62 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



December. 



SOCIETIES 



lEIWMHTERThAl Dbsw?ve* 



FRoH< 



TO BETWISEIYKMOW^ 



Good Fruit Pays. I have 

 lOver known the time when 

 really choice Apples would 

 not bring a fair price.— v4 . ('. 

 Brtmmond. 



Choice Fruit Only Worth 

 Baising. Prices have faUen 

 so low for ordinary fruit 

 that only that of the best 

 quality ^vill pay the grower.— E. A. R. 



Advertising Exhibits. An intelligent report 

 of a worthy show in the press will do more to 

 make an exhibition a success than any one thing 

 else.— i/'dicij! Lonsilale. 



Prolonging the Bloom, The flowers should 

 always be picked clean, to prevent seeding, es- 

 pecially Sweet Peas. HoUyhocliS have been had 

 in flower in October by picking off the seed pods. 

 —Mr. Jordan. 



Le Conte as Stock. The Le Coute Pear is a fine 

 grower ami makes good roots. Hence I plant it 

 and then after a year or two graft over with any 

 other desirable kind. Bartlett is perhaps the 

 best paying of all, but with me Howell has done 

 just as weU.— Alton Southeru UU. Hnrt. Society. 

 Oarber and Clapp's Favorite. The Garber 

 Pear has all the good bearing qualities of Kieffer 

 and is much more palatable, and much hand- 

 somer, being the handsomest Pear I know of 

 of a rich golden yellow.with a red cheek. Clapp's 

 Favorite is no good; it rots at the core.— E. A. R. 

 Apples Will Pay, If I were a young man 

 again, I should plant Apple trees. There have 

 been none planted in this region for many years, 

 and the old trees are all d)-ing out and in a few 

 years there will be a lack of this good old king 

 fruit.— Co!. Miles hefore the Alton Southern Ilk. 

 Hort. Socirty. 



Early Kunners Best. Plant in checks of three 

 feet, and cultivate both ways early in the season 

 and later only one way. I like to have my run- 

 ners root eai-ly liecause a plant made early in the 

 season will be surer of bearing a good crop than 

 one made later. 1 know that some varieties like 

 Cumberland Triumph, and Downing will give 

 no fruit at all on late-rooted plants.— E. A. Riehl. 

 Perle Koses on Banksia. Seven years ago I 

 budded a few Perles on both white and yellow 

 Banksia. 1 had a dozen of the ESanksia Ko.se, six 

 white and six yellow, from Mr. Ilarry. When 

 they threw up strong shoots from the root, 1 put 

 a bud on each shoot about six inches from the 

 ground. That dozen Perles grew and flourished, 

 and they have been blooming ever since, so that 

 I could not bear to pull them out. I can say that 

 I never had a bull-nose or a bad bud in the lot. 

 I emphatically say that the Banksia is a grand 

 stock for budding the Perle upon.— J. D. Rey- 

 nolds, Inforc American Society of Fl07-ists. 



Now for the Babbit. To protect the bodies of 

 ■ young trees, set laths or split staves aroimd them 

 and tie the tops fast to the tree by means of a 

 cord. It snow is so deep that rabbits can walk 

 among the branches of the trees, they must be 

 trapped, poisoned or otherwise destroyed. Rab- 

 bits are easily caught in fig. 4 traps. Bait the trap 

 with a sweet Apple. Then catch him. Now pro- 

 ceed to eat him. But the easiest way to destroy 

 them is by the use of poisoned fragments of 

 sweet Apple placed on sticks a few inches above 

 the snow. This is very effective. The animal in 

 question is usually found beside the Apple or 

 outside it.— Minnc.fola Uort. Suciety. 



Native Trees for Home Ornament. That which 

 grows naturally in any region is what will last 

 the longest, ^\^lat can surpass in beauty of 

 form and appearance our own native .\sh and 

 Elmy Where is there an evergeen that grows 

 more rapidly or is of a deeiier or more pleasing 

 color than the common Cedar of our own clime? 

 It Thomas Jefferson had tilled his grounds with 

 the foiest-life of other regions instead of leaving 

 the desired number of that which was already 

 growing there, or planted kinds indigenous to 

 the country, there would be none whate\'er of 

 the evidences of his labor and his taste in this 

 direction now left to adorn the spot he had 

 turned intobeauty.- Jfrs. Doster before the 

 Knii.<a> llitrticuUural Society. 



Bussian Apples. Some of the Russians in 

 bearing on the grounds of Mr. Tuttle of Baraboo 

 were ivery handsome in appearance and fair in 

 quality, and several kinds of summer and tall 



Apples are worthy of trial in our state ; but we 

 found nothing that we think will be satisfactory 

 as a long keeper as far south as Central Illinois. 

 -Among their much-lauded seedlings the same 

 conditions seem to prevail. On the grounds of 

 that veteran horticulturist and experimenter, 

 Peter M. Gideon, on the shores of Lake Minne- 

 tonka, we found a number of new varieties 

 which are spoken very highly of by those who 

 have seen and tested the fruit I think they will 

 be late tall Apples in this latitude. In my 

 opinion the coming hoped-for long-keeping 

 Apple will most probably be of southern origin. 

 —A. r. Hammond, to the nb. State Hoii. Society. 

 Lettuce Uildew. Fresh soU should be used in 

 growing Lettuce wherever possible to do so, and 

 when mildew appears on Lettuce it should be 

 prevented from spreading by running the green- 

 house as dry and warm as possible, without in- 

 juring the Lettuce, for a day or two, which will 

 kill the summer spores. All dead mildewed 

 leaves should be destroyed when a crop of Let- 

 tuce is cleared up, for these may contain the 

 winter spores. This Lettuce mildew may be 

 found on other plants resembling the Lettuce, 

 and on certain plants that are to be found on our 

 fields and roadsides, and these may spread to our 

 fields and greenhouses. The delicate nature of 

 the Lettuce leaf makes it hard to apply anything 

 which will destroy the spores without injury to 

 theleat. Vigorous plants in thrifty growth are 

 less likely to be injured by mildew than sickly 

 ones — just as a healthy man will resist contagion. 

 Boston Market Gardeners' Association. 



Mulching Strawberries. After the ground 

 has frozen, mulch one-half to two inches deep 

 according to the material used. Anything that 

 has no seed, and will shade and hide the plants 

 will do for mulch. The germs of the fruit buds 

 are formed in the fall. It is therefor important 

 that the ground be prevented from heaving. 

 This is done by enough mulch over the surface 

 to shade it, and thus prevent the sudden freezing 

 and thawing. In localities where the snow cov- 

 ers the ground nearly all winter, mulching is not 

 so necessary, or at least need not be put on so 

 liberally. The mulch is not only a protection to 

 the plants through the winter, but it keeps the 

 fruit clean, and makes it better in every respect. 

 1 prefer coarse stable manure for mulch, if free 

 from Timothy and weed seeds. The winter 

 rains will wash the fertilizing elements into the 

 ground, and leave a clean litter for mulch. If 

 the mulch is thick on the rows it must be loosened 

 up in early spring so that plants can come 

 through readily.— JacoZ) FaiHi, Vernon Co. (Mo.) 

 Society. 



Village Horticultural Exhibition. In Al- 

 lington, an English village of three hundred in- 

 habitants, the annual exhibition of fruits, 

 flowers, and vegetables, again turned out a bril- 

 liant success. In all the classes the competition 

 was remarkabl}' keen, for every inhabitant of 

 that little village is a born gardener— if only an 

 amateur. The window plants staged were speci- 

 ally good, while a prize offered for the best col- 

 lection of culti\ ated flowers brought forth some 

 exc*!llent examples of amateurs' skill in garden- 

 ing. The same may be said of most of the veg- 

 etables that were staged; some, indeed, would by 

 no means disgrace a stand of a professional 

 grower and exhibitor. A pretty feature in vil- 

 lage shows is the wild flower competition, and to 

 show the enthusiasm with which the children of 

 the village now under notice entered into such 

 things, it need only be stated that upwards of fifty 

 exhibits of wild fiowers were staged at the above 

 show; which is solely confined to residents of the 

 village. If a little rural spot like this can suc- 

 cessfully hold its annual fioral exhibition.obvious- 

 ly to the welfare of the inhabitants, what ought 

 larger places to do? 



Mignonette for Winter. Raising Mignonette 

 requires three elements — a good soil; good, clear 

 dry atmosphere, and common sense. First of all 

 you want a healthy soil, dug good and deep, not 

 too rich. Sow your seed very thinly, keep your 

 house just as cool as possible, water when it is 

 necessary, and you cannot fail to have good Mig- 

 nonette. If you want the extra large spikes of 

 Mignonette, such as are produced in the New 

 York and other markets, you must disbud all the 

 minor shoots which come below the flower spike, 

 thereby increasing the length of your fiower 

 spike. Many people suppose that it needs a great 

 deal of strong fertilizing, or in other words, 

 heavy liquid dressing. It does not. Give it all 

 the air you can in winter, and have yimr disbud- 

 ding well done. Then you cannot help having 

 good Mignonette, provided you have a good 



stock to start with. We sow any time from the 

 first of May to the first of October, according to 

 the season for which it is wanted. If you want 

 Mignonette to be in bloom and ready to use at 

 Christmas, you Avill have to sow it before the first 

 of September. The rows are 1h inches apart, and 

 plants left 12 inches apart in the rows.— J. A". 

 May, hefore the American Society of Florists. 



Lettuce Tinder Glass. At a recent meeting of 

 the Boston Market Gardeners' Association Mr. 

 W. H. Derby pronounced Lettuce one of the 

 most profitable crops of the market garden, be- 

 ing in constant demand throughout the whole 

 year. Although prices ruled very low last fall 

 and winter, he was disposed to think that the 

 overproduction was only temporary, and that, 

 unless we discover some effective remedy for the 

 mildew and rot. Lettuce growing will not be 

 overdone for sometime to come. Mr. Derby grows 

 winter Lettuce mostly in hotbeds. For this pur- 

 pose he used one foot in depth of good horse 

 manure covered with seven to nine inches of 

 loam, and was in the habit of taking two crops 

 in succession from most of the beds. In severe 

 weather the heat will need some renewing after 

 the first crop is taken out. He considers green- 

 houses far better than hotbeds for winter work, 

 and for growing plants for the beds. The worst 

 pests of the Lettuce grower are mildew and rot 

 about which very little is known. The best food' 

 for Lettuce is horse manure. It is not so easy to 

 grow good Lettuce now as formerly, especially 

 on land continually tilled. He would advise 

 carting fresh loam from a pasture for the hotbeds 

 and greenhouse, in order to avoid disease and 

 mildew, especially for growing small plants. 



History of the Dahlia. 



[Extract of paper read by Shirley Hibbard, Editor 

 Gardeners' Magazine, before the Daldia Conference 

 held in Crystal Palace, London, in September.] 



There appears to be no earlier description 

 of the Dahlia than that by Francisco Her- 

 nandez, physician to Philip II of Spain, in 

 his four books on the plants and animals of 

 New Spain, published in Spanish iu the 

 j-ear 1613. In this work our flower appears 

 under its Mexican name of Acortli, and the 

 notice is particularly interesting, for two 

 species are figured, D. iKiriahills and D. 

 i-njciita, and both have single flowers. 



In a work founded on that of Hernandez, and 

 published in Rome by Vitalis Mascardi in 18.51, 

 there occurs a figure of a double flower, but the 

 drawing is so bad that it may be single. Now we 

 lose the Dahlia for one hundred and thirty years, 

 when it turns up again in 1787. Xichrlas Joseph 

 Thierry de Menonville, who was sent to America 

 to secure the cochineal insect, published in 1787 

 a treatise on the culture of the Nopal and the 

 " education " of the cochineal, and therein de- 

 scribed the Dahlias he had seen in a Garden near 

 Gua.xaca, which, he says, had large Aster-like 

 flowers, stems as tall as a man, and leaves like 

 those of the Elder tree. After a lapse of two 

 years, we hear of it again as actually intro<luccd 

 to England b.v a lady whose name should this 

 day be remembered with gratitude as a generous 

 contributor to our great garden of fl^irists' 

 fiowers. 



In the .vear 1789, seeds of the Dahlia were for- 

 warded to the Royal Gardens at Madrid. The 

 Marquis of Bute was at this time ambassador 

 from England at the Court of Spain; and the 

 marchioness, who cherished a true sympathy 

 with floriculture, obtained some of these seeds, 

 which she cultivated in pots in a greenhouse, but 

 failed to keep them beyond two or three years. 

 The Marchioness of Bute was in correspondence 

 with the professors at the different botanic gar- 

 dens in Europe, and thus had opportunities for 

 ac<iuiring, and perhaps of diffusing, information 

 on such matters, and her loss of the plants ma.v 

 therefore be accepted as in some part testifying 

 to the prevalence of misconceptions as to the re- 

 quirements and characteristics of the Dahlia. 

 In 1802 an English nurseryman, John Fraser, of 

 Sloane Square, a collector of American plants, 

 obtained from Paris some seeds of Dahlia coc- 

 cinca, which flowered in a greenhouse in VOS, at 

 his nursery, and supplied a subject for the plate 

 in the ** Botanical Magazine," t, 762, which se- 

 cured to the plant a projjer place in the English 

 garden. Thus it happensthat in Alton's "Hortus 

 Kewensis " the Dahlia obtained a place, two 

 species and three varieties being entered in the 

 second edition, published 1813. The Abbe Cav- 

 anilles named the plant in honor of M. Andre 

 Dahl, a Swedish botanist, and Cavanilles figured 



