188;. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



117 



STOCK 



Veneer Grafting. 



by grafting on strong roots up high. Attention was 

 called to the necessity of an actual contact of the 

 Cambium Layer of stock and graft. He is a strong 

 advocate of veneer grafting whenever it can be 

 employed, this being a modified form of crown 

 grafting. By this process wood is not set into 

 wood, as is the case in most other modes. As 

 the wood of stock and graft never unite there 

 must be a certain degree of weakness present in all 

 cases where these are brought 

 together. A line of decayed 

 wood is present at the point of 

 union, and this may lead to 

 unfavorable results. 



President Lyon prefers the 

 crown method of grafting to 

 all others, the principle of 

 which is to insert after cutting 

 the stock oflE ana dressing it, 

 wedge-shaped grafts between 

 the wood and Ihe bark, after- 

 wards tying around the stock 

 near the top and coating with 

 grafting was. Its only dis- 

 advantage is that it must be 

 done when sap flows. Would 

 do all the grafting of a large Manner of dittmg 

 tree in one j'ear, cutting away ^''^ stock (merely 

 not more than one-third of the l^XllH! rl!:^. X' 

 top, distributina the grafts well setting, the graft 

 to make the future top. A and stock are bo^ind 

 second crop of grafts will never ""^ icaxed. 

 catch up with the first. To cut off the entire top 

 and graft is very injurious if it does not kill. 



Buying Nursery Stock. The Best Way. E. H. 

 Scott in a paper summed up his conehisions in 

 substance as follows: I. Take good horticultural 

 papers to keep abreast of the times. 3. Live men 

 advertise. Study advertising columns and study 

 catalogues. 3 Know that your man is reliable. 



4. Be sure yourself what kinds you want to plant. 



5. Find out what kinds do best in your own local- 

 ity, G. Go slow on new varieties Such are over, 

 estimated. Old varieties treated as well would do 

 much better. 7. Do not buy nursery stock which 

 is cheap. Cheap prices mean cheap quality. 8. 

 Pay first-class prices and insist on getting the best. 

 9. Have stock properly packed even if at an in- 

 creased cost. 10. Examine on its receipt and re- 

 port its condition back to nursery at once. He 

 would plantyoung trees, never over 2 years old. 



Peter Collier advised care in buying trees by the 

 foot — so and so many feet high. You don't know 

 whether you will get two or four year old trees. 



President Lyon advocated setting young trees. 

 He had once replaced trees in an orchard with old 

 ones from an old nursery. They lived and that's 

 about all. Smaller trees since planted got way ahead 



Secretary Garfield said that in his locality buying 

 is done by the help of the horticultural society. 

 The members talk over best kinds and then buy by 

 the car load, sending a man to the nursery. They 

 get better terms and better trees. Nurserymen 

 have grades of stock that are not the best which 

 they must sell, and will to those who don't growi; 

 insist the right way on getting the best and you get it. 



Apples for Southern Michigan. J. J. Fitzsim- 

 mons' interesting paper on this subject led to the 

 casting of a vote on the best five winter Apples for 

 Southern Michigan. Out of an aggregate of 83 

 names banded in the following was the order of 

 preference : 



Mr. Fitzsimmons' choice for an orchard of 100 

 trees was stated as being 20 Northern Spy, 15 Red 

 Canada, 15 Golden Russet, 15 Baldwin, 10 Spitzen- 

 berg, 5 R. I. Greening, 5 Peck's Pleasant, 5 Tall- 

 man's Sweet, a Red Astracban. 1 Early Harvest, 

 1 Hawley, 1 Golden Sweet, 3 Shiawasse Beauty, 1 

 Garden Royal. 



More From the Western New York 

 Society's Meeting. 



Kerosene Emulsion for the Apple-Tree Aphis. 

 Charles Little of Kochester in a paper said in 

 substance that the past year found the Black 

 Aphis on the Cherry and the green one on the 

 Apple-trees unusually numerous and persistent. 

 On yearling trees they tried dipping in whale- 

 oil soap and tobacco water with success, but to 

 dip a large tree was a slow and costly opera- 

 tion. They fourd by experimenting on a small 



scale with kerosene soap, that it was sure death 

 to the Aphis, but this too was costly. About this 

 time the Department of Agi-iculture published 

 a receipt for killing the hop-louse, the principal 

 ingredient of which was kerosene, and this 

 they determined to try on Apple trees. It was 

 a decided success. After going over twice 

 there were few or no Aphides left ; the expense 

 was trifling. The receipt is as follows: "Spray 

 the trees with the following mixture: Kero- 

 sene, two gallons; one-half pound common 

 soap, or whale-oil soap; water one gallon. 

 Heat the water and dissolve the soap in it; 

 then add it boiling hot to the kerosene. Churn 

 the mixture by means of a force-pump and 

 spray nozzle for ten minutes, when it will form 

 an emulsion. Dilute before using one part of 

 the emulsion with nine parts of cold water. 

 This mixture will kill every louse that it 

 touches, and the good accomplished depends 

 only on the thoroughness of the application." 

 It wiU be seen that two gallons of kerosene and 

 one-half a pound of soap make when diluted 

 to the right strength, thirty gallons of wash. 

 Mr. Little found that, in using this receipt, two 

 precautions must be carefully observed ; first, 

 the oil and water must be thoroughly mixed ; 

 soft water is preferable. When the mixture is 

 complete the fluid becomes a milky white, and 

 all globules of oil disappear from the surface. 

 Second : the mixture should be applied to the 

 trees in the form of a fine spray from a force 

 pump. Experiments showed that unless the 

 mixture was most thoroughly made, the young 

 leaves would turn brown. The use of the force 

 pump obviates this difficulty as the fine spray 

 tends to divide into minute portions any kero- 

 sene that may be left unmixed. 



Not to be a State Society. -The proposition to 

 convert the present society into a state society and 

 thus secure state aid. was after an animated dis- 

 cussion defeated by a small majority. The close- 

 ness of the vote signified very strikingly the de- 

 mand for a state society. 



Injurious Insects. Dr. Lintner said that no 

 creatures lay a heavier tax on plants than Plant 

 Lice or Aphis (Aphida'S). Their increase is some- 

 thing enormous. As a rule, hatching from eggs 

 takes place in the spring, the first brood being all 

 females. They again produce young alive and all 

 females; the young in each case beginningto repro- 

 duce when five days old. In autumn males and a 

 different form of females appear, and the young of 

 these living over winter, begin a new round of in- 

 crease. Under some circumstances a female may 

 without coupling keep on propagating indefinitely 

 in the right heat and food. This has been regarded 

 as a kind of gemnation or breeding. 



Mr. Root reported the Apple Aphis or Louse had 

 been very prevalent, showing first in June and giv- 

 ing the growth a dull color, Mr. Willard saw no 

 perceptible effect from spraying with Paris green. 

 They suck juices that should go to the Apples 



Mr. Crane: Aphis on Plum were so thick as to be 

 black; burned a wad of rags coated with coal- 

 tar on several days and destroyed all. Mr. Bogue, 

 thought that Aphis was outgrowth of the depressed 

 condition of Apples as result of bad storm in June; 

 impaired juices, leading to imperfect fertilization. 



Potato Sketches. In a paper bearing this title. 

 Prof. Goff, of Geneva, gave an extended account of 

 experiments with seed Potatoes under different 

 conditions. Results strongly favored the best 

 specimens from the best hills for seed. The small- 

 est tubers from productive bills yielded more than 

 the largest from the least productive hills. Indica- 

 tions are that small whole tubers are by no means 

 inferior to cuttings of same weight One experi- 

 ment showed 41 pounds as against .35 pounds in 

 favor of drying cuttings before planting; the cut- 

 tings were much shriveled The starch in seed 

 Potatoes as growth proceeds passes out, acting as a 

 fertilizer to the young plant, water taking its 

 place. Such fertility is not absolutely necessary 

 beyond the fertility in the soil, as shown by experi- 

 ment of removnig some seed tubers when young 

 plants were six inches high. 



Are Apples and Fears Smaller than Formerlyl 

 Mr. Green thought it required more skill to grow 

 fine fruit than years ago. Mr. Hooker said we had 

 never seen finer fruit than that shown at this meet- 

 ing. President Barry said in new, fresh soil fruit 

 trees grew better and were less liable to suffer 

 from insects than in that older. We can grow as 

 I fine fruit as ever, but it requires more manure and 



fertilizers. The cultivation of the fruit shown by 

 the speaker (it was a magnificent exhibit —Ed ) 

 was not of the very best order. But when the trees 

 had shown by their growth that they needed fertil- 

 izers, they got it— perhaps once in two years. There 

 had never been a time in 30 years when one could 

 do better in growing fine fruits than now. The 

 loss from Pear blight is now so .slight as not to be 

 taken into account, while ~0 to 30 j-ears ago it was 

 very serious. Keep trees healthy and vigorous and 

 one year with another they will do well and pay. 



Growing the Chrysanthemum. 



[Abstract of a paper t/i/ Arthur H. Fctckes, before 

 the Massachusetts Ilorticulttiral Society.] 



GREENHOUSE CfLTI'RE 



The cultivation of the Chrysanthemum should 

 liegin as soon as the plant is through flowering. 

 Many growers then cut it down to the pot; but 

 this is risky, as many varieties have a weak 

 constitution and will sometimes refuse to start 

 into growth if thus, treated. The best way is 

 to cut the branches back quite severely at first, 

 but not down to the pot until the shoots have 

 begun to start quite freely from the roots. 



The plants should receive as good cultivation 

 after they have bloomed as before, to secure 

 good, healthy cuttings. Plants are often 

 packed in some unwholesome place, with the 

 consequence that the root shoots become soft, 

 weak and unfit for cuttings. This cause ac- 

 cotmts for half the failures in their culture. 



The Chrysanthemum is a sun-loving plant. 

 The plants, as soon as they are through flower- 

 ing, should be put in the sunniest place possible 

 and have plenty of fresh air, judicious water- 

 ing, and a temperature of about 50° or 55°. The 

 matter of watering is a very important one at 

 all times. The plants are more apt to be over 

 than under watered at this season, but still 

 they should never be allowed to come to a 

 wilting condition, especially after they have 

 begim to make fresh growth. 



As soon as the young shoots are three or four 

 inches long they are taken off for cuttings and 

 placed in clean, rather fine sand, in a tempera- 

 ture of from 45° to 50°, with a gentle bottom 

 heat, some higher. High heat is injurious. 



For cutliings, choose fresh, growing shoots, 

 and reject all rusty or unhealthy ones. Cut off 

 all but about three leaves at the top and trim 

 the lower end with a sharp knife. Give ample 

 room in the sand; if too much crowded thej' 

 are apt to gather an excess of moisture, which 

 will cause them to damp off. For the greater 

 part of the plants that are to flower in autumn, 

 the cuttings are put in from the fii-st to the 

 third week in March. 



The cuttings should root in about two weeks. 

 When roots from half an inch to an inch 

 in length are present, pot immediately into 

 2 3-4-inch pots. Prompt potting is important, 

 for as soon as roots are formed the cuttings 

 begin to grow, and there being very little nour- 

 ishment in the sand, they soon become weak 

 and stunted if left there. 



For soil use about three parts of good sandy loam 

 and one of well-decayed stable manure. A heavy 

 clay should be avoided. As soon as potted, place 

 the plants in a cool, light, and airy structtu-e, and 

 shade for a few days from the bright sunshine. 

 Water sparingly at first, but as thej- begin to grow 

 the quantity may be increased, and from this time 

 on they should never be allowed to want for water. 



After the x!^-inch pots are well filled with roots, 

 but before the plants are actually pot-bound, shift 

 to 4-inch, and from that to 5-inch, as becomes neces- 

 sary, for the plants should never be allowed to be- 

 come pot-bound An April cutting that has never 

 been checked is much better than one started in 

 February and allowed to become pot-bound. One 

 great secret of success: keep the plants in a healthy 

 growing, condition from the cutting to the flowers. 



Pinching may begin as soon as the plant is about 

 six inches high. Pinch out the smallest amount 

 possible from the growing end; never cut back to 

 hard wood except in cases of unshapely growth. 

 Pinch a few days or a week before the plant is 

 shifted to a larger pot, then it will be in condition 

 to use the fresh soil. 



Even when the grower has the advantage of a 

 house capable of being ventilated to an unusual de- 



