1889. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



165 



j?A? 





B- 



Apples, 75 varieties, 1 and more trees eacb. 



Peal's, 51 varieties, 1 and more trees each. 



Plums, 46 varieties, 1 tree each. 



Cherries, 26 varieties, 1 tree each. 



Peaches, 40 varieties, 1 tree each. 



Apricots, 9 varieties, 1 tree each. 



In addition to the foregoing. Mulberries, Al- 

 monds, and other nut-ljearing trees in variety 

 are being planted, and a select list of Russian 

 fruits from Prof. J. L. Budd the specialist in 

 these, residing at Ames, Iowa. As far as possible 

 every novelty in fruits that has been advertised 

 in the rural journals this year, has been ordered 

 for testing, and many others not yet so advertised. 

 All this is but a beginning. 



In the culinary vegetable 

 department we ordered 

 freely of both novelties 

 and standai-d varieties from 

 the catalogues of the lead- 

 ing seedsmen, and these will 

 be carefully grown and re- 

 ported on. 



The ornamental depart- 

 ment of these grounds is to 

 occupy nearly one-si.\th of 

 entire area. Special pains 

 are being talten to make it 

 instructive to the masses 

 for encouraging the more 

 general adornment of rural and suburban homes 

 with trees, shrubs, lawns, etc. For the e.\tent of 

 ground to be devoted to this branch the largest 

 possible assortment of stock that can be accom- 

 modated is being set out. Without going into 

 details it may be said that this spring's nursery 

 orders called for stock for this department as 

 follows: 



Deciduous trees, 1.53 in almost as many varieties. 



Deciduous shrubs, 441 (1 to 20 per each variety), 



Evergreen trees, 207 in large variety. 



Climbers in large assortment. 



Hardy Herbaceous Perennials 182, mostly one 

 of a kind. 



Lilies, 24 species and varieties. 



Besides a varied assortment of aquatic and 

 bog plants, bulbous plants, annuals. Ferns, Hardy 

 Orchids, wild garden flowers, etc. Fortunately 

 the woody banks of the Cayuga Creek, which 

 skirts one side of the farm, and from which it 

 receives its name " Woodbanks," is rich in a large 

 variety of native trees, numbering up into the 

 hundreds. Numerous grasses, both separately 

 and in mixture, are being tested In lawns. 



Nnthing fur Sale. Let no reader get the idea 

 that a commercial nursery is being established 

 on these grounds, after the manner of certain 

 nursery and seed houses from which periodicals 

 are published as advertising adjuncts. Nothing 

 could be farther from the truth in our case. We 

 are growing stock purely for tests and experi- 

 ments, and in no instance can our reports on such 

 be biased by trade considerations, for we have 

 absolutely nothing for sale, nor shall be have, but 

 this journal. 



An lllustra- 

 tvm in Lawn 

 gi'a<ling. One 

 featiire of the 

 work now al- 

 most complet- 

 ed at "Wood- 

 banks" we de- 

 sire here to 

 describe and 

 illustrate, as 

 strongly con- 

 firming the 

 position more 

 than once 

 taken t>y us, 

 that some at- 

 ten ti on to 

 grading and 



otherwise improving the home surroundings 

 is profitable as a matter of dollars and cents. 

 No doubt in the case of the mjority of coun- 

 try homes, the difference between spending some 

 money in fitting up the grounds about the house 

 by judicious gi'ading and tasteful ornamental 

 planting or not doingso, would make a ditferance 

 amounting to many times the cost of such im- 

 provements were the place ever to be sold. It is 

 a point not enough appreciated by land owners. 

 Let us show its force as applied to "Woodbanks." 



In the upper engraving is shown in cross sec- 

 tions the location of the editor's home on these 

 grounds fronting on the Cayuga creek, and in 

 the lower left-hand cut its position relatively t^ 

 the highway, the bridge etc. While a former 



owner liad so graded a narrow strip between the 

 house and the bridge as to afford a slight fall 

 from the former, yet in the direction of the 

 highway towai'ds La Salle, (indicated by dotted 

 lines in the lower cut) no thought was had to 

 this although here should be the most command- 

 ing view of the house from the highway. 



As has before been intimated the land here 

 slopes back slightly from the brow of the creek's 

 bank. This is shown by the line ^1 ^ in the 

 upper engraving. Previously therefore this 

 house as seen from the highway towards the La 

 Salle appeared to poor advantage being in a de- 

 gree sunken below the creek bank. Last autumn. 



£ 



A A 



r'^^^rx.-. 



J- 





unaffected ones are left to grow. At the same 

 time we shall set plants grown in frame and trans- 

 planted and hope to be able to tell our readers 

 how great, if any, is the gain secured by the lat- 

 ter plan. We have but one aim, namely, to learn 

 the best method. 



Lettuce in Drills. The same method of plant- 

 ing in drills, and gi\ing proper space for head, 

 by gradual thinning, we also follow in ca.se of 

 Lettuce. The thinnings may be utilized for the 

 table, as leaf salad, just as the Cabbage thinnings 

 may be used for greens, or be thrown into the 

 poultry yard, (fowls eat young Cabbage and Let- 

 tuce plants with great aridity, and considerable 

 benefit). The market gar- 

 dener can not practice this 

 plan, nor afford to spend 

 his time in gradual thin- 

 ing. He is after early mar- 

 ketable crops. 



Lawn Orading at the Poptdar Gardening Oi-numls, niuntrated. 



however teams were employed and the bank 

 was cut down in this direction scraping the earth 

 back towards and to the side of the house with 

 the desired effect of completely reversing the 

 slope in this part of the grounds, exactly as 

 shown by the line BB. At the highest point the 

 soil to fully three feet in depth was cut down. A 

 number of trees also were sacrificed, a loss that 

 was as nothing compai-ed with the general gain 

 for appearances, which was so striking as to be 

 commented upon by all passers. The front slope 

 (dotted line BB) now devoted to a lawn, is easy 

 and graceful in outline from the house to the 

 waters edge, and raises the house into prominence 

 where before its foundations were hid from the 

 highway. The effect from the residence is equal- 

 ly improved. The young trees and shrubs located 

 on the cur\-ing slope show to superior advan- 

 tage, and the improvement simple as it was un- 

 doubtedly has added hundreds of dollars to the 

 value of the place. 



But this is not all. On the opposite side of the 

 creek and highway is a considerable tract of 

 land sloping towards the creek which the owner 

 contemplates cutting up into building lots, and 

 filing. So marked has been the improvement 

 referred to on the general appearance of the lo- 

 cating, that this neighbor has been reputed to 

 have said that the work is worth a thousand 

 dollars for the sale of his own land. What did 

 the work t« which we allude cost? Independent 

 of the planting but three weeks labor by man 

 and team at $18 per week, total $54. We believe 

 that nine per.sons in ten would estimate that all 

 in all the gain has been more than twenty-fold. 



Tools of Tillage. Perfect tools give perfect 

 cultivation. Our grounds now present an illus- 

 tration of this fact. On soil like oui-s, a strong 

 loam underlaid with clay, sub soiling is next to 

 indispensible for best results, and so the Wiard 

 subsoil plow has been made to do its work, fol- 

 lowing in the furrow freshly thrown up by the 

 common plow, on perhaps two thirds of the 1.1 

 acres. The Disk harrow (Corbin's flexible) now 

 run repeatedly over the plowed land, cut up four 

 inches or more in depth, breaking lumps, mixing, 

 levelling and grading, and gi\ing the whole sur- 

 face a presentiible shape. Then came the Meeker 

 harrow (four sections of small disks a total of .54;) 

 and for a tool to give the finishing touch, noth- 

 ing better need be looked tor. In the prepara- 

 tion of the soil for sowing it enables us to dis- 

 pense with the steel rake altogether, making as 

 nice and smooth a seed bed as we could wish. To 

 sum up, the proper use of the tools named has 

 given us a soil stirred to the depth of full 16 

 inches, with the upper half thoroughly fined 

 and pulverized, and a surface smooth enough for 

 lawn, and mellow enough for the proper recep- 

 tion of the finest seed. 



Cabbages in Drilli. Following a custom adopted 

 j'ears ago, we again sow Cabbage seed thinly in 

 rows, with the intention of gradually thinning 

 them to the proper distance apart in the the row, 

 and letting them head right there. A row of 

 Radishes planted between each two rows of Cab- 

 bages will come off in time to give the latter the 

 sole occupancy of the space when needed. This 

 method requires considerable seed, but insures 

 comparative immunity from bug and maggot 

 attacks, as all the weakly and affected plants 

 come imder the thinnings, and the thriftiest and 



A Simple Plant Pro- 

 tector. 



The natural and uni- 

 versal desire of both 

 market and home 

 gardeners, is directed 

 towards tlie gain of a little time in the 

 production of all sorts of vegetables, and 

 many devices are used to obtain that end. 

 We start Lima Beans, Cucumbers, Melons, 

 Squashes, etc., on pieces of inverted sod in 

 a hot-bed; we push Tomato and Pepper 

 plants far ahead, before setting in the open 

 ground, and even than our labor often 

 comes to naught, when a late cold snap, 

 or stormy chilly wind touches the tender 

 plants, or worms and bugs find and des- 

 troy them. To give early tender plants 

 full protection against all foes, Mr. Joseph 

 Harris in his catalogue, recommends the 

 simple device which we have illustrated. 

 It consists of two pieces of % inch board, 

 (a and b) as end pieces, with slightly 

 rounded corners. A strip of cheap muslin 

 is tacked over them, and kept taut by nar- 

 row pieces of board (c) braced in between 

 the end pieces. Dimensions are given in 

 the illustration. A protector of this kind 

 set over a Tomato plant, a hill of Cucum- 

 bers, Melons, etc., will prove more than a 

 protector in name, when the hungry cut 

 worm and the hordes of striped beetles are 

 looking for prey, or when a late frost 

 threatens destruction. In storing and ship- 

 ping the braces are removed, allowing the 

 end pieces to come together, thus making 

 a package requiring very little room. 



Wild Fruit Trees and Caterpillars. 



In response to the direction frequently 

 given that roadmasters and others should 

 cut down all the Wild Cherry and other 



A Simple Pla)tt Protector. 

 native fruit trees they can, a writer to the 

 Journal of Agriculture says: 



Look before striking a blow at a native 

 tree. Our fruit and fruit trees are all in- 

 jured more or less and sometimes destroyed, 

 because the forests are fallen and the wilds 

 all plowed up. The destruction of their 

 natural homes does not destroy these insects, 

 but only compels them to seek new homes 

 amid our orchards and gardens. But the 

 great destruction of all our forests is also 

 breaking up the homes of our friends and 

 helpers— the birds, who being stronger of 

 wing and of a higher organization, leave us 

 —thus breaking up the equilibrium of na- 

 tiu'e, and seek homes in the recesses of the 



