i887. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



187 



compound, unless we resort to the tedious and 

 wasteful method of usuig brooms or whisks of 

 slender twigs, which are dipped into the com- 

 pound and then switched right and left so as to 

 spray the foliage as directed in our circular of 

 last season. The Vermorel apparatus, includ- 

 ing reservoir, pump, and spraying nozzle, is 

 well adapted for vineyard use, and is spec- 

 ially constructed for applying the various 

 liijuid jireparations containing sulphate of cop- 

 per. — Compiled from Department Report. 



About Huckleberries. 



\VM. e. YEOMANS, COLCMUIA, <'ONN. 



Recently it was stated in Popular Garden- 

 iNi; that " Hucklebenies are notasuccess upon 

 uplands." New England farmei-s will hardlj' 

 admit the correctness of such a proposition. 



This depends very much whether the soil is 

 natural to the growth of this fruit. Here in 

 Connecticut, where it is a native and found in 

 all pastures, it is especially tenacious of life, 

 and its best habitat is upon upland. We refer 

 to the low kind as distinguished from the high 

 Huckleberry or Blueberry, which rather prefers, 

 wet ground. The latter are prolific and easily 

 gathered, but are considered much less desira- 

 ble in the market than the low kind of berries 

 that come a little later. 



In many parts of New England where past- 

 ures are left to themselves, the gi-owth of this 

 fruit is astonishingly great, and the picking of 

 it for the markets makes business for women 

 and children. In the writer's own town many 

 bushels are picked every day during the season 

 and sold to local dealers for shipment. In the 

 height of the season fifty or more bushels are 

 shipped per day. Sometimes the fruit grows 

 ijuite large, and when carefully picked and 

 handled is very desirable in the cities. 



It is also becoming desirable for canning 

 purposes, which will enlarge the market, or 

 rather give the opportunity for securing a 

 larger proportion of the crop. So far as we 

 have ever learned the attempt to cultivate the 

 low Huckleberry has never proved a success. 

 While in its native condition among the rocks 

 and bogs of a New England pasture its tenacity 

 of lite will prove to be very great; when trans- 

 planted to other conditions its hold upon Ufe 

 seems to be destroyed. In the New England 

 soil it will grow and fruit to perfection. 



Rhubarb.— A Test of Varieties. 



E S. (JOFF, GENEVA, N. V. 



Om- catalogue contains the names of quite a 

 large number of claimed varieties of the Rhu- 

 barb or Pieplant. In order to see how much 

 difference there may be in these, I set out in the 

 spring of 1884 sample plants bearing eleven 

 different names, procured from one of our lead- 

 ing nurserymen. Their names are Early 

 Crimson, Early Scarlet, General Taylor, Giant, 

 Magnmn Bonum, Marshall's Royal, Myatt's 

 Liuna-us, Prince Albert, Scarlet Nonpareil, 

 Tobolsk and Victoria. Of this list several are 

 not clearly distinct. The last two named and 

 the Early Crimson, General Taylor and Prince 

 Albert all resemble each other so closely as 

 to appeal- identical. Giant and Magnmn Bon- 

 um, though somewhat different from the above, 

 seem to be the same. Myatt's Linna>us and 

 Scarlet Nonpareil also resemble each other, but 

 I am not sure that the}' are identical, as the 

 latter is rather the more vigorous, and is in- 

 deed the most vigorous of all. I have no hesi- 

 tation in pronouncing this the most productive 

 variety on trial. The leaf stalks are very 

 numerous, the longer ones being fourteen to 

 fifteen inches long and fully one inch and one- 

 fourth wide. The whole plant is nearly five 

 feet in diameter, while the leaves exclusive of 

 the flower stalks are about two feet in height. 



Myatt's LitiniPUS is second in vigor and pro- 

 ductiveness. Marshall's Royal, Tobolsk and 

 Victoria have done poorest. The plants have 

 been given an abundance of manure and have 

 had good cultivation. 



Notes on Insecticides. 



CLARENCE H. WELD, CHAMPAIGN, ILL. 



Rose Slugs are doing much injury this season 

 in Illinois, and though so easily destroyed, 

 most people, either through ignorance or neg- 

 lect, let them live on vmmolested. A neighbor 

 of mine cleared his bushes completely by ap- 

 plying pjTethrum In water with a force-pump 

 and spray nozzle. Hellebore, whale oil soap, 

 kerosene emulsion and slug shot are also effec- 

 tual remedies, but pyretlirum is generally to 

 be preferred on account of its non-poisouous 

 qualities, and the ease of its application. 



That first cousin to the Rose Slug, the Pear 

 or Cherry-tree Slug, is also seriouslj- injurious, 

 and there are many trees in this vicinity that 

 have their foliage badly sered by it. This 

 pest also is very easily subdued by any of the 

 remedies above mentioned, and it should never 

 be allowed to live unmolested. Trees may be 

 very readily sprayed with a hand force-pump 

 and spray nozzle. And by the way, I believe 

 it will pay every ruralist who can at all afford 

 it to have one of these hand force pumps about 

 the premises. They can be used for a dozen 

 puqjoses, and for applj'ing nearly all kinds of 

 insecticides are unsurpassed. There are several 

 patterns in the market, most of which do very 

 satisfactory work. One of these pumps is 

 handy in washing the buggy, the vegetables 

 for market, the outside of the windows of the 

 house, and is useful in many other ways. They 

 can be bought for seven or eight dollars. It is 

 best to put on rather a long hose, as it is often 

 necessarj' to elevate the nozzle into large trees. 



The fall Web-worm is beginning to make his 

 unsightly webs on various fruit and shade 

 trees. With this insect a stitch in time saves 

 several dozen nines. Remove and burn the 

 infested twig as soon as noticed ; or spray the 

 tree with the arsenites (Paris Green or London 

 Purple) in water. 



I recently had an experience illustrating the 

 manner in which many insecticides come into 

 disrepute among a certain class of horticultur- 

 ists. I was going over the grounds of one of 

 the most successful nurserymen of the State 

 with the proprietor and his foreman, Mr. F. 

 Coming to some young Cherry trees badly in- 

 fest with plant lice, in answer to an inquiry, I 

 said that the kerosene emulsion would kill the 

 lice. " But," said Mr. F., " it will also kill the 

 trees, at least that is my experience." I asked 

 how he had made his emulsion, and learned 

 that he had simply attempted to mix the kero- 

 sene with water. Of course it killed the foliage. 

 He might as well have done like the man I saw 

 the other day in Southern Illinois killing 

 Chinch Bugs on Corn by applying the pure kero- 

 sene. It was siu-e death to the bugs— and also 

 to the d'orn. 



It seems strange that so many people find it 

 difficult to make this kerosene emulsion suc- 

 cessfully. I have tried both thy Cook and Riley 

 formula- and if the dii'ections are followed a 

 staVile emulsion can easily be made. A couple 

 of gallons of the undiluted emulsion will keep 

 a long while, and can be diluted as needed for 

 appliiatiun. It is very eft'ei-tual against plant 

 lice, and many similar insects, and can be made 

 in quantity for about a cent a gallon. 



We see occasional notices of killing Green-fly 

 in hot-houses by Tobacco stems, but from the 

 experience of a neighboring market gardener 

 I am inclined to doubt the value of the method. 

 Having a large house full of Lettuce badly in- 

 fested by the lice, he saturated the atmosphere 

 thoroughly with the vapor of tobacco water, 

 but without success. Has any one had a differ- 

 ent experience ? 



Points About Wine: Natural Tem- 

 perance Wine. 



D S. MARVIN, WATERTOWN, N. V. 



There are few subjects to which there adhere 

 so many wrong impressions, crude and un- 

 tenable ideas, as to the wine question. I^et the 

 average agitator of temperance principles be 

 told about temperance wine, and they have 



never heard of it, and perhaps will not believe 

 there is such a thing, when in reality all genu- 

 ine unfortified wine is a natural temperance 

 drink, but especiallj the natural unfemieuted 

 juice of the Grape just as nature gives it foith. 



The latter is a little more difficult to keep 

 fresh than is the fermented juice, but modern 

 science and the resources of the culi)iary de- 

 partment of every well ordered kitchen are 

 ample for the [lurpose. All that is needed is 

 the processes applied in fruit canning, and this 

 same natural temperance wine, the best of all 

 beverages ever used by man, comes out pure 

 and fresh, just as you open a can of Peaches or 

 Tomatoes. 



In canning the natural juice of the Grape 

 may be direitly used or it may be boiled down 

 by a low degree of heat, and then diluted when 

 opened. For sick people, for children, for aged 

 people, for all sorts and conditions, it is a de- 

 licious, nourishing drink, acceptable indeed to 

 the strictest sect of temijerance people. Cali- 

 fornia sees the point and is furnishing this nat- 

 ural juice of the Grape by the barrel and tierce. 



The old way of preserving Grape juice that 

 has come down from barbarian ages, namely, 

 as fermented wine, if made from the natural 

 juice, alone is no more harmful than lager beer, 

 while it is a thousand times more delicate and 

 medicinal in its nature. In this form it pos- 

 sesses, but a small per cent of alcohol and the 

 alcohol is icnanthic ether, not the dangerous 

 amylic alcohol or fusel oil. The trouble in the 

 case of the wine of commerce is that liquor 

 fabricators fortify their wines with thisaorylic 

 alcohol to increase its keeping qualities, a sub- 

 stance that should never be employed. 



Temperance people should do all in their 

 power to introduce the natural uufermented 

 wine, especially for use by invalids, for sacra- 

 mental purposes, for a harvest drink, etc., in- 

 stead of ice water, and even as a drink in pul 1- 

 lic houses. Every garden in the land should 

 have its row of vines, and when the fruit ripens 

 a small wine press should be procured, and this 

 natural wine pressed and used as long as the 

 Grapes can be kept. Then instead of intem- 

 perance and degradation there will come higher 

 health and purer morals. 



Some time ago I wrote to Dr. Nichols, of the 

 Journal of Chemistry , one of our oldest chemists, 

 about the differences of the alcohols pertaining 

 to wines, and I am glad to be able to present 

 his answer here: 



Boston, Mass., May 1, ISST. 

 Mr. I). S. Miirvin: 



Dear Sir: — The "disease of drunkenness " is 

 due to the " ethylic " or common alcohol in the 

 wine or liquor. The amylic alcohol or fusel oil 

 is a very dangerous substance, and renders 

 liquors containing it much more harmful. 

 The o'nanthie ether — not alcohol — is a natural 

 product in wines, and in the usual quantities 

 is probably harmless, giving an agreaable 

 flavor and taste, but I should not recommend 

 any artificial addition of it to wines. Its only 

 effect is to give a better taste to inferior grades, 

 and if added in large quantities would ]irobably 

 render it unwholesome. The artificial unau- 

 thic ether is probably different from the nat- 

 ural product of the grape or other fruit. 

 Yours truly, 



A. P. Nichols. 



Crvstalizing Flowers. A writer iu Popular 

 Science News remarks that this process is simple, 

 and can be aceoiiiplished by any Iftdy of taste. 

 Arrange some basket-forms of any fancied pattern, 

 wiih ])liable copper wire and wrap them with 

 gauze. Into these tie to the bottom Violets, Ferns, 

 Geranium leaves— in fact, any flowers except full- 

 blown Roses— and sink them in a solution of alum, 

 of one pound to a gallon of water, after the solu- 

 tion has cooled. The colors will then be preserved 

 in their original beauty, and the crystalized alum 

 will hold them faster than when from a hot solu- 

 tion. When you have a light covering of crystals 

 that completely envelopes the articles, remove the 

 basket carefully and allow it to drip for twelve 

 liours. Tliese baskets make a beautiful parlor orna- 

 ment and long preserve their freshness. 



