76 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



February, 



The Dying Rosebud. 



Ah, me! ah woe is me! that I should perish now. 



With the dear sunlipht just let in upon my balmy brow. 



My leaves, instinct with glowing life, were quiveringr to un- 

 close ; 



My happy heart with love was ripe— I waa almost a Rose. 



How oft while yet an infant flower, my crimson cheek I've 

 laid 



Ajrainst the green bars of my bower, impatient of the shade; 



And pressing up and peeping through its small but pre- 

 cious vistus. 



Sighed for the lovely Hght and dew that blessed my elder 

 sisters. 



Ah me! ah woe is me! that I ere yet my leaves nnclose. 



With ail my wealth of sweets, must die before I am a Rose. 



—Mrs. Osgood. 



Jack Frost. 



When the evening lamps are glowing, 



And the wintry winds are blowing 

 In a dull and hollow chorus through the branches brown 

 and bare, 



Downward on a moonbeam gliding. 



And within the shadows hiding. 

 He writes upon the window-panes with fingers light as air, 



In white, bewildering showers 



Of stars and crowns and ilowers 

 From out his cloudy chariot the feathery snow he hurls. 

 —R.M. Griswold. 



Coleuses bripliteu. 



Flowers now improve. 



Burn the tree prunings. 



Fir trees must be warmly clad. 



It pays to plan well beforehand. 



Poor seeds are dear at any price. 



All heavy crops are gi-own on rich soil. 



Give thought to having an early garden. 



Cramping Cineraria roots is a bad course. 



Suppose you get up a garden marker now. 



The roller is the bi-st gravel walk preserver. 



This year's catalogues scarcely show hard times. 



Valentines of long stemmed flowers are in vogue. 



Flowers bestow grace on the plainest apartments. 



The Camellia and the Tea plant are near relatives. 



For a low hedge the Barberry bush is excellent. 



Thank you! To many friends who have sent in 

 clubs. 



Primroses once in bloom will then thrive in shady 

 windows. 



The Prairie Queen Rose is American. Balti- 

 more, 18^3. 



"Wanted! More items and articles of experience 

 from readers. 



Cyclamens l^ept cool when in bloom will look 

 brighter ami lasMonger. 



Ten Strawberry plants well treated are better 

 than a hundred misused ones. 



A good resolution for the future: never to plant 

 a tree and then let it die from neglect. 



The Gregg Raspberry, excellent sort that it is, 

 seems not to he satisfactory on clay soil. 



The talent and support of five journals com- 

 bined in one ought to be telling in effects. 



The Dix is an excellent fall Pear, only we must 

 not expect to see fruit from it soon after planting. 



Single Petunias in the better strains give as 

 much satisfaction for the outlay as any annual we 

 can think of. 



'* No one Grape is suited to all localities; neither 

 is there any one locality suited to all Grapes."— Geo. 

 W. Campbell. 



Where "Winter Pears are wanted for the table 

 they should be brought into a warm place, and here, 

 after a few days, they will become fit for eating. 



Your neighbor on some side, perhaps several 

 neighbors, would be glad to take this paper, if made 

 acquainted with its worth. Good reader you know 

 to what we refer. 



The Lucretia Dewberry. How well this may be 

 adapted for market remaios to be seen, but no one 

 need be afraid of being humbugged by giving it a 

 trial.— W^. J. Green. 



Do you want to help on the advancement of gar- 

 dening in its every branch throughout America? 

 Then simply help on the circulation of this journal. 

 Your efforts here will surely bear good fruit. 



An Idea for a Cold Day. In starting a new fire 

 in the greenhouse boiler or furnace use warm coal 

 from a box kept inside the house, for putting next 

 to the kindling. It will ignite more readily than if 

 only cold coal is used. 



Plums do not enjoy the highest ground, for this 

 is apt to be too dry; nor low grounds, for here late 

 frosts may catch the blossoms They do enjoy a 

 rich, naturally moist but drained soil. An able au- 

 thority backs this statement. 



At this season, when people begin to think of 

 spring garden work, is a time when those who do not 

 now take Popular Gardening would listen to its 

 merits and be likely to subscribe for it if invited. 

 Here is work for every gardener of our family. 



He Will be a Gardener. Little Burt, who is soon 

 to see his fifth birthday, picked all the leaves off 

 his sisters toy tree a few days ago. His mother in 

 reproving him for this asked why he did it, to which 

 he answered, ''Cause they isn't wight ; it's winter." 



Plants are not aristocratic; they are better satis- 

 fled with the window of the kitchen than in any 

 other one in the house; in a poor man's home than 

 in a rich man's mansion. It is a plenty of fresh air 

 through oft-opened doors, and of moisture which 

 they get in these places, that suit them so well. 



Grafted Apple trees may be long-lived, but trees 

 that are not grafted are more so, as everybody 

 knows. It is not long since several old ladies re- 

 visited their childhood home and ate Bullet Apples, 

 as they were called, from the same tree that they 

 had picked them from as children 70 years before. 



Only a "Western Story, Perhaps. A Nebraskan 

 sends to one of our farm exchanges the following 

 statement: "I have kept Squashes till October, 

 and have kept Crooknecks twq^years, and carried 

 them to the fair the second year just as sound as 

 when taken from the vines. I always take out fresh 

 seeds for planting." 



A pleasing plant for pot culture, or for use in 

 baskets, vases, etc., is Torrenia Fourneri The 

 flowers are of a shape quite similar to those of the 

 Maurandia, but in color are a blue, with golden 

 blotches on the inner side. It is a free bloomer 

 over a long season. The plants may be raised from 

 seed, and this can be sown at any time now. ~.E..£^.5, 



The '* American Horticulturist." Although 

 this journal has been merged into Popular Garden- 

 ing, we would say that all offers relating to subscrip- 

 tions, contributions, etc., made by its former publish- 

 ers will hold good until June 1st of this year. 

 Moneys for the former may be sent either to Leav- 

 enworth & Burr Publishing Co., Detroit, Michigan, 

 or directly to this office. 



No dew can reach the house plants, of course. 

 Had you ever thought of this, and of how much the 

 plants miss in this respect, as compared with those 

 of the flower beds in summer ? We speak of it to 

 impress the importance of frequent sprinkling, so 

 all Oan see its necessity. There can be nothing nicer 

 for this than the common rubber sprinkler having 

 a tine rose. Let the dew fall daily. 



Here is a hint to those florists who would force 

 the Camellia into early bloom next season: Do the 

 forcing now, or as the new 

 growth, and with it the next 

 season's buds, is forming. 

 At this time they may be 

 hastened by heat as high as 

 65°. but defer this until just 

 before blooming time,as may 

 be done with most kinds of 

 plants that are wanted in 

 flower early, and you invite 

 disaster to the crop of bloom. 



An Edible Oxalis. One 

 species of this plant, 0.raHs 

 crenata, is cultivated as a 

 garden vegetable in France, 

 the bulb of which is much 

 prized as food. Its flavor is 

 slightly acid; the leaves also 

 are acid, like those of the 

 Rabbit Clover, a well known 

 native Oxalis. This foreign 

 species grows about one foot 

 high, has yellow flowers, and tubei-s that in some 

 plants are yellow, in others red. The first frost kills 

 the tops; the tubers are fit to eat some time later. 



A folding protector for plants is shown in the 

 engraving. It consists of a pair of trapezoidal 

 boards hinged together at their right-angled ends 

 and connected by netting or oiled muslin of suffi- 

 cient size to permit them to be opened as shown. 



The protector when not in use may be compactly 

 folded, as seen to the left in the engraving. The 

 cost is said to be less than four cents apiece. This 

 article is patented; it being the invention of Eugene 

 Zimmer, Mobile, Alabama. 



Ferns in Moss. In a fertilizing moss, made by 

 spriukling some fine bone meal over the moss as it 

 was spread out, I have succeeded ingrowing Adi- 

 antun^ and Pteris Ferns with excellent results I 

 place the moss in round wire baskets of my own 

 making, and which look like balls of moss with 

 Ferns growing out of them when planted. They 

 are pretty for hall or house decoration. They are 

 easily watered by placing in a saucer of water, but 

 here they must not be left to stand long.— Dora. 



A Rapid-growing Tree. The Silver-leaved 

 Maple {Acer dasycarpum) is one of the most rapid- 

 growing trees we know of in the North, and it is 

 open to but few of the objections that can be brought 

 against the free-growing Poplars. We have just 

 seen dug up some trees of this variety in an old 

 nursery that are only twelve years old, and yet are 

 a foot in diameter, though crowded somewhat. 

 Culture and fertile soil had of course much to do 

 with this. It is a good tree to plant where a quick 

 growth is wanted, and it is a clean-looking and good 

 shade tree.— J. H. 



An Insect Destroyer. In printing a note from 

 Mr. F. Dickinson on this subject it is done not by 

 any means to justify cigar smoking, but for the 

 idea it contains as to the use of tobacco in any other 

 form, as an insecticide. He says: '1 smoke cigars 

 freely and save the stubs at the mouth end. I then 

 put about three dozen of these in a stone jar with 

 one quart of boiling water; stir well up, and cover 

 over for two or three days. When it is nearly as dark 

 as strong tea it is ready for use. Then I syringe 

 my plants and wash off with hot water in twelve 

 hours after. It is harmless, and is not oily like some 

 other insecticides." 



Holiday Flowers Outdoors. They have them, 

 as a usual thing, and in abundance, in the San Jose 

 Valley, California, according to a recent letter from 

 subscriber J. A. C, of that place: "Our churches 

 and homes were adorned on Christmas with 

 flowers from the open garden. Of these there were 

 Roses, Chrysanthemums, Violets, Marigolds, Clem- 

 atis, Jasmines, Heliotropes, Geraniums, Candy- 

 tufts, Tritomas, Cestrum (red and yellow), Japan 

 Anemones, Snapdragons, Carnations, all blooming 

 in my garden. In all the counties of California, from 

 the foot hills of the Sierra Nevadas to the ocean, 

 frost in winter is the exception. In 36 years snow 

 has fallen probably 10 or 12 times, but only twice 

 was there enough to gather snowballs." 



Joining their Fortunes. Those excellent jour- 

 nals, the American Garden andthe Floral Cabinet^ 

 as if tu'ed of single blessedness, have become life 

 partners for better and not for worse. Of the two 

 the Ladies'' Cabinet, being the more gentle partner, 

 naturally enough gave up its name, and hereafter 

 the title American Gardeyi will serve the united 

 papers. Popular Gardening, with its own strong 

 inclination to lessen the number of horticultural 

 papers in the country by purchase, heartily rejoices 

 in this union of the talent and strength of its New 

 York contemporaries; to its mind it means a very 

 able paper to continue the career of the others. Mr. 

 E. H. Libby will continue to be editor of the strength- 

 ened Garden; he is one of the brightest editorial 

 writers of the day on rural subjects. 



Potash Fertilizers for Fruit. Potash fertilizers 

 have decidedly improved the desirable qualities of 

 fruits. Wherever the percentage of this element 



A FOLDING PLANT 



PROTECTOR, SHOWN BOTH OPEN AND CLOSED.' 



has been raised, the change is accompanied by an 

 increase of sugar and decrease of acid. This, it is 

 hardly necessary to say, is an important and desir- 

 able change — a matter of dollars and cents. Other 

 things being equal, the fruit with the largest per 

 cent of sugar will bring the highest price. More- 

 over, less desirable varieties may be brought up to 

 a higher standard, thus giving value to such in 



