196 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



August, 



^y^HT r?H°B^- 



ig. A simple 



ective remedy for 



skey applied 



Fainting advertisements on rocks, walls, and 

 fences by the myriad nostrnm makers is a nuis- 

 ance that should be prohibited by law.— B. G. 

 Northrup. 



Gardening, that Is, the love of plants or flowers, 

 whether tlie apace extends to several acres, or is 

 limited to the windows of a room, is, as has often 

 been asserted, the purest and most self-satisfying 

 of pleasurable occupations 



Due to all Good Judges. Rule G of the Toronto 

 Horticultural Society reads thus: Any publicly- 

 expressed opinion impugning the decisions of the 

 judges during the show will involve the forfeiture 

 of all prizes of such competitors. 



"Consider the Lily." If we only observe it we 

 have a grand lesson given us in these three little 

 words. From them we learn a lesson of meekness 

 and purity, and not to despise small things in our 

 aim at the great.— Mattie Stiles. 



In Planting Raspberries one thing should al- 

 ways be observed— to plant deep. I prefer plant- 

 ing in a furrow, so that I can cultivate in the soil 

 as the plants grow. — T^. J. Green, before Colum- 

 bus (Ohio) Horticultural Society. 



Raspberries ; How Long to Stand. At the 

 May meeting of the Alton Horticultural Society it 

 was the universal testimony that it is not best to 

 attempt to take more than three crops from a plan- 

 tation of Gregg. Other varieties will do well for 

 one or two years longer. 



Wire Instead of Pins. Secretary Riehl of the 

 Alton, (111.) Society, recommended the use of wire 

 instead of pins in bagging Grapes, being easier 

 and more quickly put on, and holding the bags 

 more firmly; fine wire, such as nurserymen use to 

 put on labels with, is best; would use one-pound 

 bags for Concord and two-pound for Niagara, 

 Empire State and Goethe. 



The Indiana Florists. An association has re- 

 cently been formed by the enterprising florists of 

 Indiana, and they propose promptly to show what 

 they can do at getting up an exhibition. This will 

 be held at Indianapolis for three days, beginning 

 with November 7th, nest, and judging from the 

 premium list issued, a copy of which has reached 

 us, it should prove a great success. Mr. J. S. Car- 

 mody, Evansville, Indiana, is the president. 



Wire Trellis for Peas. H. S. Thiers, at a meet- 

 of the Michigan Horticultural Society, said that 

 several long rows of early Peas in the college 

 garden were trained for the purpose of determin- 

 ing the relative cost of methods of training. One 

 lot was trained to brush in the ordinary manner. 

 Another lot was trained on wool twine stretched 

 lengthwise the rows; and the third lot was trained 

 to No. 20 wire in the place of wool twine. The 

 wire proved to be the best and cheapest trellis, 

 even counting only the first year, although it will 

 last many years. Its advantages over the brush 

 were especially marked, for it not only cost less to 

 buy and stretch the wire than it did to cut and 

 stick the brush, but it made a neater and more 

 substantial trellis, allowing closer cultivation and 

 less work in picking. The wires were stretched 

 upon pieces of two by fours driven firmly at dis- 

 tances of some twenty feet apart. The first wire 

 was placed about a foot from the ground. Three 

 wires were used. Wool twine was used the same 

 fts wire but it sagged and became unmanageable. 



BE! N^MATTER-THAT-DESERVES' 

 •TO-BE WIDELYKMOWM- 



Location and Hardiness. Robt. Douglas, of 

 WaukKgan, commenting on Mr. Hoopes' paper (see 

 other column) said: Trees from seed of Pinus 

 ponderosa, brought from the Pacific slope, are not 

 hardy, while the same from seed gathered from the 

 Rocky mountains and thereabouts are as hardy as 

 Red Pine with him. A fungus, however, destroys 

 their beauty, and also attacks the Austrian Pine 

 and the Pinus re^iiiosa^ though not the Scotch Pine, 

 consequently trees of the Pinus ponderosa were 

 dug up on their plantation to get rid of the fungus 

 growth. He has found the same fungus in Illinois 

 and Missouri on the Austrian Pine and some other 

 trees. He cited the well known example of corn 

 seed, which was brought from Southern Illinois, 

 Kansas, etc., a few years since to supply that which 

 has been destroyed by early frost in northern re- 

 gions. The seed grew and the plants flourished, 

 but the great trouble was they did not know when 

 to stop growing, and the frost came before the ears 

 had matured. The same principle also he said ap- 

 plies to trees. He cited as an illustration planting 

 the acorns of the Burr Oak, which are found in 

 different size from Indiana to the Black Hills. If 

 seeds are taken from both localities and planted in 

 the North, it will be found that the southern seeds 

 grow larger, but less hardy trees. 



Nursery and Horticultural Supplies were 

 shown at the recent Nurserymen's Convention at 

 Chicago, as follows; Transplnniing Trowel for 

 Shrubs, etc., F. B. Abbott, Chicago; Tongue Graft- 

 ing Machine, Bardwell & Haviland, Ft. Podge, la.; 

 Spry's Early Raspberry, Stone's Blackberry, Coe & 

 Converse, Fort Atkinson, Wis. ; Feigly Tree Digger, 

 Dayton Star Nurseries, Dayton, 0.; Young Ever- 

 greens, David Hill, Dundee, III.; Ti-ees retarded by 

 Cold Storage, W. F. Heikes, Huntsville, Ala ; 

 Young Evergreens, .J. Jeak'ma, Winona, O.; Pack- 

 ing Crate for Fruit, Jenkins, McGuire & Co.. Balti- 

 more, Md. ; Disk Pulverizer, Janesville Machine 

 Co., Janesville, Wis.; Sphagnum Moss, Z, K. 

 Jewett, Sparta, Wis.; New Wheel Hoe, S. F. 

 Leonard, Chicago; Strawberry, Jessie, F. W. 

 Loudon, .Janesville, Wis.; Specimens of Printing, 

 J. Horace McFarland; Preserved Fruits, D. M. 

 McCullough, Troy, O. ; Root Graft Cutter, Wash- 

 ington Maynard, Assumption, 111, ; Specimens Fruit 

 Trees, Nichols & Lorton, Davenport, la. ; Specimens 

 Fruit Trees, Oakland Nursery Co., Forgy, O.; 

 Tobacco Soap. Rose Mfg. Co., New York.; Speci- 

 mens of Lithographs, Stecher Lithographic Co., 

 Rochester, N. Y . ; Hand-cart and Barrel Carrier, 

 Wind-mill, Tools, etc.. Sandwich Mfg. Co , Sand- 

 wich, III.; Tools and Supplies, J. C. Vaughan, 

 Chicago; Tree Digger, N. A. Whitney, Franklin 

 Grove, III.; Strawberry, Warfield's No. 2. B. C. 

 Warfleld, Sandoval, III. ; Teas, Weeping Mulberry 

 and Retarded Trees, Jas. B, Wild & Bros. , Sarcoxie, 

 Mo ; Western Union .Strawberry, Fred C. Withoft, 

 Dayton, Ohio. 



Southern Trees Can Not be Accli- 

 mated to the North. 



[By Josiah Hoopes, before the American Nursery- 

 mens' Association, Chicago.] 



The popular theory that vegetation from a 

 warmer climate may be gradually inured to 

 our own, by a system of nursing throughont a 

 series of years, is untenable and unworthy of 

 belief. Plant structure cannot be varied to 

 suit the special degree of temperature wherein 

 it may be placed. Taking advantage, however, 

 of the system by which nature perpetuates 

 trees and plants, we are enabled to produce, in 

 a great measure, a new race with many of the 

 characteristics of its parents; but we ai-e unable 

 to create new laws of our own and adapt them 

 to plant life. 



Several years since, in the firm belief that 

 half-hardy vegetation might be acclimated in 

 our Northern climate, the writer experimented 

 with a Mat/nolia grandiflora, which is pro- 

 verbially unreliable much farther north than 

 Baltimore. Commencing with a seedling plant, 

 it was wintered in a cold frame for three or 

 four years, when a shelter of boards and leaves 



was substituted during the winter months. 

 This was successful for several years, 

 although the protection was gradually 

 lessened, to the apparent discomfort of the 

 plant, which succumbed at last to the inev- 

 itable when the covering consisted of boards 

 alone. This specimen at the time of its death 

 had reached the height of twelve feet, and had 

 produced flowers for three or four seasons. 



A series of tests were likewise instituted with 

 certain varieties of the Peach, the trees having been 

 procured from widely different latitudes, ranging 

 from the Gulf States to the extreme North. These 

 were subsecjuently planted side by side in the same 

 enclosure, the culture was precisely alike, and of 

 course all the controlling influences were similar; 

 yet in after years there was never the least percep- 

 tible distinction in the hardiness of trees, or in rip- 

 ening and quality of crop. 



Observation teaches us that vegetation peculiar 

 to warm climates needs a much longer season than 

 our own, to mature its growth, and perhaps more 

 losses occur with us from injury to the immature 

 tissue thorough the effect of cold northwest winds 

 than from any other cause. Any system looking 

 towards retarding growth in autumn, and a conse- 

 quent early maturity of the plant, is a great point 

 gained. And for this reason all species that are 

 natives of a milder clime than our own cannot be 

 forced with stimulating manures to the same ex- 

 tent as the indigenous flora, so that in testing the 

 reliability of new and (juestionabie trees and 

 plants it is well to set them in rather poor soil. 

 The same controlling power which has ad- 

 justed the limit or endurance in the woody por- 

 tion of our ligneous vegetation exerts a similar 

 influence upon fhe roots of the humbler herba- 

 ceous plants. The rudiments of a new life above 

 ground are stored away in the roots of these 

 during winter, ready and willing to start into 

 growth the moment their immediate surroundings 

 are congenial. In the case of species adapted by 

 nature to a mild climate the roots are peculiarly 

 sensitive to a low temperature, which destroys the 

 delicate organism, no matter how careful we may 

 protect them. In a word, they never become accli- 

 mated. (.)nce tender and delicate they will so re- 

 main until the end of time, and no efforts of our 

 puny will can change the Immutable edict which 

 ordained and called them into being. Occasionally 

 one finds a solitary member of some tender species, 

 which has apparently become inured to the colder 

 atmosphere of our locality, but should this ex- 

 ceptional specimen be moved to a less favorable 

 position, death will almost inevitably result. 



These remarks are not intended to discourage my 

 fellow members from judiciously experimenting 

 with promising subjects, but rather to prevent the 

 young and enthusiastic novice from being misled 

 by the delusive charms of a novelty of which we 

 are not fully advised. Too often have we all allowed 

 our better judgment to be ignored when entering 

 largely into the cultivation of certain trees and 

 plants, resulting in loss and disappointment. 



In conclusion, I might be permitted to allude to 

 an opinion recently advanced by an advocate of the 

 acclimating theory, which, however, does not in- 

 fluence in the least the immutability of plant life.' 

 The dissimilarity in hardiness, as shown by Pinus 

 ponderosa of the Pacific coast, and its vai-iety, 

 scopulomm, from the Rocky mountains, is exceed- 

 ingly marked; but as this character may vary in 

 varieties as well as species, we see at a glance that 

 such a course of reasoning has no bearing on the 

 variation of hardiness in any one tree. This dis- 

 tinction may occasionally be noticed in individuals 

 of the same species, natives of widely different 

 latitudes; but that there has been any change since 

 their creation we have no positive proof. All we 

 know definitely is, that, for instance, certain plants 

 of Red Cedar are entirely hardy quite far north, 

 yet individuals of same species, removed from their 

 southern limit, will not survive in thecolder locality. 



The Work of Village Improvement 

 Associations. 



[Abstract of paper by B. O. Northrop, L. L. D., 

 before the Indiana State Horticultural Society.] 



What has been done in this Line. In New 

 Haven, Connecticut, in 1779, the first associa- 

 tion of this kind, within my knowledge, was 

 formed, with a secured subscription of $1,500. 

 "The Green," or pubUc square, was graded, 

 and the now majestic Elms were planted around 

 it and along the streets. It is due to that asso- 

 ciation that New Haven is known through the 

 land as the " Elm City." The beauty of the 



