38 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



December, 



A Serial in "Popular Gardening" to 

 run through 1 887. 



It affords the publishers of this paper much 

 pleasure to announce that with the coming 

 January issue there will appear in its pages 

 the first chapter of an extended practical con- 

 tribution in the natvire of a serial, and which 

 is to be continued from month to month, 

 throughout the year. This work is entitled 



"THE COMPLETE GARDEN: 

 Hoio to Make and to Manage It. '' 



It is from the pen of a well-known practical 

 horticulturist, and was written expressly for 

 Popular Gardening. It is copyrighted. 



The aim of this serial is to furnish, in a con- 

 nected form, the various details of making a 

 complete garden in answer to a wide felt 

 demand for such information. Commencing 

 with the selection of the land it goes on through 

 laying it out for use and for ornament, choos- 

 ing trees and other stock, planting, cultivating, 

 building glass-houses, etc. , all to the end of 

 producing an abundance of fruit, flowers, orna- 

 mental stock, vegetables, etc., for use and 

 beauty the year round. 



Although the ideal garden taken as a text by 

 the writer is one that would require some four 

 acres of land, the work deals so essentially in 

 principles that it will prove of almost equal 

 value to all cultivators, whether their stock 

 consists of a single plant or acres of market 

 crops. Copiously illustrated and to embrace 

 a fine plan of "The Complete Garden." 



This article, as one feature of next year's 

 paper, should alone be worth far more than the 

 subscription price of the paper for a year. 



Garden Notes from Lyndale. 



BY A. H. E. 



I have just been reading one man's report 

 on the use of petroleum for killing Plantains, 

 Thistles and Dandelions in the lawn by apply- 

 ing the article thi-ough a can into the crown 

 of the plants. For my part I want nothing of 

 the kind; with a strong knife one can cut 

 away the plant sufficiently below the crown 

 so that it will not start again about as easily as 

 to apply petroleum, acids and the like, and then 

 you are done with the thing. Even though 

 one succeeds with killing weeds thus, the dead 

 remains are there to mar neatness in a way that 

 no one wants to see. Besides this, petroleum 

 and acids ai'e unpleasant, or else dangerous to 

 handle, and any drops scattered about acci- 

 dently on the grass plants, as easily happens, 

 will kill these too. 



* * * 



On last Tuesday — a pleasant autumn day — I 

 went over the young Apple orchard, set out in 

 October, and made a register of the trees. 

 This was easily done so soon after planting, for 

 all labels, just as they came from the nursery, 

 were still on the trees. A sheet of smooth 

 heavy manilla paper that a pen would readily 

 pass over was used for the map. On this I 

 drew as many lines and oblique cross lines as 

 there were rows of trees, bringing those of the 

 dwarfs closer together proportionately, and 

 numbering all the rows at the edge of the map. 



With this sheet, a light smooth board to 

 support it and a pencil I went to the orchard. 

 Then for each lot of trees, down to two of one 

 kind (such having in each case been kept to- 

 gether), I drew a faint mark around the whole 

 on the corresponding place on the map and 

 wrote the name within the outline. For each 

 single tree of a kind — and for the sake of 

 variety I have 67 different sorts in the new 

 orchard — I simply wrote the name to the cor- 

 responding cross place on the map. Then when 

 I came to the house I wrote out the name 

 clearly with pen and ink over the faint pencil 

 lines. My map will outlast me, and for all time 

 there will be a perfect record of every tree in 

 this orcbai'd, over three hundred altogether, to 

 serve me and those coming after me. 



A favorite shrub at Lyndale is the Holly- 

 leaved Mahonia (Mahonia <;iquifoKum), which 

 stands in a close irregular clump, some 1.5 feet 

 long and averaging half as wide, on the rear 

 lawn. Why this is much thought of is because, 

 for one thing, it is a rugged evergreen shrub, 

 that never receives injury from cold. Then it 

 has a pleasing Holly-like leaf, even to the 

 prickles along the edge and the polished surface. 

 Further than this it is one of the best early 

 j spring-flowering shrubs, being covered in May 

 with great clusters of sweet yellow blossoms ; 

 last of all, few shrubs succeed any better than 

 this one without petting, a thing very satisfac- 

 tory when one thinks of its other good points. 



If there is a single drawback to the Mahonia, 

 it is that sometimes the sun in winter spots the 

 leaves. But this is apt to occur to any other 

 laj'ge-leaved evergreen. There is one advant- 

 age in this shrub over some others, however, 

 and that is its free healthy growth soon enables 

 it, in the spring, to out-grow the leaf spot, so 

 that not a bit of it remains in sight shortly 

 after growth begins. This, too, may be pre- 

 vented by laying a few branches of Hemlock 

 or similar evergreen trimmings over the bushes 

 on the south side in the winter. In doing so I 

 usually set the butt ends of the branches into 

 the soil, to freeze fast and keep them in place, 

 after the plan I saw suggested in your valuable 

 paper over a year ago, I think. 



** * 

 Perhaps some of your readers engage in the 

 culture of Allamandas for summer decoration 

 out-of-doors, a thing now quite common. 

 Speaking for myself, I think than this we have 

 no summer blooming plant that gives more 

 satisfaction for less trouble. My way of treat- 

 ing the plants during winter to get the best 

 condition for the next season's crop of bloom 

 is to give them a partial rest from the time 

 they are taken in until the time of pruning and 

 re-potting in the spring. They require a light 

 warm place, never below 55° during this time, 

 and but little water. I know of no plant that 

 is so remarkably free of insects as this one. 



With seed saving there must be seed cleaning. 

 I now find leisure for getting all seeds in shape 

 for next season's use. Many of the lighter 

 seeds can, with a little patience, and for small 

 quantities, such as the amateur saves, be per- 

 fectly cleaned by turning them repeatedly in a 

 light stream from one dish to another where 

 there is a slight breeze. Others, like Radish or 

 Cabbage, I find may readily be cleaned in the 

 main with a sieve of suitable-sized mesh, or 

 else by shaking them well in a narrow vessel, 

 when the lighter husks and seeds come to the 

 top and can be picked off. With the smaUer 

 seeds a fine sieve is very useful for this work. 

 After cleaning, I label every one of my kinds 

 correctly, and store them away where they are 

 secure from rats and mice, as well as dampness, 

 and awaiting use in the spring. 



Peach Selling by the Delaware Fruit 

 Exchange. 



This season makes the thii-d year of active 

 operations by the Delaware Fruit Exchange, 

 with an annual incretise of success for itself 

 and those doing business through it, and also 

 with innumerable converts to its theory, 

 though it is not yet without opposition. 



Growers found that the auction method, rec- 

 ommended by the Exchange, insui-ed the best 

 prices from the buyers brought together, but 

 in turn were not yet ready to give fruit system- 

 atically graded and inspected at the Exchange. 

 A few growers, however, carefully assorted 

 their fruit, much to the satisfaction of buyers, 

 and on the whole, the new principle made very 

 natural, though slow, growth. Numerous pat- 

 tern societies have been and are being estab- 

 lished in Florida, California and other States. 



Thus, the Exchange is a growing organiza 

 tion that is giving better distribution and more 



uniform prices for fruit, while it has exercised 

 a more marked influence upon the condition 

 and grading of fruit. The benefits that are 

 found in such public selling of fi-uit may be 

 summed up as follows : 



1. Until this method was adopted, growers 

 were in continual controversy with transpor- 

 tation companies over real and fancied impo- 

 sitions and lack of accommodation. Now such 

 controversies are unheard of. 



3. The return of empty packages was an 

 uncei-tain dependence that gave much annoy- 

 ance. Now we sell the package with the 

 Peaches, and from all distances where trans- 

 portation does not eat up their worth they are 

 returned in quicker time and better condition, 

 to be sold for their worth by auction to grow- 

 ei-s again. 



3. We have more general information of 

 the market, get by competition a better daily 

 distribution of fruit than ever before, and con- 

 sequently better prices. 



4. Heavy freights, commissions and cart- 

 ages went with the end of the stick that farm- 

 ers have thus cut off. 



5. Cash is insured for all purchases. A buyer 

 cannot cover a weak financial condition from 

 the knowledge of many growers. 



6. A personal acquaintance between dealer 

 and grower. 



7. If fruit has no value in the markets, the 

 grower learns of it at the Exchange without 

 the expense of freights to distant markets. 



8. Last, though not least, a better condition 

 of the fruit, and more satisfactory grading of 

 it secured, making it possible for buyers to 

 send long distances with hope of profit. I be- 

 lieve that if a determined effort could be made 

 in many localities to improve the marketing 

 methods of farm products, we would introduce 

 a wholesome thrift into agriculture that would 

 eliminate much of the lottery nature of our 

 calling that now palsies effort. — Read at the 

 Cleveland Horticultural Convention. 



Improving Clay Soil. 



The two substances — clay and sand — are des- 

 tined by Nature to play respective parts, which 

 may be thus described ; the clay to store up 

 and hold together those substances essential for 

 plant food ; the sand, to serve as a ventilator or 

 conductor of air and water. The most favor- 

 able physical conditions of a fertile soil are 

 found to exist in a nearly equal mixture of 

 sand and clay. When it contains less than 

 one-third sand it should cease to be classed 

 among the best soils for regular crops, and 

 should be turned to account in other directions, 

 that of forestry being suggesteti as one. 



Commencing on a clayey BoU with the re- 

 moval of all excess of water, by a system of 

 drainage, we must look around us for those 

 substances which, by their addition, will com- 

 municate to the clay the necessary degree of 

 porosity. Presuming the non-existence of any 

 underground source of improvement, recourse 

 must be had to outside means: the application 

 of cinders, furnace refuse, coal dust, or ashes, 

 the ashes of all kinds of burnt vegetable refuse, 

 old and discarded building materials, lime, 

 etc. , all of which will have the desired effect. 



But we can find in the clay itself a solution 

 to the difficulty. First roughly shaped into 

 balls or bricks and allowed to dry in the sun, 

 the clay should be burnt in small piles made up 

 of alternate layers of clay, wood, coal dust, or 

 any other cheap apd readily available combus- 

 tible material. When the burning process, 

 which generally lasts some days, is terminated, 

 the bricks or balls must be broken up as finely 

 as possible, and, together with the ashes of the 

 combustibles, plowed, in a wholesale manner, 

 deeply and thoroughly into the field. 



Our object in burning the clay is to make it 

 undergo a radical chemical change, in the 

 course of which it loses its water of combination 

 and its power of absorbing and retaining moist- 

 ure.— /fro/n.TTvaH's "Modern High Farming.'" 



