44 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



December, 



The Trees. 



All my Master's works are fair- 

 No flaw in them is seen; 



And yet the dear trees best of all 

 I love to see, I weun. 



The Apple tree doth warning give— 

 " Thy faith be no vain show; 



Let not the gardener come for fruit. 

 And empty-handed go!" 



The Lime says, " Be of gentle mind- 

 Be peaceful, free from harm, 



Extend to every weary one 

 Thy kind and sheltering arm." 



The Fir tree whispereth, " O soul! 

 Be true in joy and woe; 



Be thou the same in gentle May, 

 The same in storm and snow!" 



" Be strong and brave, O heart of man! 

 The old Oak to me cries; 



" In faith stand firm and waver not. 

 Look upward to the skies." 



—From the German of I^ntis Hettsel. 



Why, Pansy, little Pansy! what a merry face you show, 

 Out among the withered leaves, where the cold winds 



blow! 

 What you can be smiling at puzzles one to tell. 

 Do you like to live and bloom all alone so well! 

 Showing such a happy face, on the darkest day; 

 Never frowning just because sunshine will not stay." 

 Are you not afraid at all, staying here so long! 

 Ev'ry summer bird has gnne, with its merry song. 

 You have got no almanac? Do you not remember. 

 Pansy, little Pansy bright, that it is December. 



~ Jennie Hai^^fson. 



Orchids may last a month. 



Quickly grrown, quick to fade. 



Are the seeds safe from mice? 



A bit of salt will dissolve slugs. 



Moisture hastens decay in fruit. 



Study individual needs of plants. 



Bennett B-oses fade to a bluish hue. 



Let every member write something. 



The Bartlett Pear is of English origin. 



Nuts of all kinds are abundant in market. 



Years agti the Dogwood was called Gailer Tree. 



Over-heat weakens Carnations. Remember this. 



Roman Hyacinths open the season of that charm- 

 ing class. 



A hearty welcome to every reader of the former 

 Garcbni Review. 



Bright, clean pots are good enough for our win- 

 dow. So says Mec;. 



Plants are such tell-tales; a glance is enough to 

 reveal just how they are cared for. 



Help your favorite along by securing for it some 

 subscriht*rs; on such it must subsist. 



The dried plumes of Zebra Eulalia are about as 

 handsome as those of the Pampas Grass. 



Chrysanthemum Mrs. Grover Cleveland is a 

 new tubular Howered white, with twisted petals. 



Few trees or shrubs thrive better for being 

 planted close to buildings; the Tree Box is one such. 



Tomato Rot. it is believed to prevail the most 

 on plants of the greatest vigor, by Mr. E. S. Goff. of 

 Geneva, N. Y. 



Our paper is widely pronounced " the best;" it is 

 not up to our ideal yet. More subscribers would 

 help matters also. 



Our German Ivy has bloomed. We mention this 

 because it is a thing that don^t very often happen. 

 — S. C. R., .4/6/0(1, .V. Y. 



All hail to the Garden Review household by the 

 Popular Gardening family. It is a happy eombiua- 

 tion, promising well to all concerned. 



Two years ago the entire Cranberry crop of 

 Wisconsin was 0.300 barrels. Last year the Wis- 

 consin Valley alont^ produced 49,500. 



Baseless goblets and cracked tumblers are just 

 the thing to rent cuttings under. Elder's Wife. 



At this season of renewing family papers, many 

 a person would subscribe for this journal if asked, 

 (xood reader, we trust you will act for us as to this. 



Where the desire is for a fine ornamental hedge 

 try the Japan Quince; of neat growth, handsome 



in leaf, handsomer in flower, hardy, and its prickles 

 will turn away man or beast, no mistake. 



Honor to a Plant. " Madam,'' said a celebrated 

 physician once to a friend as they came across 

 a Yarrow plant, "if you knew half the virtues of 

 this plant you would make it a courtesy." 



*' Perhaps they were frost-bitten, it was so cold 

 last night," is the way a little Danbury girl explained 

 to her mother the presence of certain suspicious 

 little bites in the sides of some choice Apples. 



Many would come into the family if shown our 

 handsome and useful dollar paper. Reader, think 

 about it, whether you have not some work here in 

 helping on the good cause this paper espouses. 



Grapes in New York City. It is estimated that 

 20,000 barrels of Concord and Catawba Grapes were 

 received in that city during the last week in October. 

 They are sold in great numbers in five-pound bas- 

 kets for 50 cents a basket. 



Is your garden of rather a stiff soil ? Then get 

 together all the coal ashes you can and apply next 

 spring to improve it. Your neighbors would con- 

 tribute—in some instances to their own relief— if 

 asked. At least ours do. Chas. J. Hewes. 



Apples are plenty here and there. In Nova 

 Scotia, for instance, the crop is said to be the larg- 

 est this season for many years. The Annapolis 

 Valley alone, it is believed, will turn out over 300,- 



000 barrels, of which 40.000 barrels are Gravensteins. 



Gladiolus in Boxes- As I did not have a good 

 sunny place to plant my Gladiolus in the spring, 



1 took a square box and a large flower pot. filled 

 with good dirt and some well-rotted manure and 

 planted them in these, and they did handsomely. 

 LiDA, Pei-re, Indiana. 



The serial, announced in another column to 

 commence next month, will be one of the most 

 valuable contributions to the horticultural litera- 

 ture of this country ever made. Subscribe and get 

 your friends to subscribe promptly, that you may 

 have it from the start. 



Wanted, at this office, 15,000 clubs of from two 

 subscribers each upwards for Popiilar Gardening. 

 This means that we desire to have each present 

 subscriber interest himself or herself in extending 

 its circulation among their friends. We know you 

 can easily do this with a little effort. 



A Flower-pot Hoe. A short-handled pot skim- 

 mer lost its handle. The skimmer part was thrown 

 away, but the handle was inserted in the crack of 

 the woodshed door, and an inch of it bent at right 

 angles with the remainder. This now is a very 

 good tool to hoe around pot plants. Elder's Wife. 



The Peach is not naturally a short-lived tree. 

 On Mount Vernon there are trees still in good condi- 

 tion that bore fruit in Washington's time. Rich 

 soil is one great cause of early decay; borers and 

 disease another. The former can be controlled; if 

 the latter can be kept away for three years the 

 trees will usually do well for a long time. 



Hardiness of Ivies. This, so far as the evergreen 

 English Ivy is concerned, is not so much a question 

 of thermometer as of freedom from the sun's rays 

 in winter. On the south, west and east side of a 

 house they fail, over a large part of our country, 

 even far to the south. Growing on the north side 

 of buildings (the coldest side) they do well even 

 further north than Buffalo. 



Cabbage " Greens." You can have a fine lot of 



these next spring before Spinach comes in for only 

 a bit of trouble. This is how: Save the Cabbage 

 stocks after the heads are taken off. bury undei- a 

 foot of earth, and then early next spring put them 

 in some warm corner of the garden. In this way 

 the Germans about our large towns raise an article 

 of greens that finds a ready sale in the early 

 markets. W. I. Coles. Hamilton Co., Ohio. 



More Good Roses. To the lists of Mr. French, 

 and others, we add a few more monthlies that have 

 survived the past three winters here, with the 

 mercury running to 20° below zero: Adam, Aurora 

 (or Cells), Appoline, Agrippina, Clement. Marie Guil- 

 lot. Madam Lombard, Madam Revoy, .Tules Finger, 

 Henrii Plantier, Rubens, Safrauo, Queen"s Scarlet. 

 White Tea, and the Polyantha family. Our plan of 

 protecting is by mulching. S. H. B., Abilene, Kan. 



Sand. Referring to our remarks last month about 

 the free use of sand in plant growing and propaga- 

 tion, our subscriber, J. M., of Erie County, Penn., 

 well adds that he puts the sand he gets into the cel- 

 lar for such purposes, to the further use, until 

 needed, of preserving his vegetables crisp and fresh. 

 "In this sand I bury my Beets, Turnips, Radishes 

 and similar roots, and then they come to the table 

 tender and sweet at all times. The sand is nice to 



handle for burying them, and it is none the worse 

 for this when put to any other use " 



" Popular Gardening " is not given to " blowing 

 its own horn," as every member of the family 

 knows. But right here we want to say that if there 

 is another paper in the land that gives an equal 

 amount of useful and well prepared matter, and as 

 fine engravings and as handsome, clean printing, 

 and as good paper as PopirLAR Gardening does, all 

 for one dollar a year, we want to learn of it that we 

 may subscribe quick. Such a paper deserves to be 

 well supported. 



Keep the vines down by close pruning. Too 

 much wood, foliage, and for that matter, fruit also, 

 operate against the best quality of the latter. 

 Where the vine has been longest in cultivation for 

 profit, this matter is the best understood. In the 

 great vineyards of France and Germany, which the 

 writer visited in 1881. the vines were found so kept 

 within bounds that a single stake four feet high 

 answered as a support. Vineyards in the old coun- 

 try, because of close pnming and stake training, 

 look not unsimilar to our Raspberi'y fields. 



A Life Pre- >^ 



server. It con- ^- ^^^^^^ — -^-Ss- 



sists of an inch- 

 thick hoard that 

 is made some 

 larger than a 

 pane of glass 

 and which is 

 weighted with a brick. Its use: to shut up, from 

 the inside, any accidental breaks in glass roofs 

 until the same can be repaired. A feiv of double 

 size and larger for when more than one pane goes 

 are also useful. 



Gloxinia from a Slip. What was new to S. M. 



Burdin, Taylor County, Kentucky, no doubt will 

 prove to be a new idea to many of our readers. 

 This matter came to us on a postal card: " In an 

 exchange of plants received through your valuable 

 paper I got a Gloxinia. In potting it the stem and 

 leaves broke completely off, so I put it down in my 

 slip box, which I always keep on hand, and in a 

 short time it commenced to grow. After a while I 

 raised it from the soil, and to my surprise I found 

 a new bulb the size nearly of a silver dime." 



Yellows in Peaches. The use of sufficient potash 

 and bone will grow healthy trees in all cases, as I 

 know from a thorough trial. Much is said about 

 the contagious nature of the yellows without any 

 foundation, and many are scared thereby from 

 growing Peaches. After a vast deal of trouble with 

 the yellows, practical experience has taught me by 

 the use of proper fertilizei-s there is no trouble in 

 growing Peaches from the seeds of diseased trees, 

 and I guarantee to grow healthy trees from the 

 seeds from the fruits of trees affected with the ye\- 

 \owsi.—Eli Minch, in Ritral New Yorker. 



How it Pays. In renewing for Popular Gar- 

 dening, on the 4th of November, Mr. G. R. Grace of 

 Chester Co., Pa., says: " An article in the last num- 

 ber cleared up a matter of doubt in my mind in a 

 way that will pay my subscription to Popltlar Gar- 

 dening as long as I live. I can't get on without a 

 single issue." A few weeks further back Mr. W. A. 

 T. Stratton, Sonora Co., Cal., wrote: "An item of 

 10 lines the other month aroused a train of thoughts 

 that promises hundreds of dollars in trade. If with 

 all florists who read it like success results, you must 

 certainly sweep the field." These will answer as 

 samples of many similar letters that reach us. No 

 comments needed. 



The Currant Tomato. It is a native of Peru and 

 Brazil. It has probably not been long in cultivation. 

 The fruits are clear, bright red. somewhat larger 

 than a verj- large Currant, and are borne in long, 

 two-ranked clusters. The plant is very ornamental. 

 If trained upon a trellis near a window it would 

 make one of the most attractive screens. The whole 

 aspect of the plant is delicate. The foregoing is 

 what Professor Bailey, of the Michigan Agricultural 

 College, has to say of this interesting species, in his 

 recent valuable report on Tomatoes, received at this 

 office. The plant is the Lycoj^ersicum race7}iosum 

 of the gardens, but more properly (if inconveniently) 

 LycopersicumpimpinHlifoliiim. 



Successful Exhibitors. As might be expected, 

 readers of Popular Gardening are often prize 

 takei"s at the horticultural shows. Mrs. K. Green- 

 wood, of Durham, Ontario, in renewing her sub- 

 scription to this paper recently, spoke of the exhi- 

 bition held at their place as follows: " The exhibi- 

 tion, if not so large, was very good in all products. I 

 was fortunate enough to take eight first prizes on 

 plants and flowers, and as many second prizes, 1 

 took also the first premium on hand bouquets, there 

 having been six entries. We are sorry to see the 

 cold weather at hand destroying our outdoor flowers, 



