1 888. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



29 



buyers, too, will be likely to fight shy of 

 any radical change at the start. 



The change in London was a gradual 

 transition, and came about like this; a price 

 was fixed on fruits, but it it was too high, 

 no buyers were found; if it was too low there 

 were too many. Give them to whomever 

 one would, there was trouble; if buyers were 

 asked to bid and accepted the highest offer 

 that would be auctioneering, and for doing 

 that without a license dealers, were liable to 

 a tine; some fellow at last took out an auc- 

 tioneering license, and that was the begin- 

 ning of the auction plan. 



The following conditions are oVtserved: 



1. The highest bidder (in due time) to be 

 the purchaser, who 

 is to pay down what- 

 ever sum may be 

 required. 



2. The goods to 

 be delivered to the 

 purchaser with all 

 faults and defects 



3. If any neglect 

 to pay the remain 

 der of the purchase 

 money, on or before 

 the delivery of the 

 goods, the money 

 paid will be for 

 feited to the pro 

 prietors. Such lots 

 as remain uncleared 

 after the time limit 

 will be resold. 



4. If any dispute 

 arises in bidding, 

 or the lot be claimed 

 by more than one 

 bidder, it shall be 

 put up again. The auctioneer reserves the 

 right of accepting or refusing the bid of 

 any persons who may have been defaulters, 

 or in any way objectionable. 



the roots, to gfrasp the stem firmly ab*)iit tht* 

 lower part and move the tree up and down vig- 

 orously, but not through a space greater than an 

 inch. Thi.s will settle the dirt about and close 

 against.the roots— a very important point, for the 

 roots can get fot)d only when the earth is in inti- 

 mate contact with them. When the tree is trans- 

 planted it has lost so much of its root formation 

 and always of tlie best feeding part, that it stands 

 in urgent need of all the food it can get; and 

 many a tree that dies, starves to deatli becanse 

 the soil is .so far from the roots that it cannot 

 feed. How much closer shaking the tree up and 

 down win bring the dirt to the roots is shown 

 by the lowering of the dirt in the hole. After 

 you have done this, put in a little more earth 

 and then firm it down as Mr. Stearns directs. 

 Chestnuts in Illinois. The editor brags a 



COMMENTS BY READERS. 



A department to which all are invited to send notes of 

 eayperience and observation concerning topics that re- 

 cently have been treated on in this journaL UTany 

 such contributions monthly would be tcelcome. 



Strawberries with Grapes. I am doing 

 just what Mr. Powell is doing— growing Straw- 

 berries with Grapes— and having tried it for sev- 

 eral years can commend the plan. Strawberries 

 with Grapes are better than Strawberries with 

 Blackberries, which I tried tor some years and 

 which, I would confess, were not so many ready 

 to jump up and criticise, I think is a good plan 

 when you haven't a critical market. The 

 writer in the New York Tribune is right: The 

 Strawberry does best when it has much moisture. 

 It does best in the shade, or in at least partial 

 shade. Hence you may have tine Strawberries 

 with Grapes or Blackberries, and the latter are 

 the l)etter for the mulch.— J. JVf. S. 



Right and Wrong Subsoiling. I don't know 

 how it is in your parts, Mr. Editor, but the reason 

 subsoiling is in disrepute out this way, (and its a 

 reckless thing for a man to recommend subsoil- 

 ing hereabouts), is that we tried trench plowing 

 and thought it was subsoiling, and where we 

 trench-plowed our fields we spoiled them for 

 good crops for half a dozen years. Some years 

 ago we had a Uttle boom in subsoiling. I don't 

 know bow it started or why it spread— it was a 

 cnize; and it was a bad thing for us. Don't say 

 that trench plowing is a good thing as long as 

 you don't go below the soil. Our soil Is six feet 

 deep; but by trench plowing we put on top soil 

 that had to be aerated and stirred and sunned 

 and mellowed by rain before enough of the rich- 

 ness in it was put in condition available f 1 >r plants, 

 making a good growth of grain, vegetables, or 

 fruits. And because this was called subsoiling I 

 must go around here and explain that your sort 

 of subsoiling— stirring the subsoil, but not put- 

 ting it on top— isnot oursort, and is agood thing. 



Tree Planting. Allow me to add to Mr. 

 Steam's directions for tree planting, that when 

 enough dirt (which should be always fined before 

 it is put In) has been sifted in to fill the hole 

 somewhat more than halt full, covering most of 



THE KELSEY JAPAN PLUM, FRUIT AND KERNEL.— (See Opposite page.) 



little about his Chestnuts and I don't blame him. 

 The Chestnut is a handsome tree— an ornament 

 anywhere. Its wood is of the highest value for 

 fencing, and its fruit is worthy of the tree. I 

 have been criticised for recommending the plant- 

 ing of the Chestnut here in Illinois. Hut being 

 " raised " along side " Chestnut Ridge," I think I 

 know something about the Chestnut, and any 

 person who thinks it won't grow thril^ily and 

 beautifully in Illinois can see that he has been 

 laboring under a misapprehension, by making 

 me a visit. Because Chestnut growing was not 

 made a success by the Illinois University folks, 

 people suppose I don't know what I am talking 

 about; but the I. V. folks say, in their report on 

 their tree growing, that the Chestnuts did not 

 have a fair show; they were eaten up, had poor 

 soil and little cultivation. According to the 

 same report that is so often poked at me, the 

 few CTiestnuts that had a fair show are thrifty 

 and vigorous— as promising as any other tree in 

 the plantation.— iV. Y. L. 



"Protection for Fruit Growers," was 

 brought to the attention of the public here a few 

 days ago by the shooting, by a (rerman fruit 

 grower, of three boys stealing his fruit. The 

 wounds were not serious, bird shot being used. 

 Young hoodlums had been stealing 'from the 

 German so long and so persistently that he had 

 become exasperated. Of course the public justly 

 condemned the shooting. If I mistake not, we 

 have in Illinois no statute specifically covering 

 this case; but the offense would clearly come 

 under the statute directed against petit larceny, 

 and if the court so directs, the person convicted 

 may be compelled to work out his fine breaking 

 rocks. The trouble is that it is almost impossible 

 to secure the conviction of the offenders. They 

 are too alert and fleet to be caught at the time, 

 and it is exceedingly difficult to identify them 

 afterwards. Actual protection for fruit growers 

 has yet to be devised. I believe that the right 

 sort of a dog is a mighty good thing to have 

 around in such a case.— John M. Stahl. 



Neglected Roadsides. It is altogether proper 

 Mr. Editor, for you to say that "a neglected 

 roadside is inexcusable." But to have nice grassy 

 roadsides is well nigh impossible in some neigh- 

 borhoods. One or two or four cannot have them. 

 The neighbors must all work together to this 

 end; and in many cases, to enlist your neighbors 

 is the biggest task you have undertaken since 

 you tried to bft yourself o\er the fence by your 

 boot straps. However, I have found that the 



best way to get your neighb{)r8 started is to make 

 the roadside along your premises nice and at- 

 tractive. They cannot but compare this with 

 weedy, unkept roadsides, and the comparison is 

 very apt to bring '■ a lively convicti<^n." But 

 you must rise superior to mauy discoui-agements. 

 Our highways here are well graded, but few of 

 them are gravelled. Last winter and spring the 

 graded roadbed became very muddy and much 

 cut up, and people outside the neighborhood, 

 and a few in it, rode or drove over my nice road- 

 sides, which were smoother and solider, until they 

 were cut up, too. This could not be prevented. 

 The grass was largely destroyed, and weeds have 

 sprung up in its place. I must do my work over 

 again— discouraging both to me, and to those 

 aliout to do as I had done.— J. Jl/. .S'. 

 Cannas from Seed. A group of these stately 

 plants if properly lo- 

 cated, makes a fine 

 ornament to any door- 

 yard, and by growing 

 them from seed any- 

 one can have a fine 

 group in a couple of 

 years. Last year 

 among other seeds 

 sent me from the De- 

 partment of Agricul- 

 ture, was a i>aper of 

 Cauna seed containing 

 U seeds. In Febru- 

 ary of this year, I put 

 them to soak in a pint 

 of boiling water, and 

 set them on a shelf. A 

 multiplicity of affairs 

 caused them to be 

 temporarily forgot- 

 ten, and that night the 

 water froze solid. I 

 thawed them out, and 

 planted them in a pot 

 of earth with very 

 little hope that any 

 would germinate. 

 About a month after, four of them came up, and 

 now are three inches high, and growing finely. 

 Several years since a lady friend planted a paper 

 of Canna seed and only one germinated, but this 

 proved to be a vigorous plant, with a beautiful 

 purplish foUage. The third spring it had grown 

 to the size of a pie platter with seven crowns. 

 She planted this root entire in a very rich bed in 

 the front yard, and it made a mass of foliage 

 nearly three feet in diameter, and over six feet 

 high. Had she divided the crowns and planted 

 them a foot apart, the bed would have been larg- 

 er and she would have had seven well developed 

 plants instead of one.— i. B. Pierce. 



Old Fruits. To the Concord Grape, and the 

 Wilson and the Sharpless Strawberries, Mr. 

 Henderson might have added the Bartlett and 

 Seckel Pears. The Bartlett is now 118 years old, 

 and is as good as it ever was.— iV. r. L. 



Trellising Grapes to Single Pole. I belive 

 that there is no better way for farmers to raise 

 Grapes, than to set posts eight feet apart each 

 way and train a >ine on each one, letting three 

 or four canes grow, cutting out the oldest 

 each year. One can cultivate both ways and 

 keep them clean with very little labor. This is 

 the way we grow them at our experiment 

 grounds.- Pro/. W. A. Henry, Madi.^Dit, fVis. 



New Trees in Old Orchards. I find no 

 trouble in growing Apple trees on the ground 

 occupied by old orchards. But I think that 

 orchards need manure as well as any other crop. 

 It should be applied a little each year, well 

 spread over the ground.— ('. X Gaines, Vt. 



The Pitcher Plants. A friend competent to 

 speak, has just been telling me that the Pitcher 

 Plants may be classed with the ornamental 

 foliage plants, and besides they are curious. Not 

 so long ago there was a mystery about growing 

 the Nepenthes; but they are easier to grow than 

 Vei'benas. They may easily be grown from seed; 

 or, like Verbenas, etc., be propagated from cut- 

 tings. They are pot plants and demand heat. 

 The Sarracenia is an American Pitcher Plant, of 

 which there are several varieties. Sarracenia 

 purpurea is found in the Northern States, S. 

 Diummondi in the Southern States. The former 

 is but a few inches high, the latter all of two 

 feet. Every student of Darwin is interested in 

 these plants; Darwin said the Pitchers ate the 

 insects which they caught: this may be true; it 

 is also true that sometimes the Pitchei'S catch 

 an overmess and die— of indigestion.— iV^. T. L. 



