^74 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



July, 



The Century Plant. 



In my garden grows a plant 



Very stiff and very stately, 

 And its curvinif leaves I giant 



That my eyes admire greatly. 

 But though I may watch and wait 



All the years that Ood shall send me, 

 Watch it early, 'ttnd it late. 



Not a bloom that plant shall l>>nd me. 

 So I find my love is more 



For the Kose that blns'^oms yearlj', 

 Than for all the hidden store 



That this stately plant holds dearly. 

 Better is it, child, to show 



Daily love and tender sweetness, 

 Than to hide in deeps below 



All that gives your life completeness. 

 Yet, if God commands you, wait 



With a splendor in you growing. 

 Stand with meekness in your state 



Till the bud is ripe for blowing. 



— Wide Awake. 



Big Berries on Top. 



The vendor crying out his wares, 



Has many trials, many cares. 



Rut 'mid them all he'll hourly stop 



To place big berries on the top. 



So through the world we sing our deeds, 



Spread forth the flowers and hide the weeds, 



Our voices to the bottom drop. 



Put fairest berrits on the top 



The hawker knows what he's about, 



He takes us in, and leaves us out, 



Witli berries that are not first chop. 



With blushing beauties on the top. 



Bruised. 



Aromatic plants bestow 

 No spicy fragrance while they grow; 

 But, crushed or trodden to the ground. 

 Diffuse theii- balmy sweets around. 



^Goldsmith. 



Plan to show at the fairs. 



Seedy enough— Raspberries. 



Mark and save the best for seed. 



Subscriptions may begin any month. 



Layering of this season's growth is in order. 



Sweet Potato soil should be kept well stirred. 



We favor some ('hinese: the Peach is Chinese. 



The Cayuga Gooseberry is reported as mildew- 

 ing badly. 



Tritomas love an abundance of water in the 

 flowering season 



Tomatoes enjoy sun, and this explains the 

 advantage of trellising. 



A bed neatly raked is ornamental irrespective of 

 what may be growing on it. 



Cucumbers are green, but they get the best of a 

 fellow sometimes.— New Age. 



Drop the name Syringia for Mock Orange: it be- 

 longs to Tvilac as the generic name. 



Tlie destructive Elm-leaf Beetle is at work in 

 many placfS. Apply remedy 29, page 148. 



Plant Stealing is a frequent crime in large cities, 

 the same stock being sold again and again. 



Yellow Boses of the old double sort do not "wear 

 out" as many suppose. Ifs starvation usually. 



The work of the lawn mower should extend into 

 the highway, at least to that part directly in front 

 of the home. 



Sugar Corn for Succession. By planting up to 

 the middle of the mouth good pickings are assured 

 until the time of frosts. 



The close clippings from the lawn would be 

 rehshed by hens that are yarded. The hens of 

 gardeners should be yarded. 



Currant Fertilizer. I have found wood ashes 

 better than manure for this fruit: it does'nt force 

 the wood so much —A. I. W,^ Lakefield^ Chit. 



Not the Worst Fruit Country. The value of 

 American Apples sent to England last year is placed 

 at $:ir)O0.00O, of which Canada furnished $451,000. 



Liquid Manure has this advantage: it can be 

 applied at any season, supplying both nutriment 



and moisture. On all classes of plants it has a 

 marvelous effect in promoting vigor. 



Miss-applied Horticulture. The young lady who 

 made seven hundred words out of " conservatory " 

 last autumn is said to have run away from home 

 Her mother wanted her to make three loaves of 

 bread out of flour. 



Cypress Sash Bars. A new industry is being 

 worked up by the Lockland Lumber Co., of Lock- 

 land, ( diio, in furnishing Cypress wood from the 

 Southern States for sash bars and other purposes 

 in greenhouse construction This wood is noted for 

 its great comparative durability when subjected to 

 the moisture of a greenhouse. 



Cabbage Worm Remedy. I have found the 

 following the best exterminator of the Cabbage 

 worm. A pailful of tepid water, in which a table- 

 spoonful of saltpetre has been dissolved, and give 

 the plants a good sprinkling. Should they again 

 appear renew the dose. It will not in any way in- 

 jure the plants but promotes their growth —J. W. 

 Phillips, Butler Co., Pa. 



The Bed-flowering Dogwood. A flower of this 

 charming new Dogwood was recently received 

 from the Kissena Nurseries, Flushing, N, Y. It is 

 of the form and general appearance of the white- 

 flowered species, but is suffused with red In a 

 manner to give to it an entirely distinct character. 

 It should prove a valuable acquisition to our list of 

 small sized flowering trees. 



Oardening is a healthy occupation. Statistics 

 prove and common sense confirms this. Gardening 

 induces free exercise in the pure air and exhilarat- 

 ing recreation to the mind. To engage in the rais- 

 ing of flowers, fruits and vegetables would, for 

 multitudes of weakly persons, and especially ladies, 

 prove a remedy of great excellence. The more 

 gardeners the fewer doctors. 



Mulching Plants with Stones. At this time of 

 heat and drought some may be glad to know that 

 stones are simply invaluable for plants to keep the 

 soil cool underneath. Small and delicate plants, 

 and those not yet established, may be kept cool 

 and moist by placing stones over their roots. It is 

 only by this means I am enabled to keep many of 

 my choicest plants.— .E. A. H. 



Bagging Grapes Early, Where rose bugs are a 

 pest to Grape bloom it is better to sack before 

 blooming. I was cautious lest the fruit would not 

 set for lack of pollen, but finding the bugs would 

 ruin it anyhow, I marked such sacks as were used 

 on buds not yet bloomed and they did well. I 

 did not try varieties with reflex stamens.— J. W. 

 Hollingsicorth., Orange Co., Ind. 



Pastures the Orchard. My experience is favor 

 able to pasturing hogs in the Apple orchard. One 

 part of orchard has been enclosed for hogs for 

 several years, and here the trees are the most 

 thrifty and the fruit the finest I have. Some trees 

 I have lost but none in the hog pasture. One 

 orchard I know of that was thus pastured for over 

 30 years never lost a tree.— .1. W., Berrien Co., Mich. 



Its time to head off bad weeds from going to 

 seed. About many homes Burdocks, Thistles, Yellow 

 I)ocks, Plantains, and others are rapidly going on 

 to maturity and to the making of much future 

 trouble, ftlany seeds from such plants are blown 

 or otherwise carried to the manure or compost 

 heaps only to find their way finally to the land. la 

 the destroying of such weeds a stitch in time may 

 save thousands. 



Spiders and Plant Lice. We do not dispute that 

 spiders may be of some use ia ridding plants and 

 trees of insects, but we cannot go as far as Dr. 

 Keller, of Zurich, in saying that they are of greater 

 service than birds. If they would but keep away 

 from our dwellings, greenhouses, etc. ; here they are 

 an intolerable nusiance. Lady birds we cherish as 

 helpers in the garden, in destroying plant lice; the 

 spiders could be well spared. 



Clematis on TrelUse. One of the prettiest speci- 

 mens of the Clematis Jackmanii that I have ever 

 seen was grown over a low sort of trellis, made 

 something like a series of barrel half hoops spread 

 out so as to be about six feet across and about 

 twelve feet long. The vines covered this and when 

 in bloom it was a beautiful sight. If protection was 

 thought necessary, it would be an easy matter to 

 protect them on this form of trellis.— /Vo/. Lazenby. 



Onions from Spring to Fall. My aim is to have 

 this wholesome and always salable vegetable fresh 

 for use and market from early spring until fall. 

 The Mutiplier is planted about September first for 

 providing the earliest crop This is followed by the 

 Potato Onion, which is planted also a month later, 

 setting it like the last at ten inches apart. Then 

 comes the early sets and the seed grown ones to 

 complete the auccesaion.— Reader, Fair Jield Co.^ 0. 



Tent Caterpillars are a thing of the past in 

 some parts of Long Island according to a recent 

 communication to the Rural New-Yorker. The 

 writer of it ascribes their absence in the first place 

 to a severe three-day storm at the time when the 

 caterpillar had reached its full growth and was seek- 

 ing a suitable place to change its state. The next 

 season there were but few nests, not more than 

 seemed to be required by the cuckoo. Last year 

 he saw but two nests and this year the same, and 

 these he destroyed. 



Rooting Moss Rose Slips. Being away from 

 home last year in August, I obtained two cuttings 

 of a choice Moss Rose, but had very little hope of 

 rooting them It was three days before I reached 

 home and could set them. I put them on the north 

 side of a large plant for shade, set deep, and 

 pressed firmly, of course watered thoroughly at 

 first, carefully atterwards, and mulched with small 

 evergreen twigs. Both of the cuttings grew and 

 are now fiourishing plants,— AfrK. Fanny C. Brigg.s, 

 Clarke Co., Washington Territory. 



Garden Parties. Among the fashionable but in- 

 formal parties of the season there have been Rose 

 parties given by those having gardens in which 

 there is an abundance of the Queen of Flowers. 

 Truly a good idea, and one that as carried out 

 with regard to other flowers and fruits is capable of 

 being adopted with desirable results in almost 

 every community. The horticulturists in many 

 places have had their social Strawberry meetings 

 during the past month with results both pleasant 

 and decidedly profitable. Let there be an increase 

 of horticultural parties. 



Hint on Setting Cabbage Plants. Such as have 

 been shipped should be unpacked as soon as possi- 

 ble after receiving them. Dip the roots only in 

 water and lay the plants in a cool, light place until 

 ready to set. If roots are kept wet the sun will not 

 hurt them. To keep them several days, heel in, 

 spreading them out somewhat, and pour water 

 along the roots once or twice a day. New rootlets 

 will start and the plants will get in better condition 

 for setting than when first received. When the 

 weather is dry such treatment pays, for then everj' 

 plant will start at once when set. — Tillinghast. 



Dandelions in Great Excess. Some parts of 

 Buffalo Park are so possessed by this insinuating 

 weed as to present a most unpleasant sight, lifting 

 as they do their countless cottony seed heads 

 above the ground. Indeed many beautiful banks 



A SPECIMEN OF THE SWISS STONE PINE. 



and plats are ruined so far as beauty is concerned, 

 and the seeding and the extending of the weedy 

 area goes on from year to year. Were the plats thus 

 infested to be kept more closely mown than at 

 present, with a view to destroying fiower heads 

 before seeds develop, a great check t6 the further 

 spreading of the weed by seeding would result. 



Trees as Companions. We find our most soothing 

 companionship in the trees among which we have 

 lived, some of which we may ourselves have 

 planted. We lean against them, and they never 

 betray our trust; they shield us from the sun and 

 from the rain ; their spring welcome is a new birth. 



