i8o 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



May, 



finest lot of Potatoes I ever saw was grown on a 

 deep, rich meadow soil, with the old grass-sod 

 recently ploughed down, and manured in the 

 rows. Whole tubers were used for seed, and 

 these were selected from the entire crop of the 

 previous year. As this system had been follow- 

 ed for several successive seasons, always select- 

 ing the largest and most perfectly formed speci- 

 mens, the crops gradually became more and 

 more regular in form.— Josiah Hoopes, in 

 New York Weekly Tribune. 



Cyclamens. In these plants you have some- 

 thing delicate, always choice and pleasing, both 

 in the beautiful foliage and flowers, and in per- 

 fume, though it Is not strong. The most com- 

 mon color is white, with a rosy tip, but new 

 shadings and stripes are being produced con- 

 stantly. Tbis plaut should have considerable 

 leaf-mould in the soil, and little or no manure. 

 Place the crown of the bulb above the soil, and 

 remove, by means of a wet sponge or cloth, the 

 dust as it accumulates on the leaves. This plaut 

 cannot fail to give satisfaction.— Agriculturist. 



The Turtle in the Greenhouse. One of the 

 most useful requisites of the greenhouse is one 

 of our common box-turtles. Turtles are con- 

 stantly on the alert for insects, their special de- 

 hght being slugs, snails and wood-lice, the 

 gardener's worst pests. One turtle will do the 

 work of a house thoroughly, a work that takes 

 the time and ingenuity of the gardener, and is 

 rarely half done. In the greenhouse the turtle 

 is qinte at home, never in the way, and always 

 at work.— American Agriculturist. 



Sunflower Hedge. A very pretty and service- 

 able hedge for one season may be made by plant- 

 ing Sunflowers one foot apart with Morning 

 Glories between and training the vines across the 

 spaces. Sunflowers are sometimes used in like 

 manner for Bean poles and may be made to 

 serve as a trellis for Tomato vines.— Correspon- 

 dent Farm and Home. 



Sheep and Orchard. Make a movable fence to 

 inclose say one-sixth or one quarter of an acre 

 at a time for fifty sheep, and feed and pasture 

 upon it three or four days, and then move on. 

 Food being given in addition to pasture, the 

 manuring the land gets will be worth more than 

 to apply sheep manure from under a shed.— 

 Practical Farmer. 



■ No Joking Matter. For these good and sufli- 

 cient reasons we ask t^ll the respectable news- 

 papers to join with us in absolutely refusing to 

 publish lottery announcements, quack notices, 

 snide jewelry offers and pretty typewriter jokes. 

 They all belong to the same category and should 

 be suppressed.— Western Plowman. 



When to grow Potatoes. A successful eastern 

 farmer, who made his money in Potatoes, always 

 planted heavily when Potatoes were cheap in the 

 spring, and lightly when seed was dear in the 

 spring. Everybody plants when seed is dear, 

 and rice rcrsa.— American (jarden. 



Fine Native Trees. The Oak, Sassafras, Chest- 

 nut, Walnut and Cherry from the clearing, all 

 are excellent shade trees for the lane, the lawn, 

 and around the farm building . No use of send- 

 ing to the nursery if these are in your own wood- 

 land.— Farm Journal. 



Danger in Cider. A barf el of "hard" cider in your 

 cellar, an unprincipled hired man who likes to take a 

 drink, a boy you love, what a beautiful combination 

 with which to mauufacture a broken heart !—R. N. Y. 



The Hog as Insect Foe. Several Apple orchardists 

 wHl this year borrow their neighbors' hogs to eat the 

 fallen Apples. As an Apple Insecticide the hog Is a pro- 

 nounced success.— California Fruit Grower. 



Blessings of Rural Life. Talk about living well : 

 Why, we who cultivate the soil might and ought to 

 live like princes, and be the first and formost men of 

 our land.— J. M. Smith In Country Gentleman. 



An Evergreen Hedge. This is a thing of beauty, If 

 properly taken care of; and if properly placed It will 

 pay for itself many times over as a wind break.- 

 Western Rural. 



A good Work, One hundred thousand young shade 

 trees are to be sent from Canadian Experiment Sta- 

 tions to farmers in the Northwest for spring planting. 



Usually a Paying Crop. J.S. Stickney, Wauwatosa, 

 Wis., last year marketed 16 tons of Currants from three 

 acres of ground; net receipts, $S00.— O. J. Farmer. 



The Gravenstein Apple. Gravenstein Is the best 

 keeping and shipping Apple for an early market. So 

 says the New York dealer. 



Good for Almost any Crop. Soap suds from the 

 weekly lauudrylng Is also good for the Grape vines.— 

 Farmer's call. 



The Weak always First Attacked. Debilitated Rose 

 plants are the first choice of insects.— Ex. 



Vegetable Products on the Table 



Bananas and Strawberries. A few Bananas 

 sliced and served with Strawberries and cream 

 improve the dish. Carefully heaped together, 

 the Strawberries and Bananas make a very 

 pretty dish —P. F. 



Spinach Greens. Look over carefully, picking 

 leaves from stems. Wash and cook 30 minutes 

 in salted water. Drain, chop fine, return to the 

 fire, season with butter, pepper and salt, press 

 into a mold or bowl, turn out and garnish with 

 sliced egg. —Western Rural. 



The TTse of Evaporated Fruit. No evaporated 

 fruit should ever be boiled or stewed, but soaked 

 in tepid water from eight to twelve hours, 

 sweetened to taste by adding sugar for syrup, 

 and melt while the fruit merely simmers— not 

 boils. Thus simmered, evaporated fruits will 

 retain most nearly natural color in preparation. 

 ^Am. Grocer. 



Lettuce Salad. Take the yolks of three hard- 

 boiled eggs; add salt and Mustard to taste; make 

 a paste of the eggs, and add a tablespoonful of 

 melted butter; mix thoroughly, and then add 

 gradually one teacupful of vinegar, and pour 

 over the Lettuce. Slice one hard-boiled egg and 

 lay over the Lettuce. This is sufficient for a 

 large-sized bead.— Ohio Farmer. 



Boiled Salsify. Scrape the roots and throw them 

 into water, to which has been added a squeeze 

 of Lemon, and leave them for an hour. Then 

 put them into boiling salt-aud-water, and boil 

 until tender, which will be in about an hour. 

 Drain, serve on toast, covered with white sauce. 

 Salsify, when plainly boiled, may be cut into 

 inch lengths, and served with any simple salad 

 dressing cold. 



Bhubarb Pie, Cut in short pieces, stripping 

 off the skin, and pour over it boiling water, 

 letting it stand live minutes, then pour the water 

 oflf. Mix one cup of sugar with a large table- 

 spoonful of flour, or a small one of Corn starch, 

 upon this pour enough boilins water only to dis- 

 solve each ; pour into the pie tin or plate, pre- 

 viously lined with crust, and into this syrup put 

 the Pie plant as thick as you need. Sprinkle the 

 top with dry flour, and put in a few raisins if 

 liked, a little grated Lemon or Orange peel or 

 extract of Lemon, cover with a thin top crust 

 with opening for the steam to pass out, and bake 

 until a light brown.— O. C. Farmer. 



Parsnip Fritters. Take two or three large 

 Parsnips, boil them, without peeling or trim- 

 ming, until tender. Mash them up, and then 

 pass them through a sieve to remove all strings 

 and fiber. To every quart of the Parsnip allow 

 four eggs, well beaten, and four tablespoonfuls 

 of sifted flour, or like proportion for less or 

 more Parsnips. Beat the mixture together, 

 seasoning to taste with salt and pepper and a 

 good spoonful of fresh butter ; when it is very 

 light, drop it by large spoonfuls into boiling 

 lard and when well browned lay on a hot dish 

 before the fire. These should be served at once, 

 as standing don't improve anything that has eggs 

 in it, and is fried. Some people eat them with 

 sugar.— Good Housekeeping. 



Asparagus. The nicest way to serve Aspara- 

 gus is on toast with drawn butter poured over it. 

 Boil it whole in water with a little salt. Prepare 

 some nice evenly-toasted bread, lay the Aspara- 

 gus on the toast and season it with pepper and 

 salt and a very little butter. Then pour over it 

 a drawn butter sauce. This is best served on a 

 platter, as one piece should not be put on top of 

 another. For the drawn butter, rub one table- 

 spoonful of flour with one-quarter of a pound 

 of butter, put this in a saucepan with a teaspoon- 

 ful of milk, set this in a dish of boiling water 

 and shake it until the butter melts and nearly 

 boils. It tshould come to the boiling-point but 

 not be allowed to boil, as that would make it 

 oily and unfit for use. Prairie Farmer. 



Bhubarb Shortcake. This can be made the 

 same as other fruit cake. It is best, however, 

 when cream of tartar or baking powder is used 

 for the crust to bake the crust alone, and spread 

 the stewed Rhubarb between the layers just 

 before sending to the table. For a family of 

 eight this quantity will suffice: six cups of 

 flower, three teaspoonfuls of baking powder, 

 butter size of an egg rubbed in the flour with 

 the powder, add cold water or sweet milk enough 

 to make a soft dough, bake in two cakes ; when 

 done split, spread with Pie plant stewed and 

 sweetened, with flavoring if liked, and send to 

 the table hot. Hard sauce of butter and sugar 

 can be eaten with it, or if something lighter is 



preferred for sauce, use two tablespoonfuls of 

 Corn starch dissolved with milk, add boiling 

 water sufficient to cook it clear, then add one 

 cup of sugar, one tablespoon of cream or butter; 

 flavor with Lemon or Vanilla.— Orange Co. 

 Farmer. 



HOUSE PLANTS. 



Annuals, such a.s Balsam, Aster, etc., sown in boxes, 

 may be used as window plants in homes in crowded 

 streets. Rural people wlil prefer to have them growing 

 In the open border. 



Azaleas to be repotted and moved out. 



Besonias of the flowering kind will be suited by a 

 position in a sunny window kept slightly shaded. They 

 need plenty of light, yet little direct sun&hlne. Rex 

 Begonias need about the same treatment, but are sat- 

 isfied with still less direct sunlight. 



Cactus to be shifted at once If needed this season. 

 Many varieties may be bedded out to advantage. 



Callas may be bedded out. Turn them out from 

 their pots, and pull apart all those that are large, so as 

 to reduce them to a desirable size. Prepare a shallow 

 trench and manure it as is done for Celery. This gives 

 every chance of affording the Callas plenty of moist- 

 ure, as they may be flooded occasionally. The distance 

 at which to place them in the trench depends on the 

 size of the plants, but in a general way IS Inches to two 

 feet Is ample. After planting, mulch, which will 

 shade the ground and help to maintain a uniform con- 

 dition of moisture. 



Camellias. A shady place out doors sheltered from 

 winds, is just the spot for them. They need frequent 

 watering and sprinkling. 



Chrysanthemums should now make rapid growth, 

 and will need to be shifted whenever the ball of earth 

 appears to be covered with masses of roots. 



Cyclamens may also go out in the open border, 

 which is probably the easiest way to carry them 

 through the summer. 



Fuchsias, G-eraniums and other house plants make 

 handsome pot plants for fall blooming, if propagated 

 latter part of the month, and kept pinched back for 

 eight weeks. Wlnter-flowerlng Fuchsias should be 

 given a rest. 



G-eneral Management. The easiest way to manage 

 all house plants during the summer months Is to move 

 them to the open border, or other summer quarters, 

 the hardier ones, like Agaves, Azaleas, Oleanders, Hy- 

 drangeas, Daphnes, etc., first, and at the end of the 

 month the more tender ones. All larger plants can 

 best be shifted at the beginning of the season's growth. 

 Neat tubs or boxes add much to the beauty of fine 

 plants. Most of the house plants do well in summer In 

 partial shade. If left In pots, labor in their care may 

 be saved by plunging them in sand, soil or coal ashes. 



Hydrangeas should go out now. Give an occa- 

 sional dose of liquid manure to induce stronger growth 

 and finer flowers. 



Insects. Syringe frequently, and try to keep the 

 atmosphere about the plants as moist as possible. 



Oleanders to be treated like Hydrangeas. 



Oxalis and Ixias when done flowering should have 

 the pots turned on their sides to ripen the roots. Later 

 shake them out, wrap In paper and keep them dry. 



Palms and kindred plants make the best of house 

 plants for the summer months; but it Is a good way to 

 bed thf m out with all the rest of the plants. Shift if 

 needed. This Is usually not required oftener than 

 once In two years. 



Petunias for fall blooming. See Fuchsias. 



LAWN AND FLOWER GARDEN. 



Annuals of all kin<ls may now be sown in open 

 border. Sow In drills, clumps or rings rather than 

 broadcast. Fine seeds need not be covered deep, but 

 the soil should be well firmed over them. All seeds 

 start better in moist soil than when soil is kept soaked 

 all the time. 



Oaladium esculentum needs rich soil, all the better 

 If nearly one-half manure. Provide this and plenty of 

 moisture If you desire to get the enormous growth one 

 sometimes sees on city lawns, Cannas may be treated 

 same way for similar effect. 



Dahlias to be planted out about the ndddle of month* 



DutchBulh beds when done blooming ma> be cleared 

 of the bulbs by digging them with tops and what soil 

 will adhere to the roots, left on. and heeling in in some 

 out-of-the-way place, so they wilt have a chance to 

 mature properly. The beds may then be replanted 

 with otiier bedding plants. 



Evergreens can still be planted with safety by using 

 the simple precaution of keeping their roots moist 

 while out of the ground. 



