POPULAR GARDENING 



AND FRUIT GROWING. 



•' ACCUSE NOT NATURE, SHE HATH DONE HER PART: Dll THOU BUT THINE." -Hn-TOS. 



Vol. V. 



crtJijir, X89 0. 



No. lO. 



July 



With sinewy arniT). that beiul Ut^Tii'ntli the strain 

 Of wheat that shliiiiners in the market place. 

 Ills yellow hair wiuii blown alnml his faee. 

 Comes swart July, heaillug Iherumbrous wain 

 That with its heavy biirtleu doth complain. 

 KIpe eherrle,s. hohling still the orli-nt craee 

 Of Syrian groves allowing seantv space 

 To crijuson apples, anil full beartletl grain. 

 Popples ami glailloll are round his head. 

 Anil ereaniy lilies i-IIng altout his hands. 

 Their regal fragranee luring weary bees; 

 HJa tropic bounty showers its gidd and reil 

 On mountain crag, and where the sunlit sands 

 Grow cool and sweet beneath the rippling seas, 



Youth'fi Companion, 



Sr.rps OF Oi.EANDEii aud other haixi-wooded 

 plants may be routed in the simplest wa.v by set- 

 ting close toother in a low vessel nearly full of 

 a puddle of sand. This is to be put in a light 

 warm place, and the sand kept very wet. 



The A.MERICAN Wild Vlowkr Club Intends to 

 make a complete exhibition of native Americiin 

 Flora at the World's Fair in isiri A pamphlet 

 descriptive of the aim and work i>f this Associa- 

 tion, and containing its full history, manner of 

 conducting branch clubs, etc., L« being issued, 

 and maybe had, with further information, by 

 addressing Sec\v S. Howe. Wilmington, Del. 



Death of Patrick Barry. Just as we close 

 our last form, word reaches us of the death of 

 the well-known nurseryman, pomologist and 

 author Patrick Barry, at his home in Kochester, 

 N. Y. He died on the morning of June 23, at the 

 age of seventy-six years. At the present time 

 we have room for only the following brief out- 

 lines of his career. Patrick Barry was the son 

 of an Irish farmer and was born near Belfast, 

 Ireland, in 181(i. He laime to this country in ISJti 

 and in 1840, he formed a partnership with George 

 EUwanger and started the widely known Mount 

 Hope Nurser}' of Rochester, N. T., which isnow 

 among the largest tree and shrub nurseries in the 

 world. Mr. Barr.v was for several years editor of 

 The Horticulturist. He wrote a number of works 

 on tree-raising, his '"Fruits and Fruit Trees of 

 America" being the standard treatise in its line. 

 One of his chief and most valuable works how- 

 ever, was his "Catalogue of the American Pomo- 

 logical Society which is the accepted guide 

 of American fruit-growers, and is regarded 

 as standard authority throughout the world. 

 He has been president of Xew-York State 

 .Agricultural Society, and was a member of the 

 board of control of the New-York State Agri- 

 cultural Experiment Station. He was presi- 

 dent of the Flower City National Bank of 

 Uochester, and had been president of se\"eral 

 others. Patrick Barry was an upright man— a 

 model of Industry, integrity, and honor. No one 

 in the city, where he had lived his busy and 

 eventful life, was held in higher esteem by his 

 fellow-citizens; and the life of no man furnished 

 a better example or stronger incentive to the 

 youth of the present day, who would make f < »r 

 themselves a spotless name and achieve endur- 

 ing fame. 



Prepare for the Winter Plants. 



Whether plants are grown in the window 

 or the glass-house in the winter, one of the 

 iiKLst important things to think of for their 

 well-doing is the soil. It is to them what 

 food is to a human being, and on its nature 

 and preparation must largely depend the 

 health and vigor of the subjects. The 

 professional plant^grower realizes this, since 

 his soil yard receives a vast deal of atten- 

 tion, a point the amateur who later views 

 the products of the farmer's skill fails to 

 often properly to appreciate. 



The most indisputable ingredients of 



good plant soil are loam and rich organic 



nuitter. liOam, indeed forms the basis of 

 composts best calculated to give enduring 

 life aud vigor to most soft-wooded plants. 

 The best article that is to be had is sod 

 from an old pasture. This is largely com- 

 posed of the fibrous roots of the grass and 

 which serves a double purpose, that of 

 plant food, and that of causing a sufficient- 

 ly porous condition for roots, air and water 

 to pass through freely, even when used for 

 -such things as require to be finely potted. 

 For imparting special richness to the soil, 

 nothing can be better than stable manure 

 used for the average plants in the 

 proportion of one-fourth or one- 

 third of the entire bulk. 



As a rule the foregoing sub- 

 stances with some sharp sand and 

 some peat, or in its absence refuse 

 liops from a brewery, decayed 

 to he light and fine, are all that 

 the window gardener or other 

 amateur requires. 



A common method of prepar- 

 ing plant compost by successful 

 growers is to gather turf from a 

 pasture or the roadside in July, 

 and to obtain some fresh stable 

 manure. A compost heap is then 

 started, by spreading of the 

 former about four inches thick to 

 the size of the heap, taking pains 

 to define it by a line of entire 

 sods. Then over the sod is placed 

 a layer of manure one-third or 

 one-tourth as thick as the former, spreading 

 it evenly. This Ls repeated until the heap is 

 as large as desired. The top course should 

 be soil with a line of sods a little higher at 

 theedge. After the completion of the pile, 

 water is applied on the top to thoroughly 

 saturate the entire mass. In a week consid- 

 erable heat will be present in the earth. In 

 two weeks the material should be thrown 

 over, beginning at one end, and cutting 

 down the pile vertically with a sharp spade, 

 a thin strip at a time to catLse the substance 

 to be somewhat fine. By turning over the 

 new pile once more two or three weeks later, 

 it will after then laying another month be 

 fit for use. 



Soil is then placed upon it, and firmed as in 

 planting or seed sowing. A stake driven 

 into the ground so that the layer cutting 

 can be tied to it, and firmly held in position, 

 will usually prove of benefit. 



Tonguing. as shown at a and h, is the 

 usual method of treating the layered part 

 for the purpo.se of checking the downward 

 flow of sap ; but the removal of a ring of 

 b.ark, as .shown at <; or cutting out a sim- 

 ple notch, as shown at d, also answer the 

 same purpose well. 



Trees and shrubs intended for propogation 

 by layering, had best be headed back 



lUiistrating Layering of Bard-wood Plants. 



severely the year previous, to induce a large 

 number of shoots to start from near the 

 ground. 



Layering Hard-Wooded Plants. 



Most of the hard-wooded growths, cut- 

 tings of which do not readily strike root, 

 are easily propagated by what is known as 

 "layering." This in reality, is only a 

 modified way of propagation by cuttings, 

 the only difference being that the layer cut- 

 ting is left partly attached to the parent 

 stock to draw sustenance until able to de- 

 pend altogether on its own root. 



The process of layering is made plain by 

 the accompanying illustration. One of the 

 branches of the shrub or tree to be layered 

 is cut into, and partly split, as shown at a. 

 This is called "tongued," and is done for 

 the purpose to stop the return fiow of sap 

 in the half-severed cutting, thus inducing it 

 to form a callous, and then roots, at the 

 tongued point a. 



The branch is then bent down into a hol- 

 low dug into the ground beside the shrub 

 or tree, aud held there by little sticks 

 crossed above it, or a hooked wooden peg. 



Fruits for Home Use. 



S. GRA.\VI1XE, WISCONSIN. 



The amount of berries and other small and 

 tree fruits that a family of fruit lovers will 

 consume with benefit to themselves, when 

 having free access to these delicacies, is 

 simply enormous, and far more than people 

 of moderate income could well aiford to buy. 

 Our own family of six members use from 

 six to eight quarts of Strawberries a day 

 during their season, and these at eight cents 

 a quart, which we would have to pay for 

 them if we did not grow them, would involve 

 a daily expense of over 50 cents, or much 

 more than I could afford to pay out even for 

 so good a purpose. Thus it is with Ra.sp- 

 berries, Blackberries and all other fruits. 

 But since I have a fruit and vegetable gar- 

 den of my own, aud raise all these things at 

 trifling expense, the work being all done by 

 myself and other members of the family in 

 our spare moments, and mostly " for recre- 

 ation," we can use fruits to our hearts' 

 content all season long. 



I know farmers in this vicinity who grow 

 Wheat and other grains, and think they can 

 afford to, because Wheat brings cash, even 

 if it be ever so little and often less than it 

 costs to produce it, but ask them why they 

 have no patch of Strawberries, and they will 

 tell the old story that they can buy them 

 cheaper than they could raise them. 



A gootl illustration of the folly of such 

 assertion was given by a Mr. Harris at the 

 last meeting of the Wisconsin State Horti- 

 cultural Society. He stated that a farmer 



