POPULAR GARDENING 



AND FRUIT GROWING. 



"ACCUSE NOT NATURE, SHE HATH DONE HER PART; DO THOU BUT THINE."— Mnjroti. 



Vol. II. 



i^^iacH:, 1887. 



No. 6. 



Warm Winds on the Way. 



We wait for thy coming, 



Sweet wind of the South 1 

 For the touch of thy light wings, 



The kiss of thy mouth; 

 For the yearly evangel 



Thou bearest from God, 

 Resurrection and life 



To the graves of the sod ! 



— Whittier, in Youth's Companion. 



It is well to secure at least a part of the 

 summer plants now. One may then get a month 

 or two of enjoyment out of them before setting- 

 out time arrives. At this season a little care 

 in keeping plants vigorous goes a great ways. 



The old wasp nests that hang about the 

 trees and elsewhere, and which in the former 

 cases, can readily be seen in the winter, are not 

 always untenanted even if so they might ap- 

 pear. They may contain perfect, if undeveloped, 

 insects and hence every one that is met should 

 be destroyed. Every female now killed will 

 prevent a bothersome brood the coming season. 



Outsiders can hardly sympathize with the 

 Massachusetts Horticultural Society in its 

 trouble of having too many annual members. 

 At a January meeting it was voted that the 

 executive committee report the most feasible 

 method of limiting the number of members. 

 Usually the difficulty comes in the other way — 

 too few members. The state of affairs referred 

 to speaks well for horticulture at the "Hub." 



The advancement that in the present day 

 is being made in improving certain kinds of 

 ornamental plants is very remarkable. Only 

 so short a time ago as 1861 that most valuable 

 summer bedding plant Coleus Verschaffeiti was 

 introdu''ed to the world, previous to which time 

 fine-leaved Coleuses were unknown. Since then 

 new varieties without number have appeared, 

 and the great diversity of colors and forms of 

 foliage produced is quite as remakable as the 

 number of the sorts. 



It is a matter for great joy that our eni- 

 mies, the Curculio, the Pear Blight and per- 

 haps the CotUing Moth are lessening their 

 former tight hold. Such is the case especially in 

 the eastern portions of the country. President 

 Barry lately said before a large body of fruit 

 growers that the prospects for Pear culture at 

 the present time were better than at any pre- 

 vious time for many yeare, so far as the blight 

 was concerned. Plums have never been more 

 productive than for the past year or more, 

 while the Codling Moth seems certainly to be 

 turning the comer. We may next expect to 

 hear of the decline of the Cabbage worm, and 

 who knows what others. Take courage breth- 

 em, but don't dismiss the remedies at once. 



It is related in the Kansas Studenti' Farm 

 Journal that parts of the .same lot of root 

 grafts of the Pear, Plum and Cherry failed to 

 grow, while the rest made a perfect and healthy 

 union. The only difference was that upon the 

 first common grafting wax was used (the 

 boiled oil of which is believed to have been adul- 

 terated with some substance capable of injur- 

 ing vegetable tissue), and upon the latter the 

 alcoholic mixture for grafting, prepared as 



follows : Melt six parts white rosin with one 

 part beeswax ; remove from stove and partly 

 cool by stirring, then add gradually, with con- 

 tinued stirring, enough alcohol to make the 

 mixture, when cold, of the consistency of por- 

 ridge. In the temperature of the grafting 

 room it vrill remain sufficiently plastic to per- 

 mit applying with the finger. 



March is a most delightful month in which 

 to visit the plant growers' houses, and it is a 

 good time to consult about stock to be bought 

 later for the summer beds, vases and window 

 boxes. No matter how uncomfortable may be 

 the weather outside, beneath the glass roof it 

 is, in all sunny days at least, most charming. 

 The sunshine, fragrance and beauty are there, 

 not the raw cutting winds. For days upon days 

 now it is a cormuon thing to find the temper- 

 ature here in the eighties, and plant life aglow 

 with vigor and bloom. As the season advances 

 the heat increases and then shading the glass 

 is resorted to, or else plants will suffer. But 

 such shaded greenhouses are not so pleasant to 

 visit as those not shaded, provided the tem- 

 perture of the former is agreeable, and this is 

 why of all the year March affords the most 

 delightful conditions ever to be met in the 

 plant houses. It is a taste of pure summer 

 weather, sun and aU, when outside, cold, damp- 

 ness and searching winds yet prevail. 



Plan Well Before Plantlngr. 



Results from planting are too far-reaching 

 to admit of this important part of garden 

 work being dohe without very careful pre- 

 vious planning. One may plant the orchard 

 and ornamental trees of a place in a week — 

 a life-time will not suffice to end their testi- 

 mony, good or bad, as to how the work 

 was done. The short time before the 

 spring planting season should be devoted to 

 a very careful consideration of what, where 

 and how the planting, if any, is to be done. 



As a usual thing the margin in dollars 

 and cents between the cost of doing the work 

 of garden and orchard improvement right 

 and doing it wrong is not so very great. 

 Where the difference between the two 

 in the main comes in is on the score of 

 the mental work: thought, study, plan- 

 ning, that was applied, before work on the 

 ground commenced. It is a recognized fact 

 that a large share of the labors of advising 

 and landscape gardeners in the present day 

 consists, in planning to make over places 

 that were illy planned when first improved. 

 Nothing can be more aggravating to the 

 gardener for profit or more unpleasant to 

 any cultivator than to discover, as trees ap- 

 proach maturity, that a serious blunder was 

 committed as to the kinds that were planted, 

 or as to how, in ornamental trees, they had 

 been arranged. 



What to plant, depends much on the 

 locality. Meteorological influences, soils and 

 situations vary greatly, hence to make no 

 mistake as to kinds it is best for each 

 planter to look carefully about in his vicinity 

 and consult with experienced growers as to 



the sorts doing the best thereabouts. A 

 dozen trees of kinds well adapted to a cer- 

 tain section will be sure to yield more 

 satisfaction than twice as many ill suited 

 to the place. 



To new beginners we would say, place 

 not your trust in the tempting highly- 

 lauded novelties of the catalogues. Nov- 

 elties are all right in their place, but their 

 place is not in the gardens of beginners. 

 And here it may be said that the space de- 

 voted to descriptions respectively, in the 

 catalogues, is a very poor criterion to go by 

 as to the respective merits of kinds. Old 

 standard sorts that are well known do not 

 need to have their praises sounded forth 

 from year to year, hence these, like all things 

 of true worth, are usually accompanied by 

 modest claims. New sorts that are unknown, 

 if they are to be presented at all, need consid- 

 erable space for a proper introduction. 



A very large proportion of all novelties 

 fail when put to the test of wide dissemi- 

 nation. It is not the case necessarily that 

 such failure results because the sorts are 

 valueless. It is the case rather, that while 

 such may possess decided merit in the place 

 of their origin, or under special culture, 

 outside of these conditions they prove not 

 to be reliable. It would not do to forget, 

 however, that as novelties, all of our old 

 and valuable varieties first found their way 

 into wide cultivation. 



More About Pedigree In Fruits— How 



to Gather, Handle, Mall and 



Apply Pollen. 



PROP. J. L. BUDD, AMES, IOWA. 



The notes of Mr. Williams on this vitally 

 important subject are worthy of caref ulstudy . 



We may truthfully say "That like pro- 

 duces like" within certain limits in the 

 breeding of animals, and also when we sow 

 or plant the plumpest and most perfectly 

 developed seeds of established varieties of 

 the cereals, the grasses and the flowers. 



But we must not forget that an abnormal 

 development in quantity and quality of the 

 fleshy part of an Apple, or other fruit is no 

 evidence of increased vigor and vitality of 

 their contained seeds. The suggestive re- 

 mark went the rounds of the press a few 

 years ago that propagators could better afford 

 to pay $13.00 per bushel for seeds of the 

 Red Romanite for stock growing, than to 

 receive seeds of Yellow Bellflower or 

 Northern Spy as a gift. 



In climates as mild and agreeable as that 

 of Belgium the Van Mong theory of Improv- 

 ing the quality of fruits by lowering the 

 vitality of the tree might hold good, and In 

 climates where the inherent vitality and 

 hardiness of tree were secondary considera- 

 tions our common axiom: " Grow seedlings 

 from our largest and best fruits," might be 

 accepted unconditionally. 



But over a large portion of the Northern 

 States of America increased hardiness of 



