1889. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



167 



especially on sandy or mucky soil, and on 

 well-kept lawns, so troublesome indeed, 

 that we must find means to get rid of the 

 little nuisance. 



All the traps now being made work pretty 

 much on the same principle; and good, effec- 

 tive and reasonably cheap ones can be had 

 at almost every hardware store. One of our 

 former neighbors, on New Jersey's sandy 

 soil, used the home-made contrivance here 

 illustrated, with very good success. Two 

 pieces of inch board, of the shape shown, 

 seven inches wide and thirty inches long, 

 are hinged together on one end. The iron 

 trigger is ten inches long, its lower end 

 somewhat like a flattened spoon or paddleand 

 the upper end notched as shown. 

 The upright post is curved 

 to correspond with the sweep of 

 the top board. On each side of 

 the top are six teeth, either fastened 

 directly on the board, or riveted 

 on a plate an inch wide and 

 screwed on the board. The top 

 board is weighted with a brick, a 

 flat stone, or a chunk of wood. 



Before setting the trap put the 

 foot firmly upon the part of the 

 mole track upon which the trap is 

 to rest, for the purpose of ob- 

 structing the run. Also press the 

 teeth down into the soil, so there 

 wlU be no obstruction when the ^ 

 trap is sprung. Then set the trap 

 as shown in cut. The paddle part 

 of the trigger should touch the 

 surface of the ground exactly over 

 the line of the track. The mole 

 finding his accustomed path filled 

 up, at once begins to re-open it, 

 and heaving up the surface, 

 springs the trigger, and is pierced by the 

 teeth on one side or the other. 



Moles are especially active in making 

 new runs right after a rain; and where 

 they are abundant, many may be caught by 

 watching for them at that time, with spade 

 in hand. When that heaving up of the 

 soil is noticed, trust the spade into the 

 ground behind the mole, throw out and 

 kill It. 



exclude the air and leave no room for discharg- 

 ing the chips, and I have seen no borers since. 



Transplanting at Night. I have no doubt 

 there are advantages to be gained in planting at 

 night, but I do not think the absence ot light has 

 any important effect. The damp atmosphere 

 and immunity from the direct rays of the sun 

 are the chief factors, and these points can be 

 gained in cloudy weather, and to a great extent 

 during the early morning and late in the after- 

 noon. It is undeniably a logical inference that 

 what is best for the amateur in planting trees is 

 best for the nurseryman, but it may not be pos- 

 sible for the nurseryman with his extensive 

 planting, to complete it all in proper season if he 

 only takes the short time which may happen to 

 be exactly suited to the work. I am a nursery- 

 man myself, but when I have any extra choice 



COMMENTS BY READERS. 



A department to which all are invited to send notes of 

 experience and observation concerning topics that re- 

 cently have been treated on in this Journal. Many 

 such contributions monthly would be icelcoine. 



No CuRCTJLio Proof Plum. The Wild Goose 

 and Botan are practically curculioproof, and 

 the latter has, in some places at least, borne 

 enormous crops ot large handsome Plums of good 

 quaUty, commencing to bear when quite small. 

 Spraying the trees with arsenical poison may 

 prove an effectual remedy for curcuUo, although 

 it is yet a Uttle premature to depend upon it, but 

 I have no faith in jarring the insects on sheets as 

 a univei'sal remedy. In large orchards of Plums 

 where it can be done on a large scale and to the 

 best advantage, it may and probably does pay. 



Tartarian Honeysdckle for Hedges. If 

 this shrub is to be used for this purpose (and it 

 has some very good points, among which its full 

 foliage, which comes out very early in the season, 

 is not the least) some rapid and cheap plan of pro- 

 pagation is needed, and sowing seed just meets 

 this acquirement. Sow the seed as soon as ripe 

 in boxes ot earth and place in the shade, giving 

 the proper attention to watering, etc.; and the 

 plant will grow a few inches the first season, and 

 in three years a good sized hedge can be made. 



Rogers' Hybrid Grape Goethe. This Grape 

 has not been so generally disseminated as some 

 other members, but it has more ot the meaty 

 character of the foreign varieties than any other 

 hybrid I have ever tasted except Jefferson. It is 

 very large and quite good even before it is fully 

 colored, and the vine is a strong grower. 



Apple Tree Borers. Having a valuable Ap- 

 ple tree which seemed likely to be destroyed by 

 borers, and not being able to reach them with a 

 flexible wire, I concluded to try suffocation, and 

 banked the tree with coal ashes high enough to 



GohJen Prolific Gooseberry. 



or valuable stock to plant, I do not do it whUe 

 the sun is shining with a full blaze, or the wind 

 blowing hard. 



Arbor Day Planting. One serious difficulty 

 with Arbor Day here has been that it comes too 

 late, and when trees are too far advanced. It 

 would be better for each county to fix upon the 

 day best adapted to that particular locality. 



Japan Persimmons. What is to be inferred 

 by S. Miller's remark " If we can get a hardy one 

 with the size of the foreign and the quality of 

 our own?" Our native Persimmons are edible in 

 their best varieties in their best condition, but 

 that is about aU that can be said of them in their 

 present state of development, and in view of the 

 claims which have been made for the Japan sorts 

 this looks to me like a pretty hard hit upon it. 



Horticultural Literature. The allusion to 

 the ignorance of Grape growers upon subjects 

 fully treated and explained in all our prominent 

 horticultural journals touches the key note to a 

 very large portion of the unprofitable farming 

 and gardeningof thiscountry. Itisavery poorly 

 conducted agricultural paper that does not give 

 plain, direct ond expUeit information enough in 

 the course of a year to pay the subscriber for its 

 subscri])tion price, but it is not in this alone or 

 chiefly that their readers derive benefit. Failure 

 in all branches of business is mainly the result of 

 mistakes, and it is pre-eminently so with tillers of 

 the soil ; and in these days of sharp competition 

 and close margins, those who commit serious 

 blunders are sure to " get left," and the compar- 

 ison of \1ews and habits of thought induced by 

 reading sharpen up the intellect to see the best 

 and cheapest methods. There is another point 

 in this connection that is worth considering. The 

 man who carefully reads several horticultural 

 journals will be much better quaUfied to place 

 the proper estimate upon the descriptions of 

 novelties which are brought out in such num- 

 bers, and will often save much more in this way 

 than the cost of halt a dozen journals. Among 

 the large number of catalogues I receive every 

 year I can tell at once which are intended for 

 customers who read horticultural journals, and 

 which for circulation among those who read 

 a country paper or a sensation daily. 



The Ohio Raspberry. It seems to me that 

 the difference in the weight of seeds in the Ohio 

 and other varieties ought to condemn that var- 

 iety, and those who buy the evaporated fruit 

 should learn to distinguish it, and force the price 



down. I planted a few of the Ohio here several 

 yeai-s ago, and it was so plainly seedy that I threw 

 it out after one year's fruiting. 



Grape Training. All our extensive growers 

 here have trained their vines to single stakes for 

 years but generally they only plant about six 

 feet apart. Our Italians almost invariably prac- 

 tice the renewal system, allowing two canes to 

 grow up from near the ground each year. These 

 are cut off in spring at about four feet, and after 

 fruiting are removed entirely and new canes 

 take their place for fruiting the following season. 

 There is another advantage in this single stake 

 plan— it admits of cultivating in both directions. 

 —Wm. F. Bassett, Hammonfon, iV. J. 



Lettuce on Frozen Ground. Take an old tin 

 pan, grub up enough frozen ground to flU it and 

 set under the stove to dry; when it is dry, reduce 

 it to powder. On some sunny morn- 

 ing when the ground is slightly 

 thawed, select a warm spot in the 

 garden and with a pointed stick 

 ^>v scratch some drills nine inches apart, 



J~^ and scatter curled Silesian Lettuce 



seed therein. Cover it with the dry 

 powdered earth, and leave until time 

 to make garden. By the time the ground is ready 

 to sjiade or plow, the Lettuce will be found al- 

 ready up and growing. The ground can then be 

 loosened between the drills with a narrow hoe 

 or a potato hook. From one to two weeks can 

 be gained in this way. 



The Ailanthus for Rapid Growth. These 

 trees are of two kinds, the staminate or male 

 which produces flowers but no seed, and the 

 pistillate or female which bears seed. It is the 

 former which produces the poisonous odor. 

 Propogate from cuttings of the pistillate plant, 

 and you will have no bad odor. In some parts 

 only the staminate plant has been Introduced, 

 but here both kinds are common.— H. A. O., 

 Chester Co., S. C. 



Effect of Electric Light on Plants. 1 

 have a number of tuUps placed on a shelf, in a 

 window, and fully exposed to the rays of a four- 

 light Brush electric light tower only 200 feet 

 distant and burning all night. The tulips close 

 at night as usual, and in no way show any effect 

 of the bright Ught. I have also a pear tree so 

 situated as to receive the full force of the light 

 but fail to see that it effects it in any way.— i. if. 

 Oilmore, Wayne Co., Mich. 



Sports among Gladiolus Seedlings. The 

 cases mentioned lately in Populak Gardening 

 of the appearance of double flowers in Gladiolus 

 are such as come under the observation of all 

 who raise numerous seedlings. The first in- 

 stance 1 remember to have seen was in the 

 variety named Ulfius, a very striking and 

 beautiful kind, whose flowers were pink abun- 

 dantly striped with brilliant scarlet. After a 

 few years it began to come with eight or ten 

 petals, and finally nearly every flower was as 

 fuUy double as could be imagined, especially the 

 upper ones, which, in some cases, had forty or 

 more narrow petals, all closely packed together. 

 As the doubling proceeded the scarlet stripes 

 faded out and this originally excellent kind be- 

 came utterly worthless. Since then I have had 

 many partially double Gladioli, but have kept 

 none of them, for this flower is not improved by 

 doubling. Some other curious seedlings have ap- 

 peared from time to time; one has its petals folded 

 in the bud like those of a Poppy; another has a 

 flower crimpled all over, like crape; a third pro- 

 duces two flowers from every spathe, and a 

 fourth has the spathes confluent from the base 

 of the spike to the tip. Of these the third men- 

 tioned is really valuable, for the double allow- 

 ance of flowers makes the spike a solid mass of 

 bloom. As for the " blue " gladiolus which M. 

 Lemoine is said to have raised, I propose to be 

 somewhat skeptical until I have seen it. Kel- 

 way describes several of his varieties as having 

 blue centres or blotehes, but I have found his 

 blue to be nothing more than a gray-purple. — W. 

 E. Endicott, Norfolk Co., Miss. 



Japan Quince for Kitchen Use. Last au- 

 tumn we left the fruit, it being especially fine 

 and nearly as large as medium-sized Roman stem 

 Apples, on the bushes until hard frost. When 

 fully matured, sometime after picking, they had 

 a little of the true quince fragrance, but proved 

 too sour for preserves. So I put some in Apple 

 marmelade imparting to it a sprightly and de- 

 licate quince flavor. The cores were as large as 

 the fruit pictured in January number, and as 

 full of large plump seed as an egg is of meat.— 

 Sarah A. Pleas, Henry Co., Ind. 



