October, 1888. 



POPULAR GARDENING 



AND FRUIT GROWING. 



"V' O L TJ 3Sd: E I^V. 



October. 



Down from the north they are marching. 



The scouts of the Winter king; 

 Where bright spring flowers were blooming, 



Withered and dead leaves they fling. 

 Their bivouac fires they've kindled, 



Sumacs and Maples aglow; 

 Oaks on the hillside are waving 



Signals to Birches below. 

 O'er field and meadow are drifting 



The smoke aud dust of the fray; 

 In woodlands dead leaves are falling, 



This Indian summer day. 



—Forest and Stream. 



Poor Catjuflower. In some parts of the 

 country it is reported that much rain has dam- 

 aged the Cauliflower crop; the heads showing 

 discolorations which entirely unfit them for 

 market, a chief selling quality of this vegetable, 

 aside from compactness, being its whiteness. 



The Magic Touch of Horticct/ture. An 

 old evergreen tree, denuded and dead, on a 

 neighbor's lawn, wasconverted into a mostcharm- 

 Ing ornamental feature simply by planting at 

 its side and training over it a purple Clematis 

 plant, and which all through summer was a per- 

 fect mass of the royal color. 



It is a Loss to New York. While regretting 

 the loss to our own State of such an elBcient 

 horticulturist, it is otherwise a pleasure to note 

 that our correspondent, Mr. M. H. Beckwith, 

 formerly Assistant Horticulturist of the N. Y. 

 State E.vpetiment Station at Geneva, has been 

 advanced Ui the position of Horticulturist and 

 Entomologist of the Delaware Agricultural 

 Experiment Station. 



The Apple Crop and Foreign Markets. A 

 yield of Apples rather above the average in this 

 country and especially in the fruit sections of 

 Western New York, Canada, and Nova Scotia is 

 at this date a certainty, and corresponds with 

 the fruit crop report published in our July issue. 

 But with a large crop the market outlook is per- 

 haps brighter for steady prices, than for some 

 years past. This is due partly to the growing 

 western demand in our own country; but 

 chiefly because of the almost entire failure of 

 Apples in G reat Britain, with but a light crop 

 on the Continent. In England, this is doubtless 

 caused by the unprecedently cold, rainy season, 

 together with the previous season's drought, con- 

 tributing to fearful insect ravages this year. 

 The consequence to our own fruit growers must 

 be that all the first grade of winter Apples can 

 be disposed of at good figures, the quotations of 

 September 10, gi\nng prices at Liveri)Ool, on the 

 first shipments as, per barrel; Kings, $iM to $.5.75; 

 Blush, $4.a5 to $.5.08; Baldwins, $a.88 to $3.40; 

 Greenings, $3.40 to $3.76. These prices were for 

 sound fruit of good size, well packed and graded. 



First Report of THE Division of Pomoloqy. 

 Pomologist H. E. Van Deman, of the newly 

 established Division of Pomology of the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, has given forth the first 

 bulletin of his division, entitled, " History and 

 Condition of Tropical and Semi-Tropical Fruits 

 Within the United States," In this first report, 

 seventy-seven species of the above classes of 

 fruits are described together mth the methods of 

 culture, diseases, preparing for market, etc. 

 There are full page colored plates of Kelsey and 

 Satsuma Japanese Plums and Persimmons. Some 

 sixty varieties of Pineapples are mentioned as 

 being cultivated in Florida and the Keys; only 

 that part of the crop measuring at least four 

 inches in diameter being considered fit for ship- 

 ping. An elaborate report is given on Orange 

 growing, including descriptions of over 170 va- 

 rieties. Lemon culture, says Mr. Van Deman, con- 

 tinues to make rapid progress in Southern Florida 

 where Lemons equal to those of any country are 

 produced; 33 varieties are described. Fig raising 

 is also treated quite fully, with notes on prepar- 

 ing some ninety sorts for commercial purposes. 

 Considerable encouragement is given those who 

 desire to grow Olives, as this fruit seems well 

 adapted to the climatic conditions of the Gulf 

 States as well as f'alifomia, and is so hardy as 

 not to have been injured by the freeze of 1886, 

 which hurt the Orange groves. The Date palm 

 is also hardier than the Orange, and where one 

 is now seen, thousands should be, and are being 

 planted. Their mode of preparation for market 

 is also given. Of the many interesting fruits 

 spoken of, we make but short mention in the 

 above, but expect to have frequent occasion to 

 refer to this valuable report. 



Stuff and Nonsense. 



THOMAS MEEHAN, QERMANTOWN, PA. 



Under and in the name of sanitary science, 

 numerous crimes against horticulture are 

 often committed, that bring a blush to the 

 cheek of common sense. We all know how 

 it is in gardening, there are scores of pre- 

 tenders to one of real intelligence, and "by 

 the same token" as some of the old country- 

 men would say, charlatans abound in the 

 medical profession as well as elsewhere. 



We laugh at the ignorance that prevailed 

 in the olden time. Many ol<l people among 

 us are still young enough to remember,when 

 the whole medical profession joined in for- 

 bidding a drop of cold water to a fever 

 parched lip, and blood-letting was the 

 sovereign remedy for every trouble. One or 

 two men who prepared text books so taught, 

 and few had industry to think for them- 

 selves. Is it any better to-day? We laugh 

 at the inability of those of the past, to see 



the relation between cause and effect, are 

 we any wiser now? 



In the time of Queen Elizabeth, there was 

 a bishop in England very fond of horticul- 

 ture. His name was Grindall. Bishop 

 Grindall was one of the first to raise fine 

 Grapes under glass. Proud of his grand 

 success he sent some to the Virgin Queen. 

 Bess very much enjoyed the Grapes, whether 

 she made a little pig of herself Is not told; 

 but a day or two afterward she took sick. 

 It would not do in those days,any more than 

 in these, for a doctor to say he didn't know, 

 so it was concluded that those Grapes must 

 have had the plague about them. It was 

 charged that, knowingly having the great 

 plague in his house, yet Grindall sent Her 

 Majesty Grapes! It was fortunate that the 

 connoisseur sent to examine the affair found 

 the bishop's family in a usual state of health, 

 or the accused might have lost his head. 



Not long since there was some typhoid 

 fever In a district near Philadelphia. "The 

 physicians"— they are always put in this 

 ambiguous plural— said it "must be" from 

 drinking Skuylkill water— the great river 

 that supplies the huge city with drink. 

 Then it broke out in a district 400 feet above 

 tide-water, and where the water was from 

 a large and particularly healthful crystal 

 spring. As it would not do to charge it to 

 water here, the trees caught it. "The 

 physicians" declared there were too many 

 of them, and a large number of beautiful 

 specimens, some of them of great value and 

 variety, fell before the ax or were ruined. 



Not fifty miles from Philadelphia, perhaps 

 nearer New York than that city, an unusu- 

 ally intelligent florist undertook to get up a 

 trade in aquatic plants. Some bilious 

 trouble appeared in the house, and "the 

 physicians" attributed it to the water tanks 

 of the poor florist, and he has been literally 

 ordered to leave the place. 



I know a church entirely covered with 

 beautiful vines. It was the pride of the 

 district. Some one, who had seen the sun 

 dry a pile of clay, started the whim that the 

 shade of the leaves kept the sun from the 

 walls, and that the dampness was unhealth- 

 ful. "The physicians" joined in the cry; the 

 beautiful vines were cut away. It was no 

 use for those who had had practical exper- 

 ience to say that vines kept the walls dry, — 

 for the intelligent horticulturist to point to 

 the innumerable rootlets sucking from the 

 walls every particle of moisture, for the 



