimensions are for 

 a ladder 12 feet long. For a shorter one 

 lighter stuff may be used. Material, for 

 the 12 foot ladder cost about 7.5 cents. 

 Anybody of ordinary ingenuity can make 

 it, and it is not patented. 



A SELF SUPPORTING FRUIT LADDER. 



of air, and it is dry and light, it licks up, as 

 it were, all moisture on its way, and makes 

 foliage look distressed from the loss. To rec- 

 tify this, a sprinkling of the floor of the house 

 the plants are in, or a syringing overhead, or 

 both, is the best thing; but the latter only 

 when the sun is off, and the revival will be 

 quick and apparant. Plants with large 

 fleshy roots and big leaves drink freely, and 

 at and after this time for some months to 

 come cannot %vell be over-watered; and yet 

 in their case judgement is required, or the 

 best of soils may be spoiled. 



London Purple and Paris Green. 

 Some of our subscribers complain of in- 

 jury done to their fruit trees, especially 

 Peaches, by what they state to be " careful " 

 applications of London purple in weak solu- 

 tions, and seem inclined to criticise the 

 course of the horticultural and agricultural 

 press (ourselves included) in speaking as 

 favorably of the poison compared with Paris 

 green. Indeed, we think the fruit-grower is 

 here placed before a serious problem. Our 

 first experience with London purple, years 

 ago, we must confess, had served to preju- 

 dice us against its use. We thought that 

 there was a far too narrow margin between 

 its effectiveness as an insect killer, and its 

 injuriousness to plant growth, to make its 

 use altogether safe. We tried it on Potatoes, 

 both in dry mixtures and in solutions. 

 Sometimes it did excellent work without 

 injury to the folliage; at other times and 

 with other samples even the weakest appli- 

 cations seemed to scorch the leaves badly 

 without showing the effect on thebugs which 

 we desired. At last we concluded that 

 there is lack of uniformity in the material 

 as put on the market, and altogether too 

 large an element of uncertainty in its 

 composition. Hence we abandoned its 

 use for that of Paris green. The fault 

 may have been ours. Perhaps we did not 

 mix or apply London purple_ properly. 

 We never used it in spray form, and 

 perhaps applied it too copiously. But 

 we are usually careful in such matters, 

 and hardly think we were the one to 

 blame. 



Afterwards London purple got a boom, 

 and we heard good reports about it from 

 everywhere. We began to waver in our 

 conclusions, and were almost induced to 

 give it another trial. The highest horti- 

 cultural authorities spoke in favor of it, 

 and it is less than a year ago (at the meet- 

 ing of the Western New York Horticul- 

 tural Society at Rochester, we believe) 

 that we have heard Prof. A. J. Cook 

 of the Michigan College of Agricul- 

 ture emphatically declare that we should 

 use London purple, and say nothing more 

 about Paris green. The teachings of such 

 an authority who has given much attention 

 to insects and their destruction, we could 

 not well refuse to accept with considerable 

 respect, and to commend them to our 

 readers' attention. 



This season, however, it seems tliat Prof. 

 Cook has got hold of a different sample of 

 the purple, thus again showing the lack of 

 uniformity in the article. In a recent num- 

 ber of the Rural New Yorker we find the 



