1889. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



banked to not more than half its height. On 

 a well drained spot, dig a trench of width 

 of spade and of depth answering height of 

 plants. Pull the crop when entirely dry 

 and unfrozen, shake off soil from roots, and 

 place them closely together in trench in an 

 upright position. Cover with a board or 

 several of them, and protect from frost 

 with litter and soil until this covering is 

 gradually made one foot deep. White 

 Plume ;is a good self-blanching sort, need- 

 ing little "banking up," and perhaps best 

 for early use: Golden Heart is the most 

 popular variety for main crop. These are 

 dwarfs. The tall sorts, such as Giant 

 White Solid are now but little grown. The 

 red sorts, owing to their 

 crispness and fine flavor, 

 are especially valuable for 

 the home garden. 



Chives (Class F). The 

 tops are used for flavoring 

 soups and to eat raw. Of 

 easiest cultm-e, and gen- 

 erally propagated by divi- 

 sion of the roots, which 

 are little bulbs (the small- 

 est of the Onions) growing 

 in clumps. 



COLLARD (Class F). This 

 is merely a synonym for 

 the tops of common Cab- 

 bage plants,grown in rows 

 one foot apart and cut for 

 "greens" when large 

 enough. A distinct curly- 

 leaf variety of Cabbage is 

 grown under this name 

 and for the same purpose at the south. 



Anise (class F). A pleasant, spicy, aro- 

 matic herb, the seeds of which are a favorite 

 condiment with many, to flavor sauce, pies, 

 etc., also used in medicine. Sow after ground 

 has become warm, thin to several inches 

 apart giving clean cultivation later. 



Beets (class F). For early use sow 

 Eclipse or Egyptian Beet in rich warm soil, 

 as early as it can be got in good working 

 order, in drills one foot apart, covering 

 seed one inch. Plants in part of the patch 

 may be left standing quite thick if thinnings 

 are wanted for greens. Otherwise they 

 should be thinned to five or six inches apart 

 while still small. Keep well cultivated. 

 Repeated light applications of nitrate of 

 soda, either dry just before or during a rain, 

 or in solution, generally give good results. 

 For winter the same varieties may be 

 planted as late as first of July, the Dewing's 

 Blood Turnip Beet, Long Smooth Blood 

 being favorite sorts. The Swiss Chard is 

 cultivated only for its leaves which are used 

 In same way as Spinach. The Mangel 

 Wurtzels and Sugar Beets are grown chiefly 

 for stock in field rather than garden cul- 

 ture. They should be planted in rows not 

 less than two feet apart, and from 13 to 1.5 

 inches apart in the drills. Select the Globe 

 varieties for sandy soil; the long sorts for 

 deep loam. The ground should be made 

 very rich, and large crops can then be grown. 

 Corn (Sweet Corn, Class C). The early 

 and dwarf varieties can be planted quite 

 thickly in drills three feet apart, leaving 

 one stalk every three or four inches, and 

 even closer. The later sorts need more 

 room, and the large varieties will do best in 

 rows four feet apart with a space of eight to 

 twelve inches between the plants. Plant 

 on rich warm soil when danger from late 

 freezes is past, and for a succession every 

 few weeks until July. The Cory is as early 

 as any sort, and gives ears of quite respect- 

 able size. Early Minnesota is a good early 

 sort, perhaps sweeter than Cory, but hav- 

 ing much .smaller ears. Black Mexican can 

 hardly be surpassed in sweetness and rich- 

 ness, and Stewell's Evergreen and EgTrptian 

 are the leading late sorts. 



The Gladiolus for America. 



LE.N'SIE UREENLEE. MCDOWELL CO., N. C. 



The florist's catalogues at last seem 

 disposed to give to the Gladiolus the 

 prominence which is due it by right of 

 beauty, ease of culture, and with us South- 

 em cultivators, hardihood. In North 

 America, Hyacinths deteriorate: Lilies, 

 Amaryllis, and Tuberoses, all want more or 

 less petting: but the Gladiolus has only one 

 stipulation— full sunlight: and for scores of 

 years the bulk increases and the flowers 

 bloom, gaining in beauty and vigor, for 

 America is the chosen home of the Gladio- 

 lus. It is high time our florists were tak- 

 ing the monopoly of high-priced seedlings 



the dozen and hundred collections are much 

 cheaper, you are apt to find half a dozen 

 reds or whites or yellows, which are almost 

 exactly alike, at blooming time. 



Cornell 



'7: '■' -^^ ''■•-, 'fl'/r- 



^. 







■^-S^^'^'r, 



THE INSECTARY AT THE CORNELL UNIVERSITY. 



altogether out of Frenchmen's hands. 



I do not know of a single instance where 

 Gladiolus, not planted in the shade, failed 

 to give complete satisfaction, and the richer 

 the soil, the finer and better colored is the 

 spike of bloom. They increase very rapidly, 

 and in the South one strong bulb often 

 gathers about in one season's growth a 

 dozen tiny ones, which will bloom in 

 another year, or if they are fewer about the 

 parent bulb, and have grown larger, the 

 next season. I have measured clumps of 

 the bulbs which were not thinned for four 

 or five years, that would often be half a 

 yard in diameter. 



The culture is very simple: plant in any 

 good soil , four or five inches apart and six 

 inches deep: tie the tall heavy spikes to 

 stakes in blooming season, and if you live 

 north of the line of Baltimore take up your 

 bulbs after frost; If south of it, cover them 

 with a mulch of leaves or fertilizer. In 

 keeping them over winter in the house, be 

 careful to put them in a dry warm place. 



There is one Gladiolus which forces well 

 in winter, Colvillii, " The Bride:" it is also 

 the only pure white Gladiolus, of whose ab- 

 solute purity I am sure. I have tried 

 several advertised as " pure white," but 

 have always been disappointed by streaks 

 or stains. Colvillii is somewhat smaller 

 than the Lemoine varieties, but iS' lovely 

 and distinct from all other varieties. I have 

 seen articles recommending shade from 

 noon day sun for the Gladiolus, but in that 

 case I should never be sure of bloom. They 

 will bear it very well if given an occasional 

 showering, and water morning and night, 

 once or twice a week. 



Planted at intervals of a week or ten days 

 from the 1st of AprU until June, they will 

 give flowers from July until October, and if 

 cut when the first lower flowers of the spike 

 have opened, and placed in water, the other 

 buds will remain perfect a long while. 



The new improved seedlings are expensive, 

 and not prettier than some of the older and 

 cheaper varieties, but in buying Gladioli I 

 would always take a pencil and catalogue, 

 and select the named sorts, with shades and 

 markings which pleased me best, for though 



Breeding Insects at 

 University. 

 The problem, how to save his crops from 

 insect depredations, gradually becomes 

 more serious to the gardener and fruit 

 grower since the lack of adequate means of 

 protection causes the country an annual loss 

 of millions of dollars. The first step 

 towards the discovery of more effective 

 methods in dealing with our insect foes, is a 

 thorough knowledge of their habits and 

 peculiarities at every stage 

 of development. In the 

 way of apparatus, next to 

 the microscope, students 

 of the life history of insects 

 have heretofore had to 

 content themselves with a 

 few breeding cages, but 

 such afe now foimd in- 

 sufficient for the increas- 

 ing demands for accurate 

 knowledge. 



.John Henry Comstock, 

 the University Station En- 

 tomologist, says in a Bul- 

 letin describing the In- 

 sect ary: 



The entomological sub- 

 jects that an experiment 

 station should investigate, 

 embrace studies of the life 

 histories of insects and 

 experiments in the destruction of noxious 

 insects or of preventing their ravages. 

 Work in neither of these lines can be well 

 done in an ordinary entomological labora- 

 tory. In order to make accurate investiga- 

 tions of this kind it is necessary that there 

 should be a place where living plants can be 

 kept with insects upon them, and that all of 

 the conditions of growth of both plants and 

 insects should be under control. A labora- 

 tory has been erected specially for experi- 

 mental entomology and a view of the exter- 

 ior of the building is given in illustration. 

 As this, so far as we know, is the first build- 

 ing of its kind, we have proposed the name 

 Insectary for buildings arranged for keeping 

 or raising living insects. 



The Cornell Insectary consists of a two 

 story cottage with conservatory attached. 

 Upon the ground floor there is a laboratory 

 for the Experimenter and his Artist, a work 

 shop and a dark room for photographic 

 purposes. In the second story are quarters 

 for a janitor.and a store room for apparatus. 

 In the basement there is a boiler for heating 

 the building and the conservator}-, conven- 

 iences for potting plants, a coal cellar, and 

 a cold room for the storage of hibei-nating 

 insects. The conservatory is divided by a 

 transverse partition into two rooms, each 30 

 feet in length. One of these is used.as a hot 

 house, the other as a cold house. Slate ta- 

 bles along the sides of the conservatory are 

 covered with gravel; here are kept the 

 plants growing in pots, and those breeding 

 cages from which water is allowed to drain, 

 while upon tables in the center of the room 

 are kept the breeding cages from which 

 there is no drainage. Our outfit includes, 

 besides other apparatus, a Zeiss microscope 

 with the new apochromatic objectives, and 

 a photo-micro camera. 



The cold-room for the storage of hiber- 

 nating insects was primarily intended for 

 certain experiments in the wintering of bees 

 but the principal use to which it will be put 

 is doubtless the storage through the winter 

 of pupa- and other hibernating insects. The 

 room is a dark one built in one corner of the 

 basement, separated from the rest of the 

 basement by a double wall of matched lum- 



