262 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



August, 



results as regards this crop, both in respect to its 

 t?rowth in the heads and its yield of seed, which 

 latter varies from sixty pounds to the acre down 

 to a teaspoonful. In some kinds the seed wholly 

 fails to form, this being quite common with the 

 foreign sorts. Some sorts have an abundance. 

 He preferred the salmon-fleshed Melons to the 

 green-fleshed kinds, as being'Superior in quality. 

 Many Melons are no better than Pumpkins, es- 

 pecially the early ones and those brought from 

 the south. Melons should never be gathered till 

 the stem has " sprung "—that is, parted from the 

 fruit— more or less. The public should be edu- 

 cated to know the taste of Melons in a state of 

 perfection. We can, if we will, produce the musk 

 varieties to the very best advantage and so as to 

 command the market to the exclusion of all com- 

 petitors ; but the present practice of gathering 

 the fruit half-ripe spoils its (luality and hurts the 

 market for the native crop. 



The Butman Squash should be allowed time to 

 harden its shell before gathered ; it should have 

 the whole season for it, and should have an abund- 

 ant provision of manure. It is rather a shy yield- 

 er, but if purchasers would pay proper prices it 

 could be more generally raised and brought to 

 market. He thought the subject of proper fer- 

 tilization was one on which much that had been 

 published was very unreliable. He gave as an 

 instance the extravagant commendation of kelp 

 as a fertilizer, which was diligently put forth 

 some twenty years ago, though now generally 

 forgotten. It came from a man who had the im- 

 agination of a poet and missed his calling. The 

 speaker would lay down one general principle ; 

 supply phosphoric acid to the land, and it will 

 not leach away (unless on very sandy soil) ; on fair 

 tillage land it will stay until taken off in crops. 

 Mr. Rawson confirmed the statement as to the 

 inferior ripeness of the Melons commonly of- 

 fered in the market by our gardeners; but 

 thought it impossible to do any better with the 

 native or common kinds. He recommended 

 the Montreal green-fleshed Melon as firmer in 

 texture when thoroughly ripe than the common 

 kind, and as bearing handling with less in.iury. 

 In reply to the question whether Arlington men 

 could raise a hundred bushels of Spinach on 

 twelve hundred square feet of laud, Mr Rawson 

 said that that product could be attained any- 

 where with plenty of fertilizer and moisture. 

 Mr. Endicott called attention to Stachys tuberi- 

 fera as a new vegetable highly prized in France 

 His opinion of it was not high. The tubers are 

 small, deeply creased, and very diflioult to keep 

 over winter except in the ground, it being hardy. 



Practical Methods in Drainage. 



[Abstraet 0/ address bii Prof. G. E. tlorrow, before 

 the Illinois Tile Makers' AssociaHon^ 



Free flow of vrater at outlet is the first 

 consideration. Good depth is important, 

 but not so essential as this. Having outlet 

 covered by water at times, as in streams, is 

 objectionable, but is less so than is often 

 supposed. Such drains should enter stream 

 in nearly the direction of current^not at 

 right angles to this. 



Main Ditches, often the outlet on the farm or 

 near by is an artificial open ditch. Frequently 

 the most important first work in drainage is to 

 olien or straighten the natural water channel. 

 On prairie lands these are often twice or thrice 

 the length necessary, thus reducing fall or check- 

 ing flow. Open ditches, with rare exceptions, 

 should have very sloping banks, with earth taken 

 some distance from the edge. Koad ditching 

 and grading is often badly done— leaving holes 

 in the lowest places, with little care in providing 

 outlets from these. The road ditches must often 

 be outlets tor the farm drains. The main ditches 

 should be fii-st planned and dug, generally fol- 

 lowing lowest land, avoiding sudden curves and 

 unnecessary wiudingr!. 



Side Ditches. The laterals usually should fol- 

 low any side depressions. Their directiim will 

 depend largely upon the slope uf the land. For 

 wide, nearly level tracts, it is better to have two, 

 three or more lines parallel to each other than 

 to have one main drain with short ditches at 

 right angles to this. To drain a pond, go to it 

 and through it often, with liitic regard to direc- 

 tion of other drains. Sometimes cross ditches 

 toward the upper end of a marshy tract, with 

 ijne main through the center, will do as much 

 work as several lines lengthwise the marsh. 



Depth, size of Tile, etc. As to depth we often 

 must do as we can, rather than as we would like. 

 Three feet is a good depth. H the land slopes to 



the drain from either side this is often as good as 

 more. There is no need of haWng a main design- 

 ed simply to carry water, deeper than three feet. 

 Where there is almost impervious sub-soil, extra 

 depth is of little advantage. No accurate rule 

 can be given as to size of tile needed . The slope 

 of the surface, rate of fall in ditch, depth of 

 ditch, piirosity of soil, character of tile and i-apid- 

 ity of rainfall, all have effect. It is needless to 

 provide for instantaneous carrying otT of excep- 

 tional rainfall. Little harm and some good 

 comes of ha\'1ng lines of tile overtaxed for a 

 short time. Tile larger than is needed cost more 

 and are not so good. It is a common mistake to 

 lay too small tile in main drains; almost an equal- 

 ly common one to have upper end of side 

 drams larger than necessary. A long line of tile 

 of same size is either too small or larger than 

 necessary at upper end. There are places where 

 a well-laid two-inch tile is as good as one of ten 

 inches. The rule that tile carry water in propor- 

 tion to square of their diameter is not .strictly 

 correct— large tile carrying proportionately 

 more. It would be safe to let five lines of five- 

 inch tile discharge into a ten-inch main. In our 

 prau-ie lands, there is little danger of getting too 

 much fall, but very slight fall will answer with 

 careful laying. A line of tile without any fall, 

 but with good outlet, would have some flow. 

 The larger the tile the less the fall needed. When 

 there is slight fall, it is better to sacrifice a little 

 in depth to increase the fall. Uniform fall is 

 better than making changes. Generally, the safe 

 rule in practice is to take all you can get and not 

 stop because there is little. 



Leveling. For determining the rate of fall and 

 depth of ditch, a good "level" in the hands of a 

 man with some training and experience is the 

 only absolutely safe method. When there is 

 much work on very level ground, it is good 

 economy to secure services of a competent engi- 

 neer. This is not an essential in many cases. 

 Simple devices rpay be substituted with success. 

 Flowing water in the ditch can be made a safe 

 guide. When the surface has fairly uniform 

 slope a tightly stretched line above the ditch 

 may be depended on. A straight edge with up- 

 right and "bob" may be used. Accurate level- 

 ing with exact statement as to depth of ditch 

 at stakes even ten feet apart will not secure a 

 well graded bottom. Ditchers often make mis- 

 take of measuring from the surface, raising or 

 lowering the bottom with the roll of the surface. 

 The great mass of our ditches are still dug by 

 spades. Inexperienced ditchers are apt to make 

 a ditch wider than necessary. One foot at the 

 most is all that is needed at the surface for a 

 three-foot ditch, this sloping inward to the size 

 of the tile. If the soil is so hard as to require the 

 use of pick more width will be required. 



Tools. Two spades and a "scoop" or tile hoe, 

 are all the tools essential to good work. The 

 plow can sometimes be used to good advantage. 

 There is good promise of successful ditch-dig- 

 ging machines; little, I fear can be expected of 

 tile-laying machines. 



Laying Tile. There are some advantages in 

 completing ditch, and commencing laying tile at 

 upper end. For long lines it is, in practice, often 

 better to commence at the outlet. Usually it is 

 best to have the layer stand in the ditch. Get 

 the tile as close together as possible. The outlet 

 should be i)rotected. Having a plank box drain 

 at outlet often works well. A coarse screen over 

 outlet is desirable. Side drains should enter 

 mains at slightly higher level. Tile with"joints" 

 for entering drains are much better than relying 

 on cutting for an opening. The tile should al- 

 ways enter at an acute angle. The tile should 

 be covered at once. There is Uttle danger of fill- 

 ing the tile by the loose earth entering, if they 

 have been well laid. The plow can bo used to 

 advantage in this work. Where ditch passes 

 through hedge row or near trees it is well to 

 cover the joints with scrap tin or iron, or even to 

 use larger tile as collars, to prevent entrance of 

 .roots. Silt basins are often desirable at junction 

 of different lines, or where there is marked de- 

 crease of fall-. If not kept cleaned out or if sur- 

 face water can flow in at top, they may be worse 

 than useless. Long lines of tile may often be of 

 great value in gi\ing supply of water for stock. 

 A difliculty is in getting and keeping a clean and 

 easy approach. It is better to have the watering 

 or basin at side of the line of tile, connected with 

 it by a line. Thus the main line will not be 

 effected, even should the stock trample up and 

 for the time destroy their drinking place. 



Qnality of Tile. Not all tile makers are perfect 

 and sometimes they make quite too much use of 

 the color, degree of burning or of glazing of 



their tile. Given tile made of any fair clay, 

 straight, smooth on inside, free from flaws, with 

 ends at right angles to sides, and fairly well burn- 

 ed, 1 count glazing or extra hardness, of little 

 importiince. If there is competent supervision, 

 paying ditchers by the day is usually better than 

 payment by distance. The prices charged by 

 professional ditchers are frequently excessive. 

 In good soil, three foot tile drains can be com- 

 pleted for 25 cents a rod. 



Hardy Ornamental Shrubs for Gar- 

 dens, Lawns and Hedges. 



{Paper read by Jackson Dawson, gardener at the Ar- 

 nold Arboretum, before the Massachusetts Horticul- 

 tural Society.'\ 



What shrubs can be called perfectly hardy 

 in our rigorous New England climate? Such 

 shrubs as would live and grow and flower 

 in any ordinary, well-prepared soil without 

 any protection whatever, either by covering 

 or by being "planted in a sheltered position, 

 and that when once properly established, 

 would, with ordinary attention, give satis- 

 faction to the planter. 



There are many of our finest shrubs that do 

 well if care is exercised in the selection of situa- 

 tion and soil, or if they are protected for a few 

 years until well established, that would not do 

 well otherwise, but these could not be termed 

 hardy, neither would they give satisfaction to 

 the general planter, who, as a rule, knows noth- 

 ing of the care required to bring such plants to 

 perfection. 



Many in planting new places procure cata- 

 logues and make out their lists from them, se- 

 lecting all that is represented as most rare and 

 showy, or they may have made their list from 

 plants that they have seen in some exhibition, 

 never thinking that they require any extraord- 

 inarj' care in situation or culture to produce 

 such specimens as they have seen at the exhibi- 

 tions. Now this all a mistake, for many cata- 

 logues are deceptive, and the sooner nurserymen 

 and others learn to send out correct catalogues, 

 the better it will be for all. 



The public want trustworthy information, and 

 the catalogues of nurserymen and seedsmen are 

 good places to give honest descriptions of plants, 

 and it they have any weak spots to point them 

 out, stating whether they need protection or a 

 special situation, and in what way. This would 

 not lessen the sale of this class of plants, and 

 people would plant intelligently, knowing the 

 places or positions where they would succeed. 



The object of this paper is to give the names of 

 such as under ordinary conditions have stood 

 the test of cold and heat, or as many of the best 

 of them as there may be room for, and these will 

 be ample to select from. Many of them are na- 

 tives of our own woods and fields, and compare 

 well with their allies from other climes, whence 

 we import them at so much cost. For many 

 large as well as small places they can be used to 

 great advantage, giving a finer general effect 

 throughout the year than many of the exotics. 



Before passing to the general list the essayist 

 glanced over the field to see what we have in our 

 own country. What, he asked, can be more 

 beautiful then the Kalmia (Mountain Laurel) 

 clothing our hills from Maine to Georgia '/ or our 

 swamps of Rhododendron maximum, or our 

 mountains covered with B. Oatawbiensc :' or our 

 native Azaleas, such as caicndutaeea, with flowers 

 varying from yellow to flame color; arboresceiis^ 

 with its snowy white and pink flowers and scar- 

 let stems; tiiscosa, which fills our swamps with 

 its white fragrant flowers, or nudiflora, that 

 grows so luxuriantly on some of our dry hillsides. 



Equally beautiful are our fields of Rhodoi-a, 

 with its purple bloom; our Viburnums, with 

 their corymbs of jiure white flowers in summer, 

 followed in autumn by their many-colored fruits, 

 from scarlet to purple, which in some species 

 last well into winter, enlivening the season when 

 nearly everything else is past. 



Then there are ourCornuses, with good flowers 

 and blue and white berries, and many-colored 

 woods, cheering even in winter; the Wild Roses 

 that bloom from June to August; the Sumacs, 

 with their fine tropical foliage and brilliant col- 

 ored seedheads; the Wild Plums, especially mari- 

 tima and pumila ; the many species of Thorns, 

 which are beautiful both in flower and fruit; 

 ourSpira^as, white and purple: the White Fringe; 

 the Clethra, with its fragrant white flowers from 

 July to September; the Holly and the Black 

 Alder, which are most beautiful, if fruiting spec- 



