1889. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



20' 



Strawberrt Tests. Give everything a 

 fair chance. Last fall I received from dif- 

 ferent parties new varieties of Strawberry 

 plants, set them out carefully, and at the 

 same time took up some of my own and 

 planted them along side of the strangers. 

 From present indications it would be very 

 unreasonable to expect a like result. From 

 my own I will get some fine fruit, while 

 those from abroad look as if they will have 

 a hard task to pull through. But I make 

 due allowance for the different conditions 

 the plants were in when set. While one 

 man sends out good strong plants well put 

 up in moss and oiled paper, another sends 

 poor plants poorly put up. 



Upon a number of new Strawberries now 

 fruiting I will report as the season advances. 

 Of all these Bubach No. 5 and Jessie showed 

 best last season. Now Sucker State, Gandy, 

 Monmouth and Belmont will show what 

 they are made of. Each one is to be superior 

 to any heretofore produced, yet in five years 

 hence most of the new ones will be among 

 the things that were, like a host of others 

 gone before; yet we keep trying them as far 

 as we can alford, but -$2 per dozen is more 

 than I will ever pay again for plants. 



Treatment of Tools. If every new hoe, 

 spade, fork, etc., was well oiled where the 

 wood and iron meets, they would last much 

 longer than they usually do. A new spade 

 may be filled vrtth linseed oil where the 

 handle enters. No one will gain by buying 

 cheap tools for the garden and nursery, for 

 they are the most expensive in the end, not 

 as good to work with, and sometimes when 

 most needed they give out. 



Tools should never be put away wet or 

 muddy, for a rusty tool is a nuisance. If it 

 be too much trouble to wipe them off when 

 done using, have a tub or barrel of air 

 slaked lime or dry ashes, and plunge them 

 in and there will be no rust. 



Of all the tools tor killing small weeds, I 

 know of none that equals the Diamond 

 scuffle hoe. It cuts both ways and can be 

 used vrithout stooping. One can go over 

 twice the space of ground with one of them 

 than with a common hoe, and do work better. 



Hurrying up New Roses. The small 

 plants that are sold so cheap are not likely 

 to give much satisfaction the first season, 

 unless much nursing is given them. Ten 

 days ago a lot of plants were received here, 

 and all that had a few inches of wood ripe 

 enough had some of their buds inserted into 

 strong young shoots of last years growth, 

 and now they have taken. In a week or two 

 they will be headed back, and all the strength 

 of the stock forced into the bud. In this 

 way we will have flowers nearly as soon as 

 the stock would have bloomed if not cut 

 back, and the flowers will be far superior to 

 those of the small plants. Another advan- 

 tage is you will have lots of young wood to 

 propagate with; and if a tender variety, they 

 can be so conveniently laid down and cov- 

 ered if the buds are inserted pretty high up. 



I have just now two branches of Marechal 

 Niel, strong buds on strong stems, that we 

 budded last summer, and had made a foot 

 of growth each, so that I expect to see finer 

 Roses of this noble variety than it has been 

 my lot to see for years. It is doubtful to me 

 whether the Marechal Niel can be grown to 

 perfection on its own roots out doors here. 



Fruiting Seedling-s. When a seedling 

 is intended to be grown for the purpose of 

 fruiting without being grafted, some years 

 can be gained by taking grafts from it when 

 one year old, and setting them on a bearing 

 tree of the same species. If the grafts are 

 pinched back about midsummer the form- 

 ing of blossom buds may be assisted. Some 

 say such grafts will not fruit until the seed- 

 ling itself begins to bear; but this is all non- 

 sense, for it has been proven repeatedly. 

 Fruit seldom fails the third year, while seed- 



lings of Apples and Pears usually need six 

 to eight years growth before they fruit. 



The great difference in the quality of cer- 

 tain Apples when grafted on other trees, I 

 have never yet discovered or noticed, all 

 seem to be.ar out their true characters. Our 

 season here is a little ealier than usual. 



Caution in the Use of Poisons. 



By E. r. rowELL, oneida co., n. y. 



At the latest meeting of the Social Science 

 Association, reports proved that not one New 

 England homestead out of twenty is con- 

 ducted on correct sanitary principles. The 

 cellar, as yet built and used, is still almost 

 invariably a pestilential adjunct to homes. 

 Probably the only means of avoiding the 

 danger arising from these dug-outs, will be 

 to dispense with them altogether. In their 

 place we should build underground store- 

 houses separate from the houses. 



Certainly it has become a criminal affair 

 to reside and rear children above damp 

 rooms in which are stored large quantities 

 of vegetables and fruits undergoing a slow 

 process of decomposition. The most careful 

 attention to ventilation and removal of 

 waste will not keep such apartments safe 

 when located under our living and sleeping 

 rooms. Recent scientific investigation has 

 shown it to be beyond question that the 

 typhoid fevers and diptherias with a thous- 

 and minor forms of disease are traceable to 

 precisely these causes. The skillful phy- 

 sician finding the disease, immediately 

 searches for a neglected cellar or sewer, or 

 poison-infested well. 



But I desire to call attention to some other 

 sources of danger. 



At this moment I am suffering from a 

 unique and yet not uncommon sort of pois- 

 oning. Having placed a lawn chair, cov- 

 ered with a coat of cheap green paint, in my 

 study, the arsenic contained in the paint 

 was volatized by the heat of the radiator 

 until my whole system was penetrated with 

 the mineral. It will be months before I 

 shall recover my health. The use of arsen- 

 icated paints is growing more and more 

 common, but should never be tolerated on 

 furniture or wall inside the house. Green 

 shades of wall paper are to be avoided as 

 probably containing arsenic. Whole fam- 

 ilies have been poisoned by such apparently 

 harmless decorations. The extensive use 

 now made of Paris green and other arsenical 

 poisons should be a warning to us. Some 

 of our ablest physicians insist that there are 

 forms of disease traceable directly to the 

 presence of arsenic in the Potato. This I 

 doubt, and yet it seems certain that the use 

 of arsenic, on vegetation more or less check- 

 ing the perfectly healthy development of 

 leaves, produces a chemical change iu the 

 tubers detrimental to health. It is getting 

 to be almost impossible to purchase Pota- 

 toes entirely free from a tinge of bitterness, 

 while a very large part of the Potatoes that 

 find their way to market are quite unfit for 

 use. Many farmers use five or ten times as 

 much Paris green on a Potato field as is 

 necessary for the purpose of destroying the 

 Colorado beetle. The practice of sprinkling 

 Paris green into Cabbage heads is criminal 

 and inexcusable. I have recently seen the 

 account of five persons having been killed 

 by the use of such Cabbages. 



Probably there is no direct danger from 

 the recently derived method of spraying 

 Apple and Plum trees to the fruit eater, but 

 there is serious danger to those who handle 

 the poisons. Paris green should be used 

 and stored with every precaution. We 

 are getting quite too familiar with the drug 

 and are losing our fear of it. 



Still another source of extreme danger to 

 farmers' families is the use of lead pipe and 

 lead solder on iron pipes. This red precipi- 



tate solder is daubed on carelessly by ignor- 

 ant plumbers on pipes that are thrust into 

 our wells. One autumn I had removed all 

 lead pipes from my well, replacing them 

 with iron pipes; but more mischief followed 

 from the solder during the next three 

 months than would have followed the use 

 of lead pipes in five years. Every memlier 

 of the family was poisoned, and one nearly 

 lost his life. Others have been poisoned 

 with the lead faucets in vinegar and cider 

 barrels. A vast amount of ill health and 

 suffering might be traced to such causes. 



A Woman's Experience in Raising^ 

 Small Fruits at the South. 



MRS. S. B. MABREY, TROUT CO., GA. 



" We have never seen anything to equal 

 this!" was the general verdict of people (and 

 newspaper men among them) who came to 

 see the small fruit patches on my farm situ- 

 ated in western Georgia. The land was just 

 rolling enough to prevent the water from 

 standing upon it, and terraced wherever 

 necessary, and no grass or weeds disfigured 

 the long rows of Strawberry vines. 



My first attempt, owing to limited experi- 

 ence, was after the well-known old style. 

 Plants were dug from a neighbor's old bed, 

 which I was told did not bear because the 

 vines were too thick. Small, poor plants 

 they were, too, and no wonder this experi- 

 ment was a total failure. So I concluded to 

 send off for some plants. At the same time 

 I subscribed for a small fruit journal and 

 by carefully studying it had all my pre- 

 conceived Ideas about raising small fruit 

 changed. I received from the nursery a lot 

 of fine plants, carefully selected and neatly 

 packed and labelled, chiefiy "Crescent Seed- 

 ling," the "lazy man's berry," to be fertil- 

 ized with Sharpless and Glendale. This was 

 in November, 1884. 



My farm help set the plants, or rather 

 stuck them in the ground, and it is saying a 

 great deal for the vitality of the Strawberry 

 plant that almost all of them lived. I had 

 the rows laid oft 3 feet apart and set the 

 plants pretty closely in the row. I planted 

 one row of Glendale or Sharpless and three 

 of Crescent. In the spring following I had 

 plenty of Strawberries for family use and 

 some to give away. In November, 18&5, I 

 set out yi of an acre on better and richer 

 land, and better prepared, in rows three 

 feet apart and one foot apart in the row. 

 This is bed No. 3; No. 1 by this time was a 

 matted concern, neither hoe nor plow hav- 

 ing been in it, but in Spring 188(i it gave us 

 a full supply for use and a cash income of 

 -S3.5. Then I had it plowed into three feet 

 rows, heavily manured, and new plants of 

 Crescents set or left one foot apart in the 

 row. I forgot to plant a pollen-bearing kind 

 with it, however, and consequently had 

 magnificent vines without fruit in '87. 



Bed No. 3 was not allowed to bear in 1886, 

 and runners were also kept pinched off till 

 August. The new plants which started 

 afterwards, were firm and strong and bore 

 finely the next spring. In the fall of '86 

 another 3€ of an acre was prepared for 

 Strawberries on very rich .soil, being heavily 

 manured for Barley and allowed to grow up 

 in weeds after the Barley was off. The weed 

 crop was fine, waist high, and in July, be- 

 fore going to seed was turned under with a 

 turning plow. This patch was well prepared 

 and planted in November. At last I had 

 learned to make the bed rich enough. In 

 1887 bed No. 2 gave me an income of .?14.5.60 

 and the new patch No. 3 of $20. I concluded 

 to enlarge my Strawberry farm to 3 acres. 



Now the ground was covered with compost 

 so you could not see the soil and this plowed 

 in thoroughly; then replowed afterwards 

 two ways, and otherwise thoroughly pre- 

 pared and cleared of rubbish. A fertilizer 

 consisting of acid phosphate, kainit and cot- 



