POPULAR GARDENING. 



October, 



Garden Notes From Lyndale. 



BY A. H. E. 



Not one grower in a dozen seems to know 

 how the large-leaved Caladium, C.esciilentum, 

 should be managed, judging by the puny speci- 

 mens of the plant one so ot'ten sees. To under- 

 stand that they are swamp plants by nature, 

 lovers of moisture, richness and heat, is half 

 the secret of growing them well. 



I plant in very rich soil, using nearly one- 

 half manure. With growth starting up, I 

 water without stint and regularlj' the season 

 through. If I had in 

 my care some of the 

 suffering plants I see 

 every day I'd soon do 

 wonders with them; 

 this with liquid ma- 

 nure applied every 

 other day. It is a 

 plant that should never 

 be put into a vase, be- 

 cause vase treatment is 

 usually too dry to 

 suit their bibulous 

 tastes. 



* * * 



I have a little te~«ti- 

 mony to offer on the 

 question of Canada 

 Thistles, and how to 

 remove them. In buy- 

 ing the recent addition 

 to Lyndale there was 

 one part of the acqui- 

 sition that had some 

 of these Thistles. It 

 happened that this very 

 part we desired to put 

 into a meadow lawn, a 

 continuation of the 

 present lawn, but sep- 

 arated by a woven 

 wire fence, and to be 

 used as a pasture lot 

 for the Jerseys. 



This piece was seed- 

 ed down two years ago 



this fall, and has been kept as closely mown as 

 the other lawn ever since until this year, when 

 the live stock was turned in on it regularly. 



The Thistles started up in the spring of last 

 year, but with having been cropped at an inch 

 high by the mower every two weeks after, they 

 made no progress whatever, and to my satisfac- 

 tion I now observe that not a single Thistle is 

 to be seen anywhere on the plot. 



From this I conclude that to get rid of this 

 pest one has but to treat the patches of the 

 plants as closely seeded pasture pieces, mowing 

 the plants that escape being consumed, fort- 

 nightly through the season. The Thistles will 

 go inside of two years. 



that give character to the garden only second 

 to a grove of trees ; flowers that in beauty, 

 fragi-ance and quantity almost equal the flower 

 borders themselves, while the care of all 

 amounts to almost nothing, embracing but the 

 annual pruning and the winter protection of 

 some of the more tender kinds. 



to a single one, (the best,) in each place. I also 

 keep the earth tilled or else mulched. The 

 growth for the first few years is apt to seem dis- 

 couragingly small, but by and by it improves 

 and in a few years becomes very rapid. 



Professor J. L. Budd, of Iowa, writes that on 

 the old homestead is a row of Chestnut trees 

 which were started from nuts planted 11 years 

 ago, and the trees of which commenced bearing 



The Shi-ubbery Walk at Lyndale was never 

 more satisfactory than this year. To your 

 recent readers let me explain that this is simply 

 a portion of the outskirts of our rear lawn, so 

 planted with two irregular lines of shrubs as 

 to leave a gi-acef uUy curved grass walk of vary- 

 ing width between the continuous masses of 

 shrubs. The bushes are seated on the grass at 

 aliout S feet apart tor dwarf growers, and from 

 this up to 8 feet apart for the larger ones, the 

 latter being in the background. 



The reasons why this walk satisfies me so well 

 are: First it cost no great price, the shrubs 

 having been bought mostly at from $3 to ^H 

 per dozen, and I planted them myself. Then 

 the selection embraces such a variety as to 

 leave scarcely a week from April until Novem- 

 ber without some flowers, while to count the 

 handsome berries of some, and the rich autumn 

 foliage of others, and then some evergreeus for 

 winter, the walk is never without attraction. 



Last of all, there is something so distinct 

 about a shrubbery walk from other garden 

 features. Here are verdure and size of growth 



A Valuable Apple over a Wide Sec- 

 tion.— The Alexander. 



It so often happens that a certain variety of 

 fruit proves to be valuable only over small 

 areas here and there that it becomes a real 

 pleasure to speak of a good and handsome kind 

 of wide adaptability- 

 Such a kind is the Alex- 

 ander Apple, of which 

 we give a ^spirited en- 

 graving herewith. 



This is a Russian 

 Apple, and like others 

 of its class possesses 

 the iron-clad qualities 

 of doing remarkably 

 well in the extreme 

 Northern and Western 

 States and the British 

 Provinces. At the 

 same time very good 

 reports reach us from 

 such extreme Southern 

 States as Texas, Louisi- 

 ana and Alabama con- 

 cerning the Alexander. 

 While in the Middle 

 and Eastern States it 

 also ranks among the 

 best kinds. In Russia 

 it is classed among the 

 most reliable and useful 

 sorts in cultivation. 



The Alexander is one 

 of the largest apples, 

 as it is one of the hand- 

 somest. The color is a 

 beautiful deep red, 

 blended with orange 

 on the sunny side, and 

 greenish yellow faintly 

 A VALUABLE APPLE OVER A WIDE SECTION.— THE ALEXANDER. streaked with red else- 



a fair crop of nuts at 9 years of age. 'Professor where. The flesh is yellowish-white, tender, 

 Budd naturally enough believes that the best juicy and sub-acid with a flavor that makes it 

 way to raise Chestnut trees is to start them 

 from the nuts. As to this I agree perfectly 

 with the professor, and not only for the Chest- 

 nut, but also for Walnut, Hickorynut, Butter- 

 nut, Beechnut, Oak, etc. 



The fact is, here is a class of handsome, use- 

 ful, and for timber valuable, trees that are 

 rarely planted because difficult to transplant 

 from the nursery, as is done with most kinds of 

 trees. Now my experience is that no easier 

 class of trees than these can be grown, provided 

 one starts with the nut. And trees so raised 

 are much better also— to say nothing of the 

 greater certainty — than those from the nursery. 

 This is because undisturbed seedlings form a 

 strong tap root, that in time goes deep into the 

 soil, serving as a complete and needed anchor 

 to the tree in the soil, a feature not secured in 

 the same degree from transplanted trees, 

 * 



This matter of raising nut-bearing trees is 

 now a seasonable one, for the time of ripe nuts 

 is at hand, and fall planting is best. My way 

 is to prepare a spot 3 feet across on the lawn, 

 meadow or in out-of-the-way places, wherever 

 a nut^bearer is wanted, and planting in this. 



In the way of preparation, I dig up the earth 

 18 inches deep, and if this be of a good kind, I 

 simply add one-fourth its bulk of old manure, 

 but if thin and poor I substitute some loam 

 from a cultivated patch instead. Around the 

 spot I drive .5 or 6 stakes as a protection to the 

 future seedling. Then when the nuts are 

 mature I plant three of a kind in the center of 

 the staked spot, the lai-ger ones like Walnuts 

 at 5 inches deep, and smaller ones a trifle less. 



The next season, after the seedlings reach 3 

 or more inches in height, I thin them down 



a pleasant, if not the very best eating Apple. 

 It is a fed] Apple, being at its best in our region 

 from October to early December. 



The tree, along with being one of the very 

 hardiest, is a good grower, assuming a spread- 

 ing form. It is a moderate but regular bearer, 

 as might be expected from its lai"ge size. 



One characteristic of the Alexander, which 

 commends it to amateurs who have but 

 small gardens, is that it succeeds remarkably 

 well as a dwai-f on the Paradise stock. In this 

 way it not only makes a handsome small tree 

 of great endurance, but bi-ings forth good crops 

 of fruit, unexcelled for size and beauty. 



The Alexander as a dwarf tree may be pro- 

 curred from several of our leading nurserymen ; 

 as a standard, from about every grower and 

 dealer in fruit trees. 



A Parsley Basket. 



The Parsley plant, although classed with the 

 useful aromatic kitchen vegetables, is also in 

 the curled variety of pretty leaf, hence of orna- 

 mental value. Mrs. S. S. U., of Cumberland 

 County, Maine, contributes a welcome note on 

 how she grows it in the house in winter, for 

 both use and adorn^ient. "In early fall I set 

 some plants in a wire hanging-basket — that was 

 under my balcony in the summer — lining it 

 with fresh Moss. This I keep in the kitchen win- 

 dow, suspended from the top, where it has both 

 light and air. Here the plants grow prettily, 

 and all through the winter I carefully nip out 

 the best developed leaves for use on the table. 

 A few leaves laid on the edge of a plate of cold 

 meat adds much to the brightness of the table, 

 aside from the flavor imparted. I take of the 

 old plants in the garden for the hanging basket. " 



