176 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



May, 



TO BETVinsEvrKMoWMf 



Flam Black Knot. Prompt 

 ii?e of the knife is an effect- 

 ive remedy.— Prof. Pientiee. 



The Cow Pea. I think the 

 ' Cow Pea ought to be more 

 generall.v planted than it is. 

 It is unsurpassed as stock 

 feed and also good for table 

 use. Besides they are a benefit to the ground.— 

 Capt. HoUister, before the Alton Southei-n UHiwix 

 BortictiUural Society. 



Salway Peach. The Salway is one of the best 

 and most profitable Peaches, on account of its 

 beauty, very late ripening and other good quali- 

 ties. Its chief fault seems to be, that it is more 

 subject to yellows than almost any Peach.— 75. M. 

 Armstrong, hcfore n Farmcm' liiMitute. 



Potash for Beets and Grapes. In an experi- 

 ment with Sugar Beets.Dr. Goessmann found the 

 per cent of sugar, when stable manure was used, 

 to be 7.S, and when sulphate of potash was used 

 as a fertilizer, the same variety showed 12.78 per 

 cent., a result almost exactly like that ob- 

 tained from the Grape by the use of muriate.- 

 Prof. Taft, Michigan Unrticultural Society. 



Keeping Asparagus Fresh. While for one's 

 own table Asparagus should be cut and cooked 

 in the same hour, the product of a field may be 

 kept two or three days, and be fresh and plump 

 for the market, by standing the bunches in fresh 

 water and renewing it once in twelve hours, 

 removing a little of the loose ends of the bunches 

 with a sharp knife just previous to placing it on 

 the market.— CTia*. A. Garfield, before the Michi- 

 gan Horticultural Society. 



Site for Pear and Cherry Orchards. Plant 

 Pears and Cherries on hi;;h rolling land. If it 

 IS somewhat sandy, it will serve the purpose that 

 much the better. Plant sixteen feet apart, and 

 do not fertilize too heavily, simply cultivate well. 

 Standard Pears are best. I would plant some 

 trees every five years and have young trees com- 

 ing on. Early Richmond and English Morello 

 Cherries are liest.— H'. H. Coidtis, before the 

 Shau-nce Co. Inatitntc, Kanms. 



The Pennsylvania Anemone. Along the shores 

 of creeks and rills in many parts of the United 

 States the Pennsylvania Anemone abounds. I 

 have found that it thrives in any fertile spot even 

 of dry land, being especially suited to half- 

 shaded places. Once planted it will thrive per- 

 petually. It does not require tillage, but may 

 be naturalized in the wild garden. The flowers 

 are a beautiful large white and appear freely in 

 early summer.— Charles Lord. 



Effects of Phosphate on Grapes. Professor 

 Caldwell, in speaking of the effect of fertilizers 

 before the Western New York Horticultural So- 

 ciety, cited an instance where wines of a par- 

 ticularly rich bouquet where made from Grapes 

 in a district whose soil was peculiarly rich in 

 phosphate. A^ long treatment of phosphatic fer- 

 tilizers was given by an experimenter to certain 

 other lands where this element was less abund- 

 ant, and, after thirty years, the peculiar bouquet 

 appeared also in the wine produced from the 

 latter district. 



Baspberries in Ohio. Mr. Trowbridge said that 

 small canes holding their leaves late will survive 

 cold that will kill a large rank growth. Jlr. 

 liOngenecker favored a northern exposure for 

 Raspberries. Mr. W.J Green slid that .lohnston's 

 Sweet fruits with the Hilborn. There is no place 

 with market men for an ever-bearing Raspberry , 

 but tor amateurs who wish one, the Erhart is the 

 best of its class. President Tryon said that very 

 early Raspberries are mostlprofi table in the Cleve- 

 land market. Mr. Farnsworth said that the early 

 and very late sorts are most profitable in Toledo. 

 —Discu.^sion Ohio Horticulttiral Society. 



The Good of Arbor Day. Arbor Day ceremon- 

 ies, even if they lead to the planting of but few 

 trees, at least serve to enlist the teachers in the 

 cause, and to impress the children with the idea 

 that it is better to plant and care for a tree than 

 to destroy it. There existed once a necessity tor 

 destroying forests that crops might be planted . 

 This necessity matured into an instinct, so that 

 the first natural tendency of the American lad 

 is to cut a stick or tree. The tendency of Arbor 

 Day, then, is to lead to a change of sentiment 

 among the youths concerning trees. This is one 

 of the most hopeful signs.— Pro/. Jos. T. Bothroch. 



The Bii;ht Apple for the Kitrht Place. There 

 is no variety of Apples of acknowledged merit 

 that is at its best over any large part of our ter- 

 ritory. The celebrated Newton Pippin, which is 

 probably the best late winter Apple in the world, 

 lias never been at its best anywhere west of the 

 Alleghen.v Mountains, and onl.v in limited dis- 

 tricts in the New England States and in portion 

 of New York and Northern New Jerse.v. Even 

 in the limited districts of the small portion of 

 our country, it requires the best of cultivation 

 and the most careful attention, or it will not 

 yield the grower satisfactory returns for his 

 labor.— J. M. Smith, Pres. iris. Hort. Society. 



let us Spray. The force pump now plays a most 

 prominent part in operations against insects in 

 orchard and garden. The ease with which the 

 codling moth can be controlled, and ,\pples 

 grown of full size, perfect form, rich in color 

 and of highest flavor, and resistance to early 

 decay, is sufficient proof of its value; and by its 

 aid we hope to defy the Plum curcuUo, and 

 check the ravages of almost every insect feeding 

 upon the foliage of trees, and a large number of 

 those which attack the products of our gardens. 

 No orchardist or gardener can afford to do with- 

 out a force pump. It is costly neglect. The 

 cheap and fatal spray, compared with old meth- 

 ods of fighting, is as a gatling gun compared 

 with a flint-lock musket.— Dr. S. A. Lintner, 

 hcfore the Western Tfew Torh Hort. Society. 



Uannres for Grape Vines. Mr. Crawford said 

 ashes and ground bone dust applied to young 

 vines give excellent results. The rtnes get the 

 benefit of the bone sooner by using ashes and 

 bone together. Mr. Rogers said he hart used 

 phosphate on young vines and was satisfied with 

 the result. In old vine-yards he had drilled 

 Kye between the rows, in August, and plowed it 

 under the following spring. .\s a cheap fertili- 

 zer it is superior to any other that he had used. 

 Mr. Pierce said that on a part of his vineyard 

 the vines were not thrifty and he applied good 

 manure. The result was very favorable. He 

 said Kye drilled between the rows and plowed 

 under in the spring is useful to fertilize and 

 also to choke down Canada Thistles and weeds 

 and keep the soil from washing during the 

 winter.- Discussions of the South Shore Gi-apc and 

 Fruit Growers' Association. 



Plant the Waste Lands. I feel safe in the 

 assertion that there arc in Pennsylvania about 

 two thousand square miles of land absolutely 

 worthless for all agricultural purposes, and 

 where our most important streams head. For all 

 that vast area there is but one natural destiny— 

 the production of the timber and the conserva- 

 tion of water; and the State should own it either 

 all or remove the taxes from it. Nor does Penn- 

 s.vlvania stand alone. From a paragraph written 

 as early as 1846 by Mr. George Emerson it would 

 appear that Massachusetts has similar areas. 

 Speaking of the Rock Chestnut Oak he says, 

 " The chief recommendation of this tree is the 

 situation in which it grows. It grows naturally 

 and flourishes on the steep sides of rocky bills, 

 where the other kinds of Oak can hardly get a 

 foothold. There are probably thousands of acres 

 of hilly rock.v land in almost every county in 

 Massachusetts, where various kinds of ever- 

 greens have grown unmixed with deciduous 

 trees until they have exhausted all the nutri- 

 ment suited to their support, and where now con- 

 sequently nothing thrives which would furnish 

 abundant support for this kind of Oak.— Prof. 

 Jos. T. Rnthrock, before the Mass. Hort. Society. 



Forciner Houses. In practice it is found that 

 twenty feet is about the maximum profitable 

 width for a forcing-house. If a low house is de- 

 sired, for forcing Radishes, Lettuce or other low 

 plants, a much narrower house is advisable, 

 unless it can be built upon a slope, where a two- 

 thirds span can be used. In very narrow houses 

 the temperature is more diflicult to regulate 

 than in a wider house. The house should be low. 

 The sides range from two to five feet, and the 

 gable stands from seven to twelve feet above 

 the surface in our best modern forcing-houses. 

 The glazing is done upon permanent sash-bars, 

 as more light can be secured by this method 

 than by roofing with sash. The details of con- 

 struction must Ije adapted to individual circum- 

 stances ; but the old bugbear of great expense 

 may be dismissed. I have built two good houses, 

 each twenty by sixty feet, inside measure, at a 

 combined cost of building, including heat, of 

 about 81,500. And these houses are much better 

 than common commercial forcing-houses, which 

 can be built much cheaper than this. There are 



six general essentials to successful forcing of 

 plants: (1) Bottom heat (2) Abundance of light. 

 i.Sl Proximity of plants to glass. (4) Fresh air. 

 We must outgrow the notion that we ventilate 

 simply to cool off the house. The primar.v ob- 

 ject of ventilation is to give fresh air, and this 

 should be secured without allowing drafts upon 

 plants or changing the temperature of the house 

 suddenly. (.'3) Humidity of atmosphere (6) A- 

 daptation of methods to change of habits of 

 plants. Plants rarely, if ever, maintain the 

 same habit of growth when forced as they 

 naturally possess out-of-doors. The struggle 

 for light is the chief cause of change of habit.— 

 Prof. Ba iley before the W. N. T. Hort. Society. 



Grafting the Grape. Among the general ad- 

 vantages of grafting the Grape, without con- 

 sidering the importance of this mode of protect- 

 ing the varieties of Vinifera parentage from the 

 ravages of the Phylloxera, are the facility of In- 

 creasing new or nire sorts by grafting on old 

 stocks, the short time required to test the fruit 

 of new sorts. Tines so worked bearing a full crop 

 the second year; the ease with which sorts not 

 readily reproduced by cuttings are made to grow 

 when grafted; the ability to retop a worthless 

 stock with a valuable variety, and to bring about 

 increased fruitfulness by grafting on appropriate 

 stocks those sorts that are shy bearers on their 

 own roots. A knowledge of the proper aflinity 

 between stock and cion, can be gained only by 

 experience. In other particulars, however, the 

 best method is as follows: Select the cions from 

 thoroughly ripened, firm wood of the size of a 

 lead pencil or a little larger, and keep them dor- 

 mant by burying in a cool, shaded place until the 

 leaves have expanded on the stock, as the parts 

 unite more readily after the first rapid flow of 

 the sap is over, and the cion is less likely to be 

 "drowned out." With a spade the earth is 

 cleared away from about the crown of the stock, 

 which is cut through with a keen saw at a point 

 about two inches above a node or knot. A cleft 

 extending to the node is now made in the stump, 

 and ;the cion, cut wedge-shaped, is inserted in 

 t he cleft so that a bud may stand at the upper 

 point, where stock and cion united. Where the 

 stock is large enough, two cions are put into 

 each cleft. If the wood is firm and strong, no 

 ties are needed, nor is the use of wax desirable. 

 Press a handful of moist soil upon the wound, 

 and heap about it flne earth to within one or two 

 buds of the top of the cion. When the cions 

 have become weU started, the weaker of the 

 two in each stock should be pruned off. Vines 

 so grafted wUl make a growth of from eight to 

 twelve feet the first season, and though some- 

 times they do not start at once after the opera- 

 tion, they wiU generally push rapidly !and ripen 

 their wood well before fall. The method here 

 outlined commends itself to every practical man 

 by its simplicity and great utility.— Pro/. Geo. 

 Hu^mann, before the .-imerican Hort. Society. 



Heating Cold Frames by Hot Water 



or Steam, and Grapes Under 



Glass. 



{By Wm. P. Phiibrick, before the Massachusetts 

 Horticultural Societj.) 



It was five years ago, the essayist made the 

 first experiment in growing Dandelions in 

 a frame heated by a circulation of hot water. 

 The bed was 1!15 feet long and V2 feet wide, 

 covered by 130 sashes, and was heated by 

 one inch-and-a-quarter water pipe, support- 

 ed on the inside of the plant frame four 

 inches below the glass, which was covered 

 at night in cold weather by straw mats. 



The Dandelion roots were transplanted from 

 the field in September; the glass was placed on 

 the frames about the middle of December, and 

 the firing of the boiler was begun about Christ- 

 mas. The Dandelions were marketed in Febru- 

 ary, producing an average of just a bushel to 

 each sash, and were cleared off before the crop 

 from the cold frames came in. 



As fast as the Dandelions were cleared off, the 

 bed was sown with Radishes with every third 

 row Short Horn Carrots; the Radishes were sold 

 in April, and the glass was then taken off to 

 another frame, heated by manure for Cucum- 

 bers, and the Carrots were marketed in .lune. 

 The result was highly satisfactory. 



The next year the experiment was repeated, 

 using, however, a single inch-and a-quarter 

 steam pipe on the south side of the bed, which 

 was twelve feet wide. The Dandelions near the 

 steam pipe were drawn somewhat by the exces- 



