1889. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



57 



Influence of Transplanting. 



Transplanting, in some cases reiieatedly, 

 is practiced by gardeners quite generally 

 with Tomato, Pepper, Cabbage, Celery, and 

 other vegetable plants for the purpose of 

 securing stockiness, and a better develop- 

 ment of root, and of thus promoting earli- 

 ness. To what extent this object is accom- 

 plished by transplanting above what it 

 would be by merely giving each plant plenty 

 of room from the beginning, we are not yet 

 prepared to say; but it is pretty much gen- 

 erally conceded that transplanting also 

 serves to dwarf plants thus manipulated. 

 If it makes Cabbages and Tomatoes earlier, 

 for instance, it also makes the heads smaller, 

 and also decreases the yield of Tomatoes. 



It would be of interest, and perhaps of 

 practical value to flower lovers, to discover 

 in how far the bloom of plants, especially 

 of annuals grown from seed, is influenced 

 by transplanting. Phoebe tells the follow- 

 ing instances in a communication to the 

 American Cultivator. Two years ago I 

 bought Henderson's imported Balsams in 

 twelve colors. AVe mixed the seed, sowed 

 half of it in the bed, pricked out at two 

 leaves, changed into boxes at two-inch size, 

 and later transplanted into the open garden. 

 The soil in the boxes was a mass of roots. 

 We picked off the suckers, training the 

 plants as single stalks, and the flowers were 

 so large they actually crowded each other 

 off the stem. You never saw the like, per- 

 fect double Camellias of exquisite shades; 

 but not a seed. The other half of the seed 

 was sown in the garden. Xot one-quarter 

 of the flowers were double, but there was 

 seed enough for an acre. 



Last spring I sowed some expensive Aster 

 seed in a long row, thinking it would be 

 nice to have plenty of flowers to give away. 

 "When the plants were about three inches 

 high, my neighbor came over and asked for 

 some of my Asters. I did not really like to, 

 but gave her about fifty, and, do you know, 

 her flowers were larger than mine, and 

 much more perfect. I was vexed about it. 



John says that transplanting Potatoes 

 decreases the yield, and he thinks the same 

 is true of Tomatoes; he knows it is so with 

 Sweet Com, from numerous trials to grow 

 it early. 



So we have come to the conclusion that 

 transplanting under good conditions favors 

 the perfection of some flowers, but reduces 

 the yield of seed and fruit. 



Save the Old Fertilizer Bags. 



The usefulness of the light one-bushel 

 boxes or crates as now in use by many 

 progressive farmers in harvesting Potatoes, 

 root crops, etc., can not be questioned. We 

 also always find good use for our old ferti- 

 lizer sacks, not only in the field, for harvest- 

 ing crops, and in covering up plants, roots 

 or fruit exposed to danger from frost, but 

 also for various purposes in the house. So 

 we never fail forgather these bags up care- 

 fully as soon as emptied, and have them 

 soaked out and washed clean. 



Mr. J. J. H. Gregory even places the bags 

 above boxes for the purposes named. I use 

 fertilizer bags for gathering Onions,Potatoes 

 Beets and Com, so he writes to the Ameri- 

 can Cultivator. My team takes some hun- 

 dreds aboard, and the man scatters them at 

 convenient distances as he drives along. 

 Bags that have been used for nitrate of 

 soda, sulphate of ammonia and potash in 

 any form are either too damp or too rotten 

 to be of value. These are either soaked in 

 barrels or spread on the grass until free 

 from the fertilizer, when they are used to 

 protect vegetable heaps from sun or frost. 



I find bags more economical and more 

 handy than bushel boxes, which, though 

 strengthened with iron bands, are very apt 

 to get broken by the usage they receive 



from the average farm hand. Again boxes 

 are heavier to handle, occupy more room, 

 and are more liable to jam the vegetables, 

 when piled about each other. With bags I 

 can take a much larger load than with 

 boxes. Yesterday my 8000-pound horse 

 team took 12.5 bushels at a load. 



Men handling vegetables loaded in bags 

 need to be occasionally cautioned not to 

 tread on the load. In gathering seed Cora 

 my men used bags in preference to baskets, 

 grasping and carrying along the bag with 

 one hand while they fill them with the other. 

 They find that this makes more expeditious 

 work than filling baskets and pouring into 

 the bags. After the bags are filled they can 

 be carried to the team by throwing one over 

 each shoulder, where, were baskets or 

 boxes used, but one could be handled at a 

 time. When husking Corn that is to be 

 poured into bags I lay the ears in the bas- 

 kets, all one way. Placed thus they pour 

 out much more readily. These are but little 

 economies, but practice of them helps make 

 •' both ends meet." 



Peach and Plum Rot. 



One after another the diseases which have 

 heretofore baffled the skill of the cultivator, 

 and often caused his pockets to be still 

 empty at the close of the fruit season, are 

 brought under control. The rot of Peaches, 

 and still more of Plums, has long been a 

 source of annoyance and loss to the grow- 

 ers, but if they will follow the suggestions 

 which Prof. Erwin F. Smith of the Myco- 

 logical Section of the Department of Agri- 

 culture offers as a result of his observations 

 in various Peach growiug sections of the 

 United States, concernmg Peach rot and 

 Peach blight, they may in a measure be able 

 to overcome this serious obstacle to success. 



The disease, says Prof. Smith, is due to a 

 parasitic fungus which produces many 

 small ash-gray tufts on the discolored sur- 

 face of the rotting fruit. These tufts con- 

 sist principally of spore dust, which is 

 carried by animals, washed by rains, or 

 blown about, and causes the rot to develop 

 in sound Peaches whenever it falls upon 

 them under proper conditions. The most 

 favorable conditions for the germination of 

 the spores and the rapid spread of the rot 

 are hot and moist weather. 



This fungus also causes a very character- 

 istic blight of twigs and branches. In rainy 

 seasons this is quite apt to occur, especially 

 if the rotting fruits are allowed to remain 

 upon the tree. The fungus lives over winter 

 in the decayed fruits, and in this way is re- 

 produced year after year. In the spring 

 these dry, wrinkled fruits, which have been 

 left upon the earth or still cling to the 

 branches, swell and soften under the in- 

 fluence of repeated rains, and produce a 

 new crop of spores exactly like those of the 

 previous season. 



The practical importance of this discovery 

 is very great. Could the blighted twigs 

 and rotted fruits of one season be entirely 

 destroyed, the fungus would disappear and 

 the rot with it. The more nearly complete 

 this removal of infectious material can be 

 made, the safer will be the succeeding crop. 

 During the growing season the fungus pro- 

 duces innumerable spores and spreads its 

 infection very quickly. For this reason, all 

 rotting Peaches should be removed from 

 the trees and buried or burned, as soon as 

 discovered. This can be done during the 

 picking season without much additional ex- 

 pense; but it may frequently be necessary 

 to do it before the fruit is ripe, if the grower 

 would save any portion of it in a market- 

 able condition. Finally, not a single rotted 

 fruit should be allowed to winter over. All 

 must be destroyed. 



If fruit growers would nnite and follow 

 this method systematically for a series of 



years, the losses from Peach rot would be 

 reduced to inconsiderable proportions. 

 These remarks apply also to the rot of 

 Plums and Cherries which is caused by the 

 same fungus, known as MunUia fructifjcna. 



Winter Protection for Strawberries. 



L. J. FARMER, ORA.N'GE CO., N. J. 



l^nlike some people we prefer to wait till 

 cold weather comes before covering our 

 Strawberries. Of course it is ea.sier to apply 

 during warm, sunshiny days, but unless 

 cold weather soon follows the covering will 

 rot the plants, and make them too tender to 

 endure the coldest weather later on. It 

 should be borne in mind that winter mulch 

 is not applied generally to keep plants from 

 freezing hard, but to protect them from 

 alternate freezing and thawing, which 

 causes the plants to heave out and die. Very 

 little damage is usually done in the late 

 autumn, and it is generally best to delay 

 covering Strawberries till December. The 

 most damage is done in early spring. Good 

 Maple-sugar weather is very destructive to 

 uncovered Strawberry plants. In the cold 

 nights the earth freezes and expands, raising 

 the plants. Next day the earth thaws and 

 settles around the plants, leaving the roots 

 exposed. This is continued several days till 

 the plants are all out, when the sun and 

 wind soon kill them. Now a good mulch 

 acts as a non-conductor of heat, and the soil 

 under it will remain frozen during day-time 

 till freezing nights have passed. 



Mulching Materi.^l. We have tried 

 several kinds of material with different 

 restilts. Horse manure is generally full of 

 seeds from bedding used, and therefore 

 should be applied only to plants that are to 

 be plowed under after fruiting. I think it 

 gives better results when put on in the 

 spring than in the early winter. It stimu- 

 lates growth and makes them earlier. The 

 largest and finest Bid wells we ever grew 

 were spring mulched with horse manure. 

 For most of our plantation we use straw, 

 any kind we can get. To remove the weed 

 seeds, the straw is spread thinly in a vacant 

 lot and turned over several times, when the 

 seeds will rattle to the ground. Hens will 

 assist in this. The straw can afterwards be 

 stacked by the Strawberry bed or put in the 

 barn till wanted. 



Appltixg Mulch. When the ground is 

 frozen hard enough to bear up the horses 

 and wagon, we can drive anywhere on the 

 patch, putting the material where needed. 

 A man stands on the load and shakes it unto 

 the rows, and others following place it 

 evenly all over the surface about two to 

 three inches deep, or so as to hide the leaves 

 and soil. We deem it important that the 

 whole surface be mulched , as any part freez- 

 ing and thawing will disturb the rest. We 

 shall experiment his season ^vith several 

 kinds of mulch, applied at different times 

 and at different depths, so as to give results 

 to others. 



Fexces for Catching Snow. On exposed 

 hills Strawberries of the more tender varie- 

 ties are often killed by the cold driving 

 winds of mid-winter, even through a three- 

 inch mulch of straw. Indeed, the Crescent 

 and Burt are about all that are entirely 

 hardy with us so far. For this reason it is 

 best to select a location for growing Straw- 

 berries where the snow lays still. If this 

 cau't be had, fences of rails or boards at fre- 

 quent intervals will stop the snow and hold 

 it where wanted. A loose board fence will 

 catch more snow than a tight one, so nail 

 the boards several inches apart on the posts. 

 If snow came Dec. 1st and stayed on till 

 warm nights in the spring no other winter 

 mulch would be needed. But last winter 

 no snow here till after New Years, but con- 

 tinual freezing and thawing, and whatever 

 damage was done was done in early winter. 

 The safest way is to apply a good mulch. 



