POPULAR GARDENING 



FOR TOWN AND COUNTRY. 



"ACCUSE NOT NATURE, SHE HATH DONE HER PART; DO THOU BUT THINE."— Uihros. 



Vol. II. 



nD E G E JVC B E U., 18 8 6. 



No. 3. 



The Sunset of the Year. 



Pale in her fading bowers the Summer stands, 

 Like a new Niobe with clasped hands. 

 Silent above the flowers, her eliildren lost. 

 Slain by the arrows of the early frost. 

 The clouded heaven above is pale and gray. 

 The misty earth below is wan and drear. 

 The baying winds chase all the leaves away, 

 As ci"uel hounds pureue the trembling deer; 

 It is a solemn time, the sunset of the year. 



He who never protects his vines, plants and 

 so on in the North lias not the satisfaction of 

 . having the finer sorts of garden products of 

 his own raising. Now, and even until quite a 

 crust of earth is formed on the earth, is a good 

 time for the work. Simply to cover the earth 

 over the roots with leaves, coarse manure, 

 potato tops, or what is quite as well, coal ashes, 

 is all that is needed. It may not be known 

 that all plants and roots are more or less ac- 

 tive throughout the winter, and protection 

 promotes this activity in a desirable way. 



Our catalogue makers would do well, in 

 this day of reforms, to heed the cry for simpli- 

 fied names of kinds. To do so, calling atten- 

 tion to this fact, should find appreciation 

 enough with buj'ers to tell well on increased 

 orders for the initiators. For nurserymen the 

 waj- is clear ; follow the lead of the American 

 Pomological Society in their catalogue. Seeds- 

 men would have more trouble ; they could for 

 the present begin by leaving off their own 

 names from standard kinds. The Extra-early 

 Egyptian Blood Beet might also be cut down to 

 Egyptian Beet, and so of others. 



A lawn-mower, indespensable implement 

 that it is, will suffer as much when out as when 

 in use, unless it be given some special care at 

 the end of the season. Little further need be 

 suggested on this point than to say that the 

 kind of cleaning that occasionally suits a sewing 

 machine is needed here. For removing the 

 gum and dirt from bearings, cogs, etc., kero- 

 sene oil freely applied and then hard rubbing 

 with a cloth will do the work. The wheels at 

 the side, that are in some kinds of mowers en- 

 cased, may easily be got at by removing one 

 or several bolts that hold these parts together. 



The latest experiments in such a direction, 

 show that plants growing in living rooms are 

 health-givers, instead of health-destroj-ers, as 

 was formerly supposed by some. Corenwinder 

 has proved that all living parts of plants that 

 are charged with the matter called chlorophyl, 

 which gives the green color, throw off health- 

 giving oxygen, but retain the objectionable 

 caibonic acid gas for forming the structure of 

 the plant. With a blanched colorless growth, 

 such as Potatoes and other vegetables sprouting 

 in dark cellars throw off, the case is revei'sed, 

 and iletrimentally to health, for here oxygen 

 is absorbed and carbonic acid is exhaled, pre- 

 cisely as is done in the case of animals. The 

 obvious lesson is: grow plenty of plants in 

 windows and other light places; prevent as 

 far as can be sprouting of vegetables in cellars. 



The demamd for Roses and other fine flowers 

 for the winter cut-flower trade in the large 

 towns has grown to enormous proportions. 

 To meet this call, hot-house establishments by 



the hundred have sprung up in the vicinity of 

 the cities, and also remote from them, and in 

 these millions of blooms are in the aggregate 

 raised annually for the trade. As an illustra- 

 tion of what many of these places are like, we 

 may state the instance of one Rose grower in 

 Oil City, Pennsylvania, who, following on a 

 suggestion made by Popular Gardening 

 some time ago, has within a year put up nine 

 immense houses, each 21 by 300 feet in size, and 

 in which together there are now 30,000 plants 

 covered with buds and blossoms. These are 

 shipped to consumers, some at long distances 

 away, day by day as they develop. His hot- 

 houses crammed with luxuriant plants are a 

 sight to the eye now at the approach of winter. 



Has the tree agent yet intruded his presence 

 on you for spring orders? Perhaps not so early 

 as this, for he is hardly more than done with 

 his fall deliveries. But it is safe to count that 

 in his winter campaign not one of our readers 

 will miss his visits ; some will see his face week 

 after week, unless the house dog be properly 

 trained. We are not down on all tree agents, 

 — only the dishonest, irresponsible ones. But 

 these, it is to be regretted, are in so large a ma- 

 jority that we must urge to extreme caution 

 in dealing with any of the class. A trouble is 

 that the greatest scamps are, as a rule, the 

 smoothest talkers and tell the most plausible 

 stories. One pretty sure sign of an impostor 

 is the offering of wonderful new varieties, 

 claiming unusual and valuable qualities and 

 held at magnificent prices. Another is the 

 parading of high-sounding, sensational names, 

 just as if most good fruits and flowers had not 

 simple ones. We may say that all reliable 

 agents sent out by good houses carry certifi- 

 cates giving their proper identity, but the dis- 

 honest chaps so readily get up similar spurious 

 papers that one must be sharp not to be imposed 

 upon even as to this. The safe way : turn all 

 agents off with the lacouism, "We deal with 

 no agents." Then buy through catalogues and 

 coiTespondence, from nurserymen or florists of 

 good repute, of which there are man}'. 



Rotation in the Garden. 



Rotation or change of the garden crops — 

 vegetables, fruits or flowers — on the same 

 land should be looked upon as a corner-stone 

 in all successful gardening. Still it is a 

 principle much lost sight of, perhaps more 

 through lack of study and thought directly 

 given to the matter than aught else. Na- 

 ture suggests the course, even in her forests, 

 for it is seen, for example, that when Chest- 

 nut woods are cleared away Oak usually 

 grows up, and rice versa. In New Jersey 

 Oak is said to follow Pine and Pine on Oak. 



The reason why a change of crops on the 

 same land is advantageous must easily oc- 

 cur to the thoughtful cultivator. Farmers 

 well know that land devoted to Beans, for 

 example, will after a few years become 

 "Bean sick;" the same is true of Corn, Clo- 

 ver or any other crop. After one kind of 

 plants has occupied land for one or several 

 years it is but reasonable that the properties 

 in the soil specially adapted as food to that 

 kind should run low — it certainly becomes 

 reduced, while other elements that are suit- 



able to other crops remain unused, or else 

 go to waste. To neglect making due changes 

 therefore in crops is to invite inferior results, 

 when better ones might prevail. 



Not only does this principle closely apply, 

 but we may go further: There is good rea- 

 .son to believe that the nitrogen of the soil, 

 that valuable element of fertility, although 

 largely drawn upon by one class of crops, is 

 in the process of the growth of such made 

 more available for other crops to come than 

 if the former had not first occupied the land. 

 In other words, one kind of plants feeding 

 on the soil by the act releases certain plant 

 foods, which, although of little or no value 

 to a succeeding crop of the same kind, be- 

 come directly so to any other kind. 



Perhaps no hard lines should be drawn as 

 to the rotation to be observed iu ordinary' gar- 

 dening; if there could approximately be, in 

 every department of the garden, after any 

 crop of a certain kind on the same soil, a 

 rest to that soil for such a crop of from three 

 to six years the main benefits of the system 

 would be .secured. 



To outline a six years' course, or near to 

 it, of rotation in the vegetable department, 

 for example (Strawberries added), the fol- 

 lowing plan, supposing a garden to bedivided 

 into six equal sized plats, may be of tise: 



Plat A. 



Potatoes. 



Parsnips. 



Salsify. 



Hoi\<ie-radish. 



Turnips. 



Spinach. 



Plat B. 



Onions and Leek. 

 Beatis, bush or running. 

 Peas, early to late. 

 Tomatoes. 

 Sweet Potatoes. 



Plat C. 



Com. 



Cucumbers. 



Squash. 



Melons. 



Peppers. 



Martynia, Egg Plant, t&c. 



Plat D. 



Beets. 



Carrots. 



Lettuce and other Salads 



Radish. 



Herbs. 



Miscellaneous. 



Plat E. 



Cabbage. 

 Cauliflower. 

 Celery. 

 Borecole. 

 Sea-Kale, *c. 



Plat F. 



{To occupy three years.) 

 Rhubarb. 

 Globe Artichoke. 

 Strawberries. 



The design in this case is to move the 

 crops of each plat along to the next plat 

 with each succeeding year, an exception be- 

 ing found iu the ca.se of the kinds in plat F, 

 which should be moved one length only 

 with every third year. By some calculation 

 the same principle may be applied to the 

 flower garden, fruit garden, and even to the 

 orchard and the farm, allowing, as needed, 

 for a greater or less length of time in the 

 respective cases. We call to mind the fact 

 that in the Peach-growiug districts of Dela- 

 ware and adjoining States the Peach is 

 found to do best, and is the longest lived, 

 when following on worn-out Corn ground. 



The writer does not forget, however, that 

 there are some seeming exceptions. Celery, 

 for instance, is grown on certain low lands 



