1 886. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



45 



but turn with pleasure to our small greenhouse, 

 the care of which is my chief pleasure in winter. 



Pine Pillows, The majoritj of pine pillows are 

 made of the twig ends of the Balsam Fir. with buds 

 aud needles chopped up fine, say, about an inch 

 long and all put in together. They require no 

 special seasoning, as their resinous nature prevents 

 them from smelling unpleasantly, as other leaves 

 would under the circumstances. The main thing 

 is to get the twigs and leaves of the genuine Fir 

 Balsam ; the needles or leaves of this tree are not 

 very long, and are bright green on their upper sur- 

 face aud silvery-white beneath; the tree is pyra- 

 midal in shape. (Jhop small twigs in about one- 

 inch lengths aud place them in thin muslin bags 

 exposed to the air for a few horn's, but not to the 

 sun. — JCnylish Farm and Home. 



Frost in Cellars. Mr. Chas. Miner, of Berrien 

 Co., Mich., sends on to our paper this useful hint: 

 " My cellar is in every way complete for wintering 

 vegetables, fruits and plants, excepting that in 

 severely cold weather the mercury will creep a ht- 

 tle below the safety point. But in this it probably 

 does not differ from thousands of other cellars 

 owned by your readers. What I do to prevent any 

 injury to the tender things here is to get down and 

 set agoing, in the colder nights, the four -burner 

 kerosene oil-stove that does duty for cooking our 

 meals in the summer. With the heat from the 

 stove the cellar's temperature is kept from six to 

 ten degrees higher than if it were uot there, pre- 

 venting injury and much anxiety at but httle cost 

 and trouble. To others similarly situated I say, go 

 and do likewise." 



Busty Tools, it is stupid indeed to let clean, 

 bright tools become rusty through neglect, calling 

 for needless wear on muscles and spirits to bring 

 them to shape again. Here is a matter in which a 

 little prevention is worth vastly more than a labori- 

 ous cure. Just before winter every implement 

 from the trowel up to the plow should beesamined, 

 and if not in order, be rubbed up clean and dry 

 and be coated with some preservative substance 

 previous to storing them in dry winter quarters. 

 As a metal preservative we see that the Farmers' 

 Advocate recommends a coat of thick lime-wash. 

 Another good article is made by dissolving an ounce 

 of rosm in four ounces of hnseed oil, and while hot 

 mix this with a quart of kerosene and stir well. 

 This is laid on to smooth u-on with a paintbrush or 

 with a rag. To remove rust from tools nothing is 

 better than a mixture consisting of a little oil of 

 vitriol poured slowly into a pint of water, and apply 

 this to the rusted metal. Wash oflf with water, fol- 

 lowing with the preservative. 



A Happy Family all Around. One member of 

 the Floral World branch writes: "Much as the 

 members of my former club to the Floral World 

 thought of that paper, it is no discredit to the dead 

 to say that yours gives us a great deal more satis- 

 faction. It is the most practical periodical pub- 

 lished in America to day, while none is more inter- 

 esting,and none more ably edited." Then Mr. Joshua 

 Xickei*son, of Chutou Co., 0., voices the sentiments 

 of many letters received at this office from the 

 Fruit Recorder branch of our family, as follows: 

 " I am delightt:d with Popular Gardening, and be- 

 heve Bro. Purdy. who has given so many good sug- 

 gestions to us fruit growers, has done wisely and 

 well for hmi and for us in this change. Here Is my 

 renewal; count me in the family as long as you 

 publish such a valuable paper." Next, one of the 

 Garden Review force hastens to speak for his 

 brethi'en: " The first number of Popular Garden- 

 ing in place of the Review is at hand. To say I am 

 deUghted with such a useful and beautifuUy illus- 

 trated paper is uot half expressing my joy. I 

 think every subscriber will rejoice in the pastures 

 new to which they have come." 



Great Berries; Great Pickers— West and East. 

 An eastern house, descanting on the pruductive- 

 ness of a new Strawberry, had this to say: " Three 

 thousand plants set out the loth of August, in ten 

 months, averaged a quai-t to each plant or 3,000 

 quarts from the 3,000 plants, and pickers averaged 

 25 cents per hour at 2 centsperquart,or$5per day." 

 To which a Princeton (111.) correspondent with a 

 great Strawberry of his own, answers with true 

 Western pride, as follows: "'Now it is clear that 

 the days must be longer in New York than with us, 

 we only work 10 hours a day and that would only 

 amount to $:i.50; but, my Eastern friend, I will take 

 a given number uf plants of my No. 5 aud set them 

 in August aud take good care of them and I honestly 

 believe 1 can grow twice the number of quarts of 

 berries to the number of plants set 10 months before. 

 And as to picking, just an ordinary hand picked 

 72 quarts of this sort in 2 hours, which at 1 cent per 

 quart, m.v price, amounted to $3.00 in ten hours, 



one of our days, at 2 cents per quart, $7.20. Another 

 boy picked 8 quarts in 10 minutes, which at 3 cents 

 per quart is $9.fi0, and all this in the common course 

 of picking without racing or the idea of making a 

 large picking. I paid but 1 cent for picking No. 5, 

 and 2 cents for picking every other." 



Geranium or Verbena, WMch? The spirit 

 that prompts the seeking of information about 

 things unknown is to be encouraged. So Popular 

 Gardening has an Inquiry Department, and we are 

 glad to see that it is appreciated by our readers, 

 and is growing. One of our editors who sometimes 

 answeiTs inquiries in the paper happened into an 

 inquiry department outside of the editorial office 

 the other day. At least he was present when the 

 matter referred to below transpired in one of our 

 city seed stores. A gentleman and lady entered the 

 store, and approaching a clerk the former said they 

 would be much obliged if he would decide a ques- 

 tion about a plant for them The seed clerk was 

 willing to the extent of his ability. This assurance 

 brought a folded newspaper from the inquirer's 

 pocket, which when unrolled revealed a small slip 

 having a few leaves. "Now my wife says," the 

 holder of the shoot remarked, "that this is a Ger- 

 anium, and I tell her it's a Verbena; so we decided 

 to have it out the first time we came to town. 

 Which is it. if you please?" It was nothing else in 

 the world than a Nutmeg Geranium, and so the 

 seedsman said. The errand ended, to the discom- 

 fiture of the gentleman, they approached the door 

 to leave when the woman was heard to remark: 

 "Seth, I told you so all summer." Now one more 

 man believes that it is safest to defer these little 

 questions to a woman's judgment. 



Casters for Plant Boxes or Tubs. 



Why casters under heavy plant boxes aud tubs 

 should not be in use quite as much in proportion as 

 the same are under tables, bureaus and the like we 

 cannot tell, unless it is that heretofore nothing 

 specially adapted to the purpose has been in the 

 market. Recently we met the kind shown in our 

 engraving at a hardware store, and were so much 

 pleased with them that we had an illustration made 

 for our columns. 



As may be seen, these casters are of iron and at- 

 tached to the sides of the box or tub with screws. 

 They are quite as easily put on old boxes as on new 

 ones. For plants that are kept in the house they 

 provide not only for moving them about at pleasure 

 but they keep them well up from the fioor, a point 

 all housekeepers will appreciate. 



It is as aids to the handling of the larger kinds of 

 plants, such as Oleanders, Hydrangeas, Evergreens. 



CASTERS FOR PLANT BOXES, ETC. 



Oranges and the like, and which are, at the least, 

 moved in and out of the cellar or cold house each 

 fall and spring, that such casters would prove 

 especially useful. Provided with the wheels, and 

 some boards, and then a little careful management 

 should see the largest plants moved about with 

 ease, leaving no one, as to this, at the mercy of 

 bungling hired men for carrying them. 



We are not aware that these casters are generally 

 offered for sale as yet. If manufacturers would 

 bring them to the notice of plant growers, through 

 the advertising columns of this and other papers, no 

 doubt they would meet with a considerable sale 

 at once. The same casters would be found useful 

 for various other purposes besides the one named. 



Our New York Letter, in Which Is 



Told Something About the Use 



of Flowers in that Town. 



The Gardenia is displacing the time-honored 

 white Rose-bud as a wedding boutonuiere. As this 

 rtower is a favorite abroad, it is sure to become 

 popular here. 



In spite of the Chrysanthemum craze, fashionable 

 women have worn a simple bunch of Violets with 

 their walking gowns all tlu-ough the autumn, rather 

 than the showy but scentless Japanese blossoms. 



A London paper which would be accepted as an 

 authority here says that the correct boutonuiere 

 on all ordinary occasions is a small pink or wbit« 



Camellia, with its own leaves, or about twenty Vio- 

 lets in a bunch. The tendency is certainly towards 

 larger bunches for this purpose. 



New York tlorists still tell us that Orchids will 

 be the reigning tlower this winter, but so far, at 

 every notable wedding, the bride has carried a loose 

 buuch of white Roses and Lilj' of the Valley. 



Some fiorists here are trying to introduce Edel- 

 weiss as a bridal fiower; it is being forced with that 

 view. It is as shown' here an insignificant little 

 thing at best, little better than our commuu Mouse- 

 ear, and chiefly remarkable from its haliit of grow- 

 ing on inaccessible precipices. It has been brought 

 here in a dried condition for some time, being 

 steamed to restore its form, and then used with 

 Cape Flowers and Everlastings. 



A lovely funeral design at a recent exhibition was 

 a scallop shell. It was made in Ivy leaves, and bore 

 in the center sonie loose sprays of Lily of the Valley. 

 Another design for the funeral of a child was a 

 picture. The square frame was composed of little 

 Adiantum plants in two-inch pots, plunged <leep into 

 the moss; within the frame was a graceful mass 

 of white Roses, with their own foliage for backing. 



Hand bouquets still retain their loose, careless 

 form. 



Bouquets for carrying most frequently consist of 

 a mass of Roses, one variety only, with a few sprays 

 of some lighter fiow^er at one side, immediately 

 above the bow of the sash. 



Fashion writers have much to say now about the 

 Roman Oow-bell. which is having quite a run as a 

 floral emblem. It is always alluded to as the Cam- 

 panello Bell, rather a tautological term, since Caui- 

 panello is merely the Italian diminutive for little 

 bell. It is square in shape; you may see its coun- 

 terpart on the necks of cattle, roaming through 

 the pine barrens of South Jersey, only this is not so 

 romantic as to refer it solely to the Campagna. 

 William Black, the novelist, was the first to take up 

 this fancy; he uses a Campanello as a dinner bell, 

 which he wrote up in one of his novels. Then 

 Queen Marguerite had a tiny CampaneUo fashioned 

 in gold, which she wore as a talisman, and some of 

 our society girls followed her example, oul}' instead 

 of using it as an ordinary bangle, as more plebeian 

 damsels might have done, it adorned the left garter 

 until the wearer became matrimonially engaged, 

 when it was transferred to her fiance's watch-chain. 

 Now it has appeared as a floral emblem. It is often 

 laid upside down on a bank of blossoms, and then 

 loosely filled with Lilies or Roses. 



Dinner favors have been rather overdone, so there 

 is now a reaction toward greater simplicity. They 

 now usually consist of single, long-stemmed Roses, 

 which are placed loosely in a silver fiower holder. 



During the Chrysanthemum season the Queen of 

 Autumn has been largely used in all sorts of work, 

 and often rather inappropriately. It is beautiful 

 in loose masses for bold effects, but it does not lend 

 itself to admixture with any other fiower, and must 

 be used with great care in making designs. The 

 recent Chrysanthemum show in New York exem- 

 plified this. The floral screens, for which a hand- 

 some prize was offered, were only moderately good. 

 The center panel in one screen certainly deserves 

 rather higher praise; the background was composed 

 of crimson hquid amber leaves, bearing a graceful 

 scroll of white Chrysanthemums. The remainder 

 of the screen was commonplace, though well made 

 —a solid yellow background, bearing a Japanese 

 design in red. In spite of the puV)lic interest shown 

 in the exhibition, the Chry■^anthemum craze is cer- 

 tainly ou the wane. The auction of prize plants 

 after this exhibition netted a surprisingly small 

 sum compared with that of last year. But then 

 this season there was no "Mikado" Company to 

 boom the fiower by paying $10.^ for a single plant 

 of Golden Gloire de Rayonnaute, to use in the gar- 

 den scene of that opera. 



The new seedling Chrj'santhemum, " Mrs. Cleve- 

 land," received a prodigious amount of anticipatory 

 advertising through its taking name, but it was a 

 disappointment when seen. In spite of its artistic 

 setting of fairy ferns and patriotic tri-colored sash 

 it showed up asagreenish-white blossom with rather 

 thin petals. Of course it is pretty, but there are 

 many prettier. 



The most admired baskets now are those of 

 irregular Rushes, coming in various colors. A popu- 

 lar style is like a broad-brimmed, deep-crowned 

 hat. This is placed on a large easel, the brim 

 brought up fiat at the back, aud pressed down in 

 front . In dull yellow Rushes it is loosely fified with 

 Hern (if Magdala or Abd el Kader Chrysanthemums; 

 a Sage-green basket is filled with Oloriosum. 



Globular Japanese baskets of plaited Bamboo are 

 filled with Chrysimthenmms. aud finished with, a 

 bow of contra.stiug ribbon. They make a more 

 graceful gift than loose flowers or the old-fashioned 

 bouquet. Emily Louise Tapun. 



