I30 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



May, 



A. M. PUEDT'S DEPAEXMENT. 



Post-office address, - - Palmyra. N. T. 



Briefs. 



It is not necessary to sift coal ashes. One way 

 of using them is to scatter on the surface of all 

 plants, and not plough them under. 



To Exchanges. We hope the old exchanges of 

 the Recorder will keep up their exchange with this 

 department, sending such exchanges to us at Pal- 

 myra, N. Y. 



If Strawberry plants have not been mulched 

 and it is desirable to keep the fruit clean, it must 

 he done when fruit is not over halt grown, keeping 

 clean up to that time by shallow cultivation. 



The practice of putting a small piece of soap in 

 a cloth and tying it in the crotch of the tree where 

 limbs divide off from the body is a good one, as the 

 strength runs down the body with heavy rains. 



Ualching is necessary, not only to hold moisture 

 to the surface, but to retain moisture. In fact 

 plants and trees should be mulched with some 

 coarse material, if watered through dry spells in 

 the summer. 



Eotation in Small Fruits. It is a fact that we 

 have demonstrated time after time that ground 

 that has been run with an old Blackberry or Rasp- 

 berry bed will grow full Strawberries for two or 

 three years, and vice versa. 



Boot Prnning the Pear. It is claimed that root 

 pruning serves in a degree to prevent Pear blight. 

 Certainly on our grounds where the highest cultiva- 

 tion is given, and the most stimulants, and thereby 

 a heavy growth, blight is the worst. 



Potatoes Eunning Out. We would like to know 

 why it is that Potatoes " run out " so quickly and 

 new sorts have to be introduced every few years. 

 It was not so when we were young. For years and 

 years the old Mercer, Kidney, Neshanock, etc., 

 were grown, and for long years the Peach Blow. 



Grape Pruning. Dr. Chute, in a letter, says of 

 pruning Grapes: " When the leaves are well grown 

 and the Grapes begin to form, you can cut off, as 

 you please, aU the branches or saw off the vines; 

 there will be no bleeding. I prefer the spring, for 

 the entire growth of the last year is before you, 

 and the best bearing wood can be seen. 



Forestalling the Grubs. Mrs. Harmon Pierce, 

 of Mississippi, writes that she tried the following 

 remedy to prevent grubs working at Strawberry 

 roots when set out, and the same loo with other 

 transplanted plants, like Tomatoes and Cabbage; 

 One large spoonful of salt and one ounce copperas 

 to a pail of water, and dip plant roots in this before 

 setting. 



Huslin sashes for hot-beds are largely used, es- 

 pecially for transplanting beds. Take good stout 

 unbleached muslin and thoroughly soak it with 

 linseed oil. It proves better than glass. Plants do 

 not freeze or scald, and have a better color and 

 grow more stocky and much better for early trans- 

 planting. Sashes 3 by 6 feet are best. They should 

 have a fresh coat of oil every year or two. 



Uore About Curculio. R. B. T., of Nevada, 

 writes us: " I will give you my way to keep the 

 CurcuHo off the Plum and Cherry trees Take re- 

 fuse wool and tie it around the trunk so as to let it 

 hang down, and then every morning turn up the 

 wool and catch them. Another way we recommend 

 is to wind the body with a strip of paper six inches 

 wide, and keep this paper well coated with printer's 

 ink or similar substance. 



Shade as an Enricher. It one will lay a board 

 on the ground for a few weeks and remove it and 

 plant on that spot Corn or Beans, they will see a 

 great difference in the growth from that planted a 

 little way off, where the ground has not been thus 

 shaded, that is. If shading is done in dry weather. 

 This plainly shows the importance of mulch shading, 

 the surface holding moisture and taking in the 

 nitrogen from the air. We say mulch well as a rule. 

 Apple Culture. To be successful with an Apple 

 orchard we advise setting out on a westerly slope, 

 as the blossoming is kept back thereby, and hence 

 less danger from late snow, frost and cold north- 

 east winds. Train trees with branches low, have 

 the land well drained and tile put in deep, prevent 

 limbs from crossing by cutting off one. In eastern 

 sections keep ground well cultivated for years, 

 while on the rich lands of the West, after trees get 

 started, seed down. 



To have a good hedge largely depends on 

 starting right. Set plants of Osage or Locust six 

 inches apart in the row, cultivate well for a 

 year or two and cut back thoroughly. Cut back 

 to two or three eyes when set, and at close of 



season cut back to 8 or 10 inches from the ground . 

 The second summer clip off side branches of new 

 growth fully one-half to two-thirds and the top 

 back fully half. Evergreens should be cut back 

 when set to make them branch low, and after that 

 one-half of the previous season's growth each year. 

 Evergreen Hedges. One reason why so many 

 are unsuccessful in growing these is that they do 

 not begin right. :Many will go to the woods or 

 fields and get trees grown from seed, tall and spind- 

 ling, not one out of ten of which will grow. Others 

 want the hedges ' right away," and get large trees, 

 and many of these fail to grow, leaving breaks in the 

 hedge. The proper course is to get small trees from 

 the nursery, setting them not over one foot apart, 

 and cutting them back at least one-third to one- 

 halt when set, and mulching them well with any 

 kind of coarse material. Each year the new growth 

 should be cut back at least one-half. By this course 

 a stocky well formed hedge can be had. 



SMALL FRUITS ON THE FARM. 



We know of a farmer who has aU the smaJl 

 fruits he needs for his own family besides seUing 

 and giving to those around him. He has a gar- 

 den near his house, ten to twelve rods long and 

 three to four rods wide. He plants in rows 

 2 1-3 to 4 feet apart — the Raspberries and 

 Blackberries— two rows on the outside. After 

 the first year the work is largely done with 

 horse and cultivator, and done quickly, too. 

 The trouble with too many farmers is they 

 plant too closely together, and in short rows, 

 and the work has to be aU done by hand, which 

 makes a tedious job. 



a very easy matter to protect the trees with 

 stakes or, winding loosely with barbed wire to 

 prevent rubbing against trees. 



SOME CONCLUSIONS CONCERNING PRUNING. 



In pruning trees of any kind it is better to 

 have one strong branch or limb than two or 

 three weak ones. It's better to keep heads low 

 than high. It's better to keep limbs thinned 

 out than to cut back and make too close heads. 

 Let the sun's rays in all through the tree. 



It will be noticed that the highestand richest 

 colored Apples grow on trees having spreading 

 branches and that are well thinned out. Keep 

 suckers off the limbs and body in midsummer. 

 Spring trimmed trees produce the most suckers. 



If blight strikes the Pear trees, slit the 

 bark on one side of limb or body from affected 

 part downward at once and give a coat of pure 

 linseed oil. This slitting is especially beneficial 

 to " hide-bound" or stunted trees, with a good 

 coat of whitewash added. 



A very good time to prune trees is right 

 after they have leaved out. We have cut limbs 

 from trees at all seasons in the year and find 

 no better or safer time than this. 



If there is one thing more than another that 

 we dislike to see, it's evergreen trees having the 

 bodies trimmed up. We call them giraffes of 

 the Evergreen species. Instead of trimmtne 

 up, cut back and make a thick low tree, and 

 after well formed at bottom, let them grow, 

 but even then it's well to cut off half the leader 

 (new growth) each year for three or four years. 



SWINE IN ORCHARDS. 



I am very sorry to see the advice to pasture hogs 

 in the orchard. Fifteen years ago this was taught 

 and practiced by many, and as a result I can show 

 you some of the worst wrecks in what were fine 

 orchards. Last fall I saw the boys digging out 

 some large dead trees at one I have in mind, where 

 the trees were about twenty five years old. The 

 father while he lived (and the practice began with 

 him* was a very careful and enthusiastic horticul- 

 turist. For three or four years the boys followed 

 his example, turning fifty to seventy five hogs in to 

 keep the clover down and pick up the windfalls. 

 The hogs were probably lousey (as it is very com- 

 mon here), and with many trees the bark was 

 rubbed through to the wood. A few were nearly 

 girdled by this rubbing. A short time since I asked 

 an intelligent German it he pastui-ed hogs in his 

 orchard of 1,000 trees. " No sir; I would soon have 

 no orchard if I did," was his reply, and this fairly 

 represents the sentiment of our orchardists. 



We clip above from the N. Y. Tribune, and 

 must say in our forty years of experience and 

 observation we have not known a single 

 instance like the above. However, it would be 



FRUIT JELLIES PURE AND OTHERWISE. 



Dr. Cyrus Edson, one of the Inspectors of 

 the New York Health Department, tells in 

 Babyhood about the composition of cheap 

 fruit jellies, as they are found put up in fancy 

 packages in our grocery stores. A sample of 

 Currant jelly consisted of the following ingre- 

 dients: Dried Apples, water, low grade glu- 

 cose, tartaric acid and arsenical fuehine (a red 

 aniline color). To this mixture was added a 

 sufficient quantity of French glue to give it 

 the consistency of jelly. A large package of 

 salicylic acid was also found stowed away in a 

 cupboard, which, after some pressure had been 

 brought to bear on him, the proprietor admit- 

 ted he used in warm weather to keep his jellies 

 from spoiling. 



Herein is a chapter of sound information 

 to aU fruit growers, as also to the fruit consu- 

 mer. If only pure jellies and jams were al- 

 lowed on the market what an opening there 

 would be for fruit growers to work up their 

 small berries into such, sending to the market 

 only large, fine assorted fruits and putting the 

 small specimens into jell}' or jam, and too to 

 stop turning into jelly and jam balf-spoUed 

 fruit bought up for less than the cost of pick- 

 ing and marketing, by the hoodlums and 

 frauds of the city, and made into "pure" 

 Strawberry or Raspberry jam or jeUy, by 

 adding the above ingredients. 



Years ago we put up one thousand glass jars 

 of first-class Strawben-y jam, made from 

 berries picked fresh from the vines, and putting 

 in plenty of pure granulated sugar. It was 

 delicious and so pronounced by all who tried 

 it. We sent samples of it to leading commis- 

 sion houses. They acknowledged it to be firsts 

 class, but wrote us that there was so much 

 fraudulent jelly and jam on the market that 

 they could not sell it at paying prices, and 

 even private individuals who ordered twelve 

 to twenty-five glasses, as an experiment, at 

 fifteen cents per glass, wrote that it didn't pay 

 to buy and pay charges when they could get it 

 so much cheaper in the city. Perhaps if some 

 of these economizers (?) will read this they will 

 see what it is that they are getting " cheaper." 



We, as well as other gi-owers, would have 

 been glad to have entered into jelly or jam 

 making on a large scale, and thus save him- 

 dreds of bushels that are lost in wet weather or 

 glut in the market ; but so long as our law- 

 makers and law-enforcers will take no steps to 

 stop this traffic in an adulterated and poisonous 

 compound, honest, hard-working fruit growers 

 must suffer, and the health of thousands 

 be brok en down who are using the stuff des- 

 cribed above. 



WALKS AND JOTTINGS ABOUT THE FRUIT FARM. 



That's right, give those trees, my boy, a good 

 swabbing with that whitewash, being careful to 

 get well into the crotches with it. 



There's THAT old Raspberry bed to clean out. We 

 have found the best way is to cut off the tops close 

 to the ground and run a strong plow under them 

 throwing them out. Then clean up and burn and 

 pass over and plough the ground well. 



Stop there, my man, don'tdouble up Strawberry 

 roots in that way in setting. If you do, they will 

 dry out the first dry spell. Straighten out the roots 

 and put them into the holes, with roots spread out 

 tan-shaped, and press earth well against them. 



There is no plan for training Grapes that is more 

 successful and that we like so well as the Knlffen 

 plan, that is, having two wires on strong posts S% 

 and 4 feet from the ground— having bearing vines 

 on one wire this year and training new vines to 

 bear next year on the other wire. 



While in 'Virginia the past winter we saw a 

 Black Raspberry plantation that will not yield 

 more than half a crop the coming season, simply 

 because it was not grown right. The plants had 

 grown tall and spindling and had been brushed 

 around and broken off by the winds. Now, all of 

 this might have been prevented by nipping off the 



