78 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



February, 



^Mi^HT 



FROM 

 •THE- 



Plant food locked up 

 in lumps might as well 

 be out of the field.— 



(V^^ Matthew Crawford. 



Boses. You can scarcely give Hardy Roses too 

 much food. — Mr. Warner, at Ontario Fruit 

 Growers^ Association, 



"Horticultural Education for Women" was 

 the subject of a paper, by Miss Sara J. Smith, 

 Hartford, Conn., to have been read at the last meet- 

 ing of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. 



An Inter-State Convention in the interests of 

 fruit growing and general agriculture will be held 

 at Lake Charles, La., on the 33d and Ulth inst. 

 Particulars furnished by Secretary S. A. Knapp, 

 Lake Charles, La. 



The will of the late Marshall P. Wilder bequeaths 

 to the American Pomological Society and the Mas- 

 sachusetts Horticultural Society $1,000 each, the 

 income of which is to be devoted to prizes for ob- 

 jects of especial merit. 



Like a Fish out of Water. It is a critical time 

 in the lite of a plant when the roots are out of 

 ground. It is like a fish out of water; it may not 

 die, but it is dying —Matthew Crawford, atOhio 

 State Hortietiltnral Society. 



The Hoe Remedy for the Blues. But let me 

 tell you, my dear sister, that there is nothing equal 

 to the use of a hoe in the garden to drive away a fit 

 of blues; it will not take more than an hour or two 

 to accomplish the desired result.— il/arj/ N. Allen, 

 at Lenamee (Mich.) Horticultural Society. 



Nut Trees. I know of no more enjoyable thing 

 about a farmer's house than a small orchard of nut- 

 bearing trees. An acre or two devoted to this pur- 

 pose will do as much to keep the boys and girls at 

 home while young, and to make the memory of the 

 old home blessed in after life, as anything that I 

 could name.— Pj'c/. James Satterlee. 



Massachusetts Horticultural Society. Follow- 

 ing is the programme of meetings for discussion 

 during the present month: Feb, 5, Ornamental 

 Climbing Plants and how to use them, by John G. 

 Barker, Jamaica Plains, Mass. Feb. 12, Annuals, 

 and their Cultivation, by M. B. Faxon, Saugus, 

 Mass. Feb. 19, Herbaceous Plants, by W. A. Manda, 

 Cambridge, Mass. Feb. 36, Fertilizers,— Agricul- 

 tural, Physical, Intellectual, and Moral, by Rev. 

 Frederick C. Knapp, Plymouth, Mass. 



Women and the Societies, It is also generally 

 too true that the ladies, who constitute the great 

 majority of the growers and lovers of plants and 

 flowers, only in exceptional cases affiliate with our 

 organizations, or are present at our meetings, as 

 active co-laborers: while, in by far the larger por- 

 tion of our state. we are utterly without a represent- 

 ative society ; or even, so far as we are aware, any 

 considerable number of individual sympathizers.— 

 Preside7it Lyon, at Michigan State Horticultural 

 Society. 



Ammonia for House Plants. 1 have used am- 

 monia both in the form of sulphate and liquid am- 

 monia, and also a solution of carbonate of am- 

 monia, and I think they all gave a strong stimula- 

 tion to plant growth, and are beneficial in the same 

 way as liquid manure prepared in the manner de- 

 scribed by the Secretary. The solution I have used 

 has been one ounce of sulphate or carbonate to a 

 pailful of water. The action of ammonia upon the 

 plant is the same as that of the phosphates, giving 

 a strong stimulus to its growth.— Prest. Saunders, 

 at Ontario Fruit Groupers'' Association. 



Orchard Sites. Formerly it was thought that the 

 more elevated and rolling grounds were the best. 



BElN^-MATrER-THAT-DESERVES- 

 •TOBE-WIDELY-KMOWM- 



Some think that this was an error. We think it 

 would be, provided the lower grounds selected are 

 susceptible of easy surface drainage. We have here 

 two classes of fruit lands— prairie and timber— and 

 it would certainly be an error to select the bottom 

 lands in the timber for an orchard site in preference 

 to the higher grounds. For a Peach orchard, we 

 should still prefer the higher grounds of either. 

 High grounds on our prairies are, however, not to 

 be avoided. The thing to be avoided is a too rapid 

 drainage, and a thin and impoverished soil as a 

 result. By the increased attention given to the 

 removal of all surface water of late years, the low 

 lands of to-day do not contain more moisture than 

 was contained in the higher twenty-five years ago. 

 — B. Fullen, at Illinois Horticultural Society. 



Rays from the Ohio State Horticult- 

 ural Meeting, Dayton, Dec. 15-17. 



Lucas Co. fai-mers dug SOct. Potatoes and 

 husked 'X)ct. Com, and let winter Apples blow 

 from the tree and waste which are now 

 worth $2 per barrel. . . . Toledo ijrocers 

 preferred to buy berries in drawers because they 

 could measure their thumbs 32 times to the 

 bushel and still have them left. —W. W. Farns- 

 woRTH, Lucas Co. 



Prune Apple tree.': in winter by sawing the 

 limbs several inches from the trunk, then 

 about the last of May cut them off at the 

 proper place and the wounds will soon heal. In 

 this way the selecting of limbs to be cut and 

 the piling up of the brush can be done in the 

 leisure of winter ; the final sawingtthen is quick- 

 ly done and no danger of splitting bad. . . . 

 The Lurretia Detcberry is full of sharp 

 thorns — and a pair of buckskin gloves with the 

 tips of the fingers cut off is used when picking. 

 — N. H. Albauoh, Miami Co. 



No Apple orchards are being planted in ! 

 Central Ohio, . . . All pistillate Straw- 

 berries have stamens bearing some pollen but 

 it is not available without the intervention of 

 insects. — W. J. Green, Franklin Co. 



PruningYotmg Trees.— Between the blooming and 

 fruiting of Strawberries is the best time to prune 

 Apple trees from nurseries. The planting of 

 Apple trees in Northern Ohio is not very encourag- 

 ing. Every other year Western New York raises a 

 crop that amounts in single counties to 700,000 bar- 

 rels, and of these shippers can dump 20,000 barrels 

 on the Cleveland market in a single week. Straw- 

 berries kept in an ice chest soon spoil after taking 

 out. Therefore never keep market fruit in a dark 

 cellar, but load upon a wagon and let them stand 

 under a tree over night.— L. B. Pierce, Summit Co. i 



Water sprouts should be pulled off through the | 

 summer while yet soft. The wound will heal over t 

 and it will be the last of them. The Commission 

 me7i.— Berries picked the same day and arriving in 

 Cincinnati by the same train were reported sold 

 at a profit by one of these men, and at a loss by 

 another.— J. P. Ohmer, Vinton Co. 



The Ohio Horticultural Society.— The Ohio Pom- 

 ological Society was organized in 1860, and in 1867 

 was united with the Grape Growers' Association, 

 and the name changed to this one given in the 

 head. Much of the time of the earlier meetings 

 was devoted to examining fruits and correcting 

 names. People had hobbies in the early days as 

 well as now. One Dayton gentleman planted a 

 large orchard of Spice Russets, thinking the fruit 

 was going to be immensely popular and sell at the 

 price of oranges. A Zanesville preacher bored his 

 friends by always proclaiming the merits of the 

 Cooper Apple. There was a strong feeling that a 

 state society was not needed, but F. R. Elliot per- 

 sisted in pushing the matter in the Ohio Farmer 

 until a society was formed. The American Pomo- 

 logical Society met in Cincinnati in 18.50. There 

 was no fruit in Ohio in 1851 on account of a hay 

 frost. — R. W. Steele, Montgomery Co. 



Qrajie shipments.— About 18,000 tons of grapes 

 were shipped from Euclid, and nearly as many from 

 Collamer, during the year 1886.— E. H. Cushman, 

 Cuyahoga County. 



Omamen tal Grape-vines. — I brought home 

 a Grape-vine, the foliage of which is scarlet. 

 It is a fine addition to our vines. Fruit in 

 Rxissia. — The juice of Cherries there is colored 

 and much fruit is distilled and the brandy 

 sent over here to doctor American wines. 

 Gooseberries of very large size are grown upon 

 little trees, 4 to 6 feet high, at the rate of about a 

 bushel per tree. Chenies are grown along the 

 highway by the Government, and the crop sold in 

 4 mile lots for from 8500 to $1,000 to dealers, who 

 pick and ship the same in bushel baskets at 15 cts. 

 per bushel. There are no Pears in Russia as good 

 as American Pears, and very few Apples of high 

 quality. American fruits are much grown in Ger- 

 many. — Leo Weltz, Warren Co. 

 Reported by L. B. Pierce, Summit, Ohio. 



Fruit Culture about the Home. 



[Extract from P. M. Augur's address before the 

 recent Agricultural Convention,Farrington,Conn.] 



No home is complete without plenty of choice 

 fruit and flowers. 



Peaches should be started from good, healthy 

 stock, on high, dry land, and should receive 

 moderate and clean cultivation up to midsum- 

 mer, and not afterwards. Never let the trees 

 bear a breaking crop; to cut back helps both 

 fruit and wood. A dressing composed of 1,400 

 pounds of fish waste and 600 pounds of potash, 

 in some form, used at the rate of 600 pounds to 

 the acre, had been found very beneficial in his 

 orchard of eight-year-old trees, producing a 

 remarkably fine crop. Sow rye in August for 

 a winter mulch and turn it under in the spring. 



The best Peaches found in the markets of Con- 

 necticut were raised in the State; -1,000 baskets 

 were sold in Meriden, all raised within six miles of 

 that city. The Peach crop is as sure in Connecticut 

 as in Tennessee. It fails there as often as here. 



The Grape is one of the easiest raised of any of 

 our fruits, and the market can be overetocked with 

 them. Would not advise planting them for market, 

 but have a liberal supply for home use. Concord, 

 Brighton and Hayes would be my first choice of 

 three varieties. 



The Grape needs a drj', well-drained soil and good 

 cultiu-e. I plant in rows nine or ten feet apart, 

 and eight feet apart in the row; have one main stock 

 with two branches on each side, and do not allow 

 a vine to bear more than twenty pounds of Grapes. 



Sulphur mixed with air-slaked lime is sprinkled 

 over the vines by hand from about June 30 to the 

 time of ripening as a specific for mildew; it is of 

 no avail to use it after the foliage is ruined. For 

 rot, avoid the use of fermenting manures; keep 

 the vines healthy and remove all affected fruit. In- 

 telligent care throughout insures success. 



The Quince needs a deep, rich loam. It will do 

 nothing in a sour, stagnant soil. It is not safe to 

 plow among Quince trees, as they have many roots 

 running near the surface of the ground. Cover in 

 the fall with two inches of stable manure, to be 

 forked under in the spring: in summer, mulch to 

 smother the weeds, or cultivate lightly with a hoe. 

 The Apple or Orange Quince is as good as any. I 

 have raised Champions, fifteen to the peck. 



Coleus Beds for Amateurs. 



[Abstract of a paper read by Miss L. M. Pope 

 before the Maine Pomological Society.] 



My admiration for this charming bedding 

 plant induces me to offer some suggestions in 

 regard to its culture for bedding purposes, even 

 by persons of economical motives. The Coleus 

 is a very rapid growing plant and easily propa- 

 gated, even when put to root in the least fav- 

 orable situation. By procuring a dozen me- 

 dium-sized plants of the florist as soon as it 

 will do to start a hot-bed, you can cut them 

 back, putting in the cuttings to root, and the 

 old plants will force more cuttings. As it takes 

 but one week to root cuttings with ordinary 

 bottom heat, these slips can be potted off by 

 that time into small thumb-pots and sunk into 

 the sand covering the hot-bed. 



In two or three weeks at most such plants 

 wiU need topping and these can in time be 

 used for a later set of slips, to be in their turn 

 rooted. As Coleus should never be set before 

 June it leaves even the latest slips a long time 

 to grow before bedding out. There must 



