64 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



December, 



one drain, four feet down, than two drains, two 

 feet down. I knew a man who tiled four, and 

 four and a half feet deep, and was laughed at. 

 In two or three years he had the best crops in 

 that neighborhood, although the same farm had 

 almost broken down another man who undertook 

 to work it without drainage. 



N. Ohraer : I think these views are generally 

 correct about under-draining; but, in regard to 

 muck land, which is all vegetable, for Onion grow- 

 ing, four feet under-draining almost ruins it. 

 Two feet is as far as we ought to go, to have 

 Onions do the best. I advocate three and a half 

 or four feet for ordinary land.but underdraining 

 is •specially bad for Onions. As for Pears, we don't 

 expect to grow such fruit here as they do in 

 Boston. They tell me the nearer they get to the 

 water, the better fruit they grow. Away from 

 the influence of the water it is not so good. We 

 have insects, and they have insects, but we know 

 how to destroy them; we know how to get around 

 such as the codling-moth, which does more harm 

 than all the others, especiall.v to Apples. We 

 ought to do better than we are doing. 



Leo Weltz : I believe Mr. Ohmer is correct as 

 regards draining for Onions. If you drain your 

 land four feet deep, of course the roots can't get 

 to the water, and you can't grow bulbs, such as 

 Hyacinths, Onions and Tulips. They raise fine 

 bulbs in Holland, because the roots touch the 

 water. If you drain the ground, they have to go 

 so much deeper. As to Pears, if we had the 

 climate they have in the East, we could raise 

 them as well, but besides that we have here more 

 worms and borers. 



W. C. Harris: I used to see them making tUe 

 in England— the first that was made. They were 

 foolish enough to think the water could not find 

 its way into the tile, and so they punctured holes 

 into it. They then drained ver,v shallow, but 

 kept getting deeper and deeper. Go through a 

 drained orchard in a drouth, and you can tell 

 where drains are by the moisture and growth. 

 Roots go down easily four or five feet to the tile. 



Seed per Length of Drill. 



The latest bulletin of the Michigan Agri- 

 cultural College furnishes the following re- 

 lating to quantity of seed for a given length 

 of drill: It is stated that careful record.s of 

 the quantity of seed used in these vegetables 

 ordinarily sown in drills shows that the 

 quantity required, is usually much less than 

 that recommended by seedsmen. The fol- 

 lowing flgxires indicate the extent to which 

 this is true, the quantities recommended 

 being taken from "Gardening for Profit." 



Peas. One quart to 100 feet of drill recom- 

 mended; S.50 feet of drill used four quarts of 

 McLean's Advancer, or one quart to every 212)^ 

 feet; 850 feet of American Wonder required 3H 

 quarts, or one quart to about 24.1 feet of drill; 

 850 feet of McLean's Little Gem used three 

 quarts, or one quart for every 28.3^ feet; 850 feet 

 of ilural New Yorker used 3H quarts, or one 

 quart for over 3C1 feet of drill; 8.50 feet of Cleve- 

 land's Alaska required three quarts, oroneijuart 

 for 2831^ feet. These figures indicate that the 

 recommendations of Henderson are from over 

 twice to three times too high. The following fig- 

 ures will show that our sowings wei'e thick 

 enough; One pint of McLean's Advancer con- 

 tains l.noo seed. A pint sowed a trifle over 10(j 

 feet of drill, giving over 15 Peas for every foot 

 of drill, or a plant every four-fifths of an inch. 



Radishes. One ounce for 100 feet of drill rec- 

 ommended; 1,000 feet of drill, sown thickly to 

 Early Long Scarlet Short-top, required BH ounces 

 of seed. In this case the figure is not extravagant. 



Beets. One ounce to 50 feet of drill recom- 

 mended: Long Dark Blood, Eclipse, and Bas- 

 sano each required four ounces of seed for 'S^U 

 feet of di'ill, or an ounce for 83J^ feet, and the 

 sowing was much too thick. An ounce of Long 

 Dark Blood Beet contains about l,:i00 fruits or 

 seeds, or over 15!4 fruits to each toot of drill, as 

 we sowed them. 



Parsnip. One ounce to 200 feet of drill is rec- 

 ommended; 1,000 feet of drill of Holland Crown 

 took four ounces of seed, or an ounce to 250 feet 

 of drill. The sowing was made in very hard 

 ground where a thick growth of seedling is nec- 

 essary in ox'der to break the crust. Yet the sow- 

 ing proved over twice too thick. 



Carrot. One ounce for 150 feet of drill recom- 

 mended; .586 feet in hard ground used 1)4 ounces 

 of seed, or an ounce for over 377 feet of drill, and 

 even^then they were much thicker than desirable. 



Landscape Gardening for the 

 Prairies. 



[E. R. Brown, Elmwootl, before the Illinois Horticul- 

 tural Society.'] 



In a prairie country variety and pictur- 

 esqueuess are not so easily produced as 

 where the face of nature is more diversified. 



Now the chief point I wish to make, is that a 

 level tract and one that is hiUy require different 

 treatment. I make an exception in the case of 

 the American Elm, the king of trees, which, if it 

 can have space, justifies itself everywhere. In 

 raaturit.v it combines in itself grandeur, grace, 

 strength and beauty beyond any tree that grows. 

 It will stand with its feet in the water all the 

 year around. To be sure, he who plants an Elm 

 will hardly live to see its maturity. But why 

 not, in this line as well as in others, do something 

 for posterity? 



Everything above the turf— the buildings, 

 shrubs, \ines, trees— should be so placed as to 

 exaggerate, so to speak, the natural features of 

 the landscape. It is especially desirable in our 

 regions of monotonous scenery, that we make 

 the most of such variety of surface as we have. 

 Nature gives us a hint. On the summit of moun- 

 tains, the spire-like Redwoods and Sugar Pines 

 shoot upwards two and three hundred feet, sug- 

 gesting indefinite and infinite height. The Black 

 Spruce (Afnea Hiyra), with its pointed top, crowns 

 old Greylock in famous Berkshire, while in the 

 valley below grow clumps of Alders, tufts of 

 Willows, round-headed SugarMaples (^cer.^ac- 

 charinitm), and the Sycamore, spreading by the 

 river bank. 



Low grounds, first allowing ample space for 

 turf, should be planted in \'ines, shrubs and trees 

 of low-growing habit. The common Alder ( Almis 

 gluUnosa lacin lata) should be there, with its large 

 corymbs of white flowers, for wild Grape vines 

 and Clematis to run upon. Suppose that there is 

 at the rear a gentle roll or rise of five or ten feet, 

 which we wish to enhance and make the most of. 

 Leaving the first part of the declivity as open 

 lawn, set a line of low shrubs; next behind these 

 place low-headed trees— The American Judas 

 Tree or Red BudfC'crc is Canadensis), or the beauti- 

 ful Hawthorn (C'rata'f/ns o.ryacantha); then 

 Sugar Maple and Box Alder ( ,Vc(/»mi(i areniiclcst, 

 or trees of similar fonn; and bring up the rear 

 with tall or pointed trees; or, beginning with 

 Gooseberry bushes, follow back of them in order 

 of height with Plum, Apple, Butternut and so 

 on to the tallest to be had. The trees will appar- 

 entl.v be growing on a ledge twice or three times 

 its actual elevation. On level tracts, trees of 

 medium height, Loney Locust (Gleditschia triM- 

 canthus). Ash (FraxinuK), Sugar Maple and Elm, 

 {Ulmus) are appropriate. 



The lawn should be arranged on the same prin- 

 ciple as a properly executed landscape painting, 

 the lines in the foreground free and bold, dimin- 

 ishing and softening toward the background, 

 gi ring the effect of distance and depth There 

 should be no shrubs at the front; simply a few 

 goodly trees on a smooth turf, with wide hos- 

 pitable spaces between, to " let the light in and 

 the sight out." Toward the rear the shade may 

 be more dense, nearly hiding the ground, giving, 

 if possible, suggestive glimpses of the silver sur- 

 faceof pondorstream; but, at least, leading, here 

 and there, narrow peeps through to some vague 

 and indefinite beyond. So we may help out the 

 fancy, and an acre or two may seem to stretch 

 away to a wide estate. 



Do not try to have every fine thing that grows. 

 The lawn is often made a sad and meaningless 

 jumble of things, pretty in themselves, but made 

 a nuisance by their aimless setting. 



Now a word as to flowers and color. In some 

 retired and partially shaded nook, let the early 

 spring bloomers have a chance. Especially let 

 us have the Spring Beauty (nmjtmUa Virginica) 

 and the Dutchman's Breeches (Dicentra cucid- 

 laria). followed a little later by the Lady Slipper 

 {('jlliriiiidiiini imrviflorurn) and Buttercups (Ra- 

 mi ;ii'»Ihs'i"('"is"'<). In midsummer and later, give 

 our native Asters and glorious Golden Rod 

 iSulidago) a fence comer in which to bourgeon 

 at their own sweet will. The trees should be 

 selected with a view to the grand autumn object 

 lesson in tints and shading, which they furnish, 

 the lemon tint of the Elm, the bloody hue of the 

 Virginia Creeper, (Ampelopsin) the Claret of the 

 small Oaks, and the ruby of the Sumach, while 

 the Sugar Maples glow with the whole chromatic 

 scale of reds and yellows. Even the blue of Rasp- 

 berry stems, and the Coffee color of Blackberries 



add to the infinite range of tint and shade that 

 signalize and delightfully prolong the glow and 

 glory of autumn for several months. 



Report on the New York and Phila- 

 delphia Chrysanthemum Shows. 



The first-named exhibition opened on Nov- 

 ember 8th, in a marquee or tent, at the corner 

 of .5th Avenue and 14th street, with a superb 

 display of Chrysanthmum plants and 

 flowers. The central part of the tent was 

 arranged in three large groups of plants; 

 the stages around the sides were devoted to 

 cut flowers, mainly Chrysanthemums. 



In the cut flower department, W. Tricker, gar- 

 dener to Judge Benedict, of Long Island, took- 

 the 1st prize on the following lots of Chrys- 

 anthemums: 13 Anemone-flowered, 12 new varie- 

 ties, 6 Japanese varieties, and on 6, 12 and 24 

 varieties each of the Chinese class. 



Wm. Hamilton, Alleghany City, Pa., 1st silver 

 cup prize for seedling, showing a bloom of un- 

 equaled large size, deep maroon color on inside 

 of petals, outside of light flesh color. 



E. Fewkes & Son, Newton Highlands, Mass., 

 showed nine blooms of imported Japanese varie- 

 ties, which were very fine and of types new to us. 

 The most noticeable that had names attached 

 were " Emma Rick," white, petals reflexed; 

 "Empress of Japan," whit«, petals reflexed; 

 " Lilian B. Bird," white, pink center, very fine 

 slender quilled petals, seven inches in diameter; 

 " Kioto," yellow, globular, petals incurved and 

 curled in a whorl, good color; " Mrs. Fowler," 

 nice shade of light pink, large size. 



Mr. T. H. Spaulding also made large displays 

 in new and choice varieties, and P. Henderson 

 & Co. made a display of not less than 200 vases 

 of Chrysanthemum flowers. John Thorpe took 

 1st prize on six, 25 and 12 Japanese sorts. In cut 

 Roses, J. H. Taylor, Long Island, took 1st prize 

 on Cusins, Mad. de Watteville, Perles and Bride. 

 J. N. May, of New Jersey, 1st on American Beauty 

 and Niphetos. 



In Chrysanthemum plants, John Dallas took 

 1st prize on six Chinese and on one specimen 

 Japanese, " Fair Maid of Gumsly," a fine white 

 variety grown in tree form. John Thorpe 1st 

 prize on six and 24 Japanese, six yellow varieties, 

 30 plants and six plants in six inch pots. T. H. 

 Spaulding 1st prize on :30 plants and 15 plants in 

 six inch pots, and on six well grown Standards. 



The Philadelphia show opened Nov. 13, and 

 altogether it may be said to have been the finest 

 show of Chrysanthemums ever held in this coun- 

 try, due chiefly to the wide-spread interest 

 shown by the local florists and gentlemen having 

 private floral establishments, together with the 

 liberal spirit displayed in the regular prizes 

 offered by the society, and the special ones pre- 

 sented by individuals. 



The decorations of the hall were rendered sing- 

 ularly effective by the use of Palms, Chrysanthe- 

 mum plants and flowers, garlands, etc., with 

 large clumps of greeneries and flowers in the 

 gallery, placed at intervals against the wall. 

 Upper main hall was filled with Chrysanthemum 

 plants, and all of very fine quality. 



Following we name the prominent prize takers: 

 J. W. Colflesh 1st prize of $100 for 12 plants In 12 

 varieties. The list including Mrs. M. Wana- 

 maker, flesh color; Mrs. C. W. Wheeler, flesh 

 color outside, petals red inside; Mrs. Joyce, pink, 

 semi-double; Puritan, white, semi-double; C>il- 

 lingfordii, double red; Gloriosum, semi-double, 

 lemon color;' Eugene Wizard, crimson and pink, 

 semi-double; Retta C, white, semi-double; Sur- 

 prise, double, somewhat globular shaped, pink 

 with yellowish center; Mrs. Frank Thompson, 

 large semi-double, deep pink inside of petals, 

 flesh tint outside. J.W.Colflesh, Ist prize on Pom- 

 pons, six plants in si.x varieties, and also on in- 

 curved, six plants, six varieties, and general 

 collection; whUe W. K. Harris received 1st prize 

 on Japanese, si.x plants, six varieties, incurved, 

 and for a single specimen of the white Puritan. 



Mrs. Alpheus Hardy, already famous, and 

 shown by Pitcher & Manda, New Jersey, was 

 awarded a silvermedal. This has a large, white, 

 somewhat globular form, recurved in a sort of 

 whorl. The fleecy fringe on incurve of petals is 

 very noticeable and gives it a distinctive appear- 

 ance, while its character of growth seems favor- 

 able; a plant in a three inch pot showing three 

 well de\eloped flowers of fair size and full foli- 

 age to the base of stalk. 



The show of cut flowers in the committee 

 hall. Chrysanthemums especially, was fine, and 



