226 



BUDS, BLOSSOMS, FRUITS. 



gooseberries may be brought out by home experiments. 

 Rose-seeds will produce new sorts. Geraniums and be- 

 gonias will quickly flower from seed. In this work every 

 lover of horticulture may find not only the stimulus of 

 discovering a valuable novelty, but health and recrea- 

 tion. Girls and boys may engage in such work with a 

 fair promise of pecuniary reward; for many instances are 

 on record where large sums have been paid for new 

 fruits and flowers. Try it, and if you do not find wealth, 

 you will find health and pleasure. — C. I. Robgrds, 

 Bates Co., Mo. 



What I Did with an Old Hand-Saw.— I took the 

 handle off and presented it to a carpenter. I then had a 

 blacksmith cut the _ rj 



blade crosswise in- 

 to three parts. Of 

 the first and widest 

 piece, ^Yz inches 

 long, I made a sod- 

 axe, as seen in the 

 central figure. Of 

 the second or mid- 

 dle piece, lo!^ 

 inches long, I made 

 a strawberry-path 

 cutter, shown at 

 the left ; and the 

 remaining piece, 

 7 '2 inches long, 

 was transformed 

 into a strawberry - 

 pruner, as seen a 

 the right of illus 

 tration. The last- \ 

 named is used foi" 

 cutting ofi runners 

 in the early part of the season. It saves stooping and 

 backache, and is useful also for cutting off the roots of 

 large weeds sometimes found in strawberry-beds. These 

 implements were all made sharp on the grindstone. — 

 J. Hayes. 



Spraying to Prevent Damage by Frost. — The 



knapsack sprayer is a handy thing to have. We use 

 the poisoning spray. It is our weapon against insects, 

 against plant-diseases, against frost. If a late spring 

 frost threatens to kill our unprotected tender vegeta'bles, 

 we fill the sprayer with clear cold water early in the 

 morning and give the plants a thorough spraying. This 

 will save them if the frost is not an actual freeze. And 

 in the case of a freeze, if the spray be applied in the 

 morning, the moment the temperature begins to rise the 

 disastrous effects will be lessened. 



Backache and Patents.— How kind it is of certain 

 inventors to come to the relief of backache by giving us 

 machines for setting small plants and trees. The old- 

 time process of setting plants so familiar to us all, re- 

 quired the operator to stoop, or for relief to squat down 

 and work with fingers, dibble or trowel near mother 

 earth, with results to the back we never can forget. But 



HOME-MaDE lAlPLEML.N 



here comes a man from New Jersey with a patented ma- 

 chine to set out strawberry-plants, and another from 

 Pennsylvania with a patented cabbage-plant setter, 

 adapted also to other plants. The latter reasons that his 

 machine will do better work than possibly can be done by 

 the old hand process. We also must not forget the elab- 

 orate tree-planting machine, which the forestry division 

 of the department of agriculture has been calling atten- 

 tion to with striking illustrations of late, as an aid tu for- 

 est planting. 



Rhubarb and Rhubarb Jelly. — A beautiful jelly can 

 be made from pie-plant. Cut the stalks, after washing, 

 in small pieces, but do not peel ; add enough water to cook 

 until tender. Put in a bag to drain, let stand several 

 hours, then to five cups juice take four cups granulated 

 sugar. Boil the juice 20 minutes, add sugar and boil 

 until it jellies, which will be in ten or fifteen minutes. 

 This makes a clear and beautifully-colored jelly, good 

 and palatable and healthful besides. Now let me tell 

 you how to get the pie-plant much earlier and tenderer 

 than in the old way. Cover the plants with manure 

 during the winter, then in the spring when the ground 

 begins to thaw, take the manure off, put on an old barrel, 

 or better, a box-like frame ; pile the manure around the 

 sides and cover with an old sash if you have one, if not, 

 put some cheap muslin over the top. This covering is 

 for the day, when the sun shines warm and clear. At 

 night add more cover, either boards or old carpeting, 

 until there is no more danger of severe frosts. 



Sand and Damping-Off. — Usually in germinating 

 seeds and starting young plants the greatest loss is caused 

 by damping-off, or rotting, just under the surface of 

 the soil. A long time ago I read of Henderson's ' ' saucer 

 system " of starting cuttings in wet sand set in the sun- 

 light. I used to keep a deep baking-plate full of sand all 

 winter, and in this way rooted more cuttings of plants 

 than I knew what to do with. I often lifted them to see 

 if they had rooted, and thus discovered that an enormous 

 number of spreading roots grew on each plant in the 

 sand. Now, why should not a layer of sand prevent all 

 this damping-off, which is so annoying and expensive ? 

 I have tried it some, and hope others will try it and re- 

 port. — Boston Suburb. 



Hyacinthus candicans. — I have read several ac- 

 counts of the remarkable tenacity of life possessed by 

 the Hyacinthus (or Galt07u'a) candicans, none of which 

 surpassed an experience I had with mine. It was planted 

 among other bulbs in the garden, and when I came to 

 dig them the hyacinthus failed to appear. Finally I gave 

 it up and left it in the ground over winter. The follow- 

 ing spring I had forgotten it and was spading the bed 

 when I chanced to see a white something in the dirt. 

 Stooping to examine it, I found the lost hyacinthus-bulb 

 sliced obliquely into three pieces. I was vexed, for 

 though I am not particularly fond of the plant, I dislike 

 to destroy anything of the kind. In desperation I fitted 

 the pieces together and buried them, thinking I had seen 

 the last of them ; but lo ! in a few weeks up it came, 

 and three stalks, too, but none of them bloomed. Last 



