1889. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



185 



T'r'ifrSOCIETIES 



•'^^ 'ftEIKeMATTERTHAT DESERVES 



TO BCWlDBI-YKtlOWtU 



Good cultivation is tbe 

 best and surest insecticide. 

 —Pro/. Weed. 



Turner for early and 

 Cuthbert for late, are the 

 most reliable of the Red 

 Raspberries. — Ohio State 

 Hiitiicultural Society. 

 Yellow Transparent Apple will kill itself fruit- 

 ing in live jcars if left alone. Tetofsky is profit- 

 able.— 0/ii(i State Hortieultural Society. 



The Dwarf Champion Tomato appears to rae 

 the really valuable novelty of the season.— E. S. 

 Oojf, before W. N. T. Horticultural Society. 



Market and Home Growing. No one can be a 



successful commercial fruit grower and a farmer 

 at the same time. We do not need as many var- 

 ieties for market as for home use.— T. R. Palmer. 



Strawberries. No other berry introduced 

 within the last ten years has stood the test as well 

 as the Bubach. Jessie will probably rank as the 

 best fertilizer. If your culture is good enough, 

 don't give up the Cumberland.— Ohio State Hor- 

 ticultural Society. 



mulching for Berries. Very large yields of 

 Blackberries have been gathered where the 

 ground received an accidental mulch of forest 

 leaves. Ohio Raspberry is not as large as the 

 Gregg, but is prolific and hardy. Seventy bushels 

 per acre is regarded a good yield.— T. B. Palmer. 



Stachys Tuberifera, a so-called new vegetable 

 from Northern Africa cannot be pronounced a 

 very great acquisition. It belongs to the Mint 

 family, and produces small, fleshy tubers, which 

 in our trial only attained the size of acorns.— 

 E. S. Goff, before W. N. Y. Horticultural Society. 



Japan Persimmon. I believe it is admitted that 

 the Japan Persimmon is a failure north, perhaps, 

 of the southern line of Tennessee. I have eaten 

 the fruit raised south, and it is right good. It 

 has the Persimmon flavor, and one advantage 

 over our Persimmon- it has no seeds.— iUr. Cook, 

 before Kentucky Horticultural Society. 



Currants Profitable. J. A. Hale, of Connecti- 

 cut, stated at a recent meeting that Currants are 

 one of the most profitable of small fruits. From 

 1,500 to 2,000 quarts can be raised on an acre, and 

 a field can be kept fruiting an indefinite number 

 of years. The only insect remedy of particular 

 danger is the Currant worm, easily kept in check 

 by the use of Hellebore. 



Fruit Grower's Prospects. In my opinion 

 prospects were never better. The consumption 

 of fruits is increasing wonderfully all over the 

 world, but as is natural, as we advance, more 

 regard is paid to the quality of fruits and the 

 manner in which they are placed in the market. 

 The slovenly fruit grower must go'.— President 

 Barry, before the New Yorls Society. 



About the Morven Apple. A seedling of the 

 Lady Apple, from New Castle, Del., of medium 

 size, somewhat flat, skin smooth, red cheek, 

 sbadiug off to lemon, many specimens mottled 

 with dark brown spots. Flesh white, crisp, aro- 

 matic, subacid, delightful, a long keeper. Tree 

 an upright, strong grower, bears heavy crops in 

 alternate years.— Shoi«« at the Delaware Penin- 

 sula Horticultural Society Mectinfj. 



Fertilizers for Market Gardens. The ordinary 

 stable manure is yet used almost exclusively by 

 the market gardeners of Hudson Co., N. J., and 

 that, too, at the rate of seventy-five tons to the 

 acre. Very little phosphates or other concen- 

 trated manures are used on our lands, which are 

 continually under tillage; these are always more 

 telling on land broken up from sod, where the 

 fibrous roots of the sod stand in lieu of stable 

 manures.— Peter Hetidereon, before the Farmers" 

 Institute at Jamaica, N. Y. 



Evergreens for the Prairie. C. Ferris said at 

 the Iowa .State Horticultural Meeting that when 

 beauty and jirotection alone are sought. Ever- 

 greens should have first choice. They are a wind- 

 break in winter and summer, and are beautiful 

 even though they are economical. They cost 

 more per hundred, yet it takes less ti-ees and 

 space to gain the results. The variety best 

 adapted for Iowa, he said, was the Scotch Pine. 

 J. A. Williams said Pines could only be planted 

 safely when buds begin to swell. B. F. Ferris 

 favored early planting. President Patten said 



that the Austrian is not worth as much as Scotch 

 Pine for windbreaks, and that the latter is better 

 than Norway Spruce and White Pine. 



Nova Scotia as an Apple Country. Secretary 

 Lincoln, of the Worcester Co. (Mass.,) Horticul- 

 tural Society, states that in the ^Vnnapolis and 

 Gaspereau valleys nearly 40,000 acres are planted 

 with Ajiple trees. Nearly half a million ban-els of 

 Gravnestein, Baldwin, Tompkins Co. King and Bus- 

 sets are exported, and as over three-quai'ters of 

 trees are yet young, it is expected that the future 

 product will be greatly increased, and that to 

 five million bushels within a decade. The climate 

 of Nova Scotia appears to be especially favorable 

 to the growth of the Apple, but to obtain and 

 hold tbe market for so large a crop, it will be 

 necessary to secure the shipment of only the best 

 selected specimens, excluding all imposition. 



Ohio Growers Talk About Oriental Pears. N. 



H. Albaugh: The Kieffer Pear tree does not 

 blight in the nursery, and the fruit is growing in 

 favor. Mr. Farnsworth: I have no trouble in 

 growing the Kieflfer. If its quality proves pop- 

 ular it will be a success. 1 have the LeConte 

 about as hardy as a Peach tree. Prof. Ragan: 

 There will probably always be a market for showy 

 fruit, regardless of its quality. Some Indiana 

 man has said that the crop of fools always ex- 

 ceeds the crop of Ben DaWs Apples. Mr. Trow- 

 bridge: Le Conte is hardy and of better quality 

 than Kieffer. Mr. Cushman: It is hardy around 

 Cleveland, and highly ornamental. Leo Weltz: 

 The Mikado is very hardy and beautiful, whether 

 in fruit or foliage. W. J. Green: The fruit of 

 the Mikado partakes of the Quince and the Tur- 

 nip, having the taste of the former, and the tex- 

 ture of the latter. 



The Vineyards of California, Tou will see 

 nothing but stumps about one to two feet high, 

 planted in straight rows whichever way you 

 look, as when pruned, there seems to be nothing 

 left but the stumps. Upon close examination, 

 several butts are noticeable of canes of last 

 year's growth, about two to three inches long, 

 with a bud or two on each, six to ten buds all 

 told, and from these they get from 30 to 60 

 pounds of Grapes to the stump. The \ines are 

 allowed to run over the ground like Dewberries, 

 having no support but the stump, and many of 

 the large bunches of Grapes lay partly on the 

 ground, but as there is no rain during the sum- 

 mer, the Grapes are not injured. In the early 

 summer when cultivating, the vines are drawn 

 to one side so they can be worked without injury, 

 then placed back where they were before. The 

 ground is so covei'ed with \'ines that weeds can- 

 not grow; this is the entire process of Grape 

 growing in California — iV. Ohmer, to the Ohio 

 Horticultural Society. 



What Some Chrysanthemums Were Worth. 

 Chrysanthemums went for rather low prices at 

 the auction sale of the New York Horticultural 

 Society's specimens which were exhibited at 

 their show. In the larger plants a florist of 

 Brooklyn bought ten plants consisting of large 

 white, yellow, old bronze, pink and maroon 

 Japanese Chrysanthemums for $1.5. Of the 

 single plants, which were sold one at a time, the 

 one which brought the highest price was a large 

 plant with abundant clusters of bright golden 

 yellow, reflex Japanese variety, called Mrs. J. M. 

 Thomas, and sold to John Thorpe for $10; Mrs. 

 Pratt, a large cluster of standard form, white 

 Japanese, went for $8. A large whorl-type 

 variety, standard form, rosy pink clusters, sold 

 for $6. Robert Crawford, incurve pink Japanese 

 clusters, standard form, and The Duchess, 

 bronze and old gold Japanese clusters, standard 

 form, were bought for $6.50 each. The Prince of 

 Orange, pompon, went for $3; Eleanor Oakley, 

 white I'hinese clusters, S3; Blanche Neige, white 

 Chinese clusters, $2..50; the Snow-storm, white 

 Japanese $2; Orange Beauty, pompf)n variety, 

 $2. Altogether some 1,000 plants in all were 

 sold, $700 being the amount realized. 



Decorative Floral Work in England. The 



main point in arranging groups of flowers and 

 plants for effect was to have a feathery ground- 

 work of Maidenhair Ferns, prominent plants 

 like Palms and Crotons being invaluable for 

 house decoration. People who had a profusion 

 of plants and flowei-s were almost certain to 

 overdo their decoi-ative work ; this should be 

 particularly remembered in the decoration of 

 halls and rooms. Here the gardener was not 

 called upon to add to already existing 

 grandeur, but to relieve, enliven, or tone down 

 with suitable foliage and flowers. It was the 

 taste, culture, and the skilful blending of colors 



that gave pleasure, and not the prodigal use 

 (or abusel of what ought to be beautiful. The 

 present arrangement of the dinner table gives 

 more scope for the work. The tables themselves 

 were much narrower than formerly, and the 

 decorations were mvicli lower, the principal 

 point being to a\oid any suspicion of excess. 

 Plants for this purpose should be light-leaved, 

 feathery, and graceful, such as could be seen 

 through, for if densely foliaged, they formed a 

 most objectionable barricade down the center of 

 the table. Plants, however, were almost gone 

 out of fashion for this branch of decorative art, 

 Howei's at the present being better appreciated. 

 .S. Elkin, before the Manchester (Eng.) Horticul- 

 tural Society. 



Market Gardening as a Business. 



\Extract from Paper read by Peter Henderson at Far- 

 mers-Institute, Jamaica, N. F".! 



Soil is of first importance. Choose land, 

 when it can be done, that is level and well 

 drained by having a gravelly or sandy sub- 

 soil, and not less than ten inches in depth 

 of good soil. Again, get as near to your 

 market as possible, and see that the roads 

 leading thereto are good. This is particu- 

 larly important if your market is a large 

 city like New York, Boston or Philadelphia 

 but less important for a local market. 



The business of market gardening, though 

 healthful and fairly profitable, is exceedingly 

 laborious, from which any one not accustomed 

 to manual labor would quickly shrink. The labor 

 is not what might be called heavy, but the hours 

 are long— not less than an average of ten hours 

 a day for both summer and winter. No one 

 should engage in it after passing middle life, nor 

 men of feeble constitution, for it is emphatically 

 a business in which one has to rough it; and if it 

 is to be prosecuted successfully the owner must 

 put his own shoulder to the wheel at least as 

 strongly as his roughest employee. 



The capital required for beginning market 

 gardening in the vicinity of any large city 

 should not be less than iSOO per acre for any- 

 thing less than ten acres. The first year rarely 

 pays more than currant expenses and the capital 

 of $300 per acre is all absorbed in horses, wagons 

 implements, sashes, manure, seeds, etc. If the 

 capital be incufficient to procure these properly 

 the chances of success are correspondingly di- 

 minished. Above all, be careful not to attempt 

 the cultivation of more land than your capital 

 and experience can properly manage. More men 

 are stranded, both on the farm and garden, in at- 

 tempting to cultivate too much, perhaps, than 

 from any other cause. 



It has been the practice in the past to use hot- 

 bed ashes almost exclusively for the purpose of 

 forcing vegetables, or forwarding plants for use 

 in the open ground. But of late years green- 

 houses are being largely used, both for the pur- 

 pose of forcing Lettuce, Radishes, Beets and 

 Cucumbers, as also for grmoinq plants of early 

 Cabbage, Cauliflower, Lettuce, Celery and To- 

 matoes, and in either case, we believe that in well 

 constructed greenhouses not only is work better 

 done, but that the saving in labor in three years 

 will more than ofl'set the greater cost of the 

 greenhouses. 



Lands, in some gardening localities, have be- 

 come actually surfeited with manure, and for 

 this reason vegetables, such as ('abbage. Lettuce, 

 and Celery, do not now average as good as those 

 grown where land is cheap enough to allow one- 

 third to be put down annually with some grass 

 and Cloverlcrop. I believe that, in a garden of 

 fifteen acres, if one-thiid is laid down to grass 

 each year, and the balance kept under the 

 plough, the gross receipts will be greater, and 

 the profits more than it the whole fifteen acres 

 were under tillage; for loss labor will be re- 

 (luired, and manure tells better on sod land than 

 on land under tillage. 



I can teU you nothing new on the subject of 

 manure, except that the use of the dried Peat 

 Moss, now being used in the cities for bedding, is 

 likely to be of great value to the market garden- 

 er, if it can only be had in suflicient quantities. 

 We have had it in use in our own stables for 

 about a year and find it not only more economic- 

 al than straw for bedding, but its absorbing qual- 

 ities make it of gieat value for fertilizing pur- 

 poses. We can buy ordinar.v straw manure in 

 our vicinity for $1.00 per team load ; but we are 

 buying all we can get from stables where the 

 moss is used at $2 per ton, but is yet quite scarce. 



