1887. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



131 



new growth at tip end when not over two feet high. 

 The party had made another mistake and that 

 was plowing; up to them We don't use a plow the 

 first two years, but simply cultivate tliem, drawing 

 up around the plant with the hoe as much earth as 

 we would to Corn. After the second j-ear we begin 

 plowing up to them and follow it up until the plan- 

 tation has run out. 



There is no question but what the hedge system 

 is the best for growing Black Raspberries and 

 Blackberries, for by the limbs growing together 

 it prevents the fierce winds of winter blowing them 

 around and breaking them oflf . We know it is some 

 more work to keep thera clean than when we can 

 cultivate both ways, but if kept well cultivated and 

 cleaned the first year or two, it requires but little 

 more than ploughing up to them once a year and 

 cultivating between the rows. We find it strictly 

 necessary in the fall to plough up to the trees 

 young planted two deep rows to prevent heaving 

 in such an open winter as the past. This leaves a 

 furrow away from trees for water to stand in and 

 prevents heaving of young stock. The old wood 

 in those large Red Raspberry and Blackberry plan- 

 tations must be cut out this month before the leaf- 

 ing season comes on, as it makes bad picking. 



MEAT FROM THE SHELL. 



The Journal of Agriculture says: For Grapes 

 growing in a dry situation stable manure answers 

 as well as any fertilizer; on damp ground it is 

 different. Here diseased vines would result from 

 its use. A much better article is found in wood 

 ashes, bone dust and the like. It may be added 

 that the roots of vines in damp places should be 

 encouraged by culture to keep near the surface. 



The N. Y. Tribune says: The trouble about using 

 glass, under the sudden bursts of burning sunshine 

 to which we are liable, is the necessity of noting 

 such times, and of running out to move the glass 

 and so prevent the otherwise inevitable scorc'hlng 

 of the plants. A great merit of the water-proof 

 muslin is that it does not transmit heat as glass 

 does, although admitting light to almost a sufficient 

 extent. It is light, less liable to break, and easier 

 of storage. For a row of early Peas, a board on the 

 north side leaned forward and panes of glass leaned 

 against it on the south side make an admirably 

 simple and efficient shelter. There is sufficient air 

 circulation between the panes to carry off excess of 

 heat under full sunshine. 



The Farm and Home says: Kainit should be 

 applied very carefully to Strawberry plantations, 

 if they are not covered with mulch If the mulch 

 covers the plants, it may be sown broadcast, or it 

 may be sown upon the snow with safety. If there 

 is no mulch upon the bed. it should be sown between 

 the rows. The quantity may vary from one-half to 

 one ton per acre. Generally better results will be 

 obtained by sowing equal value of some more com- 

 plete fertilizer than the kainit, says Prof. S. T. 

 Maynard of the Massachusetts Agricultural College. 

 We should add that kainit is a coarse grade of 

 German potash salts, 100 lbs. of which contain about 

 12 lbs. of pure potash, the rest being salt, lime and 

 magnesia principally. 



We clip the following from the Planters' Journal. 

 It may do for amateurs, but we think will not pay 

 on a large scale: A new style of growing Straw- 

 berries has been introduced in California. The 

 Strawberry bed consists of a brick mound, 16 feet 

 long, 5 feet wide at the base, nearly 4 feet high and 

 6 inches wide at the top. The interior of the mound 

 consists of rock and manure. The bricks are laid 

 about an inch apart, and between them the plants 

 are set. There are 600 plants in the mound. The 

 bed is watered through a wooden chute in the top 

 of the mound, which empties into the rock in the 

 interior. The gardener says the Strawberries 

 thrive better by this method of growing, and that 

 each mound will produce a bushel and a half of 

 berries twice a year— in the months of March or 

 April and July or August. The bricks, warmed by 

 the sun, bum off the tendrils of the plants and thus 

 prevent them from running. The berries produced 

 are large, clean and luscious, and the beds are or- 

 namental Each bed costs somewhat less than $20, 



H. F. Womer, of Dakota, writes to the Prririe 

 Farmer as follows: When I commenced experi- 

 menting with Apples in Dakota, four years ago, I 

 planted the Duchess, Wealthy, Pewaukee, Haas, 

 McMahon, Wolf River. Mcintosh, Decarie, Brock- 

 ville Beauty, Peach of Montreal, German Calville, 

 Charlamoff, Pepoff, and Zolotoreff; since then I 

 have planted nearly a hundred varieties of the 

 Russian and new northern Apples, but they have 

 not been sufficiently tested as yet to determine 

 their merits. Taking for our standard of hardiness 

 the well-known Duchess and Wealthy (they lose 



their terminal buds here in hard winters), there are 



four varieties in the above list that stand pre-eminent 

 for this cUmate, and may be described in following 

 manner: Zolotoreff is as strong a grower and as 

 hardy as the Box Alder. Pi-of. Budd says that at 

 Ames it is inclined to blight, but with me it has 

 shown no sign of blight. The fruit is very large, 

 oblong, with well defined crimson stripes. It is a 

 true Russian, of the Alexander tj'pe Season, Oc- 

 tober and November, . . . McMahon is a north- 

 ern Wisconsin seedling that seems to defy alike 

 the cold of winter and the heat and drought of sum- 

 mer. Fruit large, waxen-white, with red cheek, 

 tart; early winter. . . . Charlamoff is a Russian 

 of the Government importation; a good tree in 

 every way. Fruit large, oblong, streaked carmine, 

 good; season, October. . . Wolf River, a 



Wisconsin seedling of the Alexander. A handsome 

 tree in the orchard. Fruit large, showy, striped, 

 looking very much like that of its parent. 



The Starvation Theory for Peach 

 Yellows. 



JOHN WITjCOX, CUMBERIjAND COUNTY, N. J. 



That the disease known as the yellows in 

 Peaches has its primary origin in the deficiency 

 of the requisite plant food in the soil is a posi- 

 tion capable of being sustained by the greatest 

 accumulation of evidence. 



A Mr. Locuson, of Willow Grove, -in this 

 county, has a Peach orchard of five hundred 

 trees, transplanted two years ago. The trees 

 are very fine and vigorous; but in one spot, 

 where undoubtedly the germs of yellows were 

 in the soil, four trees are what might have been 

 regarded as hopeless cases of that disease. He 

 concluded to apply four quarts of German kainit 

 to each tree last spring, thinking that it would 

 kill the trees, which he had resolved to take 

 out ; but, to his astonishment, they commenced, 

 in June, to change color from the yellow sickly 

 appearance that the disease indicates to a dark 

 green hue ; and, the first of October, every shoot 

 had grown two feet, and the trees are, to all 

 appearances, perfectly healthy. He left one 

 tree without the application of the kainit, and 

 it has shed its leaves without making more than 

 three inches of sickly, slender shoots. 



A couple of years since we, in company with 

 a friend, passed through a block of Peach seed- 

 lings, which had been sown the current spring. 

 The men were engaged at the time in budding 

 them. They were grown upon land which had 

 been used for growing nursery trees, but had 

 not been used before for growing the Peach. 

 In this lot of trees we discovered a half-dozen 

 which showed incontestable evidence of being 

 in the worst stages of yellows. Thinking, 

 possibly, that they might be dying from the 

 effects of borers, as they sometimes get into 

 trees the first season's growth, we took them up, 

 and found that the roots bore no appearance of 

 having been disturbed. Here were trees grown 

 from Tennessee seed, where the yellows are un- 

 known, and yet the soil imparted the disease to 

 the trees the first season. 



Another instance of incontestable proof of 

 this theory was observed in two cases where 

 we sold to two farmers orchards of about five 

 hundred trees each. The trees did well in both 

 instances, except a spot of a half acre, or there- 

 abouts, in each orchard, where the trees leaved 

 out, commenced growing, and soon after mid- 

 summer died with yellows. We were astonished 

 with the result, and made a close examination 

 of the trees and soil. We could see no difference 

 in the soil, and the ti-ees of different vai'ieties, 

 which did well on each side of these spots, died 

 as they came within the limits of the pieces of 

 infected soil. 



Not fully satisfied with the result, we reset 

 the trees the next spring, only to have them all 

 die again. The following spring we had the 

 owners of the orchards dig out large holes, and 

 dump in half a wagon-load of sods from the 

 road side, upon which the next lot of trees were 

 set, nud did well in every instance. While we 

 could give other corroborative proofs to sustain 

 the theory that the origin of the disease is in 

 the soil, we do not deem it necessary to devote 

 our limited space to so doing. — "Peach Cultiue. " 



Bti^,^^^:=l 



Growlnsr Large Chrysanthemums. 



Knowing Mr. Arthur H. Fewkes, of New- 

 ton Highlands, Mass., to be a most success- 

 ful grower of the Chrysanthemum, and that 

 his achievements in the raising of large blooms 

 have been quite remarkable, we invited him 

 to prepare for Popular Gardening some 

 directions on the 

 best methods of 

 culture having 

 such an end in 

 view. To this 

 request he very 

 kindly complied 

 as follows: 



To produce 

 large Chrysan- 

 themum flowers 

 the start may be 

 made by taking 

 cuttings late in 

 March or April 

 and potting di- 

 rectlj' into 2 3-4 

 inch pots. As 

 soon as these are 

 well rooted place 

 in a cool, airy 

 house, or cold 

 frame.and shad- 

 ed for a few days 

 until they begin 

 to grow freely. 

 Here theyshould 

 remain until all 

 danger from 

 frost is past, 

 when the pots 

 should be plung- 



Acre 



Fig. 4. A one-fourth 

 Garden embracing many jileas- 

 ing features. See next page. 



ed to the rim in either a bed of coal ashes or in 

 the open ground. The place should be one at 

 all times fully exposed to light and air. 



The pots should not be allowed to become 

 pot-bound early in the season, but as soon 

 as the roots have reached the sides of the 

 pots they may be shifted into the next larger 

 size, and from this into a still larger size, if 

 need be, for the plants should be kept growing 

 freely until the buds have formed. 



The soil should be rich and free from clay ; 

 well decayed stable manure or hot-bed soil and 

 sand makes a good compost. 



When the plants have reached a height of six 

 or eight inches they should be pinched back, 

 taking out the smallest amount possible from 

 the growing end. This will cause them to break 

 into three or four shoots, which should be 

 allowed to perfect but one bud each. By so 

 doing the whole strength of the plant is thrown 

 into these three or four buds, which will develop 

 into flowers of an enormous size, if properly 

 fed with liquid manure. Each shoot, as it 

 approaches maturity, will have formed several 

 buds, all of which should be removed, but the 

 largest, which is usually the one at the extreme 

 end. This disbudding should be done as soon 

 as superfluous buds are large enough to be 

 taken without injury to those to remain. 



The plants should be watered as often as they 

 may need it, for they should never be allowed 

 to become dry. As the pots begin to get well 

 filled with roots rather weak liquid manure 

 should be given them frequently, and later on 

 they may lie fed with it entirely. By plunging 

 in the ground nearly half the watering may be 

 saved. They can be prevented from rooting 

 by turning the pots ai'ound in the ground thus 

 breaking off any roots that may be inclined 

 to ruu through the drainage hole. 



Each plant should be provided with a stout 

 stake early in the season, to which it may be 

 tied, from time to time, as it increases in size. 



In the Autumn they may receive the same 

 treatment, as to housing, as ordinary plants, 

 but as they are more aj^t to be pot-bound great 

 care should be taken that they do not suffer 

 from want of water, and liquid manure must 

 be given to them very freely until the flowers 

 begin to open, when it should be discontinued. 



