IQO 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



June, 



Kohl RabI Little Grown but Worthy. 



It is hard to understand why this veget- 

 able, which is so easily grown, and has no 

 forminable insect enemy, while being highly 

 prized for culinary purposes in Europe, 

 remains so long a stranger in the majority 

 of American'gardens. It is not a difference 

 in taste, for Americans when a dish of the 

 weirprei)ared vegetable is put'before them, 

 take to it at once, and appreciate its tender- 

 ness, and flavor. j 



in that county (Monmouth) so noted for big 

 small fruits. 



The plants on which this monstrous berry 

 was borne, were set the year before, and 

 had made but a small number of runners. 

 The soil was only moderately fertile, hav- 

 ing half-shade in the afternoon (from an 

 Ajjple orchard along side the patch.) 



The land had received a dressing of some 

 high-grade special Potato manure at the 

 rate of about 800 lbs. per acre before plow 



The leaves of Kohl Rabi somewhat re- j ing and another at same rate after plowing; 

 semble Cabbage leaves, and grow out of th e ' no stable manure being used. The soil was 

 center of an enlarged stem or bulb, 

 above ground. In texture this en- 

 largement resembles a Turnip. The 

 Early Vienna is the varietybest known, 

 and usually offered by seed dealers. 

 We prefer it to the larger and later Im- 

 perial. Purple Vienna only differs from 

 Early White V'ienna in outside color. 

 The flesh of all varieties, says W. H. 

 Bull, in Garden and Forest, who has 

 grown Kohl Rabi extensively for 

 market, is nearly white, and when not 

 overgrown very tender. When old, the 

 fibre of the root extend upwards, first 

 on the otitside and then through the 

 heart of the vegetable ; a thick rind 

 taken off at first will remove all the 

 fibre, but when the root is filled it is 

 useless. 



The best practice is to plant seed in 

 succession tor use, because after the 

 bulb has begun to form, the period in 

 which it is edible is comparatively 

 short. It is very easy to grow, and 

 is less affected by the attacks of the 

 Cabbage-worm than any other 

 members of the Cabbage family. 



ture falls threateningly low. There were 

 neither mats nor shutters. 



The accompanying illustration taken from 

 American Florist, shows the manner in 

 which Mr. (ieo. Klehm, of Illinois, has ar- 

 ranged his hot beds for heating by 4-inch 

 hot-water pipes. "The bed is built up 

 against the sides and ends of the green- 

 houses, the outer wall being of brick as 

 shown. From the wall a 12-incli plank ex- 

 tends out over the hot water pipe, the inner 

 edge Ijeing supported by i;x+ uprights 

 (shown by dotted lines) placed at intervals. 

 The sash laps about four inches on 

 the plank. With this arrangement the 

 heat from the pipe diffuses evenly over 

 the bed without the liability of injur- 

 ing any plant through too close contact 

 with the pipe, and permits all of the 

 space covered by glass to be utilized." 



The 



seeds for first crop should be planted about 

 the first week in March and treated in all 

 respects like Cabbage, setting the plants in 

 the open ground as soon as Cabbages can be 

 set. The growth in rich land will be rapid, 

 and a second planting a month later will 

 make a succession. For fall use, sow in 

 open ground early in .July. My practice is 

 to transplant, but this is not necessary, as 

 the plants can be thinned where they grow 

 to about six inches apart, having the rows 

 two feet apart. They bear transplanting 

 and extremes of heat and cold or drought 

 well. In fall the unused plants are taken 

 up, and, after the leaves are cut oft', are set 

 with the rout in earth in a cellar, where 

 they will keep well into the spring months, 

 Und be as good as when harvested. 



To prepare for the table a common method 

 is to pare, cut in cubes of about an inch 



A BUBACH STRAWBERRY SHOWN IN ACTUAL SIZE. 



of the sandy loam with porous sub-soil 

 which is so widely found in the eastern 

 part of the state. 



PINCERS FOR HANDLING BUGS. 



.square, boil till tender, and then serve with 

 drawn l)utter. 



A Large Bubach Strawberry. 

 That the large specimens of Strawberries, 

 as so often pictured in the catalogues, can 

 be produced under special management, 

 and especially favorable conditions, is true; 

 but it is not often in the life-time of the 

 average grower that he can succeed in 

 showing such a monster as we here illus- 

 trate in natural size. The original was the 

 largest specimen of Strawberry ever grown 

 by the writer, then in New .Jersey, and his 

 neighbors assured him that it was by far 

 the largest they had ever seen grown even 



Handling Bugs With Pincers. 



L. D. ELDER, LIVINGSTONE CO., N. Y. 



For several seasons I have noticed in our 

 Quince orchard bugs resembling the large 

 gray Squash bug, in color, but being round- 

 er and flatter in shape, and having the 

 nauseous odor of the "stink bug." They 

 infest the trunks and large branches of the 

 Quince trees during the summer and fall. 

 Where they harbor, the bark becomes dis- 

 colored, and during the fall willcrack open, 

 and the branch or tree, as the case may be, 

 dies during the winter. 



I have picked them off with my "bug 

 pincers" on bright days when they come out 

 on the south side of the tree to sun them- 

 selves, and think J have saved some trees 

 by that means. 



The same or a similar bug I noticed at 

 work on the Apple trees, at the same time. 

 The "pincers" mentioned above, I find 

 very useful in many ways. They work on 

 the principle of a pair of sheep-shears, are 

 about eight inches long, and were made by 

 a local blacksmith at a cost of 25 cts., and 

 are a fine thing for handpicking many kinds 

 of insects. 



New Ways of Heating Frames. 

 In an essay read before the Massachusetts 

 Horticultural Society, an extract of which 

 was given in the May issue of PoptrLAU 

 (jAliDENiNo. Mr. Philbrick tells how he 

 takes the chill off his cold frames by means 

 of a line or two of hot water or steam pipes, 

 and thus numagcs to get ahead of his com- 

 petitors who frequently have difficulty to 

 keep the frost out of their unheated cold 

 frames planted with Spinach and Dande- 

 lions. We have seen frames arranged on 

 some such plan in New Jersey, and used 

 for hardening off Tomato plants, etc. Here 

 the pipes were only a last resort in case of 

 late cold spells, the beds being usually 

 worked as simple cold frames, and the fires 

 started up only when the outside tempera- I twisting motion of the right hand. Celery 



T. Greiner on Conditions of Suc- 

 cess In Transplanting. 

 In a wet season, or during a wet 

 spell, setting out plants in the open 

 ground is an easy enough operation, 

 and anybody, no matter how unskilled, 

 can succeed without effort. During a 

 prolonged spelt of heat and drought— 

 and we are apt to have such at the 

 season for setting Celery and late 

 Cabbages— the gardener often finds his 

 skill and experience put to a severe 

 test by the task. A supply of first- 

 class plants, I. t'., such as were grown 

 with proper allowance of space to each 

 plant, and consequently possess a fully- 

 developed root system and a short, 

 stocky top, makes success reasonably 

 certain even under otherwise unfavorable 

 conditions, especially if some soil be left 

 adhering to the roots in lifting and shifting. 

 The most essential requirement, however, 

 in any case is that the soil be moist, not wet 

 or sticky, but so that it will easily crumble 

 between the hands. If the soil be dry, it 

 must be freshened and moistened by artifi- 

 cial watering, or failure will be the sure 

 result. Planting in dry soil is usually fatal, 

 even if water be applied afterwards. A Iways 

 plant in trrs)ily-stirred soil, is a gooA ixiie 

 in this matter. 



Puddling.— Simply dipping the roots in 

 water just before .setting them, is fully as 

 effective as the famous manipulation known 

 as "puddling" (dipping in thin mud), and 

 it is much cleaner, more convenient, and 

 generally preferable. I, myself, have no 

 tise for "puddling" neither for vegetable, 

 nor small fruit plants and trees; but dip- 

 ing the roots in clear water, just before 

 setting the plants, is a precaution which I, 

 or any other gardener, can not well afford 

 to neglect. 



Firming the Roots.— Another indispens- 

 able requisite in successful transplanting is 

 the thorough firming of the soil around the 

 roots. It should be packed so tightly and 

 closely that parts of the i)lant would sooner 

 tear off than allow the plant to be pulled up 

 by them. It is advisable, however, to draw 

 a little loose soil= 

 as a kind of pro- 

 tection and 

 mulch up over 



the firmed soil 



, J *i. New ways Qf heating frames. 



and around the 



plant, and in very dry weather the latter 



may be well-nigh covered up with loose 



soil to prevent rapid evaporation. 



Shortening Tops and Roots.— Another 



sensible precaution in dry weather is the 



trimming or shortening in of the tops of 



Cabbage, Celery and other plants when 



getting them ready for setting out. It is 



done in the most convenient manner by 



taking a bundle of plants in the left hand, 



and removing about half of the tops by a 



