284 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



September, 



FROH 

 THE 



SOCIETIES 



ElNtjMArrER'niAT DbxbrveS 

 TO Btrvnuevf lOiovni, 



No Good Blackberry. We 

 liave no Blackberry that is 

 satisfactory. Snyder is a- 

 bout the best, but too small. 

 — E. A. Richl. 



Flowers Bring SuneMne. 

 Wherever I have found 

 flowers in the yard I have 

 found sunshine in the borne.— HorneHsville 

 Farmers' Cluh. 



Mending the Orchard. If you must set a tree 

 where an old one has died, remove a wagon-load 

 of earth and replace it with fresh new soil.— 

 G. J. Kdlogg. 



New Iris. Among the flowers at the show of 

 the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, July 

 6th, the new varieties of Iris, exhibited by E. 

 Fewkes & Son, were especially worthy. 



Lucretia Dewberry. I have tried the Lucretia 

 over which so much fuss has been made, and I 

 urn disgusted with it. It is a fine, large berry, 

 but flat and hardly fit to eat.—E. A.Riehl. 



Overproduction in Grapes. Acreage of Grapes 

 could be increased from one-third to one-half 

 without an.v fear of overproduction to the mar- 

 ket, if the marketing of the fruit was di-iised 

 more systematically.— C?ias. Mitzlsy before Urapt 

 Growers" Assuciatlon. 



Home Beauties. I believe in the male members 

 of the family giving assistance to the ladies. 

 Let us gi\e them more tune for thus beautifying 

 our homes by making everything about the 

 house as convenient as possible for them.— Hoj-- 

 ndUi'ilU Farmers' Cluh. 



Shipping Grapes by Freight. Small shiiiments 

 of early Grapes in hot weather can not be safely 

 made by freight under present arrangements, 

 as sufficient attention is not now given by the 

 railroads to small local shipments.— Jlfr. Butler 

 before Orape Groioers' Asuociation. 



The Yearly Fruit Allowance. Every family 

 needs for each member 1 bushel of Currants and 

 Gooseberries, 2 bushels of Strawberries, 1 bushel 

 of Itaspberries, 1 bushel of Blackberries, 50 

 pounds of Grapes and 2 barrels of Apples each 

 and every year. This will give health, happiness 

 and a lo\e for the old home.— G. J. Kellogg. 



Pear Swarfs and Standards. A rich, strong, 

 loam suits the Quince stock best, a lighter soil 

 suits the free stock for Pears. The advantage of 

 growing Pears on the Quince is early fruiting; 

 whereas, the generally adopted axiom respecting 

 Pears grafted on the free or Pear stock is, that— 

 He who plants Peai's, 

 Plants for his heirs. 



—C. B. Saunders^ England. 



Express Company Trust, The American, the 

 Adams, the United States, the Wells- Fargo and 

 other express companies are said to have formed 

 a " trust " for the purpose of avoiding compe- 

 tition, iucrestsing and maintaining uniform rates, 

 all of which would probably be detrimental to 

 the interest of Grape growers. Mr. Snow had 

 been informed that the present rates would be 

 maintained on heavy shipments, and those on 

 small shipments to local points be increased.— 

 Orape Growers' Association. 



Seeds Not Guaranteed. At the recent meeting 

 of the Seed Trade Association the following gen- 

 eral disclaimer of responsibility for seeds sold 

 was unanimously adopted to be used the coming 

 season: " While we exercise the greatest care to 

 have all seeds pure and reliable, we do not give 

 any warranty express or implied. If the pur- 

 chaser does not accept the seeds on these terras 

 and conditions they must be returned at once, 

 and the money that has been paid for the same 

 will be refunded." ( Here follows initials of firm.) 



Utilizing Tomatoes. O. Gibbs, of Dakota, 

 writes to the Minnesota Society, that his whole 

 crop of Tomatoes ripened late, and after picking 

 twenty bushels of well ripened ones, he used the 

 green and half-ripened ones for feeding cows 

 which ate them with a good relish, half a bushel 

 at a ration. Horses also pronounced them good. 

 He had fifty bushels, a supply for a month, to 

 the end of October, before the advent of frost. 

 He pulled up the plants by the roots, let them 

 wilt two days, then shook the Tomatoes off and 

 picked them up as we do Potatoes. If always 

 making good feed, it may be well to plant them 

 by the acre for late autumn green feed for cattle. 

 as large crops might be easUy raised. 



Cape Cod Cranberry Growers. The second an- 

 nual meeting and election of ofiBcers of the Cape 

 Cod Cranberry Growers' Association was held in 

 the town hall. Sandwich, July 9. The following 

 officers were elected: President, J. J. Russell, of 

 Plymouth; vice-presidents, A. D. Makepeace, 

 Barnstable; Emulous Small, Harwich; secretary 

 and treasurer, T. T. Jones, Sandwich. The ex- 

 ecutive committee was instructed to consider 

 and report at a special meeting of the Associa- 

 tion a plan for securing a uniform capacity for 

 barrels and crates, and for preventing any per- 

 son not a member of the Association from using 

 any trade mark adopted by the Association and 

 to procure legislation in connection therewith. 

 The Association numbers one hundred members. 



Close Planting in English Gardens, The Jer- 

 sey farmer, cultivating 20 acres of land, and 

 making a comfortable living of so small a surface, 

 cannot afford to allow a single perch of it to re- 

 main unproductive, and every square yard is 

 made to contribute towards the general expenses. 

 The space alloted to kitchen gardening and fruit 

 culture is generally' near the homestead, the 

 pathways being planted on either side with bush 

 Apple and Pear trees. Currant and Gooseberry 

 trees filling up the intervening spaces in the 

 rows until the trees have grown sufficiently large 

 to cover the whole space. These highly-cul ti- 

 vated and richly-manured pieces of ground are 

 made to produce crop after crop in rapid suc- 

 cession. No sooner is one crop off the ground 

 than another replaces it. The trees get the ben- 

 efit of these repeated dressings and the manipu- 

 lation of the soi\. —Chi»wicJt tEng.) Conference. 



Packing Plums for Market. The Plum is per- 

 ishable, and more care in handling is required 

 than often is given, especially on sorts designed 

 to be sold on the retail stands of distant cities. 

 These certainly should be picked with stems ad- 

 hering and carefully laid in five pound to eight 

 pound baskets; in all cases picking the small and 

 inferior fruit by itself to be marketed as second 

 class. And while the varieties designed for pre- 

 serving need not be so carefully packed, equal 

 care should be bestowed in sorting that no im- 

 perfect fruit be packed in packages denominated 

 first-class. In doing which you will find someone 

 ready to purchase your fruit at its full value, 

 giving you fair compensation for all your labor 

 and care, and you, in conclusion, abundantly 

 satisfied that well-grown Plums shipped in clean, 

 neat packages at the proper time and to the 

 proper markets are a crop not to be despised.— 

 S. D. Willard, Western New Torli Hnrt. Society. 



Protection for Grapes. While professional 

 Grape growers are searching' for a remedy for 

 rot, or some means of presenting it, there is one 

 fact that an amateur should never lose sight of 

 — there can be no rot where the fruit is protected 

 from dew and rain. Where vines are trained 

 on a building under a cornice, the fruit never 

 rots. A wide board nailed over the trellis, in 

 so far as it protects the fruit from dew and rain, 

 prevents the rot. A strip of calico, rausliu or 

 other fabric has the same effect. The hability to 

 rot is also diminished in proportion as the vine is 

 high. There is always less rot at the top than at 

 the bottom of the trellis. Where vines are 

 allowed to grow over the branches of trees with 

 little or no care, there is but little rot, and the 

 \ines are remarkably healthy and productive. 

 If one can raise this fruit without having it rot 

 —and every one can-there is no reason why any 

 pei-son should hesitate to plant a few vines.— Bc- 

 port of Summit Co. Hortieultural Society. 



Bushels Boxes for Potatoes. Next to the Po- 

 tato digger, the greatest labor saver on our farm, 

 in the line of Potato culture, is our bushel box. 

 Potatoes can go from the field to the grocer in 

 the city, and then to his customer's cellar on 

 spring wagons and under canvas, so they are 

 fresh and nice as though just dug in his garden. 

 The boxes, of course, are left with the grocer 

 until emptied. When digging, the boxes are 

 scattered through the field. A man can pick up 

 a bushel almost without lifting, if he takes four 

 rows at once. Then two men can empty them 

 into the wagon, as it is driven through the field, 

 very rapidly, or set them in, to go to the cellar. 

 It is a great sartng of labor over the common 

 way of picking up in a basket and carrying them 

 to heaps, then picking them up again from the 

 heaps into the wagons. These boxes hold a bushel 

 level full, so they .can be set up three or four 

 deep in field, wagon or cellar. We have board 

 covei-s to put on when it looks like rain, or to 

 keep the sun from injuring the Potatoes. If you 

 want to load a car from the field, they are just 



the thing. There are hand holes in the ends, so 

 they are about as easy to carry as a basket. The 

 size is 13x1.3x16, inside measurement.— T. B. Terry, 

 before a Farmers Institute in Wiscotviin. 



The Early Peaches. Capt. E. HolUster:— We 

 have on the stand to-day some very nice looking 

 Peaches, but their excellence is confined to looks. 

 Bite one, and your vision of bliss is quickly dis- 

 pelled, eat half a dozen and the probabihties are 

 that you will soon have cause to regret it. I 

 have found all these early Peaches a nuisance 

 They always rot badly and later in the season, 

 would be pronounced unfit to eat. Alton Peaches 

 have a reputation in Chicago, but if we send them 

 much such early stuff we will soon lose our 

 good name. Nearly all these varieties, Amsden, 

 Alexander, etc., are seedlings of the Hale's Early 

 and are all alike. Georgia and other southern 

 Peach growing states have made the same mis- 

 take, and are suffering for it. About the first 

 good Peaches we get are Troth, Early York, 

 George the Fourth and Mountain Kose. E. A. 

 Riehl :— I think Early York better than Troth, 

 but I think Amelia and Flater's St. John earlier 

 and better than any others that have been 

 named. Have grown them and know them to 

 be good. J. M. Pearson : I have always held 

 that these early Peaches were a nuisance, and 

 think the best thing you who have the trees can 

 do, is to grub them out. If you market them, 

 people get so disgusted with them that they will 

 not buy good Peaches when they come to market. 

 —A Iton Smilheni TlUnoi.'i HortictMural Society. 



Overhead Heating of Plant Houses. 



I Read by E. S. Bartholemew, before the Buffalo Florist 

 Club.Jid!/20th.] 



What is Heat '> Heat, according to modern 

 theory, is a condition, a result. It may be 

 the result of molecular action or energy. 

 In the heating of plant houses, we have to 

 do with potential molecular energybecoming 

 kinematic by the clashing together of mole- 

 cular atoms of matter in consequence of 

 affinity called combustion. The heat thus 

 produced, we employ by radiation. 



Radiated heat is very diffusive, hence, if we 

 place our radiating pipes overhead and evenly 

 distributed across our houses, a very much more 

 even diffusion of the radiated heat and even tem- 

 perature throughout the entire house will result. 

 The object of glass structures, being to get a 

 summer climate during the rigors of winter, we 

 endeavor to make them practically as near frost 

 proof as possible, excepting the roof, for which 

 we use the clearest glass to be obtained, that the 

 greatest amount of light may be admitted. We 

 do not take into account the amount of mole- 

 cular energy that may be imparted to the atmos- 

 phere in the house, or the heat that may be pro- 

 duced by the interception of such molecular 

 energy. 



Our glass roofs, practically, are the same as a 

 thin sheet of ice, whenever the outside tempera- 

 ture is below 33° admitting the cold very rapidly. 

 The question now arises, where shall we place 

 our radiation, so as to meet this cold air and pre- 

 vent its coming in contact witn the delicate 

 foliage of the plants under cultivation, causing 

 disease, mildew, &c. Shall it be near the glass, or 

 overhead, or near the floor of the house ? Com- 

 mon sense and reason would say, place the radia- 

 tion where it will meet the cold air as soon as 

 possible after entering the house, warming it, 

 causing air currants, and thus diffusing the ra- 

 diated heat, giving us a very even temperature 

 through the entire house. If the cold air or frost 

 coming through the glass, be met at once by the 

 heat radiated from the suspended pipes overhead, 

 there can be no danger from frost in any part of 

 the house. 



Some Tests, In order to test this question, I 

 began some experiments which intended to 

 show whether by placing the radiating pipes 

 beneath the benches we obtain the best pos- 

 sible results in plant growth and blooms, or 

 whether to cold coming through the glass did 

 not too often reach the plants doing injury to 

 the foliage, thereby causing a diseased condition 

 more liable to sporadic growth. Another ques- 

 tion arose, whether by underheating we did not 

 surround the roots of our plants with too high a 

 temperature, with comparatively too low tem- 

 perature of the atmosphere surrounding the tops 

 to give large blooms with good substance of the 

 petals. To assist in Jorming my conclusions, 1 

 instituted a series of experiments as to the com 

 parative temperature of the soil surrounding the 



