1889. 



POPULAR GARDENING, 



!59 



ami jrniins, witb a view to rendering the subject 

 cleui- to tlie avoras?e cultivator of grasses. The 

 work is a welconxe addition to the literature of 

 Aiuericuii agriculture. 



The florist who leaves our city at convention 

 time without havinsT seen the Buffalo public parks 

 will have missed a view of some of the tinest 

 parks in America. The lake and Niagara river 

 scenery from the "Front" is, we think, unerjualled 

 as a wat^r view anywhere in America; the artifi- 

 cial lake of the Central park, with its well plant- 

 ed shoi*es, is far and wide pronounced the finest 

 thing of its kind on the continent, while the 

 Parade grounds provide charming scenery of a 

 type peculiar to themselves. AVe are not ashamed 

 to show our ample parks and boulevards. 



Domestic Fertilizers. Our thrifty 

 German neighbors, in their small gard- 

 ens, raised all their vegetables and often 

 had a stall in the market to dispose of 

 the surplus. On asking one what made 

 the ground so fertile she answered: 

 "We bury all our swill, sprinkling it 

 with wood ashes, also put the wood 

 ashes on the grass. The dish water and 

 soap suds are also thrown around the 

 roots of the plants. The bones left 

 from the table are buried near the 

 Grape vine. In the fall we dig a trench 

 and the leaves, stalks, and withered 

 flowers are put in, earth thrown over, 

 and the next spring the ground is rich 

 for planting. — Si.'^ter Gracu)us. 



Bemed; for Cabbage Worms. Natural 

 agencies, especially insect parasites, 

 seem to be at work to lessen the num- 

 ber of Cabbage worms from year to 

 year; but we still have to add our mite 

 in this direction by applications of 

 strong insecticides, preferably Bubach. 

 A writer in American Agriculturist 



A Simple Plant Fumigator. A Mr. Toope, an 

 enthusiastic plant cultivator of England, gives 

 out a very simple contrivance tor fumigating 

 plants on a small scale to kill green lly. It is 

 made of stt)ut copper in the form of an ordinary 

 clay pii>e but with the addition of a movable cap 

 in which is inserted a tube for a mouthpiece. 

 The ends of this pipe should be tinned where it is 

 put into the mouth. In its use one has only to 

 get a little ordinary smoking Tobacco, remove 

 ] the cap off the bowl of the pipe, fill the latter 

 1 with the Tobacco, light it in the usual way, re- 

 place the cap on the bowl, then inserting the end 

 of the pipe connected with the oai' in the mouth 

 I give it a gentle, continuous blow, and you pro- 

 I duce a dense cloud of smoke, which can be di- 



Biy Haul 



An Officers Call. 



suggests 



poisoning butterflies. He attaches artificial flowers 

 securely to the top of sticks eighteen to twenty 

 inches long, covers the .flowers with arsenic 

 mixed with sugar or with a sweet paste of any 

 sort and puts the sticks into the ground at inter- 

 vals throughout the field. The butterflies are 

 attracted to the flowers and get enough of the 

 poison to give them an effectual quietus. 



Woman Fruit Qrowers and Florists. What 

 better field of usefulness could be pointed out to 

 those members of the gentler sex who desire to 

 fight life's hard battles on their own hook and 

 perhaps single-handed, than fruit and flower 

 growing y Says Mr. Morgan in the "Nineteenth 

 Century:" A woman is at home in a garden. 

 The physical work connected with dress making, 

 telegraphy, tj-pe-writing, and all other depart- 

 metjts of labor open to women, is much heavier 

 than is required for the bulk of horticultural 

 operations. In growing flowers, for example, 

 the minute care and attention necessary are b.v 

 no means unfitted for women, while in fruit 

 growing the same remark applies to a great 

 extent. The healthfulness of horticultural oc- 

 cupations is well known, and even working in 

 hot-houses does not, with ordinary care, per- 

 ceptibly affect gardeners, who are notoriously 

 long-lived men. 



A Poland Honeysnckle. Under the name, 

 Lonicera confusa, we have from Poland a variet.v 

 of the Honeysuckle, which I telieve is a variety 

 of Lonicera Halleana. which'came tothiscounti-y 

 from .lapan. Our collection from East Europe 

 and North Central Asia has varieties of nearl.v 

 all the species we have from Japan and China, 

 and we might reasonably expect to secure varie- 

 ties of Halleana from Persia, Bokara and other 

 points in south central Asia. Our confusa has 

 the leaf, habit of flowering, and beauty and rare 

 fragrance of flower of Halleana, but it comes 

 into bloom earlier in the season, has larger 

 bract leaves at the base of the flowers, the leaves 

 are thicker and brighter green above, and above 

 all for our use the plant endures a far lower 

 temperarure without winter protection. As this 

 desirable variety is common in Poland and 

 North Silesia under the name of L. contusii it 

 has probablj^ been introduced into the Eastern 

 States. If so I should be glad to learn through 

 PopuIjAH Gardening it it has proven as desira- 

 ble as Halleana and in what respects it differs 

 from it. At this time we do not have L. Halleana 

 on the grounds as our recent test winters have 

 run it out root and branch though well covered. 

 With us it is not hardier than Viburnum plicatum 

 while L. confusa only kills back at the points of 

 growth which does not lessen its value, or its 

 long continued blooming. — J. L. Budd. 



Upshot and Downfall. 

 TRUCKER, DONKEY AND THE LAW. 

 rected to any part of the plant infected with 

 insects. The fumes cause the insects to dislodge 

 themselves at once, even in the most remote 

 part of the sheaths of the leaves or flower. 

 Wherever it has been tried on a variety of plants 

 it has been found to answer exceedingly well. 

 For instance, on many Orchids experimented on, 

 there were thrips far down in the sheaths of the 

 leaves, which no insecticide would reach without 

 injuring the plant, but after a few moments 

 gentle application of Tobacco fumes they were 

 destroyed, and no harm done to the plant. Then 

 again, for window plants, an appliance of this 

 kind is particularly valuable, as it enables each 

 plant to be kept thoroughly free of insects at a 

 minimum of cost and trouble. 



Statues in Public Parks. If we must have 

 public statues— a fact still to be doubted— says 

 Mr. Higginson, they should be away from the 

 haunts of men where they will not affront the 

 living and may exhort or reprove them. But the 

 moment we pass into a park or a garden we are 

 supposed to seek the influences of nature, so far 

 as they can be brought near a city. The stiff 

 hard lines of a monument, the unnatural out- 

 lines of a statue, destroy the natural impression; 

 and the statue is the woist of the two, as has been 

 said, because it is the less appropriate, and can 

 be less relinquished into nature's hands. More- 

 over, the tendency of these things is to multiply 

 themselves. One or two such objects may do no 

 great harm. In its early days even a rural ceme- 

 tery may be soft and graceful. But if you once 

 forget the difference between park and cemetery, 

 then the park tends at every step to become a 

 cemetery in appearance; a new monument, a 

 new statue, a new fountain, occurs each year; 

 and at last societies are formed which prosecute 

 this marble work as if it were a virtue. The 

 public garden in Boston is already halt spoiled; 

 Everett and Sumner disfigure in death the city 

 which they ornamented in their lives; and one 

 almost wishes that etherization had never been 

 invented, since it simply transfers to the eye the 

 pain elsewhere alleviated. Central Park is suffer- 

 ing in the same way, and even the beautiful 

 Kairmount Park at Philadelphia. It has recently 

 been stated that the late Governor Seymour and 

 othei-s went before the New York Park Commis- 

 sioners when the plan of Central Park was under 

 discussion t<j protest against the introduction 

 there of personal or emblematic structures, or 

 anything but what properly belonged to land- 

 scape gardening. It is now too late to save the 

 older parks ami public gardens, but it may be 

 possible to protect new ones. Otherwise, in a 

 hiuidred years no man can possibly tell whether 

 he is entering a park or a cemetery, except by 

 looking in his guide book. 



New York Floral Notes. 



It goes without saying that the florists have 

 nothing to <lo these broiling days. Business is 

 dullness itself; however, there are very few 

 flowers in the market. No good Roses, but we 

 could hardly expect them. Any flne basket or 

 boutjuet must now be made of Orchids. There 

 are no weddings of note and no fashionable en- 

 tertainments. 



The florists complain very much because people 

 of wealth leave town so early now— earlier every 

 year. This entirely ruins the late spring trade, 

 for many of the best flower buyers now leave 

 New York immediately after Easter. Nor is it 

 the flower trade only; window boxes, flower beds 

 and vases, which were formerly planted each 

 year, are now neglected, because no 

 one is at home. Some of the city 

 florists have places of business at New- 

 port, where trade now is good. 



Water Lilies are used a good deal this 

 summer; the pink Cape Cod Lil.v, and 

 also some of the exotic varieties, Lotus; 

 too. H odgson, who during the summer 

 has a flne establishment at Newport, 

 uses aquatic flowers quite extensively. 

 When cut, the Lilies are best placed 

 in a dark cellar. They are brought into 

 the light when needed for use, and 

 soon open. 



Some of the finest baskets this sum- 

 mer have been made of Orchids and 

 Farleyense Fern, usually the Marie 

 Antoinette shape. Very often the so- 

 called pot covers, pot-shape baskets of 

 braided straw and Willow, gilded or 

 J stained, are handsomely filled with a 

 loose mass of flowers; fine Roses are 

 especiall.v handsome so arranged. The 

 taste in baskets is entirely for the simp- 

 ler forms, though these are often quite expens- 

 ive, through their fine workmanship. Very 

 handsome ones are of braided straw and wicker, 

 stained a metallic green. Pottery jardinieres and 

 flower holders are very handsome, both in the 

 majolica and newer tapestry ware. The favorite 

 style in majolica usually imitates the Jai^anese. 



The handsomest new thing in the nursery ti'ade 

 is certainly Peter Henderson's strain of French 

 Cannas. They are remarkably handsome; big 

 Iris-shaped flowers of the most gorgeous colors. 

 They will run Gladiolus very closely in public 

 favor, once they are well known. Many of them 

 show similar coloring to Ehemannii, but the 

 spikes are always erect; others are brilliant scar- 

 let and vermilion, and another strain is golden 

 yellow or glowing orange, flecked with crimson 

 after the manner of an Odontoglot. They ai-e all 

 dwarf in habit, with good foUage, and they are 

 so i-cmarkably showy and effective that it would 

 be hard to say too much in their favor. 



A good many of our growers show signs of be- 

 ing infected with the " aquatic disease; " Mr. 

 Sturtevant's example seems likely to be followed 

 in this line The Sacred Lotus has proved so 

 very successful out of doois in this latitude, that 

 more are trying it. Certainly every local florist 

 who can manage a tank or pond might make an 

 ett'ort in this line; let his customers see the 

 glorious Lotus, a mass of stately flowers and 

 noble leaves, and there is likely to be an increased 

 demand for it. Most, if not all of the rarer ten- 

 der Water Lilies can be bloomed well outside in 

 the summer. An excellent method in vogue is 

 to plant these tender varieties in tubs, which 

 arc plunged into the out-door tank or pond in 

 June. It is \'ery easy to take them uft and lay 

 them away for the winter where the.v will be free 

 from frost. Some object to such a tank near the 

 house on the ground of their mosquito produc- 

 ing propensities, but no larvie will breed there if 

 the tank is stocked with gold flsh. 



A good many of the men who handle Orchids 

 and more who do not, say that the bottom is 

 going to drop out of the market one of these 

 <lay8. It is almost impossible to realize the 

 thousands of Orchid plants imported during the 

 la.st two years, and still they come. Some of 

 them have sold for extra\'agant prices, but that 

 is only in the case of rarities, but well known 

 \'arietics lia\'e usually brought low prices. Talk- 

 ing oi Orchids, it is a little odd to sec a well- 

 known iJcrfumer advertising Orchid perfumes, 

 Vanda, Miltonia, Stanhopea, Anguloa, Galeandra 

 and Calanthe. Whether made from On-hids 

 flowers or not, one cannot tell— should rather 

 doubt it— but they show the popular interest in 

 these plants. The maker expects the Orchid 

 fever to popularize them. 



Emily Louise Taplin. 



