202 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



June, 



.At«P 



.MVMfi% 



Correspondents art uryeii to anticipate the season in pre 

 aenting questions. To ask. for instance, on April 16 or 20 

 what Peas had best be aoten, could brina no answer in 

 the May issue, and none before June, trhen the answer 

 would be unseasonable. Questions received before the 12rft 

 of any month stand a good chance of being ansipered m the 

 next paper. Sot more than three questions should be sent 

 at one time. Answers to questions bearing on tne com- 

 parative tnlJte of impiements. etc.. offered by different 

 dealers must notbe expected. Neither can we promise to 

 comply ttriih tne request sometimes made to "please anstrer 

 by mail." Inquiries appearing imthont name belong to the 

 name next following . 



Replies to Inquiries are earnestly requested from our 

 loeaders. In answi^ring such give the number, your 

 reality and name, the latter not for publication, uniehS 

 you desire. Write only on one side of the paper. 



1,":^. Apple Pomace as Manure. Can Pomaee tbree 

 or four yearw old, be safely applied for Giapea? 

 What is Its fertilizing value ?— Friend. 



I,8:i3. Plum Tree Suckers. Will they bear fruit? 



1.h:k. Buddine or Grafting for Plums. What is 

 preferable f Will It do to use suc-kers from old trees 

 for stock ? SuBscRiBKR, Bainbridge, O. 



1.834. Grape Seedlings. How are they started from 

 seed, and managed generally ? 



1.835. Moore's Diamond Grape. Is It of better 

 quality than Niagara, and hardier in bud and cane ? 

 Has it retlexed stamens?— J. W . K., Jones Mills, Pa. 



1,831). Soil for Bulb Culture. Is our deep heavy 

 prairie .soil goo<l if mixed with sand? J. W. S., III. 



1,8.37. Langshan Eggs. Where can I get some for 

 hatching purpose.^? Mks. W.H. H. 



1,8:W. Buhach Insect Powder. Where can It be 

 had at the east? Merui.oi. 



1,88S. Crops among Fruit. Have but little land. 

 What ciups among Grapes, bush fruits, and In the 

 young orchard can be grown tt) best advantage? 



1.840. Cheap Greenhouse. Please give plan of 

 greenhou.'*e 10x;iO to be used for propagating. Mercury 

 rarely goes below 35 degrees Fah. Will cloth answer 

 for roof ? 



1.841. Tariff on Seeds. What Import duty is there 

 on garden and flower seeds ?— D. M. D. 



1.842. Cactus Ouliure. Will the removal of the 

 young plants .springing up around the parent plants 

 affect the health or bloonilng capacity of the latter?— 

 A. J. G., Mabt'rly, Mo. 



1.543. Opium Peppy. Can opium production be 

 mode a Ilnancial success here? How Is the plant grown, 

 and the opium gathered? Mrs. A. J. B., Nerada. 



1.544. Rooting Carnations. My Cuttings nearly all 

 damp off a few days after being put In. What Is the 

 trouble?— R. A. C, Midland. 



1,*545. Borer Mixture. Will the following: one 



quart of soft soap, one pint of Pine tar, and one pound 

 of .sulphur be effective as a w^ash or paint ? 



l.^m. Moon Influence. Should trees be pruned In 

 the light or dark of the moon?— G. W. P., Ills. 



1,847 Cabbage Worm. Can you tell of a sure remedy? 

 -E. C.Sub. 



1.848. BloodManure for Roses. How should blood as 

 prepared by English Rose growers, be used for best 

 effect on Roses?— A. B., Chester, Pa. 



1.849. Nitrate of Soda. Is this the same as nitrate 

 of potash? The soda Is not known in our drug stores. 

 —J. E. R., Mass. 



1,H50. Names of Flowers. Please tell the new 

 names for the old flowers we used to callas follows ; 

 •' Eglantine," a single, climbing, late-flowering Rose. 

 " Botton " Roses, probably one of the Pofyantha 

 family, crimson red; " Golden Buttons," something like 

 a golden yellow Feverfew, with long stems and hardy? 

 A. T. D.. Kans. 



1.851. Kainit for Trees and Potatoes. How shall I 

 apply it?-B. A. TJ., Del. 



1.852. Grape Geranium. What is Its botanical name? 

 The large Grape-like leaves are green on top, red under- 

 neath. Bloom pink, similar to Begonia.— Mrs. M. E. J., 

 Texas. 



1,^53. Hollyhock Blight. Lost my plantt last year, 

 by a disease attacking the leaves. What Is it and how 

 cured?- SUBSCRIBER, A'f »? Jersey. 



1.854. Book on Orchids. Is there a cheap practical 

 work on care and treatment of Orchids?— Mrs. J. A. C. 

 Titus>-iltc, Pa. 



1.855. Poultry Book. Is there one treating on rais- 

 ing of poultry on a large scale tor market?— D. C. .4/- 

 toona. Pa. 



1.856. Poisoning Sparrows. How best done?— W. 

 a. T., Mich. 



1.857. Slug Shot. Is this as sure a remedy for the 

 Potato bug as Paris Green?— A. R. T., Pennsylvania. 



1858. Portable Sprayer. Where can I get one at a 



reasonable price ? T. F. S. W, Va. 



18,59. Bark Bursting. Bark on Plum trees bursted 

 from branches to ground. How prevented and cured ? 

 Wm. F. Ohio. 



1960. Cinerarias. How treated for bloom in Febru- 

 ary or March? 



1861. Spireas. How treated for bloom by April In 

 greenhouse? 



1862. Carnations for Winter Bloom. What soil, 

 temperature and conditions of moisture are required 

 In greenhouse culture? W. B. M'C, Pa. 



1.86:1. Bisulphate of Lime. What Is the practical 

 experience of those who have u.ied It as deoderlzer 

 and antiseptic?- F. N. M., Pa. 



l,'it;4. Cherry Trees. W'lien should seed be snwn 

 for stock, and what kind la best? How and when 

 budded or grafted?— \V. T. A., Greemnlle, Pa. 



l.St^'y. Remedy for Plant Lice. WTiat Is the recipe 

 for flsh-oil soap recommended for plant lice?— A. B. S., 

 Ga. 



l.yiifi. Japan Chestnut. Can this be recommended 

 as a crop for prottt?— iNyiisiTivE, Ohio. 



l,xt'u. Clearing Waste Pipes. Sink drain frequently 

 stoppetl up with greasy matter. How can It be cleared 

 and kept cleared the easiest way?— R. S. T., L. I. 



l,8fis. Hot-bed Heating. How should hot-beds be 

 arranged if lo be heated with hot water pIpes^—N.S.F., 



Wi-st-onsin. 



l.w.i. Glazed Flower Pots. Can these be reconi- 

 meiKh'd for general use?— S. D., Ciueinnati, O. 



\.^'>iK Poinsettia in Tree Form. Can It be thus 

 grown with advantage?— Carlos, New England. 



1S71. Cherry Stock. What Is the difference between 

 Mazzard and Mahaleh stock. 



18;2. Mahaleb Sprouts, Will the Mahaleb produce 

 sprouts from the roots when wounded.— H. S., Ohio. 



1^7:i. Asparagus Bed. How prepared to insure sue 

 cess ?— W. L. K., Pa. 



1871. Mimulus Oulture. What are the most favor 

 able conditions? 



1875. Flowering Begonias. How shall they be 

 treated In summer after winter booming?— W. S. J. • 

 Chiicago. 



1876. Japan Honeysuckle. What makes my LonI 

 cero Halleana wilt and die down to the ground after 

 living all winter? 



1877. Blackberry Suckers. How can I prevent plants 

 from producing suckers, and how can suckers be 

 kIlled?-E. P. C, Mass. 



REPLIES TO INQUIRIES. 



1.71^)7. Plugging Trees for Disease. A corres- 

 pomlentof C.Gentleman voices our own views in 

 the following : The probabilities are unfavorable 

 to the conclusion that the sulphate of copper or 

 sulphur, or uails, or any other substance, intro- 

 duced into a hole in the trunk of the tree, can 

 cure *' die-back "or rusty fruit in Orange trees, 

 or remedy sickliness in other trees. It is a well 

 authenticated fact that copper is taken up by 

 plants to whose roots its soluble salts have 

 access, and Is there to be found by chemical 

 tests in the stems and wood. It is equally well- 

 established that very minute quantities of cop- 

 per are thus absorbed without apparent detri- 

 ment or benefit to trees, but that when some- 

 what larger, though still small, quantities of 

 copper are absorbed, plants and trees of various 

 sorts, wild and cultivated, are destroyed. It is 

 scarcely probable that sulphate of copper can 

 accumulate sufficiently in the juices or tissues of 

 a plant to kill fungi or other parasities, without 

 Injuring the plant itself. It is rather likely that 

 sulphate of copper, once within the plant, 

 whether at the root-tips or in the stem, will as it 

 diffuses, yield insoluble copper compounds with 

 the oxalic, tartaric, malic, citric, tannic and 

 other acids, or with the albuminoids, some of 

 which it must encounter ; so that, before it can 

 reach the young fruit-bearing branches, It will 

 have effectually killed the plant. That sulphur 

 or iron nails can have any effect, either invigora- 

 ting to the plant or destructive to Its enemies, is, 

 in my opinion, not probable. Iron, although 

 essential to the life of trees and agricultui-al 

 plants, is, so far as we now know, abundantly 

 supplied by every cultivable soil, and can scarce- 

 ly fail to be present in surplus in the juices and 

 organs of plants. Nevertheless, a series of care- 

 fully conducted comparative trials is called tor, 

 to settle this question, and some experiment 

 stati<m having suitable resources may well un- 

 dertake the investigation. 



1,754. Iron for Fruit Trees. We greatly doubt 

 that iron shavings, or any other iron refuse, will 

 be of any especial benefit to fruit trees. Yet 

 this should be settled by experiment. It is a 

 well-known fact that sulphate of iron (copperas) 

 although its two elements— sulphuric acid and 

 iron— are abundantly supplied in most soils, and 

 hardly considered to be essential substances of 

 plant food, nevertheless often has a very de- 

 cided beneficial effect on many crops. We have 

 been inclined to give the credit mostly to the 

 mere dissolving infiuencc of the sulphuric acid 

 and its property as a spore killer ; but it is not- 

 impossible that the iron may have something to 

 do with it. One of our cnrrcspiindeiits. J. laitner 

 Bowers of Virginia, reciminuMnicil the following 

 treatment for barren Plum trees: "Clean away 

 the earth from around the body or root of the 

 trees, and get some iron filing, or fine bits of iron, 

 say one quart to each tree, and put it next to 

 roots, say, within a radius of three feet having 

 the tree for center. Then the trees will hold 

 their fruit. If the filings or turnings can not be 

 procured, fill the roots with six a. —nails. Do 

 not be afraid to drive them in any part of tree 

 under ground, but do not put above ground 

 you may ruin a good axe in after years ; put in 

 the nails when your trees ai*e in full bluom." 

 We are not prepared to endorse this advice. See 

 also reply to No. 1,71)7. 



I,s4ii. Moon Influence. It sh«nild hardly be 

 necessary to say, that the great infiuence of the 

 moon on vegetation and many other things is all 

 moonshine. It is a wonder, that in our enlight- 

 ened age, so many otherwise intelligent people 

 will continue to watch the moon phases, and to 

 use great care to set trees, or sow seeds, or kill 

 hogs, etc., ** just when the moon is right.'^ This, 

 of course, is merely a little remnant of old-time 

 superstition, as is the idea that a tree can be 

 killed stone-ilead at once by striking an axe into 

 it at a certain day of the year.— G. K. 



1,85:3. Hollyhock Blight. The disea.se which 

 has affected your |>lants last season, was prob- 

 ably the Hollyhock blight, of which Prof. Byron 

 D. Halstead writes to Garden and Forest as fol- 

 lows : Last year, in and around New Brunswick, 

 it was almost impossible to find a single healthy 

 Hollyhock among the thousands of plants. At 

 first the lower leaves began to exhibit large cir- 

 cular brown patches, sometimes bounded upon 

 the side toward the centre of the leaf by the 

 veins, thus giving an angular outline. Soon 

 after the largest leaves of all suffered and fell, 

 and by the middle of August whole rows of the 

 plants exhibited leafless stems. Few gardeners 

 now have any plants, but one enterprising prop- 

 agator has a long row of fair-sized seedlings in 

 pots. When I first saw these seedlings they were 

 —a few hundred of them— in a box xuider sash, 

 and so badly infected with the blight that there 

 seenied :it first to be no hope for them. Perhaps 

 one plant in five was saved and pricked out in a 

 fresh box: and the following remedy was applied 

 almost daily : Three ounces of carbonate of 

 copper were dissolved in a quart of standard 

 ammonia, and afterwards diluted to twenty-two 

 gallons with water At the same time the older 

 leaves which developed the spots were removed 

 and burned, until a comparatively healthy con- 

 dition has been reached. The disease is due to 

 a Cercospora and probably (\ fl//?ui/7ia. Sacc, a 

 species which in its various forms grows upon 

 the common MallowCMaira rofjuif/i/o^'a ', Velvet- 

 leaf (yl/x/fi/o/M i'icf«Hrti^tand a species of Callirhoe. 



l,85ti. Poisoning the English Sparrow. A re- 

 cent Report of the Department of Agriculture 

 contains the following recipe: Dissolve an ounce 

 of arseniate of soda in a pint of warm water; 

 pour this upon as much wheat as it will cover 

 (in a vessel to prevent evaporation), and soak 

 twenty-four hours Dry the wheat so prepared 

 and it is ready for use. The sparrow should be 

 baited for several days previously with good 

 wheat, and the poisoned wheat substituted at 

 the same phire and time. The utmost care must 

 be used in administering poison of any kind to 

 sparrows, and any pei-son or animal eating the 

 dead sparrows are liable to be fatally poisoned. 



1,849. Nitrate of Soda. This is also known 

 under the names of Chili saltpeter, or cubic salt- 

 peter, and contains 16 or 17 per cent of nitrogen. 

 Nitrate of potash is the common saltpeter or 

 nitre of our drug stores. The latter is much too 

 costly for general manurial purposes. People 

 should understand that potash salts and nitrate 

 of soda are fertilizers, and should not be looked 

 for in the drug stores, not tmly because the aver- 

 age druggist knows notlnng of these fertilizing 

 materials, an<l if he did. people could not afford 

 to buy of trades-people used to make charges 

 hundreds of per cent in advance of the original 

 cost. The large fertilizer men are the ones to 

 look to for a supply of all plant foods.— G. R. 



l,82t). Protecting Tree Boses from Sun Scald. 



Anything that will provide shade for the exposed 

 stems of the Tree Roses, must necessarily be a 

 prevention of sun scald. Whether wrapping 

 the stems lightly in Sphagnum Moss would 

 answer this purpose without doing barm other- 

 wise or not is a question to be settled by trial. 

 F^ndoubtedly a shade or screen made of lathes 

 or similar nuiterial, surrounding the stem, would 

 be as good as anything.~G. K. 



1,845. Borer Mixture. The borer, when inside 

 the body of a tree, can hardly be reached by out- 

 side washes. The use of a sharp knife, of a 

 piece of wire or a limber twig will have to be 

 resorted to. The eggs are deposited in early 

 summer. Rubbing the trunk and main branches 

 of the trees with soft soap pure and simple in 

 early June, and repeating this several times 

 until middle of July, is perhaps as effective a 

 remedy as any other. Prof. Cook says, if he can 

 make but one application, he uses a mixture of 

 carbolic acid and soft soap made as follows: One 

 quart of soft soap to two gallons of water heat- 

 ed to the boiling point, when one pint of crude 

 carbolic acid is added, stirring the solution well 

 at the same time. With this, and ungloved 

 hands, and uncovered arms, I, by use of a cloth, 

 rub the whole trunk and larger limbs of the tree, 

 using care not to sprinkle the foliase. Incase 

 the acid is very strong it might kill the foliage. 

 This is a]tpUod to the trees two weeks after the 

 blossoms fall. This undoubtedly is a better and 

 safer wash than the mixture of soft soap. Pine 

 tur and sulphur suggested by the inquirer.— G.U. 



