POPULAR GARDENING 



AND FRUIT GROWING. 



"AOOVaE NOT NATURE, SHE HATB DONE HER PART; DO THOV BUT THINE."— MiLTOfi. 



Vol. IV. 



-A.tTa-Trsa?, isss. 



No. 1 1 . 



The Country. 

 It calls me : It i-alls me ! 



The hot eity street 

 Has changed to the meadow, 



Aud under my feet. 

 The grasses and field flowers 



Bend low at my tread, 

 And the fair summer wind 



Sways the boughs overhead. 



Youths* Companion. 



Select the best plants tor seed. 



If AMERiCAN-i?rown Caulitlower seed has any 

 weak points they are not yet apparent. 



Something New in Roses. Mr. Carman of the 

 Eural New Yorker, has haii remarkable luck in 

 hybridizing Roses, according to his report. A 

 cross ascribed to Harrison's Yellow upon Rosa 

 rugosa has brought out a new Rose with (lowers 

 so much like the famous General Jacqueminot 

 as to deceive good judges. The foliage, how- 

 ever, is different, being more like that of the 

 rugosa parent, and best of all it is less sub.1ect to 

 the attacks of insects than anything in its line 

 we now have, for this one is a i.)erpetual bloomer. 

 Notwithstanding Mr. Carman's reputation as a 

 careful fertilizer, the question will naturally 

 arise in the minds of many as this new comer is 

 cominired with its assumed parents, which so 

 widely dilfer from it, whether there may not be 

 some mistake as to the parentage. However 

 that maj' be such a Rose as Mr. Carman describes 

 is a welcome addition to our all too meager list 

 of hardy, vigorous, handsome, perpetual kinds. 



The Cominq Buffalo International Faik. 

 One of the most successful fail's ever held on 

 American soil was that of the International 

 Fair Association of this city last year. It was 

 however but an initial one of a series of annual 

 fairs to be held in Buffalo and the indications at 

 present are for a much more successful exhibition 

 this year than was the last one. The cash mduce- 

 ments in the way of premiinns certainly should 

 call out an additional large display for these 

 aggregate, $100,000 A liberal proportion of this 

 money is offered to horticulture and we hope to 

 see a much larger display of exhibits in this hue 

 than last year. Those enterprising nurserymen, 

 florists and seedsmen of New York and other 

 states who fail to bring their products into pro- 

 minence at this fair will certainly miss a great 

 opportunity. The attendance is certain to ex- 

 ceed that of any state or provincial fair many 

 times over. Let horticulture be represented 

 therefore as it deserves to be in this rich horti- 

 cultural district of Western New York. The 

 days of the fair will be September 3 to 13 inclu- 

 sive. For premium list and all particulars 

 address secretary, C W. Robinson, Buffalo, N.Y. 



Welcome to Buffalo. 



The florists of the American Association 

 and their friends are welcome in large 

 numbers to this city at Convention time, 

 August 30 to 32. The press of Buffalo, the 

 local florists' club ami our citizens in gen- 

 eral hope for a large attendance of a body 

 of men and women so respectable as are the 

 American florists. Do not for a moment 

 feel that because our city Ls not the largest 

 city on the continent that we cannot care 

 well for you however numerously may be 

 your attendance. We are a city of nearly 

 ."lOO.OOO inhabitants and are well used to large 

 conventions. Dozens of them are held here 

 every year, including State political conven- 

 tions and many of a national character. 



Buffalo is a favorite city for couventions. 

 Her large Music Hall unequalled for size in 

 the State, her large new hotels, her cool and 



salubrious lake breezes in summer, her 

 delightful .shaded streets, her large parks, 

 her libraries, her wonderful grain elevators 

 the largest in the world, her coal handling 

 facilities, her places of amusement, her 

 water scenery, her lake and river excursions, 

 her close proximity to Niagara Falls, and 

 most important her position as a leading 

 railroad center, all serve to give various 

 and unequalled advantages to convention 

 visitors here. And the florists will find 

 themselves the recipients of many atten- 

 tions designed to make their stay pleasant. 

 An excursion to the Falls of Niagara is con- 

 templated for the visitors in body, under 

 the management of the Buffalo Florist Club. 

 As for the convention never was a better 

 programme prepared, and all may be sure 

 that the proceedings will pass oft' with in- 

 terest and profit to all. Delegates and 

 friends are invited to mail their letters 

 care of Popular Gardening office, 303 

 Main street, Buffalo, previous to orilur- 

 ing the convention. An invitation to 

 visit our office in the city and our ex- 

 periment grounds at La Salle-on-the 

 Niagara is extended to all florists; come 

 and see us. We repeat the announce- 

 ment of last month that nearly all the 

 main railroad lines offer a rate of X fare 

 for round trip tickets on the certiflcate 

 plan to visitors. Tickets will be good 

 three days before opening and three days j^iri-^ 

 after close of convention. Of local Com- 73 . 

 mittees Mr. D. B. Long is secretary for 

 exhibits and Thomas Clayton for hotels 

 and receptions. 



Laurel, which in this contest has some 

 strong friends. But who outside of the 

 mountain districts, few and far between, 

 where the shrub is found, have any knowl- 

 edge of it? Here and there a botanist may 

 know the flower, but otherwise not one per- 

 son in a thousand the country over. It is- 

 next to never found in the garden because 

 it ish.ard to cultivate; the writer in his con- 

 siderable acquaintance with the gardens of 

 of the country does not recall ever having 

 met the shrub in cultivation. Clearly the 

 national flower must be a more popular 

 flower than is the Mountain I^aurel. 



The beautiful little Mayflower or Trailing 

 Arbutus as a national flower has many 

 advocates. It is one of the choicest of our 

 wild flowers, modest, sweet, handsome, and 

 in no sense a weed. But this flower is open 

 to nearly the same ob.iections as the Moun- 

 tain Laurel; it is hardly known by the great 



lli^-* 



The National Flower. 



Nearly a year ago Populai: Gardening 

 gave some reasons why the Panicled Phlox 

 better than any other flower was entitled to 

 be the National Flower. In the exten- 

 sive discussion of this subject which has 

 since transpired we have not met a single 

 good reason why the colors of our favorite 

 should go down before any other contestant 

 for the honor. The Phloxes possess a long 

 array of good qualities; they are noble in ap- 

 pearance, they are popular wild and gar- 

 den flowers and lastly they are in no sense 

 weeds, a thing not to be said of numerous 

 rivals. 



Of other flowers that have been mentioned 

 it is true that in one or two "straws" taken 

 the Golden Rod has received the highest 

 number of votes. But such results in no 

 wise indicate the popular sentiment, coming 

 as these ballots have chiefly from profes- 

 sional men and artists. No doubt the 

 Golden Kod forms a charming subject for 

 the painter's canvas but this cannot remove 

 the odium of its being a flekl and fence 

 corner weed and so known by the majority 

 of people. A national flower should be a 

 popular flower, one that can be cultivated 

 and loved by everyone. Give the Golden 

 Rod an ell in the garden and it will quickly 

 take a rod. We might as well decide for 

 that other beautiful but immitigating weed 

 the Field Daisy, which today is the ruination 

 of many farms, howbeit a favorite with 

 city belles and with artists. The national 

 flower must be no weed. 



Judged by its beauty alone and we might 

 quickly decide in favor of the Moimtaiu 



A Simple Weeding Device. See page 349. 

 mass of our people living away from the 

 comparatively few locations where it 

 abounds. Anotherobjection to the Arbutus 

 is that it is next to impossible to succeed in 

 tran.splanting it to and cultivating it in the 

 garden. It can never become a really pop- 

 ular flower if indeed it will not in time 

 become extinct as many fear it may. 



The native Sunflowers and Asters have 

 been mentioned. As a class these are 

 coarse, bold and even weedy flowers hence 

 must be consigned to back rank in the con- 

 test. The Sunflowers of which the large 

 annual species stands as the popular repre- 

 sentative are brazen faced and hold their 

 heads high considering. the ease with which 

 they spring up from seed under the rudest 

 culture. Their usefulness in the capacity 

 of malarial absorbers in the vicinity of 

 garden pools and pigsties and the seeds as 

 poultry feed must debar them from being 

 esteemed as a typical national flower. The 

 American national flower must be a choicer 

 flower than this would imply. 



To return to the Phloxes. In these are to 

 be found all the qualities that should prevail 

 in a national flower and not an undesirable 

 one in the entire family. Unlike the Rose, 

 the Aster and many other tine flowers 

 which are debarred because of their cosmo- 

 political character the Phlox is distinctly 

 American, no known species being attrib- 

 uted to any other land. The proud Panicled 

 Phlox, from which spring the improved 

 hardy Phloxes that adorn gardens every- 

 where, is found growing wild in woods and 

 river banks from Pennsylvania antl the 

 Carolinas westward, while that universal 

 favorite, the Drummond's Phlox, is a native 



