28 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



NOVEMBKR, 



warm one, the bloom may be greatly iirolonped. 

 The white form is never more eharmins? than 

 when it is grown in the shade of a wootl. Some 

 suppose that the white is the original form of the 

 plant. As to propagation every bit of the root 

 grows if divided. Some might think this plant 

 increases too freely if anything, but as it in no 

 wise partakes of a weedy nature this must be 



LAYERING HARD-WOODED PLANTS. 



considered in its favor, especially so long as it re- 

 mains as rare as at present in the average gar- 

 den. For the best results a rich soil is desirable 

 for these plants, but they are not difficult to suit 

 in this respect. We cannot but counsel every 

 reader of these notes to set out one or more 

 plants of the Japanese Anemones if they now do 

 not possess them. 



ding with good foundations to solid ground. 

 The bins are formed hy slats, six inches 

 wide, one inch stuff. The slats have spaces 

 of six inches between so that thorough ven- 

 tilation is obtained, 



The heating of the new house is by hot 

 water.pipes, the old one, hot air. No .shipping 

 or selling, even in the home market is 

 attempted from this stock until Janu- 

 ary and sometimes February, when the 

 ordinary crops are exhausted. 



A selling price of $3.5 to $40 per ton 

 usually pays well, but .$80 was obtained 

 for part of the crop last year. The 

 shipment is in ordinary cars. These 

 are lined, and a stove used for heat, 

 with an attendant on the way. For this 

 reason it is preferred to ship by three 

 car lots, two to Boston, and one to 

 Providence, which is about the relative 

 proportion of each city. Not much 

 market in any but in New England 

 cities. Cost of freight $30 per car, but 

 it has been as high as $.50, capacity of 

 car about thirteen tons. 



Now the secret of sticcess in sending 

 this crop a thousand miles, and yet 

 make a profit, is in knowing, how best 

 to preserve the crop, and which is the 

 exact time for marketing, with a willing- 

 ness to invest sufficient capital in buildings, 

 etc., and to wait for the returns. The crop 

 is all sold on commission, but the markets 

 have to be carefully studied. 



ceptional plant, any more than we can have 

 the exceptional persons, about us daily. 



It likes a rich soil, very light, and must 

 have plenty of water and sunshine, but the 

 soil must be well drained. It seeds freely 

 and young plants will continually be com- 

 ing up in the pot about the old plant. 

 These can be potted, and very soon they will 

 come into bloom. I have never tried it as a 

 bedder, but I think it might be made useful 

 for this purpose. Care must be taken to 

 keep it from getting dry at the roots, as it 

 will suffer severely if neglected in this re- 

 spect. If the .ioints begin to drop off you 

 may conclude that the plant has outlived its 

 usefulness and start new ones to take its 

 place. The mealy bug sometimes attacks 

 it. This pest should be removed with a soft 

 brush. If kept in too dry an atmosphere the 

 red spider will injure it. Therefore to 

 shower it well, all over, at least once a day. 



Growing Winter Squash in Illinois 

 for New England Markets. 



EDGAR SANDERS. CHICAGO ILLS. 



A market gardener, near Chicago, has tor 

 years made a business of shipping Hubbard 

 Squash to the New England markets. He 

 has now two structitres holding 200 tons or 

 over; but he sometimes buys of other grow- 

 ers and ships hundreds of tons before he 

 touches his own crop. This firm, 

 (D. S. Dunning and Sons) have this year, of 

 their own growing 30 acres of Hubbard, 

 which is the only kind grown. 



In consequence of careful selection, and 

 no other varieties grown near them, the 

 strain is very pure. The average crop is 

 about six ton to the acre, but occasionally 

 as much as eight, and as low as three tons 

 are grown per acre. 



The soil is prairie eighteen inches in depth 

 thoroughly underdrained. Seed is never 

 sown earlier than the first of .June, eight 

 feet apart, six seed being dropped, but two 

 only left to grow finally; and it is a mooted 

 question whether better results would not 

 follow thinning to a single plant. 



The land is plowed in the fall. Fifteen 

 two horse loads of compost applied during 

 winter, are thoroughly mi.xed with the 

 soil in spring by careful harrowing, A 

 shovel plow is then run eight feet apart, and 

 this crossed, at the same distance apart with 

 an ordinary Corn marker. 



At each intersection one shovelful of 

 well rotted manure is thoroughly mixed 

 with the soil, and in this the seed is sown. 

 This induces a quick growth, and less 

 trouble with the bugs. Thorough cultiva- 

 tion is given during summer, as long as the 

 growing vines will permit. 



The harvesting began this year Monday 

 September 1.5th, and the crop is at once 

 placed into winter qtiarters, with as little 

 handling and bruising, as possible. 



The new hotise constructed this year is 

 24x40 frame, built frost or draught proof by 

 tar paper on outer and inner side between 

 the studding. Double doors and windows 

 complete the outer shell of the building. 

 The inner or bins for storing the fruit, are 

 entirely seperate, and so built that each 

 compartment is sustained by its own stud- 



Zanzibar Balsam. 



Winter bloomers of easy culture are al- 

 ways much sought after by flower lovers. 

 Mr. Eben E. Rexford, in one of our ex- 

 changes, calls attention to the Zanzibar 

 Balsam ( Impatiens Sultani), as a very de- 

 sirable subject for such purpose. It is a 

 low-growing plant, he says, having very 

 pretty leaves of a rich, dark, shining green. 

 Its .stems are very mitch like those of the 

 ordinary garden Balsam, having an almost 

 transparent look when seen against a 

 strong light. Its flowers are single, about 

 the size of a silver quarter, and are pro- 

 duced with wonderful profusion, all over 

 the plant. They are a bright magenta, with 

 something of a rosy tinge. 



Being produced freely, the give the plant a 

 cheerful appear- 

 ance, and bright- 

 en up the win- 

 dow greatly. I 

 do not think I had 

 another plant, 

 last winter, that 

 was more ad 

 mired by all who 

 saw it. "What a 

 bright little thing 

 it is," everybody 

 said, and the\ 

 were right. There 

 are many plants 

 more showy, and 

 many more beau 

 titul, but it had 

 such a cheerful 

 look about it that 

 it quite won 

 people in its 

 modest way. It 

 seemed to be do- 

 ing all it could to 

 make the window 

 gay, and it suc- 

 ceeded perfectly. 

 It makes methink 

 of some persons who do what they can to 

 make the world brighter. They may lack 

 the ability to do as much as some one else, 

 but what they can do they do well, and it is 

 just these persons whom we must depend 

 on for pleasure in this world of ours, to a 

 great extend. We can't always have the ex- 



Layering Hard-Wooded Plants. 



A novel method of propagating many of 

 the hard-wooded evergreens, (such as Cam- 

 melias, for instance) much practiced in Italy, 

 deserves to be more widely known, both for 

 its simplicity, and its certainty of giving 

 good results with many shrubs that fre- 

 quently refuse to grow readily, or to make 

 strong plants in a reasonable length of time. 



The time for layering in this manner is in 

 spring, when the plants are making their 

 strongest growth. Select a well-grown, 

 thrifty side branch of about the thickness of 

 a pencil; remove most of the leaves; then 

 drive the point of a sharp penknife, edge 

 downward, clear through the center, cutting 

 downward, remaining in the center for near- 

 ly three inches, and finally cut to the outside 

 with a smooth slanting cut. A small thin 

 piece of wood is now to be inserted in the 

 slit, and the free end slightly but carefully 

 bent outward. The plant appears now as 

 shown in Fig. at the left. 



A piece of tin is then bent in funnel shape 

 around the branch operated on, usually held 

 together by tying with wire, and fastened 

 to a stake, as appearing at the right. The 

 lower end of this funnel is filled with moist 

 Sphagnum, and the balance, up to within an 

 inch from the top, with a sifted mixture of 

 sand and leaf mold. To i)reveut rapid evap- 



GROUP OF THE JAPAN ANEMONE. See page 37. 



oration, a layer of moist Sphagnum is next 

 firmly packed on top. 



The soil in the funnel has to be kept wat- 

 ered whenever necessary to keep continu 

 ously moist. In the beginning of autumn, 

 or soon after, a careful examination of the 

 soil will reveal the presence of roots, and 



