I04 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



February, 



Notes on Tested Varieties of Grapes. 



S. S. CRISSET, CHAI'TAUQCA CO., N. Y. 



What varieties of Grapes besides the Con- 

 cord can be safely planted as profitable 

 market Grapes? As a partial answer to this 

 question, now asked by many growers, we 

 offer the following as good for this locality, 

 namely, the south shore of Lake Erie in New 

 York, Pennsylvania and Ohio: 



1st. PocKLiNGTON. Every year adds to 

 the success of this well-tried Grape. It is 

 handsome, especially when fully matured; 

 it is entirely hardy, a fairly vigorous grower, 

 not quite equal to Concord, but better than 

 Moore's Early, Martha or Hartford. As to 

 its market qualities, it is firm, handles well, 

 does not become soft soon alter ripening (a 

 bad thing in many good Grapes), and is 

 popular in the leading markets. Last fall 

 Pocklingtons sold for five cents when Con- 

 cords were bringing three cents per pound. 



2d. Moore's Early. As to quality this 

 is the hest early black Grape; and it is early. 

 Side by side of the Concord, the Moore's 

 Early vines can be picked clean, and the 

 fruit stripped before a single cluster is ready 

 on the Concord. It is decidedly earlier than 

 the Worden, and while perhaps not any 

 earlier than the Champion, the detestable 

 quality of the latter shuts it out of the list 

 altogether. The one great drawback to 

 Moore's Early is that it is a very slow grower. 

 It should be on rich soil, and given extra 

 care the first few years. We advise every 

 vineyardist to plant this noble Grape. 



3d. Worden. This Grape is of better 

 quality than the Concord, but has some 

 grave faults. It seems to be more tender 

 and ditficult to handle than is the Concord. 

 As to vigor it is nearly up to the Concord, 

 and will sometimes even surpass that variety 

 m productiveness. Here the Worden does 

 not color but a few days (not over a week) 

 before the Concord, but it is a good table 

 Grape when first colored, which the Concord 

 never is, owing to its acidity. 



4th. Brighton. When first ripened the 

 Brighton is among our best strictly hardy 

 Grapes. It more nearly resembles the 

 Catawba than does any other of the Eastern 

 Grapes. Its fault is that it loses flavor by 

 remaining on the vines long after ripening, 

 also that it must be planted with other 

 sorts for the blossoms to fertilize. Always 

 plant Bright ons between rows of other sorts. 



Enjoyments of the Home Fruit 

 Garden. 



J. \V. Ul'PPELL, MARION CO., MO. 



We moved to our present house on the 14th 

 of April, 188.5. A short time after I made my 

 first planting of trees, shrubs and vine.s. In 

 1886 we had all the Strawberries we could 

 use, a good lot of Raspberries, some Black- 

 berries, Gooseberries and Currants, also a 

 few Grapes. In 1887 we had plenty and to 

 spare of all the above except Grapes Same 

 in 1888. In 1889 we had all the above in great 

 plenty, and some Pears, Cherries, Plums 

 and a few Peaches. My wife canned about 

 forty quarts of Peaches, also Strawberries, 

 Raspberries, Blackberries and Gooseberries. 

 I think she has at this writing nearly 200 

 quarts, besides an endless amount of jellies. 



In 1890, if nothing happens, I think we 

 will have some Apples, and all the Pears, 

 Peaches, Plums, Grapes, Cherries, and small 

 fruits that we can use, and some to give to 

 our friends. I have planted some each 

 spring and fall since 1885, and will have to 

 stop now for wantof room, unless I do away 

 with raising vegetables. I hardly think I 

 will do that. I am in the bank during 

 business hours; before and after I am in the 

 garden. 1 keep a man to do the work, but I 

 can always find something to do. We keep 

 it very clean and well cultivated. My wife 

 and little girls are in the garden a great 

 deal. I admit they do not work much, but 



they enjoy walking around in the pure air 

 and watching the fruit ripen, or even 

 testing it frequently, which contributes to 

 their health. Our whole doctor bill this 

 year was only three dollars. I will tell you 

 what I have planted for my family of five 

 and two servants: II Standard Apple trees; 

 10 Peaches, 4 Dwarf Peaches, 10 Standard 

 Pear trees, 30 Dwarf Pear trees, 20 Dwarf 

 Apples, 31 Plums, 5 Cherries, 10 Dwarf Cher- 

 ries, 4 Quinces, 2 Nectarines, .500 Strawberry 

 plants, 176 Raspberry plants, 74 Blackberry 

 plants, 12 Currant plants, 5 Gooseberry 

 plants, 39 Grape vines, 1 small and 1 large 

 Asparagus bed, 1 row of Rhubarb and 6 

 .Juneberry plants. Original friiit garden is 

 .50 by 100. I have added to it on the west 50 

 by 70, on the south 15 by 60. My friend 

 Samuel Miller was here in Oct. He was 

 much pleased with the arrangement, and 

 complimented me on my success. I did not 

 know anything at the start, but learned from 

 the horticultural papers and experience. 



Berry Notes From Michigan. 



J. A. WOOD, CLINTON CO., MICB. 



The past season was a very unfavorable 

 one for the Berry grower. The severe frost 

 at the blooming season ruined nearly all 

 blossoms that were open on mulched 

 ground. Plants not mulched escaped any 

 material damage. Raspberries, especially 

 the earlier varieties, were also badly dam- 

 aged. Gregg and the later kinds escaped 

 uninjured as the buds were not sufficiently 

 developed at the tinie. 



Plants set last spring made an excellent 

 growth in the earlier part of the season, but 

 .July or early August brought us a most 

 severe and protracted drouth. This, of 

 course tended to dwarf the growth of plants 

 but by faithful work v.ith cultivators and 

 hoes we have succeeded in getting a reason- 

 ably fair growth of plants. 



Strawberry Varieties. Of Strawberries, 

 Crescent takes the lead ,outyielding all others 

 by half, including the Wilson which we will 

 concede second place. On heavier soils than 

 ours, which are sandy, the Wilson may 

 prove superior,but Crescent is with us most 

 reliable as a market berry. Manchester 

 does well with us as a late market sort. 

 Sharpless produces a fair crop of large, irreg- 

 ular, unevenly ripened berries of good qual- 

 ity. We consider Jessie very similar to 

 Sharpless with the advantage of being more 

 productive and more regular in form. On 

 heavy soil under good culture it may prove 

 exceedingly profitable. Atlantic does well 

 bearing fair crops of dark-colored, nice- 

 looking fruit. Mrs. Garfield not productive 

 and rather soft. Jersey Queen we rooted 

 out entirely and consider it entirely worth- 

 less where other kinds here named can be 

 obtained. Monarch of the West is one of 

 our best perfect-flowering sorts, a rank, 

 thrifty-growing plant, with large beautiful 

 berries. Old Iron-Clad is unproductive. 

 Piper's Seedling rusts badly and is a poor 

 grower and shy bearer of poor berries. 



Raspberry Varieties. Tyler or Souhe- 

 gan is our preference for early, being produc- 

 tive and of iron-clad hardiness. Ohio and 

 Mammoth Cluster are best medium sorts. 

 While Gregg takes the lead in size and pro- 

 ductiveness, it is less hardy than those 

 named, and sometimes kills back to a con- 

 siderable degree. If it were not for this 

 one failing we should not hesitate to place it 

 first on our list. Of the Reds, Marlborough 

 and Cuthbert take the lead; Turner being 

 smaller but more hardy and fully as pro- 

 ductive as either of the above. Hansell and 

 Rancocas are small and unproductive, val- 

 ued only for earliness of ripening. Golden 

 Queen promises well for a yellow sort. It is 

 a strong grower, like Cuthbert, very pro- 

 lific and the fruit quite attractive when 

 fresh. Looks well on the table. 



Celery and other Notes from 

 Glass City Gardens. 



THEODORE SEFF, BELMONT CO., OHIO. 



Some large orchards are now being planted 

 of Plums, Prunes and Apricots of the hardier 

 varieties. We can grow Plums and Peaches 

 to perfection except for three things, black 

 knot, borers and curculio. but we are fast 

 getting to be master of them all. Grapes 

 we can grow'without any trouble, also 

 Strawberries and Raspberries. BarnesvlUe, 

 the renowned Strawberry town, is situated 

 almost in the center of Belmont Co., and we 

 live on the eastern line of the county on the 

 west banks of the Ohio river, where the 

 bottoms are very fertile, the soil is mostly 

 black, loamy and very little gravel. Hence 

 we can growflnevegetableswithout danger 

 of being burnt up by hot sun during the 

 summer months. We are fast coming to 

 front in growing fine Celery for the markets, 

 even surpassing the famous Kalamazoo 

 Celery, which has such a great reputation. 



Our method of Celery growingis as follows: 

 As soon as we take the crops off in the fall, 

 we commence to prepare for the next season's 

 crop by hauling out well-composted barn- 

 yard manure and spreading it on the ground. 

 We do not manure so heavily as our soil is 

 naturally rich and fertile;then the latter part 

 of November we plow this manure under. 

 We plow at least 15 inches deep, then let it 

 remain until spring. Then we plow again, 

 thus thoroughly mixing the manure with the 

 soil. Where we plant early Celery we do 

 not plant any other crop, but on soil intended 

 for late Celery, we grow Radishes, Lettuce, 

 Peas, etc., and here another dressing of fine 

 manure is plowed in after the crops are 

 taken off. For the late crop we plow 

 out deep furrows, scatter pure bone meal at 

 the rate of one ton to the acre, and wood 

 ashes at the same rate, then we draw in 

 about three inches of soil, and are ready to 

 set the plants, which we do from the first to 

 the 1.5th of July. We keep it clean and well 

 worked until about the 12th of September, 

 when we put on a dressing of nitrate of soda 

 close to the rows, and then at once com- 

 mence handling. 



We have tried all the diflferent methods of 

 blanching, and for early summer would 

 prefer plank about one foot wide, but for 

 tall we prefer dirt after the first working. 

 When we get the Celery started nicely we 

 use a one-horse reversible plow which 

 throws the dirt up against the Celery. Then 

 we pass along the rows with the hand hoe 

 and fix up where needed. It can be banked 

 very fast this way. 



Another good plan is to use four-inch 

 drain tile one foot long. This is a little 

 more expensive in the start, the tile costing 

 us here -JIO.OO per 1,000, but they are almost 

 indestructible, lasting for a generation if 

 carefully handled. In putting the tile over 

 the Celery we use a piece of .stiff paste board 

 paper about three inches longer than the 

 tile, have it rolled in a tube shape, pull it 

 apart, let it close around the bunch of Celery, 

 drop the tile over it, draw some dirt around 

 the tile, and firm it to keep the tile from 

 upsetting, pull out the paper tube, and so 

 on. A good active man will tile from six to 

 eight thousand per day. Another advantage 

 for tile is you never have to wash your 

 Celery, as it comes out bright and brittle. 



But if you rather wish to grow the tall, 

 hollow, tough kind, found in the hotels, get 

 some of the tall-growing varieties, aud plant 

 them about 13 inches apart, and let them 

 grow about a foot high before you commence 

 to bank, and use no fertilizer nor nitrate of 

 soda, and we will insure you just such 

 Celery. The closer you keep Celery from 

 the light and air the better. Now as to 

 varieties there has been a vast improvement 

 in Celery the last ten years past. Now we 

 have the dwarfs and half-dwarfs, but of aU 

 the late introductions give me the Golden 



