134 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



March, 



them in the same temperature until the end of 

 May or a little later.if the weather is not too wai-m 



The next step is to repot into five inch pots 

 placing them in a frame, keeping them free 

 from green fly by the use of tobacco, and also 

 keeping down all weeds. About the first of July 

 prepare the soil on the benches inside, using about 

 ten parts of good fibrous loam to one part of old 

 rotten manure with a little sharp sand. Set the 

 plants in this soil fifteen by sixteen inches apart, 

 give a good watering and syringe regularly- over- 

 head and under the benches three or four times 

 a day. Put on just enough shading to break the 

 extreme sun heat. Air should be left on night 

 and day until October or even later if warm 

 enough. Give a light mulching of old manure 

 with a little bone dust. 



From the end of September until cold weather 

 comes is a veiy trying time for the Rose grow- 

 er, because, as the temperature sometimes 

 goes quite low, it often does a great deal of dam- 

 age to healthy plants by producing a fungus on 

 the young wood which takes off every leaf. To 

 prevent this, start just enough lire to create a 

 circulation, lea'^^ng the ventilators open to admit 

 a little air and the plants can be kept in perfect 

 health, and if at the same time some sulphur is 

 put on the pipes, it will prevent mildew. 



As soon as cold weather sets in and fires are 

 kept steady, the watering and syringing should 

 be done in the morning, on bright days if possi- 

 ble. During October give a second light mulch, 

 as in July, Through the summer and until the 1st 

 of October pinch out every bud as soon as they 

 show and by this time they ought to be good sized 

 bushes, a stake can be given each one, but do 

 not tie the branches too closely. F rom now to 

 the end of the season keep the house clean, giv- 

 ing moisture as required, a free circulation of 

 air on every favorable opportunity, and a 

 profitable crop should result. 



The following twelve varieties I consider the 

 best for winter growing: Mermet, Bride, Perle 

 des Jardlns, Bon Silene, Nephetos, Papa Gontier 

 La France, Bennett, American Beauty, Sunset, 

 Safrano, Souvenir dc .^mi. 



Secretary Engle's Notes on the 

 Pennsylvania State Meeting. 



The Thirtieth Annual Meeting ot the 

 State Horticultural Association of Pennsyl- 

 vania, was held at Lewiston, January Ki and 

 17, with an attendance of members surpris- 

 ingly large; the display of Fruits was 

 extensive and handsome, including a new 

 seedling Apple, the "Gutshale," from Perry 

 County, which attracted much attention for 

 its beauty, its keeping and eating qualities. 



Strawberries, Mr. Brinser in his essay, on 

 'Small Fruits" chiefly devoted to Strawberries, 

 said that Sharpless and Cumberland are his leading 

 varieties, while among the newer ones, Jesak was 

 highly commended for hardiness, size and pi-o- 

 ductiveness. Bubach yields more large berries 

 than any other. Manchester produced heavy 

 crops of fine berries, but has blighted more the 

 past season than ever before. May King is no 

 earlier than Cumberland, though very produc- 

 tive of good quality and firm. Crescent is too 

 small and acid for a profitable market berry. 

 Jewell wonderfully productive, large, and good 

 quality, but foliage is scant and berries subject 

 to scald. Crimson Cluster, Parry, Mammoth 

 Seedling and Belmont have been discarded for 

 better varieties. Half of his Strawberry planta- 

 tion was mulched with common barn yard 

 manure, the other half with clover straw trans- 

 versely across the rows so that each variety had 

 an application of the two kinds of mulch. The 

 portion mulched with manure produced a crop 

 of fine berries, while that covered with clover 

 straw produced nothing ;but "buttons" or im- 

 perfect berries. Soil, location and treatment 

 being the same; no definite conclusion was 

 reached as to the cause. Mr. Brinser's first pick- 

 ings are made into two, and his late pickings 

 into three grades: his object being to have berries 

 of uniform size in the same boxes, no " topping 

 out " being allowed. 



Baspberrles, Mr. Davis of Juniata County, 

 who grows largely for market, recommended 

 Ohio, Souhegan, and Gregg, for black, and Citth- 

 bert, Turjier, and Marlboro, for red varieties, 

 Cuthheti standing at the head of the list, and 

 among Black Caps the Ohio is preferable to Gregg. 

 Prof. Meehan stated that in eastern Pennsylva- 

 nia the Kaspberry has three enemies, leaf blight, 

 the stem borer, (similar to the Curi-ant borer,) 



and the honey bee. Notwithstanding the claim 

 that bees cannot eat fruit or berries, they do 

 destroy great quantities of Raspberries. 



Bagging Grapes was strongly recommended 

 by some as a preventive of rot, while others pro- 

 nounced it a failure. The general verdict how- 

 ever was that it paid with the finest bunches even 

 for ordinary market purposes Prof. Butz of 

 the Experiment Station stated that some of the 

 remedies for Grape rot recommended by Prof. 

 Scribner of Washington, D. C, had been tested 

 there and had proven satisfactory. 



Spraying Frnit Trees. This subject was intro- 

 duced by an interesting jiaper by Geo. T. Powell 

 of Ghent, N. Y., who has had very satisfactory 

 results with insecticides during the past two 

 years. One, or at furthest two applications are 

 suflicient unless followed immediately by rains, 

 H. M. Engle of Marietta, sprayed his orchard the 

 past season for the fli'st time and the result was 

 the finest crop of Apples he has ever gathered. 



Cold Storage was treated by Col. McFarland of 

 Harrisburg, who has made this topic a special 

 study for several years. Cold storage of the 

 future, when conducted on a large scale, will 

 dispense with ice, and be accomplished by am- 

 monia and brine; with the necessary machinery. 

 Experiments in keeping fruits by this system 

 have been very satisfactory. 



Live Fences wexe briefly discussed,the members 

 generally denouncing them as being too much 

 trouble, taking up too much space, and not to be 

 depended upon. 



Potato Culture. Mr. Engle's method is to 

 ])lant for early crop as early as it is safe to plant, 

 and for the late crop, from the middle of June 

 to July 1st is the best time as it gives the crop 

 time to mature, and yet in a degree escape the 

 extreme heat and drouth of midsummer. Early 

 Ohio was considered the best early variety. 



The next annual meeting will be held at Mitf- 

 lintown, in the midst of some of the most ex- 

 tensive and profitable Peach orchards in the 

 State. Following are the officers for 1889. 



President, H. C. Snavely, Lebanon, Pa.; Vice- 

 President, Josiah Hoopes, West Chester Pa.; H. 

 M. Engle, Marietta, Pa.; W. M. Pennebak, Lewis- 

 town, Pa.; Recording Secretary, E. B. Engle, 

 Waynesboro, Pa.; Corresponding Secretary, W. 

 P. Brinton, Christiana, Pa.; Treasurer, J. Hib- 

 bard Bartram, Milltown, Pa.; Librarian, Thos. 

 J. Edge, Harrisburg, Pa. 



Practical Value of Chemistry in 

 Fruit Growing. 



{Paper by Prof. W. R. Lazenby of the Ohio Agricul- 

 tural College before the State Agricultural Meeting,'] 



The art of horticulture consists in trans- 

 forming, by means of cultivation, crude and 

 worthless materials into wholesome food 

 products. These raw materials are furnished 

 by the soil and such substances as may be 

 added thereto, together with certain ele- 

 ments of the air and water. 



The Needs of the Soil for Profitable Fruit 

 Froduction. Plants are composed of certain ma- 

 terials, whereof by far the larger portion comes 

 from the atmosphere, a smaller, though con- 

 stant and essential part, coming from the soil. 

 The former is yielded freely and abundantly, 

 hence.the important question relating to the sub- 

 stances furnished by the soil. Chemistry can 

 help us to an answer, though it is doubtful if 

 analysis of the soils wlU ever do more than fur- 

 nish mere hints as to what may or may not be 

 required. We do know, however, that the 

 analysis of plants and fruits furnish oftentimes 

 reliable guides as to what can be profitably 

 added to different soils as fertilizers. The stems, 

 branches and leaves of dift'erent fruit trees con- 

 tain comparatively large quantities of Ume and 

 VKitash, and few orchards have ever been seen, 

 the productive capacity of which could not be 

 improved by the application of one or both of 

 these compounds. Chemistry also tells us that 

 our fruits, especially those producing much 

 seed, contain a considerable amount of phos- 

 phoric acid, which is often lacking in the soil. 



Average analyses of Grape seeds, give in 100 

 parts of the ash, 39 parts potash, 34 parts lime, 

 and 24 parts phosphoric acid. The univereal par- 

 tiality for barnyard manure, is because it is, 

 when well made and preserved, an almost com- 

 plete fertilizer. Next to the barnyard manure, 

 unleached wood ashes is probably the best fertili- 

 zer for the garden and .orchard. Then comes 

 lime, where the soil is deficient in this element. 



and phosphates or ground bone wherever the 

 soil has been despoiled of phosphoric acid. 



The Advantages of Thinning Fruit. The 

 direct gain from thinning is the increased size 

 and enhanced market value of the fruit, ('hem- 

 istry, however, informs us of another benefit. 

 By increasing the size of the fruit, we diminish 

 the weigh of the seeds. A given measure of 

 Apples containing one hundred specimens has 

 but little more than one-half as much seed as 

 when a similar measure of the same Apple con- 

 tained two hundred specimens. As a large per 

 cent, of the mineral ingredients of the Apple is 

 found in the ash of the seed, it is obvious that 

 to make as slight a draft as possible upon the 

 soil, as well as upon the vitality ot our fruit 

 plants, we should aim, not to diminish the total 

 weight, but to diminish the amount of seed by 

 increasing the size of the individuals. 



In the case of small fruits a selection of varie- 

 ties with a comparatively small seed product 

 woiUd probably give the .same result. An analy- 

 sis of the Turner and Ohio Raspberries, made at 

 the Ohio Experiment Station gave the following 

 results: The Turner was found to contain 84}^ 

 per cent, of water and 1^ per cent, of solid 

 matter. The Ohio contained 80 per cent, of 

 water and 20 per cent of solid matter. Of the 

 solid matter in the Turner a little less than 34 per 

 cent, was seeds. In other words, the Turner had 

 less than one-half the amount of seed found in 

 the Ohio. These figures may not show which 

 is the more profitable for market, but it does 

 show which is the more exhausting to the soil, 

 and the more profitable for the consumer. 



Judicious thinning of our small fruits by 

 pruning, or by the removal of fruit as soon as it 

 is set, would likely not only give better results, 

 but would also delay the exhaustion of the soil 

 and prolong the life of the plant. 



The Advantages of a Fruit Diet. Most of 

 the substances found in fruit are essential con- 

 stituents of human food. The two qualities that 

 render fruits especially wholesome and cause us 

 to crave them for their taste is juiciness and 

 flavor. The juice is mainly water, but it comes 

 in a grateful and refreshing form. The flavor is 

 due to the presence of certain organic acids, 

 together with certain volatile oils and ethers. 

 When taken into the body they undergo oxida- 

 tion, which process tends to lower the tempera- 

 ture of the blood, thus correcting any slight 

 tendency toward a feverish condition which 

 often exists. They also tend to keep the organs 

 of secretion in healthy condition. In our climate, 

 subject as we are to great extremes of tempera- 

 ture, ha\ang an ' arctic winter and a tropical 

 summer, and passing as we often do abruptly 

 from one to the other, the system is naturally 

 debilitated, and in this condition we are predis- 

 posed to malarial troubles, for which fruit, on 

 account of the free antiseptic acid it contains, 

 is a great corrective. 



Unripe fruit is not wholesome as instead of 

 digesting it ferments and decomposes in the 

 stomach, giving rise to serious gastric disorders. 

 The same is true of over-ripe or partially decayed 

 fruit. The question is often asked whether such 

 or such a fruit is " healthy." This is bad Eng- 

 lish, unless you have special reference to the 

 condition of the fruit itself; it is safe to say, 

 however, that the teachings of chemistry, as 

 well as our own experience, show that nearly all 

 "healthy" fruits ai'e wholesome. 



Will Irrigation Pay. 



[Mr. W. W. Raivson, before the Massachuaetts Board 

 of Agriculture.] 



It is one of the leading subjects relating to 

 horticulture and agriculture at the present 

 time. Of the four articles important in the 

 growth of plants, viz., light, air, heat and 

 moisture, of the latter, there is from SO to 

 95 per cent, in the composition of vegetables; 

 from 70 to 8.5 per cent, in fruits, and from 70 

 to 80 per cent, in grasses. 



The Necessity. The average rainfall of our 

 New England States is about one inch of water 

 per week or 50 inches a year. If that amount of 

 water could be equally distributed each week in 

 the year no irrigation would be necessary in this 

 climate, but as we often have three or four 

 weeks when no rain falls at all, the deficiency 

 can only be supplied with irrigation. The arti- 

 ficial method of supplying moisture to gl-owing 

 plants is of most ancient origin. It has been in 

 use by all foreign countries, while the most e.x- 



