1889. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



27 



followini; from Prof. Cook's pen, and it 

 sounds very different from his former teach- 

 infrs of less than a year ago: "' Many and 

 seriois complaints come from fruit-growers 

 regarding injury done to Peach trees which 

 were sprayed with I>on- 

 dou purple. I have ex- 

 perimented very full}" in 

 this matter. It seems that 

 London purple is far more 

 injurious than is Paris green. 

 The latter, used one pound to 

 I1KI gallons of water— a mix- 

 ture at least twice too strong 

 — and twice repeated, did 

 almost no harm; a mixture 

 one-half the strength did no 

 harm at all. The London 

 purple of the first strength 

 always did some harm and 

 often serious damage. A rain 

 just after the application 

 seems to increase the damage. 

 One pound to 2(Xi gallons of 

 water injuries Peach, Cherry, 

 Apple and Plum foliage often 

 seriously, especially when re- 

 peated. It is much the most 

 injurious when used on the 

 Peach, The leaves often 

 fall off. Frequently one ap- 

 plication of this weak mix- 

 ture would be followed by 

 entire defoliation. 



I find that the colored water 

 turned carefully off after the 

 Ijondon purple has all set- 

 tled, will still kill the foliage. 

 Can it be that the analine is 

 the poisonous substance ? Or 

 is it the soluble arsenic? I 

 am now having analyses 

 made to determine this last 

 point. If an arsenic is to be 

 used on the Plum and Peach, we must use 

 Paris green, and for the Peach this must be 

 very dilute. 1 should not make it stronger 

 than one pound to 2.50 gallons of water." 



What we desire is to see clear in this mat- 

 ter. We must not mislead our readers by 

 false advice, nor withoUl information that 

 is almost life and death to them, and all we 

 can do at present is to commend the utmost 

 caution in the use of the purple, until we 

 can be sure to have an article of the uniform 

 quality of the best samples we have used. 



so without any trace of piinf^nt'y that it may bo 

 eaten like an .\pple. If we could eliminate from 

 the natun,' of Procojip'.'^ (Jiant the tendency to 

 assume a v>eculiiir crinkled .sliape, and by careful 

 selection of seed make it as uniformly smooth and 

 regular as this Long Sweet variety, it would give 



Notes from the Popular Gardening 



Grounds at La Salle-on-the- 



Niagara. 



The New Pepiicrs. This is the second year we 

 have grown Procopp's Giant, this Goliath 

 amongst Peppers, and it pleases us in so far it is 



PRIZETAKER ONION. 

 a very reliable bearer of uniformly large fruit. 

 The latter is bright red, from 5 to 7 inches long, 

 but lacking in regularity .which indeed is its only 

 fault. The thick flesh has just enough pepperj' 

 pungency to make it desirable. Golden Upright, 

 and perhaps even Ruby King— varieties so per- 

 fect otherwise— are too sweet for many culinary 

 purposes. Our Long Sweet lied sort from New 

 Jersey, which we find unsurpassed as a bearer, is 



FLOWERS OF THE WHITE JAPAN ANEMONE FROM NATURE. % Natural Size. 



us a Pepper with which no fault covdd be found. 



Celestial is again not only useful but also highly 

 ornamental. 



Last year we selected seed from a number of 

 varieties which were growing in close proximity 

 to each other. Among the seedlings of the Celes- 

 tial this year we have a number of plants that 

 are evidently the result of a cross between it and 

 our Long Sweet Red variety. The plants have 

 the characteristics of the Celestial, and bear very 

 freely. Fruit from 2 to 2% inches long and IH 

 inches wide at top, bright red, smooth, handsome, 

 and with some pungency. All the rest of the va- 

 rieties came true to name. 



A Prizrtaker. We always try every new Onion 

 that we hear of, and the older ones, too. This 

 season again we had a great number of varieties, 

 among them Silver King, Mammoth Pompeii, 

 Spanish King, and various other mammoth sorts. 

 Owing to the new condition of the soil, lateness 

 of the season, and lack of various requisites at 

 the proper time, our success was nothing to brag 

 about, although we have a fair crop. Among the 

 score or more of choicest sorts, however, none 

 can hold the candle to Prizetaker, a variety in- 

 troduced last year by Mr. Wm. H. Maule. Our 

 specimens last year were the finest Onions we 

 ever raised, equalling in size and beauty the im- 

 ported Spanish- Onions of our fruit stores and 

 groceries, and our experience with them this 

 year only strengthens our good opinion of it. A 

 few rows grown with good care, but otherwise 

 by no means under the most favorable circum- 

 stances, gave us bulbs the smallest of which 

 weighedoverone-half of a pound each, and which 

 yielded at the rate of over ]000 bushels per acre. 

 With special care we think we could even double 

 this yield, and propose to do this next year. Its 

 name is undoubtedly proper. No other variety 

 can take the prize at any exhibition in competi- 

 tion with a well-grown Prizetaker; at least this 

 is the conclusion of two seasons' trials with it. It 

 has proved itself to be the Onion par excelienc^. 



Potatfi Tests. Flea beetles, the blight, and dry 

 weather have made short work of our this sea- 

 son's Potato test plot, and with our hope of being 

 able to settle some disputed points inPotato grow- 

 ing to our own satisfaction. As already stated, we 

 found the flea beetle the worst of these enemies, 

 and proof against anything we applied. Among 



iither things, we tested the virtue of Buckwheat 

 plants in dower, which, it is claimed, will drive 

 tlea Ijcetles away. Perhaps we did this more to 

 show the absurdity of parading innocent plants 

 and leaves, like those of the Tomato, Elder, Buck- 

 wheat, etc., as certain insect repellers, than tor 

 any other purpose. They are 

 not, and the little jumping pests 

 stayed until the test plot was 

 well-nigh ruined. 



The partial crop, which we 

 harvested, however, gave us 

 something like the usual results, 

 and in so far, so much eifort and 

 care in making these tests was 

 not spent quite in vain. 



The following are some of the 

 results and conclusions: Extra 

 large single-eye pieces, selected 

 from extra large tubers, and 

 planted six inches apart in the 

 rows, yielded only 7.5 percent, of 

 the crop obtained from whole 

 medium-sized tubers planted one 

 foot apart in the rows, while 

 single-e.ve pieces cut of ordinar,v 

 size and from the ordinary run 

 of tubers, planted at various 

 •^P"^ ^ distances, (8 to 12 inches) gave 

 only a yield of frt)m -tS to 5.5 per 

 cent, of that from whole tubers. 

 I'his again shows that smgle-eye 

 pieces do not constitute "a 

 sufficiency " of seed, or in other 

 words, that a maximum yield 

 can not be grown from this 

 method of seeding. Whenever 

 we decide to adopt it, however, 

 we should make the pieces as 

 large as possible, and plant them 

 very close— not more than six 

 inches apart for our ordinary 

 soils. We planted them once i 

 inches apart with good results. 



The rows in which whole 

 (medium-sized) tubers were 

 planted, as usual gave the largest 

 yield in the plat, "showing the 

 superiority of whole against cut 

 tubers. 

 Seed ends used for seed gave slightly better re- 

 sults than either stem ends or middle pieces. 



No difference appeared in the yields from ha If 

 tubers, whether planted cut side up or down. 



The application of bone dust increased the 

 yield, but not nearly so much as that of a high- 

 grade complete fertilizer containing a considera- 

 ble percentage of potash. 



The same good results were noticed from the 

 applications of fertilizers, whether applied above 

 or below the seed pieces. 



The crop was poorest in the rows where no fer- 

 tilizer was used, and a gradual increase plainly 

 visible in the same ratio as the fertilizer (H. S. 

 Miller & Co.'s Peach tree fertilizer, containing 3 

 to 3 percent. Ammonia, 8 to 10 phosphoric acid 

 and 8 to 10 potash) was increased. 



The Fall Anemones. To Japan we are indebted 

 for two of the grandest flowering plants in ex- 

 istence, namely, the Japan Anemones. For weeks 

 these magnificent flowers have been a chief at- 

 traction of the borders at Woodbanks; we are 

 contemplating their use even more freely in the 

 future. The type of these flowers is Anemone 

 Japonica, ha\ing many handsome rose-colored 

 blooms two or more inches across. L^seful as 

 this species is, however, for the sake of variety, it 

 is nowhere equal in attractiveness to its offspring 

 (by sport), the White Japan Anemone [Japonica 

 rar. Honorine Jobert), of which we show an en- 

 graving, two-thirds size, drawn from nature. 

 This latter plant is the pride of the flower garden 

 during .September and October. The flowers are 

 of the purest white, with finely contrasted yellow 

 centers, and borne in extreme profusion, well 

 above a plant in itself possessed of beautiful 

 leaves. It possesses the highest value as a plant 

 for cut flowers, in this respect standing second 

 to no other plant in cultivation. Both of these 

 Anemones are fli'st rate plants for the flower 

 garden, for groups, borders or the wild garden. 

 An engraving reproduced from the London Gar- 

 den of the white variety as grown in the wild 

 garden is annexed. On our own grounds, we in- 

 tend the coming season to devote a good-sized 

 bed on the lawn exclusively to these Anemones 

 in the proportion of two-thirds of the space to 

 plants of the white and one- third to the rose- 

 colored variety. By having the plants in various 

 situations, some in a north border, some on a 



