1889. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



^35 



liti\e a liboriil siipiily of iiitri>j,'en. It is nitrogen 

 tUut makes rich land. Of the threu most costly 

 ingredients of plant food, nitrogen, phosphoric 

 acid, and pot^ish, nitrogen is the only one that 

 can he evaporated or washed out of the soil, and 

 it is onlj- in the form of nitrates that uitrofren 

 can be washed out of the soil. And there seems 

 good reason to believe that it is only in the form 

 of nitrates that uitrogen is taken np by ordinary 

 plants. If we use nitrogen in sod, green crops, 

 barn yai-d manure, blood, flesh, hair, wool, or 

 even in the form of ammoiiia,it must first be eon- 

 \ertcd into nitrates before the plants can tjike it 

 up or before it can be washed out of the soil. If 

 it were not for this fact, our soils would long ago 

 have been exhausted of nitrogen. Every sum- 

 mer a certain portion of the nitrogen in tlie or- 

 ganic matter in the soil iseon\'erted into nitrates, 

 and if the nitrates were not taken up by the 

 plants they woidd be washed out of the soil the 

 i-oming winter and carried by the rivers to the 

 ocean. Of course this kind of farming does not 

 pa.v. Rotation of crops enables us on the one 

 hand to keep the land cleaner, and on the other 

 luuiil, ('l(.)\'er ro<its go deeper into the subsoil than 

 Wheat roots, and haveagreater capacity for tak- 

 ing up nitrogen from weak solutions in the soil 

 In other words Clox'er has a greater capacity for 

 stopping the loss of nitrates from leaching than 

 Wheat. And i>robably the same is true from 

 Indian Corn, Beets, Rape, Turnips, and all crojis 

 that continue growing late in the Autumn It is 

 probable that as the roots of fiuit trees are 

 absorbing food from the soil all the time, winter 

 as well as summer, there need be little loss of 

 nitrates on land covered with an orchard. 



( >ne thing is certain, our orchards need more 

 nitrates, or as we used to say more available ni- 

 trOjTen. If we can get nitrogen, it is a compara- 

 ti\'ely cheap and easy matter to get phosphoric 

 acid, potash, etc. The cheapest source of nitro- 

 gen is the organic matter in the soil, and this is 

 derived from a previous vegetable growth, pos- 

 sibly some of it thousands of years ago and some 

 of it only last year. The more recent the growth 

 the more readily it is changed into nitrates. It 

 is only within the last dozen years that we know 

 how the nitrogen of organic matter was convert- 

 ed into nitrates and thus rendered available food 

 fiir plants. The change is effected by a minute 

 plant, or what would popularly be called a 

 fungus. The essential conditions for its growth 

 are air, a moderate temperature, moisture and 

 lime, iiotash or soda. 



Stagnant water, by excluding air, stops its 

 growth ; so does a reduction of temperature to 

 near freezing and dry soil. A drained soil, well 

 tilled and repeatedly exposed to the air, with the 

 necessary moisture and a temperature ranging 

 from M to 100 degrees are highly favorable to its 

 growth. This is a far cheaper way of getting 

 nitrates than sending to South America for 

 nitrate of soda. If the matted sod in orchards 

 was plowed, harrowed and cultivated and ex- 

 posed to the air, as soon as the soil got warm 

 these nitrate producing plants would grow and 

 produce nitrates for the growing plants, and if 

 there were no growing crops or weeds on the 

 laud, the trees would get the nitrates. If you let 

 them, the crops and the weeds will take up the 

 nitrates. You can convert nitrates into carbo- 

 hydrates in the form of weeds that pay nothing, 

 or into carbo-hydrates in the form of grass or 

 grain that pays a little, or into carbo-hydrates 

 in the form f)f fruit or garden ti'UcU that is worth 

 four or five, or ten, or twenty times as much as 

 in the form of gram ; or you may convert it into 

 a bhu'k of nursery stock that is popularly sup- 

 posed to be worth a king's ransom. If we put on 

 half the iiuantity of ordinary manure, and sow 

 br(tadcast 200 lbs. of nitrate of soda per acre in 

 addition, this will be fully equivalent to a good 

 dressing of the ver.y richest of compost, and a 

 good deal cheaper. I say nitrate of soda, because 

 it is not only a cheaper source of nitrogen than 

 sulphate (if ammonia or the organic nitrogen 

 in our <lilferent fertilizers, but the nitrogen is in 

 .just the condition necessary for absorption by 

 the plants. I have used it with great advantage 

 on Peaches, Strawberries, Hoses, Currants, Uasp- 

 berries. Asparagus, Celery plants. Potatoes, 

 Onions, lleets, and nearly all garden crops. For 

 several years we could not raise Peaches; the 

 leaves curled up and turned yellow in June, and 

 freciuently fell olf, and in a year or two the tree 

 was dead. For two years the trees that have had 

 nitrate have shown little or no symptoms of the 

 disea.se— if disease is it. The leaves had that dark 

 green luxuriant color that is the characteristic 

 effect of liberal manuring, and better than all we 

 had fine crops of Peaches. 



I!ul will not nitrate produce a spongy growth 

 with immature buds, easily killed in the winter':' 

 I think nitrate of soda sown earlu in tlm sjirinu 

 has precisely the opposite effects. Nitrate applied 

 early in the spring are taken up by the Peach 

 trees in May and June, or at the very time that 

 the trees usually show signs of a lack of vigor. 

 Late in the summer or early fall, little or no ni- 

 trate of soda would be left, and conseipiently 

 wouhl produce no lute spongy growth ,of wood. 

 It Is true that Peaches could be grown forty years 

 ago where the>- do not now flourish. May it not be 

 that the organic matter in the new soil held more 

 water, and consequently furnished the Peach 

 trees nitrates early in the spring, and that what 

 our Peach trees need to make them as healthy 

 and iiroductive as formerly, is a liberal supply of 

 nitrates early in tlie stiriniii And a market gar- 

 dener, instead of using such excessive quantities 

 of manure for the purpose of getting nitrates 

 for his early croi)s, might well try if a direct ap- 

 plication of 400 or 500 pounds of nitrate of soda, 

 with a small dressing of manure, would not be at 

 least effective, and far cheaper. 



Management of House Plants. 



[Ahutract of paper read by George C. Watson before 

 the Clyde (r range Natural History Soeiety.] 



The cultivation of flowers is an occupiition 

 that improves alike the body, mind and 

 heart. It is an almost certain indication of 

 purity and refinement. 



We can afford to cultivate and stu<iy flowers, 

 if for no other reason than their cheerful sur- 

 rounding. Many do without flowers because 

 they think they cost too much time and trouble, 

 but all things worth having cost considerable, 

 and anything worth having is worth working for. 

 Oftentimes the partial success or in many in- 

 stances, total failure in the cultivation of flowers 

 is due to the fact that we try to do too much, that 

 our gardens are too large and not sufficiently 

 cared for. No one should have more ground de- 

 voted to a garden than can be kept in the highest 

 state of cultivation. Excellence affords satisfac- 

 tion and pleasure, while failure brings mortiflca- 

 tion and pain. 



The same may be said of house plants, or plants 

 kept within doors during the winter; too often 

 do wo see many plants crowded together in a 

 poorly lighted window, compelling each plant to 

 take on a form never intended by nature, and 

 foliage quite different from that desired by the 

 owner. One of the chief requisites in manage- 

 ment of house plants is plenty of sunshine, ne.\t 

 an atmosphere neither too dry, nor too close,and 

 a uniform temperature, lower during the night 

 than during the day. 



Watering. Itain water is better than spring, 

 or well water. Hard water may be greatly im- 

 proved by adding a drop or two of ammonia, or 

 a little soda, a small nugget about the size of a 

 pea to every gallon of water used. Morning is 

 the best time to give water, and evening next. 

 Never water houseplants when the sun is shining 

 brightly upon them. The supply of water must 

 be regulated according to the demands of the 

 plants. The condition of plant and soil is the 

 best guide. Never give water when the soil is 

 moist to the touch. Nearly all plants require 

 more water when in bloom than at any other 

 time, more in a warm temperature than in a cold, 

 and more when in a state of active growth than 

 when at rest. Plants in open rooms usually re- 

 quire water once a day and some demand it twice. 



Syringing. Cleanliness is essential. The leaves 

 of plants should be kept free from dust, hence 

 frequent washings are absolutely essential, al- 

 though when watering, never wet the flowers of 

 a plant, nor allow drojis of water to stand on the 

 leaves in the sunshine. Never allow water to 

 stand in the saucers of the pots unless the plants 

 are semi-aquatic. Watering supplies plant food 

 or elements of fertility contained in itself and 

 converts the plant food, or nourishment of the 

 soil into a liquid form so that it may be absorbed 

 by the roots. The roots of a plant should be kept 

 moist not wet. Where the drainage is the most 

 perfect, plants will generally be the healthiest 

 and will need watering the oftenest. 



Give house plants as much light as possible dur- 

 ing the day, and darkness with a lower tempera- 

 ture at night. A uniform temperature of tiO or 

 70 degrees in the daytime, and 40 to 4o degrees at 

 night, will give the best results. Turning the 

 plants toward the light shimld not be done, un- 

 less done regularly, [icsides light, house plants 

 require a good supply of fresh air. Ventilation 

 is absolutely necessary. 



Eefreshing Tut Flowers. The (picstion is often 

 asked *' ho\v can 1 resltjre (jr refi"esh this fliiwer Y" 

 It may be a rare flower, or one that is prized 

 highly, as the gift of a friend. In either case joy 

 will folhjvv its restoration. Cut flowers have frc- 

 ipiently been restored t<3 freshness, even when 

 e\ery petal is drooping, by placing the stems in a 

 cup of boiling hot water, leaving them luitil the 

 IK'tals have becom« quite smooth, then cutting 

 olf the cooked ends and placing in luke warm 

 water. For this purpose rain water is thought 

 preferable. The freshness of cut flowers is due 

 wholly to two conditions. Either evaporation 

 from the flowers must be prevented by enclosing 

 in a case containing a .saturated atmosphere, or 

 the evaporation must be supplied by moisture at 

 the cut end or stem. This stem is composed 

 mostly of woody fiber, orcellulose, whose i>ower 

 to abs(irb water soon diminishes, hence to enable 

 the stem to absorb the most water, the end must 

 be freiiuently cut off. 



Location of Orchards at the North- 

 west. 



yExtract from paper read by Prof. J.L. Budd,before 

 Iowa State Horticultural Society.] 



For our commercial orchards we mu.st 

 look to wholly unsheltered site.i on the 

 higher bluff lands of our streams, on the 

 prairie divides between our rivers, and on 

 the high moraines found here and there 

 over our State. In the location of home 

 orchards on the prairies, the points most 

 perfectly above the frost and fog lines 

 should be chosen for the orchard, and it 

 must ever be kept in mind that windbreaks 

 are desirable to protect the home grounds, 

 but the orchard needs all the air movement 

 from the west and north it can get. 



As to the stems, experience in all countries 

 now favors low heads, the setting of the trees at 

 a marked angle towards the one o'clock sun, 

 encouraging the heaviest top on the south side, 

 and even screening the trunk on the south side 

 until the spread of top will sufficiently protect 

 from sun-scalding. As to culture, we may not 

 need the continued sHn-ing of the soil required 

 in drier climates, but all experience favors stirr- 

 ing the soil in the early part of the season in 

 yoimg orchards, and shading the soil with a crop 

 of buckwheat during July and August. 



Our experience also favors the idea that seed- 

 ing down after the trees come into bearing is 

 attended with grave difficulties in the way of 

 hardening, drying and impoverishing the soil on 

 which the trees must feed and perfect their 

 crops. If «ie nnist seed down, manure liberally, 

 and leave all the grass on the ground in the 

 latter part of the season, feeding it off to calves, 

 hogs or sheep, up to the first of July. 



Low Land Drainage. 



{E.vtraetfrom address deliveredby E.B.Hersey before 

 tlie Farmers' Meeting, Boston, Mass.,—witli diseitssion.] 



Many years ago corporations were orga- 

 nized in Massachusetts to drain tlie lower 

 lands. But they made three great mistakes. 



Their lirst effort of drainage was to run a main 

 ditch through the center and then they made 

 side ditches leading from the high land directly 

 to the main ditch. In going over New England 

 to-day, you will find large numbers of meadows 

 drained in that way, but all the water that comes 

 between these drains, unless they are very thick, 

 works clear down through the land. The better 

 way is to run a ditch around the land, and thus 

 cut off' all the water that comes down from the 

 high land. That, we understand to-day, is the 

 proper way to drain. It is true, there may be 

 water that comes up in the center of the meadow 

 as a boiling spring. Then the proper way to do 

 is to dig a drain directly to the main drain. 



Small meadows may be drained entirely by a 

 ditch around the meadow. I do not believe it is 

 economy to lay underground drains, except 

 where the lands are very valuable. Common 

 farmers caiuiot att'ord it, and drains do not take 

 the water as open ditches do. I know open 

 ditches arc not desirable, but, when you consider 

 how nnich less work it is and how much water 

 they take, I think we had better have an open 

 ditch on the edge of the low land. 



The next mistake was in not having fall enough 

 at the outlet. The moment .vou begin to draw 

 water down below the surface, the mea<low soil 

 begins to decompose and settle. 



If you draw water eighteen inches below at 

 Ui-st, in a few years the meadow settles so as to 



