360 



Garden and Forest. 



[July 23, 1890. 



inevitable risks attend it. The orchardists of south-western 

 Maine grow such valuable commercial apples as the Baldwin, 

 the Rhode Island Greening, the Roxbury Russet and the Gra- 

 venstein successfully only when top-worked upon hardy 

 native stocks. Handy to Portland and to Boston, these grow- 

 ers have easy aecess to the best home and foreign markets 

 with their apples, which, when well grown and properly han- 

 dled, have a quick and sure sale at a high price. Their trees 

 will not be long-lived, but they will live long enough to yield a 

 handsome profit ; and as they rarely die all at one time, the 

 orchard can be kept up by replanting, or by successive plant- 

 ings, so as to make the business continuous. Such orchards, 

 short-lived though they may be, are very much more profita- 

 ble than their long-lived predecessors. We can still have long- 

 lived orchards by reverting to old methods. In changing 

 from them we have not effected any change in Nature. She 

 will still give us all that she gave our fathers if we will comply 

 with her conditions. 



Newport, Vt. T. H. HoskuiS. 



Our Currants. 



THE currant crop should be one of our largest. The mar- 

 ket is always good. The demand is never met by the 

 supply. I never fail to obtain eight cents a pound, and this 

 year have marketed all my crop at ten cents. The fruit pays 

 at five cents a pound. The bushes need strong, moist, but 

 not wet, soil. They should be kept clean and in a high state of 

 culture, but they like partial shade. I grow them in the same 

 rows with red Raspberries, alternating the bushes. 



The varieties best for market arc Versailles and Fay. There 

 is little difference between these, and the preference is for Ver- 

 sailles. This Currant is not easily obtained — that is, the 

 genuine. It is magnificent in bush and bunch. Why Fay 

 ever secured such applause as superior to all others is a 

 wonder. It is hardly distinguishable from the Versailles. The 

 Cherry has a short bunch, some years very short. It is also a 

 comparatively poor cropper, and is not well flavored. The 

 sweetest currant is White Dutch ; but when not very well 

 grown it is over seedy and small. White Grape is the first of 

 all currants for the table. It is thin-skinned, not over seedy, 

 large, handsome, with superb bunches, a great cropper, and 

 delicious in flavor. 



The currant has the advantage of hanging on the bushes for 

 several weeks, and is in order for the table for at least two 

 months. One should have a few bushes of Prince Albert to 

 lengthen out the season. Of course, if worms are allowed to 

 defoliate the plants, the crop must be gathered very early and 

 used for jelly, or it will sun-burn and sour. 



The Crandall is not what it was sold for — a cross of native 

 with foreign sorts. It is a pure native, somewhat improved. 

 But it is half a humbug, after all. The bush lops about, and 

 must be tied to stakes. The size of the currant is only that of 

 a large fruit of the ornamental Missouri Currant grown in our 

 shrubberies. The flavor is pleasant, but no improvement on 

 that of the varieties grown for ornament. Let it be taken for 

 what it is, and appreciated accordingly. 



The propagation of the Currant is very easy. Take cuttings 

 a foot length ; set these into the soil in a dry place in October 

 or November. Pack down the dirt very tightly and leave 

 them until spring. Then a part will be found to have rooted, 

 while the rest will have calloused and are ready for planting 

 if you desire. In setting such small plants pack the earth very 

 tightly about them. It is the secret of success. 



The only enemy the Currant has generally is the well 

 known worm that defoliates the plant. White hellebore dusted 

 on will kill them. The best method of applying is to mix 

 two tablespoonf uls of hellebore in a pail of water with one 

 teaspoonful of kerosene. Riley's emulsion of kerosene is 

 easily made and kept on hand. It is the best way of using it. 

 I apply exactly the same mixture to Rose-slugs. Two gen- 

 erations of worms appear each season, and both must be 

 killed. One of them hatches as the fruit is setting ; the other 

 as it is ripening. The hellebore should be applied the last 

 time without kerosene, as it is sticky and helps dust to adhere 

 to the fruit. 



Clinton, N. Y. -&• "• Powell. 



The Water Garden. 



PERHAPS none of our wild flowers are more universally 

 appreciated than the Water Lilies, and yet untd one has 

 cultivated Nymphaeas and has had an opportunity to study 

 them day by day their full beauty is scarcely appreciated ; for 

 this is a flower which appears at its best when daintily anchored 

 in a clear pool. It cannot be too often said that in this climate 

 all the Nymphaeas and Nelumbiums can be successfully 



grown in the open air without the aid of glass, and, with the ex- 

 ception of Victoria regia, no large estate is necessary, for room 

 may be made in almost any small garden, if it is sunny, for a 

 tank, which, with a little management, may be made a suc- 

 cessful water garden. 



Last year I noted in Garden and Forest (ii., page 405) an 

 experiment in growing Nymphaeas in sunken casks, which an- 

 swered very well, but this season the natural result is a tank, 

 which, while simply made and inexpensive, quite answers its 

 purpose. An ordinary laborer dug an irregular pit about two 

 feet deep, with slightly sloping sides, and after firming the 

 bottom applied a coating of pure Portland cement, going over 

 it twice, which made it water-tight. Even in light soils, I think 

 a good coating of cement would answer without brick-work. 

 It is well to apply this when the earth is dry, as otherwise 

 cracks may appear in a very dry season. Of course, where 

 permanence is desired, and the expense can be afforded, a tank 

 with brick walls would be best. In as small a tank as mine 

 (ten by twelve feet) it is requisite that there shall be an over- 

 flow and a convenient supply of fresh water, also that surface 

 water shall not be allowed to flow into it. The water can be 

 syphoned through the overflow if it be necessary at any time 

 to draw it all off. 



When first planted the large amount of manure used will 

 somewhat foul the water, and there will be some rising of im- 

 purities, which should be floated out through the overflow; but 

 the water will soon clear, and if the tank is well stocked with 

 gold-fish, silver-fish or sun-fish, there should be no further 

 trouble from impurities, mosquito-germs or algae. Should it 

 be desirable to hasten the settlement of any accidental turbid- 

 ity, a spray of a very weak solution of alum would soon cause 

 precipitation. 



If the plants used are hardy and few it is as well to plant 

 them out, but if rather numerous it will be more convenient 

 to plant them in boxes or baskets. They are gross feeders and 

 rank growers, and for a small tank it will be better to give only 

 moderate root- room. Of course, one does not in this way secure 

 the greatest development of foliage and flowers, but this is not 

 essential to one's enjoyment always. If aesthetic considera- 

 tions alone prevailed, a tank the size of mine would be well 

 furnished with, say, two Nymphaeas and a Nelumbium; but it 

 is possible to grow a dozen varieties, and also find room for 

 Papyrus Antiquorum, varieties of Sagittaria, Alisma, Aponoge- 

 ton distachyon, Eichornia crassipes, Limocharis Humboltii, 

 etc., all of which are interesting and quite indispensable. 



A flower-lover must feel in sympathy sometimes with M. 

 Alphonse Karr's Tulip-amateur, who desired a chair that he 

 might sit down and be alone with his favorite flower. No 

 other spot in the garden so strongly suggests a similar longing 

 as does the water garden. On its border in the morning of a 

 summer's day one finds restful enjoyment in the beauty of the 

 foliage, the varied bearing, form and coloring of the flowers, 

 the fascinating water reflecting the changeful sky, the busy fish 

 active as so many children, thefrogs enjoying siestas on the Lily- 

 pads — not nearly so sleepy as they seem — and the varied "small 

 deer" which water attracts. And then the setting of the jewel! 

 At one side, flanked by a Bamboo and Spiraea, are the flag-like 

 leaves of Kaempfer's Iris, the graceful, quiet flowers being 

 in tone with the surroundings ; another side is filled with Can- 

 nas, ■ Bamboo and Eulalias, with an undergrowth of Ferns, 

 Primulas, etc. There a jutting point is made by a mass of peat, 

 from which springs a colony of wildlings, and a Dwarf Sumach 

 pendant over the water — a nice bit this. Convenient to the banks 

 I find quiet places where small things, Saxifrages, Primulas, 

 Droseras, etc., are at home in the moist air and the chance of 

 a full supply of water. In an adjacent border I expect to es- 

 establish an artificial bog connected with the tank, where can 

 be grown many fine things which are troublesome or difficult 

 in an ordinary garden. As will be seen, the accessories 

 of a water-garden are scarcely second in interest to the 

 garden itself, but some care should be used in selecting- 

 plants for such a position. The color-tone of the picture is 

 low and quiet, and plants with bright, dazzling flowers should 

 not be used, especially if dwarf-flowering. Cannas nowadays 

 have dazzling flowers, but they are tall and too valuable other- 

 wise to discard for their color. Caladium esculentitm is also an 

 excellent foliage plant in such a position, but in a small place the 

 buildings give the winds a rotatory motion and the huge leaves 

 are twisted off, so that it can only be grown well in open spaces. 

 The larger Grasses are perhaps the best plants for such a po- 

 sition. Mr. Watson, in his notes from Kew a few weeks since, 

 wrote of " the universal attraction of the aquatic tank," and 

 nothing truer could be said; for it is a remarkable fact that the 

 Lily-pond proves an attraction to every one, young or old, 

 without exception — something which cannot be said of any 



