1887. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



55 



I trust will incite a still greater interest in this 

 fascinating subject. Then he who follows me 

 in the progress of my work will, I trust, find 

 some help which cannot fail to be of service, 

 regardless of the size or natui'e of his garden, 

 THE GARDEN COURSE. 

 The approximately complete garden is not 

 one that for one or several months of the year 

 may be a blaze of floriferous glory, or for a 

 similar period rich in fruits and vegetables, and 

 then at other times producing nothing. It is 

 rather the garden that is made to yield the 

 largest variety of products, useful and beauti- 

 ful, throughout the whole year. So varied, 

 however, are the numerous flowers, fruits, vege- 

 tables, etc., in respect to their season, that the 

 gardener would, in some degree, show his in- 

 capacity did he not, when such opportunities 

 exist, furnish himself with an unbroken supply 

 the 3'ear throughout. To convey an idea of the 

 continued fruitfulness of which a garden is 

 capable we present herewith a large engraving 

 of the tnie idea of the garden course. This sets 

 forth clearly the season and course through 

 the different mouths of some of the principle 

 products of the garden in its several depart- 

 ments. Its incompleteness lies in the fact that 

 only the principle kinds could well be named 

 in the limited space at om' conunand. In the 

 ornamental section but the merest fraction of 

 kinds are named. With this course before the 

 eye, there need be no difficulty in arriving at a 

 good idea of the selections of stock required for 

 any but the most limited garden and orchard, 

 to keep the table constantly supplied with 

 fresh fruits and vegetables, and the grounds, 

 house and plant-house always beautiful. 

 Through the progress of this work there will 

 be taken up the details of the best varieties 

 suited to a succession of the kinds named, as 

 well as others. Even for the smallest garden 

 the diagram and subsequent directions should 

 prove of much use in determining the few 

 kinds that could be accommodated, and the 

 best and most continuous selection for the year. 



THE SOIL OF THE GARDEN. 



In the making of a garden the points of suit- 

 able soil and location are among the greatest. 

 It is too apt to be imagined that soil is soil, 

 and there end the matter. In our towns, and 

 their suburbs especially, homes are bought and 

 improved, into which has entered every other 

 consideration than that of soil. Then when 

 the garden is started^ and trees and vines are 

 set out, but which prove unproductive, the 

 owner becomes discouraged and is ready to 

 consign to nothingness this feature of an im- 

 proved home. The presence of a kindly soil 

 has been the making of many a good and 

 happy gardener; its absence has spoiled many 

 another. A more unwise policy than to invest 

 in costly trees, shrubs, vines, etc. , plant and 

 care for them in a luxurious manner, and have 

 all result in a failure through the natural pov- 

 erty and unfitness 

 of the soil, can 

 III , ^ scarcely be imag- 

 »*'%!iWA; ij' med. Instances of 

 l-^ ^ this kind, however, 

 ai e abundant every- 

 \\ here. 



It is important 

 here, especially for 

 the beginner, to 

 take a glance at the 

 soil and compre- 

 hend a few common 

 terms relatinji: to it. 

 In choosing garden 



11U..J .. ^ . ii. o . land the work would 

 Pit dug for Tettmg the Soil , , ^ .^i. 



be incomplete with- 

 out making some thorough tests by digging at 

 intervals of ten yards apart over the plot holes 

 of not less than half a yard square for well 

 examining the soil. One of these should appear 

 somewhat like the accompanying figiu-e. 



There should be seen in such, at and near the 

 top, a dark stratum of earth which is called sur- 

 face soil or loam. Beneath this, having an 



STRATUM OF 

 SURFACE LOAM, 



^//^y 



unmistakable difference of appearance, may 

 be seen what is called the subsoil. The dark 

 top soil is, in the main, the product of decayed 

 vegetation and worm ciists, representing the 

 accumiUation of ages, and is the tnie rooting 

 medium for plants. Upon the nature and 

 depth of the surface loam and the porosity of 

 the subsoil, depends very much the question as 

 to whether a certain piece is, or is not, suitable 

 gai-den land. What I should regard as the best 

 sou for the general average of plants is one in 

 which the surface stratum, to the depth of ten or 

 more inches, is a loam of light texture which 

 will rub up finely between the fingers and 

 showing something of an admixture of sand. 

 Such would be called a strong sandy loam. 

 Should the surface soil measure but eight 

 inches in depth, it could by improving be made 

 to answer fairly well. I would greatly prefer a 

 full foot in depth. A subsoil of sand, gravel or 

 slate, more or less open, would render such a 

 loam of good depth the perfection of a garden 

 soil. Very light sandy soil often strikes the 

 inexperienced as bemg the best for a garden, 

 because so easily worked. This is a mistake. 

 The bad features about light sands are, first: 

 the surface stratum is usually shallow; second, 

 they dry out quickly in times of drought, not 

 being of a retentive nature, and third, fertiliz- 

 ing matter leaches through it in times of rain, 

 rendering it what some term "hungry stuff." 

 A claj' loam, overlaj'inga clay subsoil, if not 

 the best land for a garden, can be made very 

 good if it is not too heavy, and, provided the 

 subsoil be thoroughly underdrained. Such 

 soil, if properly tilled and fertilized, wiU work 

 up finely and retain moisture well. Usually it 

 holds an enormous store of vegetable food, 

 which is a great advantage in itself. The one 

 thing a clay loam never will tolerate if it is to 

 be in its best state, is working while it is wet. 

 Those possessing such land who wiU always 

 heed this tioith wiU save themselves much 

 needless vexation, through never having a rough 

 soil to till iluring the season of growth. 



On Manuring Lawns. 



S. (J. LENT. 



I knew it would be so when I was talking 

 about it last summer, yet it is discouraging 

 when one contemplates how little influence he 

 has. I refer now to the turning of a beautiful 

 lawn into a barnyard. I proved, beyond a 

 question, that a toi)-dressing of a.shes and bone- 

 dust, the application of which would not dis- 

 figure the lawn, was a jwrfect fertilizer for 

 lawn gra-ss ; yet these same people that I was 

 trying to educate, are giving their yards a 

 heavy coat of the vilest smelling manure they 

 can find. 



Now I am a friend of barnyard manure, and 

 can endure the otlor of it with complacency 

 when it is in its " proper sphere." But I don't 

 want to sit in church or the opera beside a man 

 who has the odor of the cow-barn about him ; 

 nor do I want to hold mj' nose when I step into 

 my neighbor's lieautiful house in order to keep 

 out the smell of the barnyard, into which he 

 has turned his velvet lawn. 



The reason that people do not learn the better 

 way is not because they are wilfully ignorant, 

 but, in a majority of instances, because their 

 attention has not been directed to their blunder. 

 The newspaper in which good advice has been 

 given has been reail with another purpose than 

 securing lawn hints; and the horticultural 

 meeting in which the whole matter of care of 

 lawns has been discus.sed, r.'as not attended by 

 these people, because they were laboring under 

 the delusion that they were not interested in 

 discussions at such conventions. 



Our duty, as horticulturists, is to volunteer 

 information to our acquamtances, and induce 

 those the nearest to us, to accept the better 

 method. Preach the gospel of horticultural 

 improvement on the streets and in the house- 

 holds, not waiting for an opportunity to shout 

 from a rostrum, or proclaim it from a housetop. 



Is the Chrysanthemum Craze on 

 the Wane? 



PETER HENDERSON, JERSEY CITY, N, J, 



Not a bit of it. When your correspondent, 

 Emily L, Taplin, in the November number, 

 bases that opinion on the fact that the plants 

 that were sold at the New York exhibition sold 

 at such low rates as compaied with the prices 

 received last year, she probably was not aware 

 that the plants this season were nearly all of 

 them in a miserable condition, withered and 

 ivilted, a consequence of a week's exposure to 

 gas-light and neglect in watering. I was there 

 the greater part of the time the plants were 

 being sold at auction, and was surprised that 

 many of them could have been sold at all, yet 

 I believe all were sold at some price. Had such 

 a lot of poor looking plants of Chrysanthemums 

 been offered for sale five years ago, not ten per 

 cent of them would have found purchasers. 

 But the Chrysanthemum craze is still on, and 

 in my opinion has come to stay for a good 

 many years to come. No plant is so easy of 

 culture; in no family of plants have we such 

 variety of contrasting colors or such symmetry 

 and yet eccentricity of form. Coming at a 

 season when nearly all other flowei-s are gone, 

 hardy, so that it can l» grown by the most 

 humble owner of a cottage, yet gorgeous enough 

 to make splendid the conservatory or the 

 drawing-room. 



For thirty years the Chrysanthemum has 

 been yearly increasing in favor in England, 

 and the wonder is that we have taken so long 

 to wake up to this most valuable of all autumn 

 flowers. A plant to become popular must be a 

 plant for the million, something that the peas- 

 ant can enjoy as well as the prince, and parti- 

 cularly in this democratic land of ours, where 

 as yet the worship of an article because it is 

 costly is not so common as it is in England. 

 Note the Orchid craze, if craze it can be called, 

 for it is yet, and deservecUy so I think, confined 

 to a very limited number here — the few who 

 are able to have something that the masses can- 

 not, and who value it by the old Scotchwoman's 

 verdict, because it is " nice and expensive." 

 Yes, expensive. That is the point. Were the 

 Orchid not expensive and difficult to get at, I 

 am afraid the admiration for it would be 

 lessened. I am well aware of the gorgeous 

 beauty of many of our Orchids. But when we 

 have to look at a houseful of dried-up looking 

 old sticks for twelve months for the sake of 

 being regaled now and then by the sight of a 

 dozen or two floral gems for a few weeks, taken 

 from thousands that do not condescend to show 

 a flower, I for one believe that for that reason 

 the Orchid can never be popular for many years 

 to come in a utilitai'ian country like ours ; while 

 the Chrysanthemum that Alls every line of the 

 bill is certain to be (like the Rose) even more 

 popular than it is as the years roll on. 



Growing Pot Roses for Market. 



ROBERT CRAIO, PHILADELPHIA, 



(Continned from last month.) 

 When the Rose plants are brought into the 

 hou.se they will require more room as growth 

 advances. Lift those grown out-doors as soon 

 as slight frost has checked the growth. The 

 first crop for selling is usually not wanted before 

 Easter and should be brought in from cold frame 

 seven to nine weeks eailier. The temperature 

 should, for three weeks, not exceed 40° at night, 

 and then gi'adually reach 00°. Other lots may 

 be brought in at intervals for succession. 



A critical period occurs when firing ceasas 

 for the season; many houses are ruined by mil- 

 dew at this time. An effectual renie<ly is made 

 by boiling flve pounds tobacco stems and ten 

 pounds flower of suljihur in thirty gallons 

 water until it is reduced to ten gallons. Apply 

 with syringe, using one piut to two gallons of 

 clear water. While firing, the occasional sprink- 

 Uiig of the pipes with sulphur, and preventing 

 cold drafts, will be sufficient for red spider. 



