POPULAR GARDENING 



AND FRUIT GROWING. 



"AOOVaE NOT NATURE, SHE BATB DONE HER PART; DO THOV BUT TH/WK."— Milton. 



Vol. IV. 



IMI^A-IT, 1889. 



No. 8. 



I saw the bud-crowned Spring go forth. 



Stepping dalty onward north 



To greet staid ancient cavaliers 



Filing single In stately train. 



And who, and who are the travellers ? 



They were night and day, and day and night, 



Pilgrims wight with step fortrlght. 



I saw the days deformed and low, 



Short and bent by cold and snow; 



The merry Spring threw wreaths on them. 



Flower-wreaths gay with bud and bell; 



Many a flower and many a gem. 



They were refreshed by the smell, 



They shook the snow from hats and shoon. 



—Emerson. 



A PIECE of musquito netting placed over the 

 hole in the bottom, and under the drainage 

 material, will lieep worms out of flower pots. 



Association OF American Nurserymen. The 

 fourteenth annual meeting of this society will 

 be held at Chicago, Ills., beginning Wednesday, 

 June 5th. The Grand Pacific hotel will be head- 

 quarters; and hotel, hall and exhibition will all 

 be under one roof. Secretary Chas. A. Green, 

 Rochester, N. Y., may be addressed for particu- 

 lars as to hotel and railroad rates. The society 

 deserves the active support of every one who 

 can lay Just claim to the title " nurseryman." 



The Adirondack Forests. Recognizing the 

 senseless destruction of timber now going on in 

 the north woods, and fearing the most deplorable 

 consequences upon the meteorological conditions 

 of the State, Garden and Forest favors and 

 urges the purchase of the whole Adirondack 

 region by the State, as the only plan by which 

 the elimination of its attractiveness can be 

 averted, and means provided for the permanent 

 conservation of these invaluable forest. We 

 second the motion. 



A Correction. In an issue of our last volume 

 a statement appeared which did injustice to the 

 new insecticide Peroxide of Silicates. We stand 

 ready always to make amends for errors that 

 may creep into our columns. In the case of 

 this article which now comes well recommended 

 by many cultivators, we are glad therefore to 

 print the following letter from a well-known 

 seedsman of Chicago. " Yours of 15th at hand, 

 Our experience with Peroxide Silicates has been 

 very satisfactory indeed. Whenever tried by 

 customers it did the work every time. Men who 

 bought only small quantities at first, came back 

 for more and in many cases their friends came in 

 and asked for it. We tested it on our trial 

 grounds with good results, and we believe it to 

 be the best bug destroyer in the market. Yours 

 truly, S. P. Leonard." 



St.\ples on Deck Again. Vor regularity of 

 appearance, the illueberry man from Michigan 

 may be likened unto '*the flowers that bloom in 

 the spring," etc. This time he comes up smil- 

 ingly with a big two-column ad. in Garden and 

 Forest, and the latter, to make the matter com- 

 plete, might have given an editorial on the "Won- 

 derful Blueberry and Its Cultivation," in the 

 style of the Prairie Farmer, which endorsed Mr. 

 Staple's new departure (advertising Lucretia 

 Dewberry plants) with an editorial notice and an 

 overdrawn illustration (probably furnished by 

 Staples) of the wonderful Lucretia (we wonder if 

 he digs his Lucretia plants in the wild woods as 

 he did his " Blueberry," or rather common Huck- 

 leberry plants). For the undeniable fact that 

 frauds of this class, in spite of all exposures, 

 readily find new victims, the explanation is often 

 ventured that the defrauded belong to the un- 

 progressive of their calling, and have failed to 

 acquaint themselves with the agricultural liter- 

 ature of the day; but what shall we say when a 

 man like Staples finds it so easy to rope in pub- 

 lishers of " leading" journals, who are supposed 

 to read up their exchanges, as for instance. 

 Garden and Forest, and Prairie Farmer. 



Angle Worms not our Frlends.1 



PETER HENDERSON. 



I noticed one of your correspondents, some 

 time ago, said that angle worms were in no 

 way liurtful to plants. It may have been 

 that opinion that has induced several of 

 your readers to again bring up the subject. 

 There can be no question that they are hurt- 

 ful, both in the open ground and in the 

 greenhouse, not that they in any way feed 

 on the roots, but they seriously disturb 

 them, and besides, so honeycomb the soil in 

 their movements that the roots must of 

 necessity meet empty space, hence injury to 

 growth; that together with the glutinous 

 packing of the soil, is where the mischief is 

 done. Did you ever see a professional gar- 

 dener, even with five years' experience, who, 

 finding a worm when knocking a plant out 

 of a pot, or when digging in the ground, did 

 not make short work of the "vermin?" 

 Some one has said, may be with more 

 poetry, than truth, that 



"The meanest worm we tread upon, 

 In corporeal suffering feels a pang 

 As great as when a giant dies." 

 But the gardener is rarely influenced by any 

 sentimental sympathy, and the older his 

 experience the harder he is likely to tread 

 upon the worm that has invaded his flower 

 pot or his garden plot. 



The Remedv. To destroy angle worms (for 

 they should ever be destroyed if the best 

 culture is desired) is, if to be used in the 

 greenhouse, to mix about five pounds of 

 lump lime with 30 gallons of water, stir it 

 until thoroughly mixed, then let it settle, 

 using only the clear water in which sufficient 

 of the caustic quality of the lime will remain 

 to kill the angle worms. Use enough of it 

 to reach the bottom of the pot or the bench. 

 Two applications will usually be sufficient. 

 When they are troublesome in the open 

 ground, dust lime over a raked or harrowed 

 surface sufficient to nearly whiten it, (about 

 as thick as sand or sawdust is usually strewn 

 on a floor), and as the worms come to the 

 surface they are killed by coming in con- 

 tact with the lime. It is a common thing 

 for thousands of Cabbage and Lettuce plants 

 that have been"pricked off" — planted closely 

 together— in outside frames, to be destroyed 

 in one night by angle worms; for though 

 they do not apparently use them as food, yet 

 they delight to draw up the newly set plants 

 and drag them down into the soil, where 

 from carelessness or ignorance the surface 

 had not been sprinkled with lime dust. We 

 have in our time planted many millions of 

 such plants, but the angle worm has not 

 often got a chance to devastate our work, 

 for we rarely transplant small seedling 

 plants of any kind in cold frames, without 

 dusting the planted surface with lime dust. 



Spring Notes on Grapes. 



E. P. POWELL, ONEmA CO., N. Y. 



I have kept Herbert Grapes in good con- 

 dition until March, and without special care 

 except to lay them away in baskets in close 

 drawers. This Grape I reckon to our very 

 best late keeping black Grapes, while the 

 Worden is distinctively the best early black. 

 The latter ripening from September 1st to 

 10th, has a brittle skin and is not a late 

 keeper, while the Herbert ripens about the 



1.5th to 30th of September and keeps easily 

 all winter. With equal distinctiveness I 

 would class Gaertner and Brighton as the 

 two best red Grapes for general planting. 

 Although the latter colors before Gaertner, 

 it does not mature its crop until October. 

 Givrtner is fully ripe before_10th of Sept. 



I should not find it as easy to confine 

 myself to any two of the white Grapes; but 

 would select Moore's Diamond tor early and 

 Niagara for late, yet would wish to add 

 Duchess and Hayes. With this list of eight 

 Grapes, I should feel that I had an adequate 

 vinery for home use. 



The only possible method of properly test- 

 ing a Grape is by comparison. No doubt 

 many persons who have only grown the 

 Concord and some of the inferior older sorts, 

 may be pleased \vith the Jessica, Ulster Pro- 

 lific, Woodruff Red, and Prentiss. By com- 

 parative judgment I set dowTi Prentiss as 

 so very inferior in hardiness and quality 

 that it should no longer be offered for sale. 

 Jessica is a small white Grape with a small 

 bunch, and at least one-half seeds. No 

 honest judgment on the part of those who 

 have grown largely the best varieties, can 

 recommend this Grape for planting. 



In my opinion. Woodruff Red has nothing 

 more in its favor than that it is in large 



Feeding the Orchard for Fruit. Sfr pnijr 



stock in the bands of our Grape propagators, 

 and must be boomed to be got rid of. I do 

 not deny that it is of good size and just de- 

 cent quality. I have ripened it wii h sixty 

 other sorts and discarded it wholly and em- 

 phatically. Who ever plants it for a choice 

 Grape will be disappointed. Early Victor 

 is also a very tolerable Grape with some 

 good qualities, but quite unable to hold 

 rank with Moore's Early or with Worden, 

 and should be planted very sparsely. The 

 bunch is small — an improved native. 



Eaton is only a good-sized Concord, ripen- 

 ing a little later, and not as good in quality. 

 Does not deserve planting. Empire State is 

 a great deal later than it has been reported 

 to be; and is not of the highest quality. I 

 never found a purchaser who asked for it 

 ijy preference,and "the lioys never touch it." 

 It withers soon after picking and loosens 

 from the stem. I^ady is first in quality but 

 will not give good crops. Ijady Washington 

 does not ripen until October 10th to 1.5th — 

 quite too late, and it is not then of first 

 (juality. Poughkeepsie Red and Ulster Pro- 

 lific are only fairly good Grapes, and when 

 tested beside a large number of others pre- 

 sent no valid claims. 



