1887. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



87 



influence of heat and cold, dry out and con- 

 tract to an extent that causes the ascending 

 sap to become arrested, directly inviting decay, 

 no matter how well the wound may be covered 

 with paint or grafting wax. 



Too often a busy pruner does not stop to in- 

 <iuire whether the lopping off of a branch is 

 really beneficial to the tree or not. If in the 

 way of his idea of symmetrj- of form it proba- 

 bly must go no matter how thrifty it may be, 

 and perhaps leaving some half-dying limbs if 

 only a little better suited for securing the 

 desired shape. 



In my own practice I have for many years 

 worked by a rule of my own, never to cut off a 

 thrifty branch from a bearing tree for mere 

 shape. An Apple tree of such thrift that 

 it produces shoots of from 6 to 12 inches in a 

 season, looks far more beautiful to me than any 

 forced form of tree maiutained by the constant 

 pruning of small branches. 



' Growing Green Peas For Market. 



BY W. D. PHILBRICK. 



Peas do not do so well on the same land year 

 after year as when in rotation with other crops, 

 and do not do well after Turnips or Cabbages. 

 They will do well after Corn or Potatoes upon 

 land broken from sod the previous year. The 

 early kinds do well on light land, the later 

 ones requiring good, rich land. 



The common way of planting Peas is to ma- 

 nure the land with fine manure in drUls three 

 feet apart ; cover the manure slightly by hand 

 hoe, then sow the seed, about sis pecks per 

 acre being used; next cover with hand hoe. 

 All this involves a good deal of labor both in 

 planting and hoeing, and where a large area is 

 to be planted it will be found good economj' to 

 spread the manure and plow it in; then harrow 

 and roU the land, and next put in the seed with 

 a drill in rows thi-ee feet apart, about eight to 

 ten seeds per foot. The rows will then be 

 straight and narrow, and the cultivator can be 

 run so close that no hoeing will be needed. 



As to the liest varieties for early planting 

 there is not much difference between several of 

 the very early kinds. The Dan O'Rourke, 

 Cai-ter, Caractacus and other hard early Peas 

 are all about alike. Next in earUnesss is Bliss's 

 American Wonder, a dwarf vine with a sweet 

 wrinkled Pea of great excellence and of especial 

 value where land is valuable, and some late 

 crop, such as pickles, etc., is to occupy the 

 land later, and must be planted between the 

 Pea rows before they are cleared up. Next in 

 earliness and excellence is McLean's Ad vancer, 

 a well known market Pea, very sweet, with a 

 medium growth of vine, and very productive. 



For late crops the Stratagem is one of the 

 very best, and is preferable to the well-known. 

 Champion of England, on account of its more 

 dwarf growth, needing no stakes as the latter 

 does. If you plant one of the early kinds, the 

 American Wonder, the McLean's Advancer 

 and the Stratagem on the same day, you vrill 

 have one follow the other in the order named 

 in ripening, and at about the right interval to 

 make it easy to handle them in succession. 

 The Stratagem will not come to the table be- 

 fore July 10. If it is desired to have Green 

 Peas later than this, it wUl be needful to 

 make successive sowings of seed every ten or 

 fifteen days from AprU 10 till July 1, after 

 which there is risk that they will not ripen be- 

 fore frost takes them. 



The chief labor with the Pea crop is at pick- 

 ing time. To market an acre of Peas will re- 

 quirL< the services at picking time of five or six 

 good pickers, and they should be engaged be- 

 forehand, so that there will be no loss from de- 

 lay in picking. It is well to be beforehand in 

 this business, for the early Peas always .sell 

 best. It is customary to pay for picking by 

 the barrel, the price ranging from fifty to 

 seventy-five cents per barrel, according to the 

 variety and ease of picking. A good picker 

 will easily pick 1 1-2 barrels of early Peas, or 

 two barrels per day of McLean Peas. 



A trusty man is required to boss a gang of 

 pickers to see that they do their work well and 

 do not injure the vines or the late crop that 

 may be growing between the vines. A good 

 crop of Peas will sell for Jlili to $100 per acre, 

 and comes off early enough to admit of grow- 

 ing Rutabagas, Turnips, Squashes, Melons, Cu- 

 lumber Pickles or Beans for pickling, or Spin- 

 ach, upon the same land. — A m erican Cultiva tor. 



The Care of Hot-Beds. 



K. S. OQFF, HORTICULTITRIST OF THE STATE FARM, 

 GENEVA, N. Y. 



The hot-bed in early spring is beset by three 

 dangers that must be carefully guarded against 

 or failure is almost certain. First and sim- 

 plest, cold weather must be provided against. 

 It is not safe to trust much to the weather in 

 March. Remember that it is far better to put 

 on the mats a score of nights when they are 

 not needed than to leave them off one when 

 they are needed. 



The second danger is what is known among 

 gardeners as "damping off." The young 

 plants suddenly droop, without any apparent 

 cause, and on examination it appears that the 

 stem has rotted nearly or quite off at the siu"- 

 face of the ground. Various causes have been 

 assigned to this, but probably the true one is 

 that the plants smother from a lack of oxygen. 



It should never be foi gotten that the fer- 

 mentation of the manure beneath the hot-bed 

 is a slow, but a true combustion. This is why 

 it produces heat. The oxygen of the ail- unites 

 with the carbon of the manure, forming car- 

 bonic acid, and in this no plant can live. The 

 hot-bed frame should never be entirelj- closed, 

 therefore, so long as the manure is in an active 

 state of fermentation. If all the joints are 

 tight, one sash should always be left slightly 

 open, even in severe weather, and when it is 

 necessary to use the mats. 



The third danger applies to April more than 

 to March. It is that of sun-burning. When 

 the sun shines brightly on a closed hot-bed 

 there is great danger that the temperature 

 within may rise to a degree that will prove 

 fatal to the young plants. Careful watch 

 must be kept, therefore, and plenty of air ad- 

 mitted during bright sunshine on stOl days. 



What is Cardoon? 



Some American seedsmen offer seed of this 

 vegetable in their catalogues. It is by no 

 means a new vegetable, having long been 

 grown in Continental Europe. It maj' at 

 least be said to be new to the majority of 

 Americans who grow garden vegetables, 

 hence some information relative to its use and 

 culture are here in order. 



The engraving given at once suggests the 

 resemblance of this vegetable to Celery. In 

 the matter of its preparation for use and the 

 parts that are used it differs but little from 

 that favorite. In its botanical character, use 

 and taste, it is entirely distinct, coming very 

 near to the Globe Artichoke- It is also a much 

 larger grower than Celery. The blanched 

 leaf-stalks and mid-ribs (if any) of the leaves 

 are the parts used. These are emplo3'ed both 

 as a pleasant salad and for boiling or for mak- 

 ing soups. Like Celery, Cardoon is essentially 

 a winter vegetable. 



To raise this vegetable the seed should be 

 sown either in April, in small pots in frames 

 for later transplanting, or else in May in the 

 garden direct, sowing here in drills an inch 

 deep and fully three feet apart. The plant 

 needs a rich deep soil to arrive at its best state. 

 To accoimnodate the growth properly each 

 plant should stand after transplanting or the 

 final thinning at 20 inches apart in the row. 

 The soil must be kept loose and free from 

 weeds. The growth is tuft-like in form, the 

 leaves being large and handsomely divided. 

 During dry weather the plants will bear free 

 watering and occasional supplies of liquid 

 manm-e with great advantage. 



In October Cardoon requires to be treated 

 somewhat like Celery in its blanching stage. 

 The leaves are less upright than those of that 

 plant, hence a first step in blanching is the 

 drawing together of these, keeping them com- 

 pactly in place by winding with hay or hea^-y 

 paper bands, which should extend up a foot 

 from the giound. These bands are designed 

 to serve the purpose of keeping the earth 

 from coming in contact with the stems in the 

 banking up process. They should be applied 

 on a dry daj', before any soil is applied. 



Following on the binding, the soil must then 

 be eaithed up nearly as high as the bands and 

 be beaten hard with the spade. The plants 

 will be fit for use in about a month and may 



CARDOON BLANCHED READY FOR USE 



be taken up as required. For winter use 

 Cardoon should be managed like Celery. 



Of various sorts of Cardoon, the one known 

 as the Spanish, with large solid ribs and spine- 

 less leaves is the most cultivated. One ounce 

 of seed will give fully 500 plants. Mice are 

 very fond of the seed of this vegetable. 



Growing the Vallota for Fall Shows. 



The VaUota or Scarborough Lily, with its 

 splendid spikes of brilliant scarlet flowers, ap- 

 pearing about August, is one of the easiest 

 plants for amateurs to grow to perfection. 

 Wherever there are late summer flower shows, 

 in connection with the fairs or otherwise, it 

 would in many cases be well for plant lovers 

 to raise some of the plants tor exhibition. 



Excepting for a few months in winter, this 

 plant delights in liberal watering for by nature 

 it is a bog plant. 



The coui-se of treatment for the season should 

 begin towards the end of March or in April, 

 by putting up or shifting on the bulbs, using a 

 mixture of fibrous turfy leaves and old ma- 

 nure. The latter article may comprise fully 

 one-third of the soil. The bulbs should not be 

 divided beyond having six in a clump, untU 

 this number is exceeded the}' should be simply 

 shifted into larger pots, removing some of the 

 old soil but not to damage the roots. 



Keep the plants in a moderately warm and 

 light situation imtil the growth is completed. 

 For the summer they may stand in a light, 

 airy frame, or in the greenhouse, having the 

 glass lightly shaded to prevent sun scald. 



After the flower spikes first show themselves 

 the blooms come on very rapidly. If there are 

 a number of plants some may be retarded by 

 placing them in a frame at the north side of a 

 building or wall where they will be but slightly 

 under the influence of direct sun heat. 



