2IO 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



June, 



pSHT^H^SOClETTES 



ftEINQMATTERThAT DESERVES 

 TO SEVnOELYKNOWtl^ 



Ornamental Plums har- 

 ' bor kiKit, and should be 

 pluntt'<l with caution.— f^. 

 Manning. 



Earhart Everbearing 

 Kaspberry is a curiosity, 

 but not profitable. John- 

 son's Sweet is not superior 

 to Hilborn. — Pi'of. Green. 

 Lawn Arrangement. One great mistalse fre- 

 quently made is that of planting too many trees, 

 and too few shrubs.—Tl'm. Webster. 



Squash seeds can be planted among early Pota- 

 toes. The Squash vines do not interfere with the 

 Potato vines until the latter are ready for har- 

 vesting.— Mr. Philbrick. 



Club Foot in Cabbage, sa.vs J. J. H. Gregory, 

 can be prevented by putting on ashes or other 

 alkali. It appears to be produced by horse man- 

 ure ; but if hogs are kept in the stable cellar the 

 manure has not that effect.— JVfa.ss. Hoii. Society. 

 Peach Yellows. I have been trying for thirty 

 years to make the Yellows grow on my grounds, 

 have introduced it time and again, but by using 

 plenty of potash, it has never spread to other 

 trees. Mr. Downing sent me, at my request, 

 buds from trees having the yellows, but the trees 

 I grew from these buds were all healthy.— y4. S. 

 Fiiltcr before ttie American Pomoloyical Society. 



Seport on Grapes. Jewell is hardy, healthy, 

 early, and of fine quality. Eaton not as good as 

 Concord. Mills, I fear, will not prove valuable ; 

 it mildews. Downing mildews. Moyer very 

 early ; foliage seems able to resist mildew ; clus- 

 ters small. Woodruff Red, I regard as the most 

 valuable red Grape for the public. Witt White, 

 hardy as Concord ; season same as Concord , 

 flavor excellent.— Geojye W. Campbell to Ohio 

 State HoH. Society. 



To prepare a seed bed, the Marblehead people 

 use asiraple drag of spruce plank, three feet by 

 eight feet, built somewhat like a stone drag 

 with the team attached to one side so as to leave 

 a track eight feet wide. The bottom has a strip 

 one inch by three inches nailed on near the mid- 

 dle the whole length ; this levels off the tracks of 

 the horse's feet. The driver stands on the drag. 

 It is drawn by two horses, and by lapping half 

 way over the last track does good smooth work. 

 —Moss. Hort. Society. 



Raspberries in Ohio. Souhegan and Tyler arc 

 almost identical. They are both profitable, early 

 Raspberries. The only rival in earliness and pro- 

 ductiveness to them is Palmer's Early. Wheu 

 this becomes lower in price it will supplant the 

 other two varieties. Hilborn e.vcels in quality. 

 Season medium. The Ada is large, very pro- 

 ductive, hardy and late. On account of its up- 

 right growth, few thorns, and the ease with 

 which it is produced, it will become the berry 

 for the main croji. Ohio State Hint. Society. 



Nelumbium Speciosum, the sacred Lotus of 

 Egypt and India, though coming from a tropical 

 country, is perfectly hardy— enduring any de- 

 gree of cold short of actual freezing. It has been 

 grown for many years in water on which ice 

 formed eight inches thick. The leaves of the 

 plant are from a foot to thirty inches in diameter. 

 Some of them float on the water; others are 

 borne on stems reaching from a toot to five feet 

 above the surface. The plant will blossom the 

 first year it is set out, and is constantly in blossom 

 from July until frost.— Cftos. Uttte before the W 

 N. Y. Hort. Society. 



Effects of Overbearing. Some varieties of 

 Grapes have the ability to withstand the abuse of 

 overbearing for a time, but all will succumb if it 

 is persisted in. The variety most liable to over- 

 bear is the Delaware. Vines ai>parently in per- 

 fect health (which had overborne the previous 

 year) suddenly ga\-e out, the leaves fell, and the 

 fruit never ripened. It takes them two or three 

 years to recover. Concord will not show over- 

 ta.\ing so soon. The best paying, the earliest 

 and the poorest is the Champion. Last year my 

 vines yielded 30^ lbs., netting 81.3.5 per vine.— 

 n'. D. Barnes before the N. Y. Farmers' Institute. 



Native and Exotic Plants. Plants and ani- 

 mals all adapt themselves to the location in which 

 they exist or originate, and cannot be transpoVted 

 to localities differing considerably in climate 

 without suffering to a greater or less extent. 



American plants or trees are either more ram- 

 pant or more straggling growers than their near 

 European relatives. This fact in many cases de- 

 termined a different course of treatment in cul- 

 tivation and uses. The European Grape is a case 

 in point. It submits kindly toa severe system of 

 pruning that keeps it within four feet of the 

 ground, rewarding the viticulturist abundantly, 

 while similar treatment of the rank growing 

 AmericanGrapes would prove generally disas- 

 trous.— Pro/, rr. Raaan. 



Improvement of Farm Homes. No positive 

 rules can be laid down for the planting of a lawn. 

 It is merely a matter of personal taste, and if the 

 farmer who wishes to improve the grounds 

 around his house distrusts his own ability, let 

 him take his wife and children into consultation. 

 Let them all become interested in the improve- 

 ments. Then banish the old pots and pans, the 

 ash barrels, the broken implements, and many 

 other things that too often lie strewn about and 

 disfigure the premises. Let the barnyard be en- 

 closed with a board fence so that the unsightly 

 things may be kept out of sight there. Then 

 screen the fence. Many farmers have but a 

 vague idea of the results that can be accom- 

 plished by the planting of a few trees, especially 

 evergreens, in the way of conceaUng unsightly 

 objects. Ornamental trees, shrubs, and flowers 

 are to the landscape what furniture is to the 

 rooms, and what pictures are to the bare walls — 

 Wm. Webster before the Western New York Hor- 

 tlcultural Society. 



Cultivating Potatoes. As soon as you can see 



the rows start the culi\ator, and go over the 

 field once in five to seven days, on the average. 



The time to prune Apple trees has never been 

 definitely settled. While small branches maybe 

 cut when the saw is sharp, large branches should 

 be cut when the sap is most active, and the heal- 

 ing process most rapid. When large branches 

 are cut at other times, gum shellac should be 

 used to prevent decay. Pruning to be properly 

 done requires the best foresight and skill of the 

 orehardist. In all phases of pruning, its immedi- 

 ate and future effects upon the trees should be 

 well considered, that no permanent injury may 

 be done. It is a good practice with a view to 

 thinning the fruit, to prune when the tree is in 

 flower, with a well-trained and practiced eye and 

 hand. I do notadvocate autumn pruning before 

 the return of the sap and the fall of the leaf - 

 Mass. Hort. Society. 



Style and Sizes of Pots adotited by the Committee 

 of the Society of American Florists. 



as long as you can get a horse through. At first 

 use very narrow teeth, so as not to throw any 

 earth over the little plants. You can get l>4-inch 

 teeth with the Planet Jr. cultivator, and they 

 are just the thing. A sulky cultivator can hardly 

 be used on such narrow rows as are usually best, 

 unless the land is very level. I prefer the one- 

 horse cultivator anyway. The proper time to 

 cultivate is as soon as the ground is dry enough 

 after a shower. Thus you prevent a crust form- 

 ing to keep the air out and make a mulch on the 

 surface to check evaporation. If it doesn't rain 

 within a week, cultivate again. If it rains the 

 next day, ■ tart right over again as soon as it is 

 dry enough. Plenty of tillage at just the right 

 time works wonders sometimes. The fii-st culti- 

 vation should be quite deep. As the plants grow 

 larger, cultivate more shallow, so as not to dis- 

 turb the roots.— 2'. B. Terry before a Wisconsin 

 Farmers' Institute. 



Orchard Pruning, The general tendency should 

 be to keep the trees low; high pruning should only 

 be practiced for direct cause, as the extra time 

 required to gather fruit from high iiriined 

 trees in a large orchard is very considerable, and 

 when fruit falls it is sure to be injured. In low- 

 pruned trees, gathering fruit is very much facil- 

 itated and cheaper; the trees are less exposed to 

 winds and ice, and as a rule are more shapely. 



Honesty in Fruit Packing. 



[Abstract of paper bu E. Williams, of MontcUlir. 

 N. J., read before the American Pomological Society.} 



The desire to trade aad get gain is com- 

 mendable, and has Divine sanction, but 

 when inordinately developed, the possessor 

 is very apt to step beyond the bounds of 

 honesty. An honest fruit grower will not 

 fill his Apple barrels with good fruit at the 

 end, and the middles with a poor and infer- 

 ior article; neither will he put all his fine 

 Strawberries or Grapes on top of his baskets 

 and the inferior ones at the bottom. 



Those who practice these methods are ever 

 ready to find fault with the prices, and charge 

 the commission merchant with dishonesty, when 

 they alone are the guilty ones. The purchaser 

 also condemns the merchants for topping-up 

 the goods, a practice they are often compelled to 

 adopt from the inferior quality of the article 

 received, in order to attract the eye of a custom- 

 er and effect a sale. It is this absuni and erron- 

 eous idea of fruit-growers that anything will sell 

 for something, and that this something is clear 

 gain, that does more to depress prices and 

 demoralize the tone of the markets than any- 

 thing else. It is with these producers and their 

 products that the careful and conscientious 

 fruit-grower has to contend. The man who 

 de.sires to build up a reputation for his products 

 will be careful about grading his fruit, and see 

 that every package is of uniform quality 

 throughout, that e\ery package of No. I fruit is 

 what it purports to be; and his name on it is his 

 guaranty to that effect. 



The commission merchants are glad to have 

 brands of this character. They can dispose of 

 them at better prices and with more satisfaction 

 to themselves and customers. There are among 

 commission merchants those whose honesty and 

 methods are not above suspicion, but my exper- 

 ience leads me to believe that among them are 

 to be found as honest and honorable men as in 

 any other profession; certainly as large per cent. 

 as among the fruit-growers. If growers could 

 follow their shipments to their destination they 

 might learn some lessons of real practical value. 

 One of these would be that purchasers know a 

 good thing when they see it, and can detect the 

 attempt to deceive in a dishonest package. 



Besides the prevalent practice of dishonesty in 

 make-up of packages, there is probably no other 

 one avenue in which down-right fraud is so eas- 

 ily and extensively practiced as in placing Grapes 

 on the market in an unripe condition. With 

 other fruits the eye is the expert detective. Not 

 so with Grapes. Sampling is the only true test. 

 The intense eagerness to be first in market, 

 while prices are high, brings in a supply of this 

 fruit weeks in advance of its maturity. In fact 

 this fraud has been practiced so long and effect- 

 ually that many peoi)le have come to believe 

 that the Grapes of the present day are not equal 

 to those formerly grown. 



In my vicinity are two Grape-growers com- 

 peting in the same market. One strives for 

 quantity and puts his products on the market as 

 soon as they are called for, even if not ripe. The 

 whole product goes as cut from the vines, with 

 very little attention to trimming orattactiveness 

 of appearance, further than to see that nice 

 clusters are on top of the package. He says it is 

 the money he is after and they can have the 

 Grapes green, if they want them. 



The other, whom I will call Mr. Jones, refuses 

 to gather his fruit till it is ripe and allows noth- 

 ing but perfect clusters to go in the package of 

 No. 1 fruit. He tells his commission merchant 

 that he can warrant each jiackage and his name 

 on it is his guaranty. His No. 3 fruit is unbranded 

 and sold on its merits alone. The results are 



