52 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



December, 



been the means of introducing this alone, 

 outsirle of liis many other acquisitions, de- 

 serves a lasting fame among market gar- 

 deners and all others interested in Celery 

 culture. The second year of its introduc- 

 tion I grew 15,000 plants of it and since then 

 have grown but few of any other. It costs 

 me less to have it ready for market and it 

 commands a better price than any other. 

 It, however, requires to bring it to perfec- 

 tion, the best of cultivation and an abund- 

 ance of thoroughly decomposed manure. 

 No variety rusts worse in half decayed or 

 fresh manure, but where suitable culture 

 is given larger profits can be obtained 

 from it than any other. While it gets white 

 in the stalks without earthing it is not 

 nearly so well flavored as when blanched 

 by being "handled" and soil drawn up 

 against it. It takes only a short time to get 

 sufficiently blanched to be fit for use; there- 

 fore, where a succession is required it should 

 be attended to accordingly. It can be kept 

 to the middle of April, if it be stored before 

 any soil has been drawn up against it. I 

 tie it up about a week before storing, which 

 gives it an erect shape and makes it more 

 easy to store. It requires to be kept in a low 

 temperature to keep long. 



Horticultural Notes by Samuel 

 Miller. 



To grow fruit successfully in ahy country 

 where dry summers are the rule, some 

 plan of irrigation seems absolutely neces- 

 sary. I never was more convinced of this 

 than at the present season. May and early 

 part of .Tune was unusually dry, and all 

 manner of fruits seemed to be at a stand- 

 still, so that it looked gloomy for a crop. 



Then came spells of warm, rainy weather 

 in succession. In those ten days the fruit 

 grew more than in four weeks previously, 

 and soon gave a promise of the finest crop 

 had for many years. 



Give me water enough, easily applied, and 

 I don't care much for insect, pests, or any- 

 thing else, to grow fruit successfully. Dur- 

 ing that rainy spell the curculios, which I 

 had been fighting all along, held a recess. 

 In fact, when it rains every day I don't 

 think their eggs amount to anything. But 

 I have digressed. The question is: How are 

 we to accomplish this water affair? That 

 there is rain fall enough in this latitude in 

 the year to supply all wants there is no 

 doubt; but four fifths of it passes oft' on the 

 surface and goes to the sewers. Terracing 

 and dams are the only plans. Build little 

 dams in the ravines, and whenever possible 

 make terraces, even if narrow; they will 

 reta.in the rain water and let it go into the 

 ground, leaving its fertilizing matter in the 

 soil, instead of running off and taking the 

 best soil with it. 



I have land here of the very best for 

 growing fruit, that must and shall be pro- 

 tected in some way. The hills are being 

 washed ofif, so that it will require deeper 

 plowing and more manure to keep it up. 

 I have, before now, run to the garden with 

 a spade .just before a heavy thunder gust, 

 and dug holes, here and there in places, over 

 a pretty good patch. When the rain was over 

 all these holes were full of water, and none 

 of the earth washed away; while, where it 

 was not done, quite an amount was washed 

 out. To terrace, a man need not get a sur- 

 veyor, but can do the leveling with the aid of 

 a carpenter's or mason's level. 



PEACHES FROM STONES. 



Any one who has Hale's Early Peaches 

 and will plant the stones, stands a fair 

 chance of getting one half of them as early 

 and as good as the Amiden. Such has been 

 my experience with more than lOU trees, 

 all of which have been washed out by the 

 Missouri river. Some were superior in 



quality to Amiden, and fully as large. One 

 tree, yet standing, within one foot of the 

 river bank, ten feet perpendicular, bears 

 the largest early Peaches we ever raised; 

 one half of the fruit would fall into the 

 river it not gathered. This Peach I shall 

 bud, as it is a perfect beauty along with its 

 great size and good quality. Whether a 

 man who has plenty of fruit for his family, 

 friends, and strangers, could make much 

 money or not out of such Peaches I do not 

 know, but he certainly can have a great 

 deal of pleasure in growing them. There is 

 not a poor family in this whole neighbor, 

 hood who need be in want of fruit if they 

 apply to me. Those who can pay for it 

 must do so. To give children, or those who 

 cannot grow or pay for them, a lot of good 

 Peaches, many of whom have not seen a 

 Peach before, does me as much good as to 

 eat them myself. 



If plenty of fruit and flowers don't help 

 to make people happy I don't know what 

 will. I work sixteen hours a day, yet would 

 not exchange with a Vanderbilt or Gould 

 if I had to take their cares, with their 

 wealth, and be deprived of tilling the soil. 



KASPBERRIES. 



This fruit grows to perfection here so tar 

 as the varieties can be relied upon. Black 

 Caps come first; Centennial, and Souhegan, 

 earliest and about the same time; both pro- 

 ductive and good size. The Centennial is 

 still my favorite, as the canes are not so 

 vilely thorny, and the fruit is sweeter, as 

 also finer in flavor. Close on these comes 

 the noble Hopkins, a match for either, and 

 in my opinion as valuable as any other 

 Black Cap that we have. Mammoth Clus- 

 ter is coming on also, with Gregg to wind 

 up. I still have a few of the Senecas, but 

 they have been set aside by the newer ones, 

 yet it is well worth having. 



Of Reds, my collection is not large. Tur- 

 ner conies first and best to my taste. Cuth- 

 bert is only half hardy, and never has given 

 us half a crop, while Marlborough is a 

 failure. Crimson Beauty, Scarlet .June, 

 and Staymans No. 3 are everbearing, but not 

 suitable for extensive planting for market. 



But the berry for general purposes is the 

 Schaffer; while not of the best flavor to 

 most tastes, it is good, and cannot be beat 

 for size and productiveness. Plant vigor- 

 ous, and should be planted further apart 

 than others; a week later. Just now the 

 bees are taking the Schaffers as fast as they 

 get ripe, but they are welcome. My sons 

 got 30 gallons of honey a few days ago.. 



THE GARBER PEAR. 



It now turns out that the Pear that I have 

 been fruiting under the name of Cocklin's 

 Hybrid, is in reality the Garber. The latter, a 

 much larger and better Pear than theCock- 

 lin. Those who have received grafts of it 

 from me are not cheated, but only wrong in 

 name. The original grafts were sent me by 

 Mr. Garber, the originator of it, but as his 

 eyesight failed, in his latter years, he made 

 the mistake, having both varieties growing 

 on his grounds. 



That this Pear deserves extensive trial I 

 am sure. It seems to be free from blight, 

 as La Conte, budded on to it, have suc- 

 cumbed to the blight, and have been sawed 

 oft close to the stem of the tree while the 

 main tree has not a sign of the disease. 



The tree is a rampant grower, with dark 

 shining foliage, that I can see glitter in the 

 sunshine from two miles off on a hill. The 

 fruit is of the largest size; golden yellow; 

 quality good, and has a quince flavor that 

 no other Pear that I know of has. 



MELONS AGAIN. 



After trying some six varieties of the new 

 and old ones, it seems that in point of 

 quality, none of boasted ones are better 



than some that we had for many years. 

 First and foremost comes the Orange for 

 home use, but it is no commercial Melon, 

 as it will not stand rough handling. Next 

 in quality comes Hungarian Honey, which 

 last season did not please me. This season 

 it is excellent; is not large but easily grown 

 to fifteen pounds; round as a cannon ball; 

 red flesh; very sweet, and with the smallest 

 and finest seed of any Melon I know. 



Green and Gold, while not quite a good as 

 represented, is undoubtedly the handsomest 

 thing of the kind that ever graced a table. 

 Landreth's Extra Early (an early strain of 

 Phinney's) is a solid rinded excellent one, 

 and would ship well. Reid's of Georgia is 

 a fine large Melon of good quality. Maule's 

 Early Ripe— this gave us a big crop, and is a 

 pale green, large and fine looking, but the 

 poorest in quality of any Melon I ever grew. 



Some pretty intelligent people don't seem 

 to know how to eat a Melon. They bring 

 them to the table at the beginning of the 

 repast, cut in slices crossways, and by the 

 time one is ready to eat of them they have 

 lost that freshness so pleasant in this fruit. 

 In my home the Melon is not seen until all 

 are ready for it, when it is brought from its 

 cool retreat, cut in slices lengthwise and 

 divided among the party at once. Our 

 usual plan is to tackle them an hour or two 

 after dinner. 



If I did state that a Melon should be fresh 

 cut when to be eaten, there is a way in 

 which a part of a Melon can be kept for a 

 day or two without suffering; when it is 

 too large too be eaten at one time. Cut 

 straight through crossways, then set it on a 

 plate with the cut side down it must be flat 

 however, then pour half an inch of fresh 

 water into the dish to exclude the air. It 

 will be found all right 24 hours after. 



The Paragon Chestnut. 



The engraving of a group of Chestnuts, 

 that appears annexed, represents the exact 

 size of some specimens of this fruit which 

 recently reached our table. As compared 

 with the ordinary sweet Chestnuts that 

 grow on the Popular Gardening Farm, 

 these specimens were three times the size 

 of the former. Three of the large fellows 

 occupied a single burr; it is said that in some 

 cases the burrs contain four full sized nuts. 



The Chestnut to which reference is had is 

 known as the Paragon, and the stock is in 

 the hands of H. M. Engle & Son, of Marietta, 

 Pa., for dissemination. These gentlemen 

 received their first tree some twelve years 

 ago from an amateur in Pennsylvania 

 under the supposition that it was an Ameri- 

 can seedling. The best authorities agree 

 however, that it is not American, or at least 

 not a pure American variety, hence the name 

 "Great American" which at first was given 

 to it has very properly been dropped, and 

 the present name given instead. 



That it is a foreign kind would seem to be 

 indicated by its large size, for it is a mark 

 of the foreign sorts from Japan and Spain 

 that they are very large as compared with 

 the American Chestnut. These foreigners 

 are moreover coarse in texture and lack the 

 full sweetness of our own, in which respect 

 the variety now under consideration is not 

 altogether an exception, although it is said 

 to be much superior to the average Japan 

 or Spanish Chestnut. 



Whether this sort will prove hardy as far 

 north as the native species has not yet been 

 determined. A tree of it will be planted at 

 "Woodbanks" early next spring. It is said 

 never to have suftered in the least from 

 cold in south-eastern Pennsylvania where 

 it has been the longest in cultivation. In 

 general it is safe to say of this variety that 

 so far as it has been tested it has proven to 

 be as good as can reasonably be desired in 



