68 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



December, 



Correspondent 8 are urjed to anticipate the season in prt- 

 aenting qtustiona. To aak, for instance, on April \b or 20 

 what Peas had best be sown, could briny no ansieer in 

 the May issue, and none be/ore June, irhen the ansiper 

 would he unseasonable. Questions received before the lith 

 of any month stand a good chance of being anstcered in the 

 next paper. Sot more than three questions should be sent 

 at one time. Ansvers to qut. si in iiJi betring on tr.e com- 

 parative value of implements, etc., offered by different 

 dealers must notoe expected. Neither can irr promise to 

 oomply with the request sometimes made to "I'leus*- anstrer 

 by mail." Inquiries appearing without name belong to the 

 name next following. 



Replies to Inquiries are earnestly requested from our 

 readers. In anstoering such give the number, your 

 locality and name, the latter not for publication, unless 

 ou disire. Write only on one side of the paper. 



1.536, Roses not Blooming. My Moss Rose? In very 

 rich soil make wonderful growth but no bloom. What's 

 the cause and remedy? B. E. G., Dalton, Ga. 



1.537. Nitrate oJ Soda. Am imable to find it In 

 market.— R. G. P. Burlingio7i, ^^ 



1,53S. Psony not Blooming. My white Paeony, 

 three or four years old, has never bloomed. How 

 should 1 treat it?— N. B. A., Wilfvrd, Tenn. 



1.539. Quince Propagation. Are Quinces propaga- 

 ted from cuttings, or by grafting on Apple root?— G. F. 



M. Dayton. O. 



1.540. Black Spot on Roses. What can I do for di- 

 sease affecting my Roses?—.!. T A. Gallatin. Mo. 



1, 541 Tea Roses. How are they best grown for 

 market from cuttings of outdoor plants?— E. H., O. 



1,542. Pronouncing Dictionary. Is there a book 

 giving the proper proaunciation of all names of 

 flowers, shrubs, etc.?— W. L. P., Utah. 



\,MS. Chrysanthemum Seedlings. Is there a way 

 to tell the single from the double-flowered before 

 blooming?— Mrs. R. L., Necada. 



1,5^4. Myrtle Dying. Bed in front of brick dwell- 

 ing, facing west, shaded by tree. Give remedy. 



1.545. Killing Rats How can 1 keep rats from rab- 

 bit coops without danger to the latter?— Buefalonian. 



1.546. JeweU Grape. Where can I get vines?— F. J. 

 Racitie, Wis. 



1.547. Raisins from American Grapes. Can they 

 be made; and if so, give best method of curing.— K. P. 

 F., Sterling, Kan. 



1.548. Raspberry Pruning. What is meant by "cut- 

 ting ba':'k severely," In feet or inches?— B. D., Ind. 



1.549. Growing Aloes. What treatment do they re- 

 quire?— R. E. T. i^fiVy, Ohio. 



1.550. Wire Worms. How ca,n I rid a piece of Ismd 

 that Is badly infested?- F. M. C, Mentor, O. 



1.551. Lily of the Valley. Give best method of fore- 

 Ing.- E. R., Ohio. 



1.552. Remedy for Rabbits- How can I best prevent 

 their guawlng bark off voung trees? How would coal 

 tar do?-G. D. E. E., Ky. 



1.553. Varieties of Small Fruits. What varieties 

 shall I plant here? W. H. H., Mahoning, Pa. 



1.554. Norway Maple. One seems to be dying ou 

 one side. Will cutting the tt)p back severely help it? 

 And when should it be done?- E. P. R., Sidney, O. 



1.555. Pruning Grapes. When and how should it 

 be done in Georgia? 



1.556. Distance of Grape Vines. Is six feet between 

 them too close? 



1.557. Japan Persimmons. How far apart should 

 they be planted? 



1.558. Manuring Grapes and Fruit Trees. How 

 can ground be enriched most economically?— W. S. J., 

 Augusta, Ga. 



1.559. Size of Silo. How small can it be made, and 

 work well?— L. C. M., North Bergen, N. Y. 



1.560. General Grant Crab Apple. Is it a sweet or 

 sour variety? 



1.561. Budding Peaches and Cherries. How high 

 from the ground is the bud usually inserted?— A. B. M., 

 West Grove, Iowa. 



1.562. Book on Propagation. What is the best work 

 ou propagation of Evergreens, shrubs, Roses, etc.— 

 T. W. S., ConcordvitU-, Pa. 



1.563. Effect of Sulphates. Does sulphate of potash 

 or sulphate of ammonia help to make plantfoodsin 

 the soil available as does sulphate of lime? 



1.564. Muriate and Sulphate of Potash. Why Is 

 the former usually recommened as a fertilizer for 

 fruits in preference to the latter?-G.C.B..Co/M7nbia,A'.C. 



1.565. Dry Maple Leaves. Are they good for mulch- 

 ing Strawberries, or are they liable to smother the 

 plants? 



1.566. Summer Mulch. What Is the best material 

 for putting around Strawberries to keep fruit clean?— 

 W W. A. Watersleet, Mich. 



1.567. Chicken Culture. Where can I get plans for 

 poultry houises, also information about chicken busi- 

 nes&?-R. S., Brooklyn, N. T. 



1,56S. Draining Low Lands. Bottom of ditches 

 soft and liable to till tiles up with mud. What can I do? 

 — R. M., Pa. 



1.569. Old Orchards. Should they be kept In grass, 

 orclean cultivation be given?— E.S.T..LongSrancft.,iV^. J. 



1.570. Potato Spraying Pumps. Are they now to 

 be had, where aud at what price?— Sub-scriber. 



1,571. English Sparrow. Is there no simple device 

 for trapping a whole flock?— E. W. N'., Scranton, Pa. 



1,5?2. Lightning Rods. Do they afford protection 

 or not?— Syracuse. 



1.573. Value of Swamp Muck. What is the esti- 

 mated value of nirogen? M. N. S., Lancaster, Pa. 



1.574. Grape Cuttings. Will burying them in moist 

 soil keep them.' 



1.575. Keeding Apple Cions. If burled in open 

 ground out reach of frost, are they in danger of heat- 

 ing or of mold?— G. T. K.. Paxton, Ills.. 



1.576. Aspidistra for Bedding. Is it suitable where 

 sun strikes bed all day?— M. A. H.. Kerney. Xeb. 



1.577. Vinegar Flies. What will destroy them in 

 cellar? Pyrettirum or sulphur fimies do no good. Do 

 the flies spread infection from one fruit to another? 



1.578. Castor Beans for Moles. If thrown in mole 

 runs, will they kill the moles?— Benj. B. 



1.579. Water Gas for Heating. What is it and how 

 obtained?-C. N., City. 



1.5S0. Failure with Rose Cuttings. Cuttings of 

 Hybrid Perpetuals root nicely under a handglass, but 

 always die when transplanted iu pots or beds. Why? 

 S,T., Brooklyn, N.T, 



REPLIES TO INQUIRIES. 



1.473. Cabbages Not Heading. Cabbai^es 

 which have not hardened may be set in a trench 

 of sufficient wndth to receive several heads, side 

 by side, and deep enough so that the heads will 

 be about even with the surface. Cover over with 

 hay, straw, or similar raat^^'rial, then with soil, 

 leaving it in a ridge that will shed water. No 

 water should stand around the Cabbages. Dis- 

 turb the soil ou the roots as little as possible. 

 The Cabbages must be removed to the trench be- 

 fore being frozen. Cabbages so treated and kept 

 from freezing will form quite solid heads by 

 spring.— F. H.Valentine. 



1,463. Potato Dif^gers. Yes, there are several 

 Potato diggers, although there is a probability of 

 their being considerably improved. They nearly 

 all do good work ou clean laud, but the difficulty 

 has been to make them effective on weedy and 

 stony land as is found on many farms.— F. H. V. 



1,447. Grapes on HouseWall. The vines should 

 be planted on the south side of the building, and 

 trained evenly over the wall. This is an excel- 

 lent way to cover an unsightly bam, or old build- 

 ing of any kind. There is no expense for trellis, 

 and Grapes will thrive finely, as they get the full 

 benefit of the sun's rays. Very little room is 

 required to grow Grapes in this way, as all that is 

 needed is soil enough to hold the roots. They 

 may be planted under a pavement, stones being 

 removed for the purpose, and then replaced. In a 

 Western city, a few yeare ago, a merchant showed 

 me a small area in the rear of his store which he 

 had filled with Wnes, trainin{^ them up to the 

 high brick walls, and he said that he had bushels 

 of Grapes every year.— F. H.Valentine. 



1.474. Raspberry Pruning. I believe that the 

 sooner the old wood is removed, after the fruit is 

 gathered, the better for the future welfare of 

 plant. It certainly gives the plantation a neater 

 appearance to have the old and unsightly canes 

 removed. The old wood, in drying up, draws 

 considerable moisture from the plant, and saps 

 its vitality to a considerable extent. Then again, 

 if the refuse be removed and burned, a large 

 number of insects will be destroyed. Lastly, 

 time can be better spared for the work in the 

 fall.— F. H.Valentine. 



1.475. Hubbard Squash. A dry, well -ventilated 

 cellar is an excellent place for keeping if it is 

 not too warm. The temperature should be kept 

 as near 40 degrees as possible. The Squashes 

 should be stored in shallow bins or shelves, one 

 layer deep, so that access may be had to them for 

 the purpose of removing any which may decay. 

 Handle at all times as though you were handling 

 eggs, and store none but perfectly ripe, hard- 

 shelled ones.— F. H.Valentine. 



1,477. Mulching Strawberries. As soon as the 

 ground is frozen sufficiently to allow of driving 

 upon it. Freezing does not injure the plants, but 

 alternate freezing and thawing, and this the 

 mulch prevents.— F. H.V. 



1,475. Hubbard Squash. Winter squash of all 

 varieties must be kept in a dry, warm place. I 

 keep them upon a table under the heater pipes 

 in the cellar. Squash should be very carefully 

 gathered and handled, great care being taken 

 not to bruise them. Last spring I kept the Essex 

 Hybrid until the midtUe^of April. The Uutman 

 is a fine variety to keep until January, the Hub- 

 bard after that, then tne Essex Hybrid for later 

 until April. -E.W. L. 



l,5ti(i. Summer Mulch. Any clean litter will do 

 as a mulch around Strawberries to keep the fruit 

 clean. Straw, marsh hay, tan bark, sawdust- 

 all are good. Where coarse manure was applied 

 as a winter mulch, the litter left in spring, and 

 now comparatively clean, after being washed 

 out by the snows and rains of winter and spring, 

 will do very well f*)r summer mulch to keep the 

 berries off the groimd. 



1,567. Chicken Culture. Orange Judd Co., of 

 New York City, publish books on the subject. 

 Address them. I 



1,551. lily of the Valley. Forcing Lily of the 

 Vallej' is a very simple matter indeed. All you 

 have to do is to start them in a gentle bottom 

 heat about four weeks before the flowers are 

 wanted. To keep up a continuous supply it is 

 only necessary to continue planting them in 

 batches from time to time. The usual way, says 

 the Mass. Ploughman, is to make a sort of enclosed 

 hot-bed over the hot water pipes in the .green- 

 house. Into this is placed a layer of fine Sphag- 

 num Moss that serves as soil for the pips to grow 

 in. These are set with the point of the pip just 

 above the Moss. The main point aimed at is to 

 keep the bottom where the roots are ten or fifteen 

 dei:r('rs hotter than the air above, which at first 

 shouM nnt exceed ,50 to 55'', to be increased by 

 keeping the glass covering closer after there are 

 signs of sprtmting. Every bud or pip has its 

 flower alreadv formed, just as in an Apple or 

 Cherry, or otner fruit bud, in the fall, and in a 

 state of nature only waits the genial spring 

 warmth to bui-st out into a thing of beauty. In 

 such matters, all the gardener orflorist has to do 

 is to imitate nature, and give heat, gi-adually. at 

 fii-st, else there will be a failure to oi>en up finely. 

 A small space only is required, as the pips may be 

 placed one inch apart, and directly one crop is 

 gone, another batch takes its place. But little 

 leaf-growth starts with the early batch; the 

 flower-stem only pushes. 



1.537. Nitrate of Soda. Of coui-se, you can not 

 find it in the drug stores, nor usually in stock 

 anywhere except at the large fertilizer manu- 

 facturers near the coast. Mr. Joseph Harris, of 

 Rochester, N. Y., is as far as we know the only 

 person who catalogues it for sale in small quanti- 

 ties, but a supply might be obtained from any of 

 the large Eastern fertilizer men by asking for it 

 as a favor, as we might say, and paying the 

 usually very reasonable first cost, and the freight 

 charges, usually unreasonable if the distance be 

 large. See also page TiS of Vol. IV. 



1,572. Lightning Kods. Lightning-rods, we 

 believe, have seen their best day. Chief Walker, 

 of the Electrical department of the City of Phila- 

 delphia, expressed himself recently as follows: 

 In nine cases out of ten, I think lightning-rods 

 are humbugs. I believe it is a fact that more 

 barns were struck and burned that have rods 

 on than with them off. In the first place, it is 

 best to keep electricity as far away from a build- 

 ing as possible. The object of the lightning-rod 

 is to attract it. The rod is supposed to act as a 

 conductor of the electrical current to the earth, 

 but, instead of being carried off, the current, in 

 consequence of faulty construction of the rod or 

 attachment, is frequently switched into the build- 

 ing. The end of the wire is supposed to be buried 

 in moist earth, the moisture acting as a good 

 conductor. Without strict attention the iron 

 becomes oxidized and rusts off, and then the rod 

 is worse than nothing. It is a positive danger 

 under such circumstances, attracting the elec- 

 tricity of the atmosphere and having no adequate 

 outlet for it. Then, again, the same danger 

 arises when the insulators upon the sides of the 

 building become defective. The lightning is 

 attracted from the at luosphere, where it might 

 have remained but fur the rod, and it is turned 

 loose against the building on its way to the earth. 

 If, for instance, the attachments on a barn are 

 poor and worn out the current may be deflected 

 and set fire to the buil<ling. This is no uncommon 

 occurreiiee. In tliis city, some years ago, the rod 

 ou the HeUuunt Water Works was struck, and it 

 fused. The ciu-rent flowed on down and played 

 about the machinery in the liveliest kind of a 

 way. A big stone was knocked off the Washing- 

 ton Monument by lightning. When the ground 

 contact is good and the lightning is about to 

 strike a building a rod may be of use, but I think 

 the rods do more harm than good. There was a 

 time when farmers were scared into rodding 

 their barns and houses, but I think they are get- 

 ting over that. 



1,5:59. Quioce Propagation, Propagation by 



cuttings is the usual method with the Quince. 

 jNIature wood, taken off in autumn, is usetl for 

 the purpose. After the cuttings are made, says 

 A. S. Fufler in Propagation of Plants, they are 

 buried in a dry, warm place in the open ground, 

 or in a moderately cool cellar, and planted out in 

 spring. The cuttings may be made from the 

 one-year-old wood, and from this age to that of 

 fouror five yeai*s old. Layering the branches is 

 also often practiced as a mode of propagation; 

 also banking up of the sprouts that appear around 

 the base of old stocks, which have been headed 

 back for the purpose of producing these sprouts. 

 Varieties may be propagated by cuttings, bud- 

 ding and grafting, using inferior sorts or seedlings 

 for stocks. The .Japan ornamental varieties are 

 readily increased by cuttings of the young wood 

 of the season, taken after the frost has killed the 

 leaves in the fall, but the most rapid and certain 

 mode is by cuttings of their roots made in the 

 fall, kept in sand or Moss over winter, then sown 

 in drills early in the spring. 



1,563. Book on Propagation. The best modern 

 work, undouVitedly is A. S. Fuller's Propagation 

 of Plants, published by Orange Judd Co. of New 

 York City, and for sale at the office of Popular 

 Gardening. Price $1.50. 



