io6 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



February. 



Some New Vegetables. 



ht:^ert m. ^^•ELXS. 



Cabbage. Extra Early Express was 

 claimed to be the earliest sort yet produced. 

 The seed was sowed at the same time as my 

 main crop of Jersey Wakefield, and was 

 subjected to precisely the same conditions 

 during the entire period of growth. It did 

 not prove to be in the slightest degree earlier, 

 and the heads were soft, no matter how long 

 they were allowed to remain. 



All Seasons' Cabbage was compared with 

 Henderson's Early Summer which it re- 



SASH CULTURE FOR EXOTIC GRAPES. See " Barticulture in New Jersey." 

 sembles somewhat. The heads average de- 

 cidedly larger than Henderson's, mature a 

 week or ten days later, and are about the 

 same as to solidity. An excellent variety to 

 follow Henderson's and precede the com- 

 mon Flat Dutch. 



Celery. Golden Yellow Large Solid was 

 planted for comparison with the Golden 

 Heart. The few well developed specimens 

 I managed to get were indeed handsome 

 and of good quality, but the general result 

 was unsatisfactory. The plants were not 

 very ^'igorous, and averaged from one-half 

 to two-thirds the size of the Golden Heart. 

 A severe frost about the Hth of October 

 damaged my Celery somewhat, and this new 

 variety suffered a good deal more than the 

 old. About the only point in its favor seems 

 to be that it requires very little blanching. 



I would like to know whether there is 

 any better way of blanching Celery than 

 the old one of earthing up. The objection 

 to this is it always makes the Celery rusty 

 to a certain extent. 



Horticulture In New Jersey. 



(Continued from parjc 90.) 



Insect Talk. Prof. Jno. B. Smith, ento- 

 mologist of the New .Jersey Experiment 

 Station, reads a paper on " Insects vermis 

 Horticulture." Many of the most destruc- 

 tive insects can be controlled with a reason- 

 able outlay of labor and money. Among 

 them is the Codling moth. Spraying the 

 trees with arsenical poisons will insure 

 Apples any year, when the season is favor- 

 able; but this spraying should be done at 

 the proper time, and repeated as often as 

 needed. In a rainy season this may be quite 

 a number of times. When the egg hatches, 

 the worm should find a thin coat of poison 

 on the Apple. This time is right after 

 blooming, and continues for a few weeks. 

 Make the solution very weak (one ounce to 

 30 gallons of water), and put it on very thin, 

 first immediately after blooming, and re- 

 peating once or twice afterward. In spray- 

 ing Peach trees for the curculio, the 

 strength of one pound to '250 or 300 gallons 

 water will probably be effective. The Xixon 

 and Cyclone nozzles are doing good work. 



The Apple fly has been noticed near New 

 Brunswick, N. J., this season. The larvae 

 cannot be reached with poisons, as the egg 



is deposited inside the fruit. The worm 

 tunnels all through the Apple, and spoils it 

 for use. Possibly the fly may be trapped 

 with sweets of which it is said to be fond. 



The curculio's weak point is that it comes 

 out hungry m early spring, and begins to 

 eat as soon as it can find anything to eat. 

 Begin spraying as soon as the leaves are out. 

 and repeat e.xcept during the time of bloom. 

 Apple trees where curculio attacks are 

 feared, should be sprayed. 



For the Asparagus beetle, which has be- 

 come very destructive in New Jersey, sev- 

 eral remedies are 

 mentioned. Lon- 

 don Purple would 

 kill bugs and 

 larvaB, but it is 

 almost impossible 

 to put it on so it 

 will adhere. The 

 grubs can be 

 killed by either 

 Pyrethrum or To- 

 bacco powder. 

 The eggs and old 

 bugs survive this 

 treatment. 



The larva of the 



Rosebug looks 



-^very much like a 



small white grub 



of the May beetle, 



and probably it 



also lives on roots in grass land. It may 



possibly be fought in this state. 



During the discussions following this 

 paper, it was stated that the saw fly larvae 

 can be killed with Hellebore or Tobacco 

 powder; or it may be picked off, which is 

 not so very different as these insects always 

 feed in companies. Mr. Vandeman, United 

 States pomologist, states that some years 

 ago the Rosebug was exceeedingly trouble- 

 some in Kansas, but after a three or four 

 years' attack disappeared all at once. It is 

 not impossible that they may also leave New 

 Jersey in the same mysterious way that 

 they came. Mr. Roberts calls attention to 

 the danger of London Purple applications 

 to the foliage. Has had better success with 

 Paris Green, but thinks there is a great deal 

 of difference in different samples. Some 

 Paris Green is quite coar.^e, and should not 

 be used. A finely ground article alone will 

 give good results. It was also said that 

 operations in the fight against fungi and in- 

 sects can be greatly simplified by making 

 applications of remedies and preventives at 

 the same time. We might just as well spray 

 on a mixture of the various ingredients, at 

 a saving of labor and material, as to apply 

 each remedy separately. 



The Commi.ssios Merchant. Mr. Wm. 

 H. Goldsmith reads a paper on the question. 

 Can the fjirmers of New Jersey adopt any 

 system of disposing of their products to 

 better advantage than through commission 

 merchants? This paper and the lively dis- 

 cussions which followed it, brought out the 

 fact that there are grave abuses in common 

 practice with commission dealers, and that 

 there is urgent need of action for the pur- 

 pose of having the evils corrected. The 

 producer often does not get one quarter the 

 price that consumers have to pay for the 

 article. Strawberry growers often get five 

 cents, after waiting about a year, for the 

 same fruit which the dealer may have sold 

 within a day or so for ten cents. The re- 

 turns are not made promptly enough. Some 

 of the men are downright dishonest. One 

 of the bad practices of dealers is selling 

 different producers goods in lump lots; 

 another the pilfering allowed in the stores, 

 in consequence of which the value of many 

 fruit packages is reduced to one-half. 



Sec'y. E. Williams who on several occa- 

 sions has discovered that the commission 



merchant had reported sales at a lower 

 figure than actually realized, says he is not 

 as favorably disposed towards dealers as he 

 was. The best way to dispose of our fruits 

 at a good price, was to make the commission 

 merchant honest. 



Mr. Wm. R. Ward advises to do without 

 the services of the commission merchant 

 wherever it is possible to sell directly to the 

 consumer. 



A committee, with Mr. Wm. R. Ward, 

 chairman, appointed to consider this ques- 

 tion, and make suggestions, later on offered 

 a resolution, which was adopted, expressive 

 of the following sentiments: 



1. We denounce the growing practice of 

 furnishing empty packages by commission 

 dealers to shippers. Each grower ought to 

 be responsible for his own fruit. 



2. We commend to dealers the practice of 

 making weekly returns. 



3. We commend to dealers the practice of 

 giving honest quotations, and all informa- 

 tion that the shipper may desire. 



4. We denounce the carelessness with 

 which packages are left open, and pilfering 

 allowed by employes and callers. 



5. We condemn the practice of selling 

 goods of different shippers by lump lots. 



Fruit Exchanges. Mr. H. F. Bodine 

 presents a paper in which he puts forth the 

 advantages of the Fruit Exchange plan as 

 compared with the commission dealer sys- 

 tem. The exchange in Hunterdon County 

 is well frequented by buyers, and good 

 fruit has been sold for better prices than 

 were realized by the commission plan. 



Mr. Valentine speaks of the success of the 

 " Fruit Growers' Union " in Hammonton. 

 This institution combines the auction with 

 the commission plan, but all the shipping 

 is done under the auspices and surveillance 

 of the Union, and consequently good ser- 

 vice is secured. 



The Home Garden. Mr. C. L. Jones 

 gave a paper in which he describes the possi- 

 bilities and profits of the home garden in 

 the light of his personal experience. In the 

 small garden which a city home affords, we 

 have to concentrate our efforts. Mr. Jones 

 keeps two cold frames for early spring crops, 

 one for Radish and Lettuce, and another 

 for Pansies. Asparagus, Peas, Radishes, 

 Onions, and other vegetables are produced 

 in his little garden in great abundance. A 

 dozen Tomato plants are trained on trellis, 

 and furnish all the Tomatoes that his 

 family wants. Strawberries are planted 

 every fall for fruiting next season, and the 

 patch is then plowed or spaded and planted 

 to early Potatoes, Sweet Corn, Celery, etc. 

 He plants Gypsy, Prince and Pearl. A few 

 Raspberry vines, Cuthbert and Golden 

 Queen, give the next supply of fruits. Then 

 there are a few Fay's Currants which often 

 yield a peck of fruit to the bush, also some 

 Gooseberry bushes. 



A few Muskmelon vines are started early 

 under glass, and will occupy the ground 

 after American Wonder Peas. Among 

 Sweet Corn varieties Triumph has been 

 found very satisfactory, and Dreer's is a 

 favorite among Limas. Of tree fruits Mr. 

 Jones' garden contains one tree each of 

 Black Tartarian and Early Richmond 

 Cherries, a few Pears, Peaches, and two 

 Quinces of the Orange variety. These two 

 Quince trees usually give him much more 

 than a home supply, and in one season he 

 sold a surplus to the amount of $22. There 

 are also a few rows of Grapes. 



All this produce Mr. Jones thinks, pro- 

 vides for the necessities of the table, but he 

 wants some luxuries besides, and so he has 

 planted two exotic Grapes (White Muskat 

 and some other variety) in a south-eastern 

 exposure close to a building, and under the 

 protection of a few common hot-bed sash, 

 which form a kind of lean-to house. Any- 



