2/4 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



September, 



Their Natural Sphere. Perhaps it is the 

 fe'reatest Horticultural Society on earth because 

 there are so many women memliei-s. 



Mr. Mat on Novelties. The new thiug-s we 

 get from abroad are novelties only in name and 

 not worth the paper it takes to describe them. 



The Standard Pot. A certificate of merit 

 is to be awarded ne.xt year to the potter who 

 conforms most nearly to the standard given by 

 the Committee. 



A GENUINE SURPRISE to President May— the 

 presentation of a fine microscope b.v the Society 

 in recognition of his valuable services. And it 

 moved him deeply. 



The florists talk well 

 and to the point usually. 

 Still there is not quite that 

 freedom in the discussions 

 which one meets when fruit 

 growere get together. 



Quite English you Know. 

 Mr. Peter Henderson the 

 veteran florist and author 

 was struck by the resem- 

 blance of the meadow of 

 Buffalo Park to Hyde Park 

 of London. 



CHRYSANTHEia'M EXHIBIT 



in Indianapolis November 

 5th. Mr. Hunt announces 

 that Mrs. Benjamin Harrison 

 offers a silver cuj) as a 

 National Prize for the most 

 promising seedlings. 



Ex-President Thorpe 

 looks upon the French Can 

 nas of which Henry A. Dreer 

 showed so fine a collection as 

 the most valuable novelty 

 of the decade. His.ludgment 

 carries great weight. 



Orchids. A great debt is 

 due to Pitcher and Manda 

 for their fine exhibition of 

 Orchids; and to the Manda 

 brothers, for their courteous 

 answei's concerning these 

 rare fiow^ers as given to the 

 many enquiring sightseers. 



Many visitors called at 

 the Popular Gardening 

 office, many more at the Ex- 

 periment Grounds of the 

 paper located at LaSalle. 

 The editors greatly regret 

 that they could not person- 

 ally meet all of these friends. 



If our fluent correspon- 

 dent W. Falconer, who takes 

 in these conventions, could 

 only speak in public as read- 

 ily as he writes, what a 

 power he would be in the 

 meetings. He should over- 

 oome his natural modesty in 

 this respect. 



A SPECIMEN fruit or flower, put on paper in 

 natural size, looks exaggerated, says Mr. Hender- 

 son. We always thought it looked rather smaller 

 than its original, and for that reason were in- 

 clined to excuse a slight exaggeration. 



The Shortest Speech of the meeting was 

 made by Mr. Henderson. It contained one 

 word '' no." It was in answer to the query 

 Can the Society do anything to regulate the 

 prices of bedding plants throughout the countryV 



A Worthy Recommendation. Dr. F. M. 

 Hexamer to represent Agriculture on one of the 

 Committees of the coming World's Fair ! He has 

 the Society's unanimous and enthusiastic en- 

 dorsement. Of course, John Thorpe should have 

 charge of the horticultural branch. 



A National Chrysanthemum Society, with 

 John Thorpe, President, W. K. Harris, Vice- 

 president, Edwin Lonsdale, Secretary, John Lane, 

 Treasurer, and a membership of more than fifty 

 —an offspring of the Florists Association, born, 

 Minerva-like, in full armor and equipment. 



The Association learned that it is no mistake 

 to take its mammoth self to a city that in pop- 

 ulation ranks below the largest eight cities on 

 the continent. But then Buffalo has an un- 

 equalled hall for conventions and the unparalleled 

 Niagara Falls as a suburb. Do come again. 



What stumble at the National Flower not 

 daring to tell your choice? We are disappointed. 

 And yet it is worthy of mention that an un- 



official canvass among the florists by a represen- 

 tative of the Buffalo Commercial Advertiser 

 showed more votes for the Perennial Phlox than 

 for all the others combined. The florists at least 

 will not vote for a weed. 



A Fine Summer Blooming Plant : The 

 Rose-coloted Cone Flower. 



Among the stouter-growing hardy peren- 

 nial plants which give entire satisfaction in 

 the writer's garden is the Cone Hower 

 ( Echinacea intermedia ) or as some call it 

 the Rose-colored Sunflower, and ot which 

 an engraving showing the bloom somewhat 



Echinaceas are propagated by division of 

 the root in autumn or early spring, or by 

 seed. It is proper to state that the roots 

 must not often be disturbed. Our leading 

 growers of hardy perennials, can supply 

 the plants at about a quarter of a dollar 

 apiece. 



0imM, 



THE ROSE-COLORED CONE FLOWER (Echinacea intermedia) 



below the natural size is annexed. It has 

 been a wonder to us that more has not been 

 made of this fine plant in the catalogues of 

 hardy plant growers, for in our garden it 

 certainly has always ranked among the best. 

 It is a fine clean-growing plant reaching a 

 height of three feet to four feet and blooms 

 for many weeks in midsummer. When 

 placed near to perennial and other Sun- 

 flowers it always attracts favoi'able atten- 

 tion because of its close resemblance to the 

 flowers of that genus, excepting in the color 

 which is a fine rosy purple. 



In order to grow this plant well a deep 

 well drained soil is the most suitable. In 

 our own garden we have given it a place 

 anywhere in the garden and have always 

 found it to be very free in growth and bloom. 

 Although its fine qualities are brought out 

 beautifully by contrast when it is grown 

 near to the Sunflowers proper, yet it must 

 not be so near any plants of the latter that 

 they will rob It of needed moisture and 

 plant food. It is admirably suited also to 

 be associated with the Tritomas, Eryngiums 

 and similar strong plants. A group of this 

 plant alone and occupying a bed of light 

 rich soil on the la^-n could not fail to please. 



Notes from the Popular Cardeningr 



Grounds at La Salle-on-the- 



Niagara. 



A Good Summer Lettuce. In our Lettuce notes 

 of last issue we ha^'e not done justice to the 

 Mid-summer Lettuce. This 

 we find is emphatically a 

 long standing summer 

 sort, showing no inclination 

 to run to seed. It has given 

 us fine crisp, solid heads long 

 after all the other varieties 

 had given out. We shall 

 continue to plant the Mid- 

 summer for home use. 



Buliacli vs. "Insect Pow- 

 der." It is no wonder that 

 people have so little faith in 

 the efficacy of insect pow- 

 ders, after trying the stuff 

 generally found in the drug 

 stores, take the adrtce to try 

 buhach, with a good deal of 

 skepticism. But the differ- 

 ence in strength between the 

 fresh Californi.Tn product, 

 and the stale imported article 

 is like that between vigorous 

 manhood and deci-epid old 

 age. Being out of buhach we 

 bought a pound can of the 

 " best " imported powder ; 

 but we could not fail to no- 

 tice the great difference at 

 once. To " laj' out " the Cab- 

 bage worms at all, we had to 

 appl.v it in concentrated 

 form, and then it did not act 

 as promptly as the diluted 

 buhach. But the most con- 

 vincing proof we had in try- 

 ing to kill a lot of Bean weev- 

 ils in a box near our desk. 

 The weevils had come out of 

 a lot of seed Beans, and thou- 

 sands of them were confined 

 in the comparatively small 

 box. The insect powder was 

 thickly strewn over them, 

 and the box tightly closed. 

 In spite of this the wee^"ils 

 lived several hours, and even 

 the next day we found a few 

 live specimens. From our 

 previous experience with 

 buhach we are sure that 

 every weevil treated with it 

 in the same manner, would 

 have died in a very few min- 

 utes . The moral is, to use no other brand but 

 the pure unadulterated buhach. 



The Lawns and the Drtmth. Previous to July 

 the season was very wet in this vicinity: since 

 July 4th we have had not enough rain to soak 

 down half an inch. The etlect on the lawns is 

 striking: those pa rts sown previous toApril 20 are 

 green and handsome while the later sowings are 

 considerably browned. 



Tivo Strawberries little iinown. There have 

 been a great many Strawberrj' varieties intro- 

 duced of late under high pretensions, and more 

 or less retained in cultivation that are of less 

 merit than either of the two sorts which are pic- 

 tured from life in annexed illustration. The 

 " New Dominion " ( at the right ) is a Canadian- 

 sort quite freely grown for market between here 

 and Toronto. The berry is of pretty fair size, 

 and wherever we have seen it in field culture- 

 it averaged larger than Wilson, (which is yet the 

 favorite with gi-owers in this section ) under the 

 same treatment. Our neighbor E. P. Bowen. 

 who is an old and very intelligent fruit grower- 

 places the New Dominion at the head for market' 

 so unreservedly, that even he has discarded all 

 other sorts. The general verdict of people who 

 have tested it more largely for market, seems to 

 be that they realize H more returns from it than 

 from the Wilson. Its shape is not exactly beauti- 

 ful, perhaps might be styled clumsy ; but color 

 bright red, ripening up evenly. Flavor fairly 

 good, not high. 



