I04 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



April, 



lines in tliis figure, always cutting to an 

 outside bud on tlie branch, particularly in 

 upright growing varieties, so as to spread 

 the tree as much as possible for admitting 

 air and sunlight. How much to cut from 

 each branch is hard to determine on paper. 

 Pruning, like bread-making, wants consider- 

 able good judgment applied. My practice 

 usually is to take off from one-quarter to 

 one-third of the previous year's growth, cut- 



in from fifteen to twenty days the Celery 

 seedlings will be up "thick as grass" if 

 there has been life in the seed. 



For the past twenty-five years we have 

 practiced this plan, or at least what answers 

 the same purpose when done on a large 

 scale, and have not once failed. Last sea- 

 son we sowed forty pounds of seed, cover- 

 ing about four acres, which produced nearly 

 five million plants. 





THE GRADE OF THE FRONT YARD.— SOME VERTICAL SECTIONS. 



ting to even up the branches over the tree. 



This course in general I should continue 

 until the tree was four or five years old, but 

 still watching for and pruning those rampant 

 shoots that seem to want to outstrip all others. 

 Always have regard to the leader. Never 

 allow it to become stunted or crippled by 

 allowing lower shoots to grow perpendicular 

 with it. Either cut such out or head them 

 back to cause side branches. 



A good deal of after pruning may be 

 saved, by pinching or cutting out the buds 

 which are formed on the inside of the 

 branches near tlie intersection with the main 

 stem, and indicated in figure 2 by the curved 

 lines. Such buds usually send shoots up- 

 wards and across the path of the side 

 branches and in time would need taking out. 



The distance at which branches should 

 be started along the main parts is of no 

 small importance. From ten to fifteen 

 inches would do very well after the first 

 set of limbs are formed. It is not essential 

 that branches be formed in sets, but at in- 

 tervals, in such a manner as would best bal- 

 ance the tree. 



The methods outlined are designed for 

 those growers who look after their trees 

 often, not for those who perhaps never see 

 them for months together. I am not capa- 

 ble of recommending a style of pruning 

 adapted to the latter class. 



About Raising Celery Plants. 



PETER HENDERSON, JERSEY CITY HEIGHTS, N. J. 



I notice in your March number that E. P. 

 L. says that he has never been able to get 

 Celery seed to come up when raised out of 

 doors. If he will, just as soon as he gets the 

 April number of this magazine into his 

 hands (for that will be the time to sow out- 

 side, if he is a resident of this latitude), pre- 

 pare a nice mellow piece of ground, sow his 

 Celery seed in rows half an inch deep; after 

 sowing (but before covering) press the seed 

 gently down with the foot or the back of the 

 spade, sift some fine soil over it to a depth of 

 one-sixteenth or one-eighth of an inch, again 

 press down with the back of a spade, and 



In all my practice of over thirty years in 

 Celery growing we have never, until this 

 season, raised Celery plants except in the 

 open field ; but the popular demand for 

 Celery now requires it much earlier in the 

 season and we in February started a lot of 

 the "White Plume" variety in our green- 

 houses that will be fit to plant out in May, 

 and may, if desired, be grown for use in .July. 



Since Celery has been grown so largely 

 and successfully at Kalamazoo, Mich., it has 

 been thrown into the markets of New York 

 and Philadelphia as early as the first of Au- 

 gust, and although the demand is yet limited 

 it is steadily increasing, so that we will soon 

 have Celery in use all the year around. 



March 13, 1887. 



The Grade of the Front Yard. 



In many cases the house, standing back 

 some twenty feet or more from the street, is 

 seated on a level somewhat above that of the 

 street line. For this 

 there are usually 

 the best of reasons. 

 First, one desires, 

 and wisely, to have 

 the home some- 

 what elevated to 

 secure dryness 

 about it, and this 

 leads to the choos- 

 ing of a more or 

 less prominent site 

 for the buildings. 

 In those towns 

 where the streets 

 are systematically 

 graded to engi- 

 neer's lines, they 

 are often so cut 

 down as to leave 



the buildings and building spots high and 

 dry a good ways above the road level. 



This state of things prompts the question 

 how to treat such front yards to the best 

 advantage. In the many cases where the 

 difference in the two levels refered to is not 

 more than four feet, with the house twenty- 



five or more feet from the street, a simple 

 short slope between the two levels is a com- 

 mon way and one of the best, for man- 

 aging the inequality. Where should such a 

 slope be brought in? If its presence at one 

 point would serve to enhance the beauty of 

 the home and the attractiveness of the build- 

 ings better than it would at another, then 

 considerations of money value if nothing 

 else should lead to seeking that more favor- 

 able point for the slope. 



By the help of figures 1 to .3, we think it 

 may be shown where the slope can in such 

 cases be most advantageously located. In 

 figure 1 it appears in the rear half of the 

 front yard a little back from the center. 

 Although such a position is often assigned 

 to it as many examples show, still it is not 

 the best one. Its fault is that the area is 

 broken in two parts, causing the compara- 

 tively weak effect of two half lawns on 

 different levels where one area bold and un- 

 broken, or nearly so, would be vastly more 

 handsome and complete. 



Figure 2 shows a wall brought in to ad- 

 just an inequality of two grades, and this is 

 a great improvement, so far as appearances 

 go, over the first. The objection to it how- 

 ever, is the expense of constructing a wall, 

 this being considerable greater than that of 

 a fence; and the interference in most soils 

 from frost, causing the wall to lose its shape 

 and in time to crumble away. 



Figure 3 shows a modification of the pre- 

 ceding figures such as possesses advantages 

 over both. Here the important bold sweep 

 of lawn peculiar to No. 2 is preserved, 

 while instead of the wall a slope similar 

 to that of figure 1 is brought in, but di- 

 rectly inside of the fence. By the help 

 of our engraviogs it is easily imagined that 

 with a like house situated on these three 

 grades respectively, the ones on those of fig- 

 ure 3 or 3 would appear to far better advan- 

 tage than the one on figure 1. The same 

 would be true of trees, shrubs or any other 

 kinds of embellishments. 



Figure 4 represents a front lawn in the 

 case of a house standing some ten feet above 

 the street line, and not more than twenty-five 

 feet back. A common course of treating 

 such a steep grade would be to introduce a 

 series of two or more terraces and slopes 



Figure 4. Steeply Sloping Front Yard Arranged in the Natural Style instead 



with formal Terraces and Slope. 



with the walk from door to street on a 

 straight line, having steps to connect the 

 different terraces. The present case shows a 

 great improvement over the plan referred 

 to. Instead of puttering away the strength 

 of the front lawn, first by cutting it into two 

 halves, the walk running straight from street 



