POPULAR GARDENING 



AND FRUIT GROWING. 



"AOOUSE NOT NATURE, SHE HATH DONE HEB PAST; DO TBOV BUT THINE."— Vlujaat. 



Vol. IV. 



iFEBiexTJ^iair, lass. 



No. 5. 



The Voice of Spring. 



I come, I cornel ye have called me long— 



I come o'er the mountains with light and song! 



I have breathed on the south and the (Jroeus flowers 



By thousands have burst from the hidden bowers, 



And the ancient graves and the fallen fanes 



Are veiled with wreaths on Italian plains; 



But It Is not for me In my hour of bloom, 



To speak of the ruin or of the tomb! 



From the streams and founts I have loosed the chain. 



They are sweeping on to the silvery main, 



They are flashing down from the mountain brows. 



They are flinging spray o'er the forest boughs. 



They are bursting fresh from their sparry caves. 



And the earth resounds with the joy of waves. 



—Felicia Bemans, 



Look out for sharp night freezes after bright 

 days. 



Few trees are better suited to cemetery plants 

 ing than the Thorns; fine form, foliage and bloom. 



Off with the Black Knot. A fine of five 

 dollars is the just Canadian penalty for permit- 

 ting this fungus to grow. 



In time of Peace Prepare for War. Every 

 cultivator of the soil should make a study of our 

 common foes, the insects; howbeit some insects 

 are friends and should be chei-ished. Do you 

 know the good from the bad 't It is possible to 

 know for Harris, Saunders, Cook, Packard and 

 others in their works will tell you. Knowledge 

 here is power to the plant grower. 



Commissioner of Agriculture. A successor 

 to Commissioner Coleman will be chosen by the 

 incoming administration. It is important that 

 an able agriculturist be selected for the place. 

 Could a better man be named than Professor J. 

 L. Budd of Ames, Iowa? He is progressive and 

 wide awake and for many years has devoted his 

 time lai-gely to the interests of the soil products 

 of the country. His observations have been 

 widened by extensive travels abroad in the in- 

 terests of new fruits. He is near to the people as 

 is shown by his numerous valuable contributions 

 to the agricultural press of the entire country. 

 He is an able jn-actical cultivator and student 

 not a theorist. 



On to Florida. Arrangements have now 

 been completed for what promises to be one of 

 the best meetings the American Pomological 

 Society has ever held, to take place at Ocala, 

 Florida, on the Mth to the 2'3nd of this month. 

 This will be the first time that a meeting of this 

 society has been held in the extreme south and 

 extensive preparations are being made by the 

 Pomologists of the south for the reception of 

 their northern friends. The session wUl open 

 February 20th and continue three days at Ocala, 

 located in the central part of the peninsula, in 

 the midst of the Orange region. The climate is 

 salubrious and healthful. No cases of yellow 

 fever have occurred in that region, and the direct 

 railroads leading to Ocala from the north pass 

 through none of the districts where it has 

 existed. No fear, however, need be entertained 

 of visiting any portion of the state on this 

 account. Since the occurrence of severe frosts 

 the last quarantine, that of Jacksonville, has 

 been raised, and the tide of winter travel is 

 in progress. The Florida International and Sub- 

 Tropical Exposition, which opened in .lanuary, 

 will be held at the same time and its commo- 

 dious buildings have been tendered to the use of 

 the society, A matter of much importance to 

 northern visitors is that 35 trunk railroads offer 

 to carry passengers the round trip for a fare and 

 one third. All persons who think of attending 

 the meeting should apply to Secretary A. A. 

 Crozier of Washington, D. C, for a list of these 

 roads and instructions. The programme of the 



coming meeting is a most excellent one as 

 follows: Results of Recent Experiments in the 

 Treatment of Vine Diseases, B. T. Galloway, 

 Washington: Orange Culture in Louisiana, 

 A. W. Rountree, New Orleans; Cherries for 

 the Mississippi Valley, J. L. Budd, Iowa; Nomen- 

 clature Reform, T. T. Lyon, Michigan; Improve- 

 ment of our Native Grapes, Geo. W. ("ampbell, 

 Ohio; Relation of Hybridization to Acclimatiza- 

 tion, Prof. L. H. Bailey, New York; Judging 

 Citrus Fruits, H. E. VanDeman, Washington; 

 Gluts, their Causes and Remedy, Burnett Hroth- 

 ers, Chicago; American Fruits in Foreign Mar- 

 kets, H. G. Foster, Florida; Co-operative Sell- 

 ing, Westley Webb, Delaware; Insects Injuri- 

 ous to Fruits, C. V. Riley, Washington; Peach 

 Yellows, Erwin F. Smith, Washington; Prob- 

 lems in Pomology, E. S. Gofl, New York; Pine- 

 apple Culture, G. L. Lucas, Florida; Cross-fertil- 

 ization, J. C. Neal, Florida; Peach Growing in 

 Florida, G. L. Taber, Florida. Other important 

 topics will also be presented; while the discus- 

 sions upon new fruits, methods of judging 

 fruits and the subject of markets will be of 

 special value. 



The Points of Good Pruning 

 Summed up. 



V. H. AUGDB, CONNECTICtJT STATE POMOLOOIST. 



To have an ideal tree, one should com- 

 mence at the outset and prune annually at 

 least. A young tree should have only three 

 or four leading branches, all others should 

 be pruned out; and as the tree grows, super- 

 fluous branches should never be allowed to 

 remain. Thus in the earlier years we have 

 a very open tree which becomes a model at 

 maturity; but let no year pass without its 

 annual pruning. 



Varieties vary as to needed pruning, thus 

 the R. I. Greening needs a dift'erent plan 

 from the Baldwin or the Ben Davis. The 

 Northern Spy needs spreading, the Green- 

 ing needs throwing up, and all need keeping 

 in evenly balanced heads. 



With Pears, those varieties like the 

 Buffum and Sheldon need spreading, and 

 the Seckel always much thinning out, but 

 neither the Apple nor the Pear usually need 

 shortening in unless one sided in shape, 

 never let branches crowd for sunlight and 

 free circulation of air are indispensable for 

 welldeveloped fruit and a superfluous branch 

 is a needless drain upon the resources of a 

 tree. A good pruning knife, and an iron 

 mallet and thin bladed chisel are excellent 

 tools for pruning. 



When trees are properly attended to no 

 large branches should need removal, but 

 when that is the case a good saw is required, 

 but not one orchard In one hundred is what 

 it might have been with proper pruning. 



First have the ideal in mind, and then 

 step by step, year by year, proceed towards 

 its attainment. 



Successful Violet Growing. 



.TAMES CURRIE, MILWAUKEE CO., WIS. 



Within the past few years the cultivation 

 of the Violet, for winter bloom, has been at- 

 tended by such doubtful results that many 

 of the growers who used to devote large 

 areas to its culture, are now rejecting it 

 altogether, as the flowers, though yet pop- 

 ular, are not so much in demand as they 

 were five or six years ago. It has been our 

 fortune to escape the disease which has been 

 so destructive in certain sections of the 



country; and we have also been remarkably 

 free from the attack of red spider, which in 

 our neighborhood has been very annoying, 

 and no doubt in sections where dry weather 

 prevailed, similar troubles were experienced. 



Our exemption from red spider is, no 

 doubt, wholly attributable to the treatment 

 given our plants during the hot dry weather; 

 whether this also accounts for the non-ap- 

 pearance of the disease we will allow those 

 of our readers who have had sufficient ex- 

 perience with it to be the judges. The gen- 

 eral plan of culture of this plant is simple 

 and familiar; but that nothing of the plan 

 which proves so successful with us may re- 

 main unexplained, a brief account is given: 



In the spring in preparing our plants for 

 the following season, we use young shoots 

 or runners, whether rooted or not, rejecting 

 the old plants. These young plants, if not 

 rooted, are put closely together in boxes 

 until roots are formed, after which they are 

 potted in three inch pots about the middle 

 of April. They are kept in cool houses for 

 a time, and as early as the weather will per- 

 mit are set in a cold frame. When the 

 ground is in proper condition, and danger 

 of severe frost is over, they are planted out 

 in beds, when begins the treatment to which 

 we specially refer. 



First we carefully avoid doing that which 

 many growers favor, namely, planting in a 

 somewhat sha<ly place. We are convinced 

 that a fully exposed situation is of the ut- 

 most importance to secure a strong, stubby, 

 healthy growth, and we plant accordingly, 

 in soil that is moderately rich and thoroughly 

 pulverized ; and when dry hot weather sets 

 in water is liberally supplied by means of an 

 ordinary lawn sprinkler, regardless of how 

 hot the sun may shine on the plants, which 

 grow thriftily throughout the summer, no 

 matter how hot and dry it may be. The 

 sprinkling is continued as the weather and 

 soil demands; and on very hot days, even if 

 the soil is wet, the plants are given a bath. 



All runners are removed as they appear, 

 and the soil is kept loose by frequent stirring 

 with the hoe until steadycold weather setsjn, 

 then the plants are taken up and housed, 

 generally about the 10th of October, at 

 which time the plants are invariably well 

 supplied with buds; and under the sprink- 

 ling treatment, however hot and dry the 

 summer may be, tlie plants are always free 

 from red spider, which under favorable con- 

 ditions often utterly ruin the plants. 



While it is our practice to propagate by the 

 young plants only, yet single cuttings from 

 the old plants sometimes succeed, but can- 

 not be relied upon to do as well as the young 

 ones. It has been proven to our satisfaction 

 that plants which have once been forced are 

 of no further value, and it is a mistake to 

 grow them a second year, and we would 

 advise growers who have been in the habit 

 of growing old plants, or even portions of 

 them, year after year, to propagate by run- 

 ners or young shoots. If growers who allow 

 their Violets to depend on the rain for 

 watering were to liberally supply them with 

 water in any way most convenient, they will 

 have instead of small sickly plants at the 

 end of the summer large thrifty clumps, 

 with clean, healthy foliage and innumerable 

 flower buds. 



