POPULAR GARDENING 



AND FRUIT GROWING. 



"ACCUSE yOT XATVRE, SHE BATH DONE HER PART: DO THOV BUT THINE." -MnJIOS. 



Vol. V. 



j'^nsrrr^E.-s-, isss. 



No. 4. 



In January. 



MJdwintor. but the gracious sfeles are blue, 

 Save where the beryl-green horizon line 

 Glistens between the Interlaclngs line 

 Of dark Elm branches. Soft winds wander through 

 The tufts of meadow grasses gaunt and few. 

 And golden-tipped the cloudy Willows shine 

 Along the far-off brooks. Our hearts devlne. 

 Old winter sleeps and smiles, as sleepers do. 

 Dreatnlug of winsome Spring. May all sweet dreams 

 come true! 



The Boston Transcript, 



The GrpST Moth, the larva of which feeds on 

 almost any green leaf it happens to find, has got 

 a firm foothold in Medford, Mass., and is liable 

 to spread over the whole country and become 

 extremely troublesome. It is of the utmost impor- 

 tance that the eggs are diligently hunted up in 

 the fall and burned. To destroy the larvae in 

 spring, all green trees in infected regions should 

 be thoroughly showered with Paris Green water, 

 one pound to 150 gallons, soon after the hatching 

 of the eggs. We hope these preventive measures 

 will be carried out with care and thoroughness 

 in Medford and vicinity, and the country spared 

 a general invasion of this destructive foe. 



Work for Stations.— The reports as they 

 continue to come in all agree that spraying with 

 arsenical solutions, if properly done, is entirely 

 effective as a protection against eurculio and cod- 

 ling moth. But the reports differ are very widely 

 concerning what is best and safest, Paris green 

 or London purple. This seems to prove conclu- 

 sively the lack of uniformity in London purple, 

 and perhaps also in Paris green. The problem 

 now before us is to discover a source of supply 

 of just such a quality of these poisons as is 

 safe for the fruitgrower to use, and to find out 

 wherein this differs from a poor article and ana- 

 lysis might give us a clue. This, it seems, is pro- 

 per work for the Experiment Stations. 



Vegetable Growers' Associatios. The fruit 

 growers have their national and local societies, 

 so have the florists. At the many horticultural 

 meetings we attend we hear of pomological and 

 floral matters to our heart's content, but vege- 

 tables and vegetable growing are hardly men- 

 tioned. The seedsmen have their society, but 

 they take a different course from the nursery- 

 men. Instead of seeking intercourse with their 

 customers, and inviting them to their meetings, 

 to interest them and instruct them in the noble 

 art of gardening, as their pomological brethren 

 do with their customers, they keep the public at 

 a respectful distance, and only meet among 

 themselves for the furtherance of their own per- 

 sonal interests. The nurserymen find that their 

 course pays them well. Would not the seedsmen 

 be benefited by adopting a similar course? The 

 market gardener, and the vegetable grower gen- 

 erally, is in need of more light, such light as is 

 shed by free discussions at meetings of people 

 skilled in this particular branch of horticulture. 



adapted Ls that the stock is In a more vigor- 

 ous and natural condition to build up vig- 

 orous flowering plants upon, through 

 having had the benefit of natural growth 

 out of doors during the summer. This is 

 quite a different thing from the condition of 

 the plants In February or March, after many 

 months of confinement under glass, and 

 heavy cropping of flowers, and under the 

 most favorable circumstances far from a 

 natural state of things. I am of the opinion 

 that the serious trouble experienced from 

 Carnation plants damping off just as they 

 have reached the flowering stage is largely 

 due to continuous propagation in the spring 

 from plants impaired in vitality. 



. A great advantage for fall struck plants 

 is that at no period need either the stock 

 plants or the young ones be subjected to a 

 high temperature, and they have a much 



I longer season of growth. Consequently by 

 the following autumn they are af much 

 larger size than spring struck plants and 

 capable of producing a greater number of 

 flowers. 



In October carnations can be struck with- 

 out a hot-bed, but the assistance they re- 

 ceive from mild bottom heat is so great that 

 it is found to be of advantage to make up a 

 bed of mild heat. The bed should be located 

 in a shady position as that of a building. 

 After the cuttings are rooted we keep them 

 cool, yet with enough protection to keep out 

 frost. Ventilation during the winter season 

 should average abundant, for free airing 

 conduces to the production of stronger 

 stocks. Fire heat need be employed only 

 for the purpose of keeping out frost and 

 drying up damp. Such plants are ready to 

 go into the open air early in the spring, and 

 at once take hold of the soU with vigor. 



Fall Instead of Spring Propagation 

 of Carnations. 



CHABLES WALES. MIAMI CO., O. 



That very good re.sults may follow on the 

 widely prevalent custom of early spring 

 propagation of Carnation plants no one will 

 deny. Yet after years of experience I am 

 persuaded that the time referred to is not 

 the best in which to effect a renewal of the 

 stock of this important plant. 



For several years past I have struck the 

 cuttings in September or October, and the 

 outcome has been such as to invariably con- 

 vince me that the change from spring to 

 autumn has been a good one. Practically 

 there is no more difficulty in obtaining a 

 supply of cuttings in October than in March, 

 and they strike quite as readily. Indeed a 

 main advantage I claim for the course 



The Sweet and Sour Apple. 



WM. F. BASSETT. ATL.VNTIC CO., S. T. 



One of our horticultural monthlies allud- 

 ing to a " Down-East '' Apple, which is said 

 to be made up of alternate layers of sweet 

 and sour, remarks that " This Apple turns 

 up regularly every year in regular sea-ser- 

 pent style." 



Had I never seen such Apples, I might 

 he inclined to share this implied doubt, 

 although we see every now and then some- 

 thing in nature equally strange, but having 

 raised just such Apples myself, there is, of 

 course, no room for doubt in my own mind. 

 Some thirty or more years ago, I had several 

 trees growing on a recently purchased farm, 

 which passed for Rhode Island Greenings, 

 and most of the fruit either was of that 

 variety or so nearly identical with it as not 

 to be distinguishable from it; but several 

 branches on each of these trees bore some 

 Apples of the size, color and flavor of Green- 

 ings, and some which were of about half 

 that size, clear bright yeUow, and of a hon- 

 eyed sweetness, and also some which had 

 sections extending from the stem to the 

 calyx, which were green in color and just 

 like a Greening in taste and appearance, 

 while alternate sections were yellow and 

 very sweet, these last being considerably 

 depressed, showing not only that they com- 

 bined the flavor and color of the two in one 

 Apple, but also the size. How such a fruit 

 was produced I am not prepared to say. I 



have been told that it was done by taking 

 half of a bud from a sweet Apple tree and 

 one half of one from a sour Apple tree, put- 

 ting together and inserting as one bud. I 

 think there is some probability that it is a 

 distinct variety, that all of these trees were 

 budded or grafted from one original tree. 

 The original proprietor of the lot before 

 referred to, informed me that the branches 

 which bore such Apples were from grafts 

 inserted by an itinerant grafter who fur- 

 nished his own cions. I think the colors of 

 some flowers show something analogous to 

 the products of this Apple from seed. Take 

 the Dahlia Landy, for instance, the normal 

 color of which is very dark maroon purple, 

 striped with Lilac, quite frequently a large 

 portion of the flowers come of the dark 

 color, solid, and occasionally one comes all 

 Lilac, and striped Geraniums also some- 

 times come in one solid color. I have a 

 theory to account for such cases, which may 

 or may not be correct, but I will give it for 

 what it is worth. These flowers being the 

 restilt of a cross or mixture of a peculiar 

 kind, each color running in veins or stripes 

 through the plant, when a bud is produced 

 from a portion belonging to either entirely, 

 a flower of that color is produced, but when 

 the bud happens to come where the two 

 colors join we get both colors. In like 

 manner we would get Apples varyiiig as 

 described from such a cross between a sweet 

 and a sour variety. Be this as it may, if 

 cions be taken from those branches which 

 produce the sweet and sour specimens they 

 will be pretty sure to give the three classes 

 of fruit when they get to bearing age, so 

 that any one can satisfy themselves by get- 

 ting cions from such a tree and grafting a 

 small tree or even a branch of a larger one. 



That Bay Window, Rural Home 

 Comforts and Forestry. 



JUDGE SAMCEL MILLER, MONTGOMERY CO., MO. 



Last spring I had the good fortune to 

 purchase twenty large panes of thick glass 

 two feet square in strong frames, and 

 thought they would go a little way towards 

 building a small greenhouse, not having 

 had such a house for a number of years, my 

 last burned down. Well towards fall, I 

 noticed a foundation outside the front door. 

 Next went up a frame, and in we set my big 

 glass and a glass roof on top. 



The wife and daughters superintended 

 the planning, and a son done the work. As 

 I am getting old, and like peace in the 

 family, I said nothing, and'no warn glad that 

 I did not interfere with the work. I do not 

 grow flowering plants to sell, and the affair 

 is simply for pleasure. A short time ago it 

 was nearly full of superb Chrysanthemums, 

 most of which were sent me by Bro. Fuller, 

 and which have been the admiration of 

 everyone who comes here or goes past. 

 These have recently been removed, and now 

 the thing is chuckfull of such plants as 

 Primulas, Fuschias, Verbenas, Heliotrope, 

 Begonias, Geraniums and Dear knows what 

 else. Many of these are coming into bloom. 

 There may be room for a few fine Roses 

 yet which I will pet and give to them. One 

 of my daughters has it in charge and is as 

 proud of them as can be. These flowers 

 with plenty of music in the house ; the 



