1889. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



87 



Site and Improvement. Having: iiuiohiiseii 

 our ground, it must bo hiid out and gi-aded for 

 use. Mucli can be done by selecting a piece 

 which will need but little srading. Pi'obably 

 from five to twenty acres will be all we shall ever 

 need; I would locate far enougrh away from the 

 possible gi-owth so as not to be encroached upon. 

 If possible, a pleasant site should be selected on 

 the elevated bank of u river or lake, or on one 

 which commands a good view of the country 

 ai-ound, if no water view is obtainable. Next 

 best is a gently undulating piece of ground, 

 where quiet Wews may be easily made. 



Having determined your boundaries, 

 lay out roadways, 13 to 18 feet wide in 

 small grounds, following the base of 

 your undulating surface, as tar as possi- 

 ble^ without making too manj- road- 

 ways. This will give curved lines, which 

 are always beautiful if proiierly fol- 

 lowed. Your lot sections have been 

 naturally formed by your roadways and 

 the former should follow the lines of the 

 latter, and far enough back to secure a 

 border, for trees to not interfere with 

 either the roadway or the lots. Irreg- 

 ular spaces may be left throughout each 

 section for trees, which will give oiipor- 

 tunity to occasionally straighten a lot 

 line, or turn an angle in a roadway. 



Lots. The size of lots will dcjjend 

 very largely upon the size, shape and 

 location of sections. It is sometimes 

 desirable that certain sections should be laid out 

 into larger lots than othei'S.so as to avoid any 

 undue number of monuments upon the lawn in 

 those particular localities. As a rule, do not 

 make front lots less than 16 feet square, back lots 

 smaller, and none less than 1.50 square feet. 



Every second row of lots should be separated 

 by a pathway at least live feet in width, which 

 should be reached by a pathway from the front, 

 about every sixth or eighth lot. All pathways 

 should be kept in grass, and regarded as reserved 

 ground, but not sunk below the grade. 



No hedges or enclosures of any kind should be 

 permitted upon lots. But one monument should 

 be allowed upon an entire lot. No headstone or 

 marker should be over Iti inches above ground, 

 (six inches is better) and no footstone allowed. 

 The deepest grief is of the quiet kind. 



Trees. Trees are essential, and places must be 

 provided for them, so that once planted and 

 growing they will not be disturbed, as they surely 

 will be, if planted upon, or too near, lots where 

 burials are eventually to be made. I have often 

 thought whether or nt^t Abraham, in v^urchasing 

 the field of Ephron, did not think as much of 

 "all the trees that were in the field, that were in 

 all the borders round about," as he c id of " the 

 cave (Machpelah) which was therein." If not 

 why are they so especially mentionedv 



Deciduous trees and shrubs should form the 

 largest part, having enough evergreens to form 

 a border around the ground, and enough 

 throughout for contrast.and to relieve the drear- 

 iness in winter. Wherever largely used they 

 should form a background for lighter colored 

 deciduous trees. One great mistake is too many 

 evergreens, for they become monotonous. 



I recommend, when the soil is adapted, Maples 

 in variety. Sycamore Maple, Silver-leaved Maple 

 and the Sugar Maple. Then the American, Eng- 

 lish and Scotch Elms, Lindens, European and Cut- 

 leaf Birches, Purple-leaved Beech, Hawthorn 

 double-flowering, Judas tree or Red Bud, Purple- 

 leaved Plum, and many others. Evergreens may 

 be selected from the Spruces for borders and 

 large trees, Norway, Black, White and Hemlock, 

 Arbor vitie in variety, Ketinispora^, Junipers and 

 English Yew, and others. 



Shrubs may be selected from ,\lthea. Berberry 

 Deutzia. Hydrangea paniculata grandiflora, 

 Japan Quince, Spirea, Hard,v Uoses, etc. 



Care must be tiiken that no crowding will take 

 place at maturity. If it is decided to fill the 

 bordi^r with Spruce, for instance, at least M feet 

 should be reserved for that purpose. Do not use 

 the knife too freely, as many trees should be 

 allowed to grow as nature intended they should. 

 Evergreensshould never be trimmed higher than 

 to allow the ends of the limbs to touch the 

 ground, and if they are planted in a location 

 where this cannot be allowed, remove the tree 

 but do not deform it and allow it to remain. It 

 is exceedingly painful to go into some cemeteries 

 and see every evergreen trimmed from si.x to 

 eight feet from the ground. The grace and 

 beauty of the tree is spoiled, and it would be 

 much better to remove it and replace it with a 



decidu<ius tree. The Lindens and Beeches should 

 also be allowed to grow to the groun<l,when thej^ 

 will form beautifid pyramids. I have seen 

 them growing 'M and 40 feet high, and perfect 

 pictures of beauty with their contrasting foliage. 



Vegfetable Gardening: Past and 

 Present. 



L-fVo/. W. W. Tracy, beforr the Micliigan Ilorticultunil 

 Meeting at Saginaw.] 



In the garden of thirty years ago the beds 



Ttic Ccni€ti:nj tis It Tim tjftt n Is. 

 were four feet wide and 10 to 2U feet long, 

 and eacli filled with .such vegetables as 

 Onions, Beets, Radi.shes, Turnips, etc., 

 planted in rows across the bed and every 

 part easily reached from the narrow patiis. 

 Beyond this were the Cucumbers, Squashes, 

 Melons, Corn, Potatoes, Tomatoes and 

 others, making a complete assortment of 

 the vegetables and herbs in common use. 

 Around the outside were the rows of Cur- 

 rants, Raspberries, Gooseberries, etc., on one 

 side a bed of Strawberries; at the end were 

 Grape vines, and back of all the orchard. 



Now what do we have in its place? Two, three 

 or five miles from the center of some large town 

 we find a five or ten acre lot. As we drive in, by 

 our side, not three inches from the wheel track, 

 is a long, narrow bed filled with young Cabbage 

 and Celery plants, and on the other side a half 

 acre each of Rhubarb and Asparagus, aiid beyond 

 this a quarter of an acre of hot beds filled with 

 Radishes and Lettuce. Every foot of the rest of 

 the lot, except barely room at the side of the 

 house and in front of the barn to drive in and 

 turn around, is occuiiied by long rows of Onions, 

 Lettuce and Radishes, and as soon as pulled their 

 places are occupied by Cabbages and Celery. 



As we enter, the proprietor, usually a German, 

 advances from the hot-beds. We try to learn 

 something of his methods, and can only bring 

 out the fact that he asks so much a bushel for 

 his Lettuce, and so much a bunch for his Onions, 

 and that he hasn't any Tomatoes, Melons or any 

 vegetables, but those mentioned. 



Every morning before light he fills the gi-eat 

 wagon with Rhubarb, Asparagus and green 

 Onions (often with only one of them) and drives 

 to town. There he is met by buyei-s, and soon 

 the bargain is made and he unloads. During the 

 day, or the following one, a part of the load is 

 packed in crates and shipped to some village or 

 town .50 to 200 miles away; there it is displayed 

 in a commission house and sold to retailci-s. who 

 get it to the consumers in from one to four days 

 from the time it was gathered. 



Now as to this chauge in methods. Does it not 

 tend to the almost exclusive use of these varie- 

 tief which have good market qualities'/ M.v ac- 

 quaintance with the seed trade enables me to 

 answer most positively in the alhrmative. I 

 believe it to be true that in most species of our 

 common vegetables, where a dozen varieties are 

 listed, nine-tenths of the seed sold is incluiled 

 within as few as three sorts; and, quality for the 

 table to rule, not more than one of these would 

 be included in what a competent .iudge woidd 

 c<insider the best six varieties. 



By growing large quantities of the particular 

 vegetable suited to his soil, selecting the sort 

 which is most profitable tor market, and makes 

 the best show thei-e, without regard to its actual 

 table quality, by delivering direct his entire daily 

 product, the m()dern market gardener can put 

 into the market his particular vegetables at 

 prices which a few years ago would te considered 



much less than cost, and a general collection is 

 made up from different localities, so that the 

 city markets are filled with great quantities of 

 fine looking vegetables at low prices. 



But when the old time gardener brings in his 

 stock he finds that he can get so little that he 

 declares it is useless for him to grow them, and 

 that henceforth he will buy what he needs, and 

 so gives up his garden, but fails to buy as he ex- 

 pected and gradually gets out of the habit of 

 using vegetables at all. The result is an increas- 

 ing consumption of vegetables in the cities and 

 larger towns and a decreased use in the 

 \'illages and on the farms. 



\'egetables as now grown and brought 

 to the table are merely articles of food, 

 to which there is attached no interest 

 outside of simply satisfying hunger; for 

 the vegetables do not reach the con- 

 sumer until long past their freshness, 

 and lacking all flavor and quality. I 

 lielieve there is no opening in a horti- 

 cultural way that promises such large 

 pecuniary returns as the establishment 

 near our cities of gardens where a va- 

 riety of vegetables can be grown and 

 delivered fresh, direct to the consumer. 

 I think the tendency of this change is 

 to make a mere vegetable grower in- 

 stead of a gardener, to make gardening 

 a mere trade instead of an art; to cause 

 the producer to lose all pride in his 

 product save as it brings dollars and 

 cents. This is evident in our exhibitions, which 

 used to be a contest for acknowledgement of 

 superior skUl in producing the exhibit. 



But at the fairs I havertsited, not l-20th of the 

 space was occupied with exhibits made with any 

 such view; it was all taken up by displays which 

 were made up simply to take the premium f(jr 

 the sake of the money; often not even growing 

 them but collecting them where they could, be- 

 cause the premiums would pay them for doing 

 so. To correct the evil, a feasible way is to 

 change the character of our premium hst, giving 

 much more prominence to exhibits by amateurs 

 and making the awards attractive and intrinsi- 

 cally beautiful and honorary rather than of 

 pecuniary value. 



On the More Natural Pruning of 

 Apples and Pears. 



I Shirlei/ Hibberd. before the English Fruit Conference. 



It is commonly asserted that pruning tends 

 to augment the vigor of trees. But tliere 

 can no longer be entertained a doubt of the 

 fact that pruning, so far from augmenting, 

 actually diminishes the vigor of the subjects 

 operated on, and the one reason that this is 

 not so noticeable in the outdoor world is that 

 Nature is generous and a certain amount of 

 pruning may be done without harm, and 

 even with positive benefit. Biit we must 

 prune in a way to ensure a maximum ad- 

 vantage for ourselves, with a mininuim of 

 disadvantage to the trees. 



With standard orchard trees that bear abund- 

 antly it may be observed that pruning neither 

 augments the vigor of these trees nor does it 

 promote their fruittulne.ss, for as, generally 

 speaking, they are not pruned at all, they teach 

 a lesson of its non-necessity. Now the pyramids 

 of Xpple and Pear formed by years of pruning 

 and pinching are perfect of contoiu-, dense with 

 foliage, with scarcely room anywhere to allow 

 one to thrust a hand in, and they are healthy and 

 bright from the ground to the summit, but they 

 produce so little fruit as but rarely to jiay for 

 the land occupied. To increase the prcjduction 

 of fruit we a\<)id trees of this form, or if we 

 have them we will, having fruit in view, rather 

 promote an open growth, as loose bushes, and 

 the difference between them and the pinched 

 ones is seen, not only in the form and furnishing, 

 but in superior fniitfulness. 



Summer pruning tends to promote secondary 

 growth, often immature when the sea.son closes, 

 that therefore has been obtained by a false sys- 

 tem, and is a proper commentary on the violence 

 to Nature, as seen in the pyramid. While the 

 free bushes that are not pruned at all, or but 

 moderately, are, as a rule, far more fruittul, and 

 the free standards are ahead of either. Thus the 

 order of fruitfulness is usually in an inverse 

 ratio to the order of pruning. 



The natural growth of a fruit tree is definite 

 and orderly, but our practice appears based on 



