216 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



January, 1915 



The Garden and Farm 



Almanac 



For 1915 



Will Tell You How 



1915 



25 CENTS 



GARDEN 

 AND FARM 



ALMANAC 



To recognize, combat and conquer the Insect 

 Pests, Fungous Diseases and Weeds that attack 

 garden, farm and orchard crops. 



To distinguish the various breeds of cattle, 

 horses, sheep, swine, and poultry, and to 

 recognize the best type of each. 



To estimate the cost of farm houses, barns, 

 poultry sheds, the water supply, the silo, and 

 detailed operations of farm work such as plow- 

 ing, planting, harvesting, etc. 



To choose the right book on any phase of 

 garden or farm activity. 



To judge and score farm animals, farm crops, 

 and everything that is likely to be exhibited at 

 the "County Fair." 



To plan your vegetable and flower gardens, shrubbery border and orchard 



To make spray mixtures, in small, convenient quantities. 



To estimate the weight of cattle. 



To keep ahead of the garden month by month. 



A Partial List of the Contents 



Mushrooms, Key to types of 



Magazines, List of Agricultural 



Browntail Moth Caterpillar 



Crops in the United States, Average Yields of 



Bank credit, Value of 



Federal Department of Agriculture, Organi- 

 zation of the 



Massachusetts, Agricultural Data for 



Dairy Standards for the States, Legal 



Crop Areas, Yields and Values in 1913 



Tile Drainage, Average Cost of 



Light for the Farm Home, Cost of Different 

 Kinds of 



Seedings per Acre in All the States, Average 



Woodlot, How to Estimate the Value of a 



Holstein Cattle, Description of 



Live Stock Breeders, National Organizations of 



Horticulture, New Books on 



Dear Sirs:- G.M.1-15 



Please send postpaid the Garden and 



Farm Almanac, for which I enclose 35c. 



Doubleday, Page & Co., Garden City, N. Y. 



Seed Standards for all the States, Pure 



Vegetables, A Tested, Proven Planting Table 



Silage Cutter, Power Needed to run a 



Farmers' Bulletins, Classified List of 



Parcel Post Regulations 



Shropshire Sheep, Description of 



Poultry Organizations, List of 



Plowing Match, Score Card for 



Weeds, A Table of Common 



Horse, What it Costs to Raise a 



Country Life, Books on 



Mold in Cellars, How to Prevent 



Horse Shoeing, Score Card for 



Rogation Days for 1915 



Soils and Crops, Books on 



Guernsey Cattle, Score Card of 



Feed Your Plants, How to 



Waterproof, How to Make Cloth 



Concrete Work, Estimating Materials for 



Diseases and their Remedies, Animal 



Fertilizer Table for the Home Garden, A 



Hay in a Stack, How Much 



This Great Work of Reference 

 will be sent postpaid for 35 cents 



This coupon is for your convenience 



The Mulberry as a Garden Fruit 

 in Florida 



THE Downing mulberry, which has been grown 

 to some extent through the North, origin- 

 ated at Newburgh, N. Y.. from seed sown by Mr. 

 Downing himself. I tried it two or three times 

 at Clinton, N. Y., but found it very unsatis- 

 factory in size and quality; although fifty years 

 ago Henry Ward Beecher declared it to be his 

 favorite fruit. Dr. L. H. Bailey, informs me that 

 he does not believe the Downing that is sold at 

 present is the legitimate stock, but something else 

 that has been substituted from the imported Rus- 

 sians. 



There are, however, crosses from Downing, grow- 

 ing around in our forests, and the birds will 

 frequently carry the seeds over into our orchards, 

 originating trees where they are not wanted. I 

 have never found one of these worth keeping as 

 the fruit is so very small, and likely to be eaten 

 by the birds as fast as ripe. At any rate none of this 

 fruit compares with the blackberry. The trees are 

 very much inclined to suckerage, and the limbs 

 occupy more space than they can pay for. About 

 1840 to 1850 mulberry trees of the white fruited sort 

 were planted in New York State, in a vain attempt 

 to feed silk worms and start the silk industry in 

 America. I can show you some of the old trees 

 yet; they were planted by Rev. Hiram H. Kellogg, 

 at one time President of Knox College. 



When I reached Florida I found for the first time 

 that the mulberry could be a valuable factor in the 

 fruit garden. Whatever else a homesteader in that 

 State lacks, he is almost sure to have a mulberry 

 tree. You will find him without any other berries, 

 without orange trees and without the almost univer- 

 sal guava and loquat, but a mulberry tree will al- 

 most surely lean over his house, and others are 

 likely to surround his pig pen. They make fine 

 shade trees, their long limbs drooping over (al- 

 most everything droops here) and carrying a load 

 of fruit of immense size. The earlier sorts blossom 

 about the first of March, and the large, black fruit 

 drops almost as soon as it ripens. So you see it 

 makes an excellent tree where there are hens and 

 pigs. 



The earliest sort, which we call Stubbs, has a 

 berry as large as a man's thumb, and the flavor is 

 delicious. But to get the real value it must take 

 the place of the Northern blackberry in pie or 

 pudding. In the north, plant in a sheltered situa- 

 tion and furnish winter protection. 



The only drawback is that the fruit falls very 

 freely and stains indelibly. With its drooping limbs 

 this tree makes a splendid windbreak; nearly as 

 good as the oak in the North and the camphor tree 

 in the South. 



The Hicks is a later berry, and is catalogued as 

 everbearing which means that you can get fruit 

 from it as late as the middle of July or even into 

 August. It is not by any means as large a berry 

 as the Stubbs, but the flavor is a little more 

 sparkling. 



The Ramsey White and the Victoria are credited 

 to the Russian stock, and probably correctly. 

 They give us plenty of good sized fruit of fair 

 quality. What we need most now is something as 

 good as Stubbs, which will be hardy as far north 

 as New England. 



The mulberry can be propagated very easily by 

 cutting. Remove a shoot of new wood smoothly 

 from the limb; treat it very much as you would a 

 quince cutting, or leave it full length as you please. 

 If the latter thrust it into the ground for a foot's 

 depth and press the dirt down tight around it. 

 Inside of three months it will be well rooted and 

 by the end of six months you may transplant it to 

 the orchard. 



The mulberry bears fruit at so early an age that 

 I have seen cuttings, not more than three feet high 

 loaded with mujberries. I always consider it 

 part of my work as a horticulturist to multiply 

 stock, to sell or to give away, or to fill vacancies 

 in my own garden. I am not sure that it would 

 not be a good plan to grow mulberry bushes, by 

 heading back annually and cutting out shoots 

 especially in a small garden where space is re- 

 stricted. 



Florida. E. P. Powell. 



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