1890. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



n 



tlnost, and i>ne of the easiest to ^row and least 

 exiKMisi\e to obtain. Tliey botrin to bloom about 

 the end ()f No\ finber and eonlinue in Mower tl| 

 February, and the phiiits iuureaso insi/eand pro- 

 fusion year after year. True, they are perfectly 

 hard.\' and will bloom out of di)oi*s in winter- 

 where winter set^-^ in early, their bh^oniiuj^ time is 

 delayed till late winter -but if you wish to enjoy 

 theui thoroujrhly and in their finest fidlness, pro. 

 tei't Ihein. Oui-s are now (Dee. l™th) white with 

 buds and llowei-s, in faet. more blossoms than 

 fttliajre, and this is how we ^row them: They 

 are ffrowinj? in ordinary ^rden trrouud with full 

 cxptisure faeinjr northeast, and allowed to grow 

 at will and ne\-er disturbed. .\ln)ut the end of 

 October I set a frame over them, and about the 

 middle of November I set another fi-ame on top 

 of the first one and cover with sashes. The sasheS 

 aiv kept on in wet or frosty weather, but re- 

 moved in fine weather; and the frame is banked 

 around with leaves and the sashes covered with 

 straw mats to kee|i out frost. With this protec- 

 tion, no mattt'r how frosty the weather may be, 

 1 can get fine fresh flowers, whereas were they 

 unprotected, handling them in frosty weather 

 would spoil them. On the approach of spring I 

 remove frames and wraps, and mulch over the 

 ground with a two-inch layer of leaf soil, and let 

 them alone till next fall. And as potted house 

 plants for a cool room they thrive well and bloom 

 beautifully. 



Interesting Dat0RA. "Bergantia"? Brug- 

 mansia is probably what was meant. 



Lettuce Mildew. I grow winter Lettuce 

 largely, and have been more troubled in October 

 anil November than at any other time, but it is 

 likely to infest them any time from October till 

 K pril. Hardy varieties, plenty room between the 

 plants, full light, abundant ventilation, and rigid 

 cleanliness are my best safeguards, and keeping 

 the surface soil Ixjtween the plants fretiuentlj' 

 stirred with a small Excelsiorhoe.— n'nj.Fo/coHer 



Preparing for Spring. Now that you have 

 ail the fall crops put away, tools all housed, com- 

 mence planning for next seasons crops. Is there 

 any repairs to be made on ,the tools? Any new 

 ones to be got? Provide enough new berry crates 

 to make up the past season's loss. See that the 

 divisions in the crates are all there, with a surplus 

 on hand. Look the berry baskets over and see 

 how many of them will be fit to use again. Some 

 of your picking trays will very likely be out of 

 order. If j'ou raise early garden truck be sure 

 to have good soil stored away out of the reach of 

 frost, to have it ready for early h(jt-beds. Ex- 

 amine the sashes and mend where out of repair. 

 Get the plats ready to transplant seedlings in. 

 Look up the advertisements in the horticultural 

 and agricultural papers, and find where you can 

 get plants, seeds and new imprf)ved tools; not 

 always at the lowest price but the best in kind 

 and quality. Look backward at .vour mistakes, 

 and forward when to mend them. All this and 

 more can be done now better than in those hur- 

 rying times of spring. — A. M. N. 



Cucumbers and Pickles. Popular Garden- 

 ing has recently published a number of recipes 

 for making pickles, but has in every instance 

 neglected to begin in a way similar to the cele- 

 bnited recipe how to cook a hare, which starts in 

 "first catch your hare." To get the Cucumbers 

 has been the chief obstacle in the waj' of making 

 pickles this year, and perhaps before you give us 

 any more pickle recipes you had better tell us 

 how to manage to save our vines from destruc- 

 tion by beetles and diseases. It is quite likely 

 that the failure of the Cucumber crop in many 

 sections this year will result in using up the 

 stock so completely that none will beheld over, 

 and people will get real Pickle-hungry by another 

 season, so that the demand by factories and 

 private people will be larger than usual. This 

 demand must be met, and I shall try to do my 

 share towards it if I can. And the way I shall 

 try is b.v planting a little out of the way, and in 

 a field where 1 think the beetles will not be apt 

 to look for the plants. I also shall use very 

 plenty of seed, with but one-half of the usual 

 dist-ance between the hills, and shall cover up 

 some of the hills and replant once a week, and 

 fight the bugs and beetles to the best of my ability 

 —and if all this is not enough to give me Pickles 

 in abundance, I shall give up in despair, once 

 and forever.— Picfcfc Eater, ?iew York. 



Mulching Strawberries. Let me add my 

 mite on the subject. About the middle of Nov- 

 ember of last year I had the patch thoroughly 

 cleaned— you know how persistently chickweed 

 grows in fall— from all weeds, and then I spread 



a good heavy dressing of netted manure all over 

 the patch, planf.s and all . Early in December as 

 soon as \vc had a stiff fro<v,e, 1 spread some salt 

 thatch thinly o\cr the bed, to be left in this way 

 till spring. Nothing; can be better than this 

 thatch, because it does not mat down and rot 

 upon the Strawberry plants; wind does not blow 

 it aiiout, and tm seeds from it can grow. 



Stewed Cei.kkv. This reminds me of the first 

 ilish of it T ever tasfed. It was in November, 'K3, 

 when on a visit to Knglanci. In company with 



CHRYSANTHEMUM INDICUM. See page ti. 

 Mr. Robinson, the editor of the London Oarden 

 I spent a day among the great gardens of Lan- 

 cashire. He was high in praise of stewed Celery, 

 and astonished when I told him I never tasted it. 

 We got into Manchester about 8 in the evening 

 and, late though it was, on reaching the hotel he 

 ordered that a dish of stewed Celery be cooked 

 for me. I then learned that we did not have all 

 the good things of this life on this side of the 

 Atlantic, and ever since that time stewed Celery 

 has been a common and favorite dish upon our 

 table.— vrm. Falconer. 



The Leconte Pear. I am surprised that you 

 eastern horticulturists do not say more in regard 

 to this noble Pear. It is a fine, melting, sweet 

 Pear, larger than the Kieffer, a better bearer and 

 thriftier grower. I have an orchard of 130 trees 

 six years old, raised from cuttings Some of the 

 trees will have from one to two bushels of fruit 

 next season if not injured by frost. They ripen 

 about the 20th of September and may be picked 

 by the 15th. I notice they brought $4 .'lO per bbl. 

 as long as any came to St. Louis market this fall. 

 All eastern writers that say anything about this 

 Pear seem to hit it a kick. Now if my trees hold 

 out against blight in future I don't want any 

 better investment in fruit trees than this Pear.— 

 Wm. M. Jeffrey, Ills. 



The Mariansa Pluji. I see this gets a slight 

 hit by your answer to inquiry 1,491. I think you 

 had better advise him to bud ten trees of Peach 

 on Marianua roots for one on Peach. I am con- 

 fident that the Peach, .Vpricot and Plum in future 

 will be budded on Marianna stock wherever they 

 are tested. I am satisfied the Peach will last a 

 lifetime if budded on such roots; the borer will 

 not trouble them. There are thousands of such 

 trees budded on Marianna rfiot now growing in 

 the west.— If m. M. Jeffrey, 7/(,s. 



Railroad Station Gardening. As this sub- 

 ject has already been favorably noticed in Popu- 

 L,\R G.iRDENiNG, let me add a few points regard- 

 ing the management of the groundsat our station. 

 The lawn is on the south and cast sides of the 

 building, consists of about one-sixth of an acre 

 is nicely graded and covered with a good sod. In 

 the bank facing the track the name of the station 

 is cut in large letters, which in the fall are planted 

 in TuUps, and in the summer filled with red and 

 golden Alternanteras. Upon the upper edge of 

 the bank are planted Roses, Gladiolus, Tuberoses, 

 etc. In the main part of the lawn there are beds 

 of Cannas, Geraniums, Ornamental Beets and 



Coleus; and some large specimens of Caladiums 

 and Anifirphophallus occupy conspicuous places. 

 There are also numerous \ines planted about the 

 buildings, as screens and showy climbers. The 

 lawn mower is in use often. It is evident that 

 this oasis along the iron highway breaks the 

 monotony of travel to many a passenger in a 

 pleasing manner, as is evinced by the commend- 

 able remarks made while the trains stop. It is 

 also a pleasant retreat for persons waiting for 

 the trains, and the general public can receive 

 much benefit by studying the various plants. 

 The beauty of these grounds depends much 

 upon the ticket agent who cares for them and 

 fully understands the art of gardening.— Jo/iii 

 F. Rui>p, Cumberland Co., Pa. 



London Purple Once More. Our experience 

 with London Purple has been that the English 

 varieties of Plums will stand a stronger solution 

 than any other fruit foliage. In Insect Life, pub- 

 lished by Division of Entomology, U. S. Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, may be found an account 

 of damage done to my young two-year old 

 orchard by the May beetle. We have in this 

 orchard some 760 Plum trees of the following 

 varieties: German Plum, Shopshire Damson, 

 Gen. Lee, Green Gage, Gen. Hand, White Egg, 

 Wild Goose and Weaver. In three nights the 

 May ^beetle almost defoliated the entire orchard 

 of Plums (English varieties only I, also Gov. Wood, 

 Cherry, and Hansel Raspberry. We telegraphed 

 Assistant Entomologist L. A. Howard, who 

 immediately sent Mr. C. L. Bartlett with a Nixon 

 Little Giant force pump, and on next day. May 

 10, we sprayed about 1300 trees, including Plum, 

 Cherry, Apple, Apricots, Peach, English Walnut 

 and Raspberry. We used 60 gallons of water and 

 six ounces of London purple, first dissolving the 

 London purple in one gallon of water until every 

 particle was dissolved, then pouring the London 

 purple in the tank and adding the water. We 

 put the pump in our two-horse wagon and 

 sprayed two rows on each side, the writer driWng 

 and doing the pumping, while two little boys 10 

 and 1« years old held the nozzles. The work was 

 done in four hours. The May beetle ceased to 

 trouble anything that was sprayed. The trees at 

 that time had made about one-third of their 

 summer's growth. The spraying did not stop the 

 growth, but the Peach trees lost all foliage within 

 three weeks, also all bloom buds on the later 

 growth. The bloom spurs and buds also dropped 

 otf of Gov. Wood Cherry in four weeks; hardly 

 a leaf was left on the Cherry, Apricot and Peach. 

 I do not think the spraying affected the growth 

 in the least, for some of the Peaches that dropped 

 the most foliage made the greatest growth. Prom 

 my experience I would estimate the strength of 

 the poisonous liquid that the different trees and 

 shrubs can endure when in bloom without injury 

 as follows: Plums, English varieties, one pound 

 of London purple to 160 gallons of water; Apples 

 and Raspberries, one pound to 160 gallons; Apri- 

 cots, one pound to 200 gallons; Cherry, one pound 

 to iioO gallons; Peaches, one puml to ;i)0 ga lions. 

 My first experience with arsenical poisons was 

 spraying with Paris green for Plum curculio 

 during summer of 1880. I have discarded Paris 

 green and shall always use London purple here- 

 after.— J. Luther Bowers, Va. 



Grape Culture. The communications of E. 

 P. Powell and Dr. Stayman correspond so well 

 with my own experience that I wish a good hand- 

 shaking could be had with each just now. Those 

 who have the Downing Grape vines should be 

 sure to protect them well, as I see by the record 

 that it is half vinifera, if not three-fourths. This 

 Grape will be worth sacking and a canopy over 

 it. The mildew of foliage is so little trouble here, 

 however, that a roof is scarcely needed if we only 

 sack the bunches. 



Peach and Plum Rot. The article on this 

 subject interests me greatly, for rot is a drawback 

 with us here. Past season out of what should 

 have given us 20 bushels of fine early Peaches we 

 did not sell a peck, and could hardly get enough 

 perfect fruit for ourselves and the friends visit- 

 ing us. The late ones dofie better. Plums suffered 

 less, except where the curculio got in its work, 

 which was nearly on all of them One tree of 

 Lombard produced a fine crop, however. Of late 

 Peaches the Niq, a cling, is the latest we have 

 there still being some on hand at this date, Dec. 

 7th, sound and plump. Were it not for the occa- 

 sional hard winters that kUl our Peach buds (for 

 they seldom freeze when in blossom) we could 

 raise Peaches here to perfection. Yellows we 

 know nothing of, and trees live to a good age and 

 large size. I cut up the butt of one recently ten 

 inches in diameter at the ground.—*'. MiUer. 



