1887. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



1 1 1 



where there are five to six now. Then there 

 was not one bushel of Peaches dried for market 

 where there are five to six now. 



The immense amount of dried and evaporated 

 fruit that is on the market, including jelly, jam 

 and canned fruit, has a wonderful tendency to 

 keep down prices on fresh Apples. Yet we be- 

 lieve the orchardist can do as well from his 

 Apples now, with the facilities for evaporating 

 and thus using up all the fruit, as he did a few 

 years ago by selling one-third to one-half his 

 fruit in a fresh state, even at double the prices 

 he now gets, and feeding the other part to hogs. 



Large growere in this section tell us they are 

 doing as well now by shaking their fruit from 

 the trees and taking them in bulk to the evap- 

 orator, or drying them themselves, than they 

 did bj' the old expensive system of buying bar- 

 rels, hand picking the fruit and assorting over 

 and selling about half of it, and the other half 

 as good as lost. 



Apples we believe are paJ^ng farmers better 

 to-day than grain. An orchard of 30 trees, oc- 

 cupying an acre of ground, pays as a rule as 

 well as five acres of wheat, and with not 

 one-fourth the work. Evaporated fruit can 

 be held over from years of plenty to years 

 of scarcity, which could not be done with fresh 

 fruit. Fruit houses are now also being made 

 that carry fresh fruit over successfully. 



WALKS AND JOTTINGS ABOUT THE FRUIT FARM. 



That's right, my man, take off fully one-third 

 of last year's growth from those Peach trees you 

 are pruning. 



We are now starting Grapes under glass from 

 two-eye cuttings Tomato plants in our green- 

 house are being transplanted into boxes, and give 

 more room and stockier plants. 



We are now scattering the manure broadcast 

 over land we shall plant to Strawberries, as also a 

 small forkful around each hill of Raspberries. It 

 takes but a trifle to t*ll well on the crop. 



There is one spring job that should be attended 

 to at once. We refer to whitewashing the fruit 

 trees and throwing a spoonful of salt on the soil 

 around the base of the trunk on a space or circle of 

 six inches across. 



AVE have become satisfied that close planting of 

 Strawberries in the row is best, unless it be rapid 

 running sorts like Crescent, Downer's, etc. If the 

 grower is careful to have the rows well filled with 

 plants but little watching is then required. 



We had quite a long row of Grapes growing upon 

 young Maples that had come up in the row, but for 

 a year or two they have not borne well, and we be- 

 lieve it is because there are too many of the trees 

 to extent of soil, so we are cutting out half of them. 



That's a good idea Southern fruit growers are 

 working into, namely, arranging w^ith Northern 

 growers to ship the later small fruits from the 

 north to Southern cities in fruit cars. This will 

 scatter the crop more and should give much bet- 

 ter prices to the grower. 



Clip, CLIP goes the hedge shears on our Rasp- 

 berry plantations, where we had layered last sea- 

 son for plants, and now that the plants are dug, 

 we cut back one-third of the growth. Of course if 

 one does not care to increase plants, it is better to 

 trim by nipping back while they are making growth. 



Passing under some large Maple trees we no- 

 tice thousands of young seedlings. We have a 

 suggestion for prairie farmers at the West con- 

 cerning such seedlings. They should order these 

 from their friends East and plant them out in nur- 

 sery rows, say six feet apart in the row, and when 

 three and one-half to four feet high, put out belts 

 and groves of them. 



We start Cucumbers, Melons, etc., first of this 

 month, in old berry boxes, and put outdoors in 

 May and have square frames covered with boards 

 or thick paper to protect them when there is dan- 

 ger of frosty nights, not taking them off the next 

 day. Pasteboard or old newspapers wound in fun- 

 nel shape are also good to place over them, as also 

 over Tomatoes, where there is danger from frost. 



MEAT FROM THE SHELL. 



The N. Y. Herald says: There is no doubt that 

 linseed oil will destroy scale and improve the health 

 of trees. In a few cases it has been destructive, 

 evidently from the use of mineral oil, and not pure 

 linseed oil. The purity of the article should be as- 



certained. Trees that have suffered badly from 

 scale often get hide-bound. A slitting up and down 

 with the pruning knife will set them again. 



The Orange Co. Farmer says: From all parts of 

 the country come kindly words for the Lucretia 

 Dewberry. In the points of quality and hardiness, 

 it seems to have the best of characters. It only 

 remains to be seen if it can be successfully and 

 profitably grown for market. We ho]ie that it may 

 be profitable. It is such a delicious berry, so much 

 better than the high bush sorts that we hope to find 

 our markets supph'ed with it ere another year passes. 



The Am. Cultivator says: If an Apple tree has a 

 sound trunk and roots, it is a pity to destroy it un- 

 der most circumstances It takes many years to 

 get a young tree into bearing, and when it does 

 bear it will not furnish nearly so much fruit as one 

 full.v grown. By grafting with the Northern Spy 

 and liberally manuring, an old Apple tree may be 

 made much more certainly productive than young 

 trees of this variety, which are usually shy and 

 tard.v bearers. 



Wm. Morrell of Monmouth county, N. J., writes 

 as follows to Orchard and Garden : I have had the 

 black knot on my Cherry trees for four years, each 

 year getting worse. This year (18861 I tried an ex- 

 periment with sulphur, mixing two pounds of flour 

 of sulphur with one pail of water and spraying the 

 trees till thoroughly wet. I did this about the first 

 week in May, and again about the 12th of May, and 

 have had no knot this year worth speaking of. As 

 this is only an experiment. I cannot recommend it 

 as an infallible cure until further trial. 



The N. Y. Times says; Last fall a Maine farmer 

 put a letter in one of a lot of barrels of Apples he 

 was packing, asking the buyer to write to him. 

 The other day he received a letter from an Apple 

 dealer in Bradford, England, who said that he had 

 bought the Apples at auction in Liverpool. He 

 wrote they were a very fair lot of Apples and sound, 

 adding: "I am convinced there would be a saving 

 in "sending American Apples through ; that is, if 

 they could be packed tight as these are. But if not 

 packed properly tight they would not do." 



A correspondent of the Michigan Farmer says: 

 Allow me to suggest, both from my own personal 

 experience and that of others far more prominent 

 in horticulture than myself, that several varieties 

 of the Russian iron-clads have proved their super- 

 iority in many ways over the older and better 

 known sorts, as for instance the Yellow Transparent. 

 Duchess of Oldenburg, and Tetof skj- ; then again 

 for extremely cold sections what better tree could 

 we have than the Wealthy and Walbridge, natives 

 of Minnesota, and the Pewaukee, of Wisconsin. 



A Pennsylvania Peach-grower gave his methods 

 of pruning to the State Horticultural Society at its 

 late meeting: In selecting a site for an orchard, he 

 selects high ground running from a hill top down 

 its southern slope. He sets trees 16 feet apart, in 

 holes 18 inches deep, fills in the top soil till the trees 

 are three or four inches deeper than in the nursery. 

 He finds the deep setting to facilitate the culture. 

 At planting, the trees are cut back vigorouslj' and 

 pruned of all branches. In June or July the new 

 growth is cut out, all but three or four shoots to 

 form a head. Next spring these branches are cut 

 back to a foot or so, keeping an eye to the sym- 

 metry of the head they are to form. Then in May 

 or June they are pnmed again so as to have five or 

 six shoots evenlj- distributed over the top. The fol- 

 lowing spring these are again cut back one-third of 

 their growth, and thinned so as to preserve s.vm- 

 metry. After this only the leading branches are 

 cut back. Besides a careful examination at plant- 

 ing he looks after borers in both spring and fall ; 

 the deep planting facilititates this search. 



Mr. Roberts writes to the Ohio Farmer: To those 

 who have not .vet mulched their Strawberry beds 

 I wish to say that it is not too late to do so; but it 

 should be done before the ground thaws in the 

 spring. The object in mulching is twofold. First, 

 to keep the ground from alternate freezing and 

 thawing, thereby "heaving" the plants; second, 

 it is important, at least advisable, to protect the 

 plants from the sun in winter, for the bleaching 

 the leaves undergo affects the plants much as the 

 Sweet Potato is affected by the sun and frost in the 

 fall, though in less degree. For those who have 

 not found a better way I will give my method of 

 doing the work, which has always proved satisfac- 

 tory: Cover the entire surface of the patch with 

 straw from one to three inches deep. Spread it 

 evenly, for there is danger of smothering the plants 

 where it happens to be too thick. In the spring, 

 rake all the straw off the crowns of the plants for 

 early berries, and only a part off of those to ripen 

 later— leaving the straw between to keep the berries 

 clean, the ground moist, and the weeds down. 



Achlmenes. Their Culture In Hang- 

 ing Baskets. 

 Mexico and Central America have made few 

 contributions to our list of fine plants for cul- 

 tivation under glass to excel the Achimenes. 

 The flowers (of which the one of A. longiflora 

 shown in the engraving will give a good idea 

 as to form), are of all shades from white to 

 dark crimson, and some are in part spotted. 

 They are summer bloomers, coming in naturally 

 during the early part of warm weather and 

 affording a continual show of beauty for from 

 two to three mouths. The so-called bulbs of 

 the Achimenes may be bought of our leading 



FLOWER OF ACHIMENE LONGIFLORA. 



florists ; once a start is made with them there 

 will soon be an abundance. A favorite method 

 of growing the Achimenes is in baskets. The 

 baskets we prefer, where bulbs are abundant, 

 are from 15 to 20 inches in diameter by 9 to 13 

 inches deep. They are strongly made, as per 

 accompanying sketch. 



The tubers preserved over winter in dry 

 sand in a temperature of from 45° to 50°, are 

 placed in boxes in the spring and then in moder- 

 ate heat. The object to be attained is a sturdy 

 growth, hence the importance of starting slowly. 

 When the plants have made about two inches 

 of growth they are ready for planting. 



In planting baskets first suspend these in the 

 position where the bloom is wanted. After- 

 wards have in readiness a lot of tough, light 

 sods, two inches thick (those of peat being the 

 best). Cut these with a knife in long strips 

 about two inches wide, and commence planting 

 the baskets by laying pieces of these strips in 

 coils on the bottom of the baskets, with spaces 

 between wide enough to take a row of young 

 plants head downwards, about half an inch be- 

 tween plant and plant in the row. The space 

 between the sods must not admit the rather fine 

 soil in which they are planted to escape through. 

 For the sides the same 

 course is repeated, build- 

 ing layer after layer,and 

 filling the body of the 

 basket as the work pro- 

 ceeds with the soil in 

 which the plants are to 

 grow. The top when 

 finished should be slight- 

 ly rounded. 



The compost Achi- 

 menes do the best in is 

 fibrous loam, and peat or leaf soil in equal 

 measure, and sand enough to insure perfect 

 drainage. The compost should be moderately 

 moist at the time of planting, so as not to call 

 for water until the plants have fairly started 

 in growth, usually in about ten days. They 

 should be frequently sjTinged at this stage, and 

 slightly shaded for a week, afterwards giving 

 light and sunshine. 



While the young plants are in active growth, 

 previous to fiowering, they should be syringed 



Wire Basket for grow- 

 ing Achimenes. 



