284 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



August, 



1,836. Soil Best Salted for Bulb Culture. This 

 is such as has been stacked for several months 

 so that the grass has become decayed. Use two 

 parts of such to one part well-decayed cow- 

 manure, with plenty of sand to make the whole 

 porous. A small portion of sand should be 

 placed at the base of each bulb when planted.— 

 E. O. Orpet. 



1,841. Tariff on Seeda. There is no tariff on 

 flower seeds so far as our experience goes. We 

 annually import large quantities of seeds of 

 perennials from all parts of Europe through the 

 malls and have never had duty to pay.— E. O. O. 



1,946. Moon Influence. The sooner all super- 

 stitions relative to the moon influence on garden 

 operations are dispelled, the better it will be for 

 the cause of Horticultural. There is no necessity 

 to consider the moon before doing anything 

 that wants doing.— E. O. Orpet. 



1,8.50. Names of Flowers. Eglantine is the 

 poetical name for Rosa i-ubiginosa, also known 

 as "Sweet Briar" and can be obtained at any 

 good nursery. "Golden Buttons" is probably 

 the double form of the Buttercup, Ranunculus 

 acris fl. pi. It grows two to three feet high; if 

 dwarf it is probably R. speciosus fi. pi. which has 

 larger flowers and very double. Both are first- 

 class hardy perennials. E. O. Orpet. 



1,96:{. Fuller's Bose Beetle. This insect, named 

 in honor of A. S. Fuller, who first noticed it as a 

 foe to Koses, is 3-10 of an inch long, dark-gray in 

 color, dotted with white, and hides by day in the 

 axils of the leaves or in some other 

 place of concealment. When it is 

 jarred, it drops quickly to the earth, 

 like many other beetles, and from its 

 close mimicry in color of the earth, it 

 is quite likely to escape notice. The 

 female lays her small yellow eggs in 

 clusters at the base of the plants, and 

 the larvas or grubs feed on the roots. 

 So far as observed, says Prof. A.J. Cook 

 of the Michigan Agricultural College, 

 it has done no appreciable damage in 

 the grub or larva state, but has been a 

 serious annoyance as a mature beetle. 

 It feeds on the foliage, and has defolia- 

 ted seriously the following kinds of 

 plants: Ferns, Palms, India-rubber, 

 Laurel, Accacia, Lemon, Orange, Cassia, 

 Draca'na, Oleander, Camellia, Habro- 

 thamnus and Pittosp(>rura. It feeds on 

 the plants at night all through the 

 winter. It eats from the edge of the 

 leaves and rarely cuts them up. We 

 believe that with us the insect does not 

 injure the Roses. The facts seem to argue 

 that the larva- must work on the roots of 

 some plants other than Roses. As they 

 seem much more abundant in the Palm, Fern 

 and Ficus room, I have surmised that they might 

 feed on the roc'ts, possibly, of some of these 

 plants, though I have no positive proof that 

 such is the case. The advice given by Mr. 

 Henderson to catch and destroy the mature 

 beetle is excellent. By carefully noting its habit 

 of hiding, it is not hard to find it. It usually 

 stays close in the axii of a leaf, or between the 

 stems at the base, bj' the earth, or between a 

 stem and its sheath. Frequently we can avail 

 ourselves of its habit of dropping when jarred, 

 and vii uKiy ([uickly discover it and pick it up 

 from the earth. The fact that the beetle hides 

 so carefully, may lead to its non-detrcticni by 

 thegardener. Hesees his plants mutilatid, Imt 

 does not discover the cause. Close obseivutiun 

 will detect the culprit. 



1,860. Cinerarias. To bloom in February or 

 March, seed should be sown at once, and the 

 plants when large enough, be planted singly in 

 thumb pots in good loam two parts, sand one 

 part, and leaf-soil sifted one part. When the 

 pots are full of roots the plants should be trans- 

 ferred to five-inch pots, using soil similar to the 

 above, but with the addition of one part well- 

 decayed cow manure. The plants should have 

 their final potting into 7 or 8-inch pots in Novem- 

 ber, and it the plants are grown in cold frames 

 until the arrival of frost, and fumigated lightly 

 every two weeks {preventive rather than cura- 

 tive,! their greatest enemy, green fly, will not 

 trouble them, and the plants may be placed in a 

 cool green house in fall and will flower beauti- 

 fully in the early spring months. The two 

 firinciple points to be kept in view, are, never to 

 et them become pot-bound until finally potted, 

 and to keep them as cool as possible without 

 their coming in contact wilth frost.— E. O. Opet. 



1,854. Book on Orchids. The cheapest and 

 best book on < trchids for amateurs is the "Orchid 

 ' Manual" by B. .S. Williams. Although the cul- 

 tural matter is meant to apply to English 

 Gardens, it can in most cases oe modified by 

 the cultivator to suit his own ]>eculiur roiiiire- 

 ments. The book has full cultural directions t() 

 the growth of nearly all Orchids in culti\ution, 

 it having been recently revised and brought to 

 date. Cost in the L^nited States probablj- about 

 85.00.-E. O. O. 



1,921. ThripB on Strawberries. We do not 

 exactly know to which insect our inquirer 

 refers. The Grapevine leaf-hopper, an insect 

 often quite troublesome to Grape-vines, espec- 

 ially to Clinton, Delaware, and other thin-leaved 

 varieties, is commonly known among grape- 

 growers as the "Thrip." As this lives only on 

 the juices of the leaf, it is difflcult to deal 

 with. Syringing with strong Tobacco water, or 

 with the kerosene and soap emulsion are probab- 

 ly the most efBcient remedies. Carrying lighted 

 torches through the \'1neyard at night, at the 

 same time disturbing the foliage with a stick, t^^ 

 induce the insects to fly into the light and get 

 burned is also recommended. As a preventive 

 the ground in the neighborhood of the vines 

 should be kept thoroughly clean, and be several 

 times raked or disturbed late in the autumn, and 

 early in the spring, so as toexpose any concealed 

 insects to the killing influence of frost. Some- 

 times these leaf-hoppers are quite abundant in a 

 vine yard one season, and ijuite scarce the next. 

 Perhaps the insects infesting our friends .Straw- 

 berries is the leaf roller. Whatever it is, a good 

 way to get rid of it, is to mow the patch as soon 

 as possible after fruiting, on the morning of a 

 hot day, and at night or next day set Are to the 

 mowings.— G. K. 



1,964. Eradicating Purslane. There is hardly 

 a more persistent weed in rich garden soil than 

 purslane, a near relative of our annual garden 

 flower, the Portulacca. A large plant, pulled up 

 and thrown down upon the ground, even in the 

 hottest day, will usually continue to produce. 



and before the fire could be extinguished, 

 several rods of the hedge was totally de- 

 stroyed. The heat created was sufficient to 

 seriously damage some fine shade-trees 

 that were standing near. Last October, 

 while visiting the orchards of Mr. A. G. 

 Tuttle, I saw several fine groups of Ever- 

 greens on his grounds suffer total destruc- 

 tion from fire through the ignorance and 

 carelessness of some of his men who had 

 been instructed to burn some brush in the 

 vicinity. The fire run through the partially 

 dried grass that covered the ground about 

 the trees, and as it approached their trunks, 

 the dry needles beneath the trees, being 

 resinous, burned so vigorously that the 

 lower branches were ignited, and in a mo- 

 ment the Are crept up the trunk to the top 

 of the tree, where tongues of flame rose 

 higher than the tallest shoots. Whole 

 groups of Norway Spruces, Balsam Firs and 

 Scotch Pines, nearly or quite twenty feet in 

 height, were destroyed in a moment by a 

 roaring conflagration. 



MR. STAHL'S PLAN OF TRELLISING TOMATOES. 



ripen and scatter its numerous seeds. Small 

 plants can easily be killed by cultivation; but 

 when allowed to become large, they shcmid not 

 only be carefully pulled up, but also gathere<l 

 at once, and piled up in heaps with soil on top, 

 to rot, or better be removed from the garden 

 and given to pigs or poultry. 



1,966. Fuchsia Buds Dropping. This is caused 

 by a want of vigour, and rarely happens to plants 

 liberally grown in a light airy greenhouse. It 

 only occurs with us in the case of some of the 

 double white kinds which have element of weak- 

 ness in them. The remedy lies in giving plenty 

 of air night and day, ;so as to strengthen the 

 wood and foliage. Plants grown in windows are 

 most liable to cast their buds, owing to the con- 

 lini'iufot. When this happens, and the weather 

 is warm, put the plants in the open air in a shel- 

 tered, not too sunny, place. Water only when 

 dry, and if they are root-bound, top-dress with 

 some concentrated manure, or water with soot. 

 or guano water twice a week. This will soon 

 give them strength enough to open their flowers. 

 When in a root-bound state. Fuchsias want a lot 

 of nourishment. Very often window gardeners 

 do not prune back their plants in spring, so that 

 they make a weakly growth inciipablcjof the 

 production of good blooms. They siiould be cut 

 back in February, leaving only two eyes of the 

 previous season's growth, and quite cutting away 

 all very weakly growths. Then they start strong- 

 ly, and if shaken out of the old soil and repotted 

 when the young shoots are an inch in length 

 they form stout tlower-bearing branches.— A. E. 



Evergreens Endangered by Fire. 



Among the dangers that beset Evergreen 

 trees and hedges that from fire set by care- 

 less hands in a dry time during spring, 

 summer or fall, is not the least. Prof. Goff' 

 of the University of Wisconsin has recently 

 had occasion to observe several instances of 

 Evergreen trees being entirely ruined by 

 such me.ans. 



I^ast spring, he tells in Garden and Forest, 

 a fine Norway Spruce hedge on the farm of 

 the Wisconsin Agricultural Experiment 

 Station was accidentally set on fire from a 

 mass of burning leaves in the neighborhood, 



How to Train Tomatoes. 



Growing Tomatoes for the canning fac- 

 tories at -r^ti.dO to .*8.00 per ton excludes even 

 the possibility of profitable trellis- 

 ing. The grower for market, who 

 receives from .*1.0ll upwards per 

 bushel, may find it advisable to put 

 at least some brush or litter of 

 some kind around his vines, in or- 

 der to keep the fruit from contact 

 with the .soil. Perhaps it may even 

 pay him to put up a simple trellis 

 such as shown in fig. 1. This metii- 

 od was suggested to us by Mr. ,Iohn 

 M. .Stahl, who believed that trellis- 

 ing a patch in this manner will in- 

 crease the amount of crop to the 

 full extent of paying for material 

 and erection of trellis, while the 

 better quality of the fruit resulting 

 from such treatment, will be clear 

 gain. The trellis consists simply 

 of a row of stakes, at a resonable 

 apart, on each side of the row of plants, and 

 strands of wire strung along the posts, at 

 say eight inches apart from each other. A 

 more detailed description was furnished us 

 by Mr. Stahl, but our printers, unfortunately 

 have lost or mislaid the mantiscript. 



One of the state experiment stations re- 

 ports satisfactory results from the use of a 

 trellis put up like the one described with 

 this exception, that pieces of six-inch board 

 in single Hue, were substituted for the pots, 

 and the wires stappled to the edges on each 

 side. 



The home gardener can well afford to put 

 up some sort of trellis for his comparatively 

 few plants, even it he did not expect any 

 other advantage from it but the greater 

 attractiveness and neatness of the patch. 

 Ahything that adds renewed interest to the 

 garden is a great gain. 



A simple way of treating Tomato vines is 

 to train them to a single pole or stake, say 

 eight feet high, and keep the plants trimmed 

 to single stem. Soft bands should be used 

 for tying, and particular attention paid to 

 give the fruit-clusters some support by 

 tying to the stake. The plants need not be 

 more than three feet apart in the row. 

 When in full growth, and loaded with fruit 

 in all stages of development, a row of 

 Tomato plants thus trained will always 

 attract attention, and may prove one of the 

 " sights " of the garden. 



Other simple styles of trellis are shown 

 in flg. 3 and 3. The former is made by 

 setting three stakes, five or six feet high, 

 in a circle around each plant, and fastening 

 a few barrel hoops to them as shown in en- 

 graving. The other consists of two uprights, 

 and three or four cross sticks or slats nailed 

 to them. There are many other ways of 



