2Io 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



July, 



PROH 

 THB 



SOCIETIES 



TO BEAVIDBVriMOVniL 



The Successful Man is one 



'who can overcome every 



obstacle. 



Board the Pickers. Tlie 



, l.i'St plan is to board the 



pickers, having them stay 



on the premises throufili 



the season.— H. P. CloHiier. 



Home Market Best. Sell at home always when 

 you can do it, and don't trust the commission 

 man to send you pay for what he doesn't want. 

 — Oias. WrUiht, Del. 



The Chrysanthemum Clob. of Erie, Pa., have 

 decided to luild their annual show on Nov. -tth to 

 7th. Premium list will be out in a tew days. H. 

 Tuny, Set'u, Box 2-20, Erie, Pa. 



Moyer Grape. The Moyer closely resembles 

 the Delaware in looks and ([Uality. As to earli- 

 ness it is the earliest Grape we have, coming in 

 even befoi-e the Tallman.— icicis Raasch. 



Clean Culture Needed. I believe it we would cul- 

 tivate our orchards as they cultivate the Orange 

 orchards of California, instead of seeding them 

 down, we would increase the quality and quanti- 

 ty of our fruit at least 20 per cent,— Tl'. H. CouUin 

 before the Shanoicc Co., Kans. Institute. 



Forest Botation. When Oaks are cut off they 

 are followe<i by softer wood, and Pine is followed 

 by Oak, Walnut and other deciduous trees. The 

 ground in Pine forests offers the best opportu- 

 nity for squirrels to plant Acorns and Walnuts, 

 and affords shelter to Maple seeds.— O.B.Hadwin 



The Hardiest Peaches. Mr. Willard believed 

 Early Kivei-s hail a hardy fruit bud and would 

 stand more cold than other varieties. Hill's Chili 

 and Jacques Kareripe were others. Mr. Rupert 

 said that Early Kivers and Hill's Chili bore good 

 crops with him when other varieties failed. Mr. 

 Arnold would add Hyne's Surprise, proving 

 very hardy, early, and absolutely free-stone.— 

 We.'stcm New York Siieicty. 



Pruninff the Peach. The trees should be 

 pruned so as to leave no crotches, but limbs ex- 

 tending from the trunk from four to twelve 

 inches apart, and in my judgment the toii of the 

 tree should commence three feet from the 

 ground ; and care should be taken, in pruning, 

 to give the tree an upright position and to pre- 

 vent from arming out so as to hinder successful 

 cultivation.-- irfjif Mieh.Frwt growers' A xfo'tion. 



Garden Tillage. When cultivating, work the 

 entire plot, and as soon as one crop is harvested, 

 remove all rubbish and cultivate the ground, so 

 that it may be ready for something else. It 

 hurts land quite as much to grow weeds as it 

 does to grow useful vegetables, and to allow 

 them to mature their seed in your garden is to 

 harbor your very worst enemies and make the 

 battle ten times harder for you the next year.— 

 Adrian Farmers' Institute. 



Seedling Nut Trees. However much we may 

 depend upon seedling Walnuts for profitable 

 planting, it will not do to put equal dependence 

 upon seedling Chestnuts. The finer varieties of 

 these are as unlikely to come true from seed as 

 the finer kinds of Apples and Pears, and an 

 orchard of seedling Chestnuts would be as un- 

 satisfactory as an orchard of seedling Apples or 

 Pears. The variation of Chestnuts seems to be 

 in the line of unproductiveness as well as size.— 

 Chax. Parry before the N. J. Hort Soc. 



Flantine Strawberries. The easiest and quick- 

 est way I have found to plant a large number, is 

 for two jiersons to go on, one with a spade and 

 the other with a basket of plants; and the one 

 who has the spade simply puts it in the soil, runs 

 the spade in a slanting direction, and raises the 

 handle a little, just sufliciont for the other to put 

 the plant under the spade and spread out the 

 roots there and ht)ld them in i)roper position 

 while the other one withdraws the spade; the 

 earth falls back at once on the roots of the plant, 

 and presses his foot upon it, and the thing is 

 done. They can walk along that way very 

 rapidly. — Sec'j/ Fruit Growers'' Association of 

 Dntario, Canada. 



Blackberry Management. I plant my niack- 

 beri-ies se\'en feet apart between rows, in rows 

 three feet, ami 1 try to keep them in hills. They 

 are supported by wire on either side. When the 

 growth has got to the length of about two and 

 a half feet, 1 cut the top of the cane off ; that 



stops the upward growth of the plant, so it forms 

 itself Into a tree. Tn laying them down, remove 

 the earth say four inches from the hill, and three 

 inches under so we can bend the root and not 

 the cane. We put earth enough upon them to 

 press the tops together as close as we can ; then 

 cover them, so that one lays along-side of the 

 other. I uncover them in the spring as soon as 

 the earth get in good workable order. —Mr. Ham- 

 ilton before Wisconsin, Farmers" [nstitute. 



Why the Concord Drops Off. I do not think 

 the trouble arises from deep cultivation nor 

 from use of ashes. Believe it is caused by over- 

 bearing, thereby weakening the vine. We must 

 remember in vineyard management that in any 

 given season there are to be perlected two crops, 

 the first, the fruit which goes Uj be consumed 

 in the market, and the second the ripening or 

 maturing of the wood for the ne.\t year's fruit- 

 ing. If an excess of fruit is grown, the wood 

 will suffer or become enleebled. We here touch 

 upon one of the most important principles in 

 the science of vine growing There is no doubt 

 that very many vineyards are at one time or 

 another injured by overbearing. This is partic- 

 ularly true of young vineyards.— Se'cy Crissyo/ 

 the Chiutauqua Hort. .Soc. 



Growing Sweet Potatoes. Plant seed tubers 

 showing a tendency to become short and larger 

 in the center, with a rapid taper towards each 

 end. Place in a hot bed horizontally one-half 

 inch apart, drench with water, cover three inches 

 with earth, then one and a-half inches of sand. 

 When the plants are four inches above ground, 

 they are large enough to pull for sets. Ridge 

 the ground with a two-horse plough, four feet 

 or less apart, and with a spade plant on the 

 ridges, eighteen inches apart. Keep free from 

 weeds and grass. A Sweet Potato scraper, drawn 

 by a mule, will be of great assistance until the 

 \1nes cover the ground, after which little atten- 

 tion will be required. Digging can be done with 

 a spade, if only a small quantity is grown, or 

 with a plough with the mould board removed, 

 and a rolling cutter to cut the vines.— T. E.Oood- 

 rich before the Ills. Hort. Society. 



School-ground Planting. The decoration of 

 school-grounds can be made at a trifling expense. 

 The ground in the beginning should be thorough- 

 ly broken and harrowed and then seeded to 

 grass. It should be planted with some native 

 shrubs and trees, and the boys and girls should 

 be made to feel an interest in maintaining it. 

 The play-ground proper may be in the rear of 

 the building, and if the students are furnished 

 with a cheap mower they will take pride in keep- 

 ing the lawn in front well clipped and tidy. 

 Besides this, if our native trees— Hickories, Oaks, 

 Birches and Pines— are planted in groups, many 

 interesting lessons in botany can be drawn from 

 them by a skillful instructor. Flower-beds 

 should be used with caution, but when children 

 are properly interested they can be introduced 

 to advantage, and it is certain that the influence 

 of such a pleasant ground will do something to- 

 ward improving and elevating taste and charac- 

 ter.— J. J. Thomas, before the W. N. T. Hort. Soc. 



Park Planting. In the sylvan embellishment 

 ot a park is a curious fact that nearly all our 

 larger forest trees are entirely neglected, except 

 Maples, Elms, Poplars and occasiimally the 

 White Ash or the Basswood. The Wild Cherry, 

 Tulip, Plane, Beech, Honey Locust, Sweet Chest- 

 nut, all the Hickories and most of the Oaks, are 

 large trees excellent for shade or ornament, but 

 tew of them are ever seen in young plantations, 

 and they are difficult to obtain in ijuantity at 

 any nursery. In the same category may be 

 placed many of our smaller native trees, such as 

 the Hackberry, Sweet-Gum, Sour-Gum, Horn- 

 beam, Ironwood, Sassafras, etc., all compara- 

 tively common in our woods, of easy cultivation 

 and comely form or distinctive character. Where 

 a European tree is nothing better, or even in- 

 ferior, it will be propagated and planted in pref- 

 erance to its American congener. Thus an 

 English or Turkey Oak can be readily obtained 

 at any nursery, but specimens of any one of a 

 dozen native species with difficulty, or not all. 

 So of the Beech, Ash, Plane, Horse Chestnut, 

 Linden, Moimtain Ash, Larch and Pine of 

 Europe and American respectively.— Wm. Mc- 

 Millan, before the W. N. Y. Horticulturists. 



The School Garden. It should be not only a 

 pliiee for observation, but afield for experiment. 

 Budding, grafting, jiropagation by layers, cut- 

 tings and slips, cross fertilization jind the condi- 

 tions favorable to plant growth could be taught 

 experimentally— not to one class necessarily, but 



to every pupil somewhere in the course of study. 

 Seeing and doing sueh things, and recording the 

 results would give pupils a training peculiarly 

 valuable. Here is a large field f«jr the considera- 

 tion of those who would send the whole boy to 

 school. Here is an efficient means of interesting 

 him. A lively personal interest is the mainspring 

 of all proper mental development. Unless the 

 boy is interested in the work of the schoolroom 

 his mind will be on things outside of it ; he will 

 be present in body but absent in mind. How is 

 it that the varied, instructive and interesting 

 work of the school garden has escaped the atten- 

 tion and appreciation of educators so long, 

 much more the attention and appreciation of 

 agriculturists? In the public schools of Boston, 

 two hours a week are set apart for elementary 

 science work in all the primary classes, and in 

 the fifth and sixth grammar classes. Out-door 

 work at all seasonable times should be substi- 

 tuted for the present in-door work. Work in 

 the school garden would be as much better than 

 work on the same material in the schoolroom as 

 a visit to Paris is better than a description of it. 

 The school garden would furnish most of the 

 material necessary for the winter's work— seeds, 

 buds, bulbs, tubers, corms, fleshy roots, pressed 

 leaves and flowers, and other material.— ffejirv 

 L. Clapp, before the Mass. Hort. Soc. 



Decorative Horticulture. 



[Abstract of paiH^r by Jas. C'urrie, before n Wisconsin 

 Farmers' /n-sti^u(e.] 



Decorative horticulture, as we understand 

 it, means the making and care of the lawn, 

 the planting of trees and shrubs for orna 

 ment, and the cultivation of all kinds of 

 flowering and ornamental plants, whether 

 native or exotic, hardy or tender, in the open 

 garden or in the conservatory. 



Taste for the Ait. We cannot expect to find, 

 in a country so new as this is, many places of 

 large extent so beautifully laid out as we do in 

 the older countries; but we have abundant evi- 

 dence that the taste for this art is very rapidly 

 developing throughout the country. The 

 changed and ever improving appearance of our 

 city and village homes assures us of this. Nearly 

 every occupied lot now has its well-made, well- 

 kept lawn, its handsome trees and pretty flower- 

 ing plants, and sundry other embellishments, 

 rendering it attractive and beautiful. The city 

 merchant who delights to breathe the pure, 

 bracing air of his country home, and never tires 

 of fea-sting his eyes on the extensive and varied 

 landscape which surrounds it, is a true lover of 

 nature in all her native and rugged grandeur; 

 but that does not prevent him from employing 

 the landscape gardener's art to improve the im- 

 mediate surroundings of his home. Some people 

 condemn that art, because thej' consider it but 

 an imitution ot nature. But the true artist has 

 really no intention of imitating nature's works. 

 He emjiloys her materials to create scenes which 

 are polished and refined, pleasing to the eye and 

 adapted to the circumstances. Under his mas- 

 terly direction he produces effects, which, it is 

 fair to say, are scarcely less natural, and cer- 

 tainly are more consistent in the vicinity of the 

 home, than any of nature's handiwork. Our 

 country resident, therefore, who thoroug-ly ap- 

 preciates the beautiful, as well as the picturesque 

 in nature, and who has a keen sense of refine- 

 ment, embellishes his home grounds, but is care- 

 ful not to over-do his work. 



Pleasures and Benefits. The pleasures and 

 benefits to be derived from the cultivation of 

 plants, a well-stocked flower garden and nice 

 lawn, with trees, shrubs and flowers pleasingly 

 arranged, are almost innumerable and inestima- 

 ble. Let mo direct attention to one important 

 benefit. The necessary labor is light and very 

 interesting. It demands attention, but does not 

 impose a burden on the mental faculties; it may 

 be made really nothing but amusement; and, 

 moreover, is conducted out of dooi-s in the clear, 

 fresh air and sunshine. Is it any wonder, then, 

 that it proves so often such a splendid tonic for 

 invaliils and weary, care-worn business men'/ I 

 take m.\' stand with confidence, because 1 am 

 assured of the supi>ort of every farmer's wife 

 and daughter, and of all those farmers whose 

 handsome homes we find here and there through- 

 out the coinitry, a delight to their owners and 

 even the pride of their neighbors. 



Make Your Homes Attractive. Why not give 

 the children a nice garden, and encourage them 

 to spend some of their leisure hours in it, and 

 buy them a few |>lants and seeds, and let them 



